Card with a metal foil layer provided with an opening

[0001] The present invention relates to a card comprising a basic layer with a metal foil and a protective layer attached to one side of the basic layer in which one side of the metal foil is adjacent to the information-carrying portion and in which the metal foil has an opening designed to provide visibility of the fragment carrying said information parts, the protective layer adjacent to said opening is transparent.

[0002] A card of this type is generally known in the art as a chip card. In this case, the aluminum foil part is laminated on the basic layer and tightly connected to the protective layer creating a protective individual feature. Then, at a later stage, one or more holes are formed in the aluminum foil, and later or at the same time with the help of a laser beam information is saved in the space that becomes free. This operation hinders abuse.

[0003] A film for thermographic printing with a hologram is known from document EP 0170832, in which, according to a particular embodiment, a magnetic layer is placed under the hologram. Information can be read from this magnetic layer at any time. US 5331443 describes a method of making holes in a layer located behind a hologram, thereby changing the effect of the hologram. The method in which the image is attached to the reflective layer by etching is known from EP 0758587.

[0004] It is often the case that users require a small series of cards that are substantially identical to each other, but should be distinguishable by individuality. In the case of identification cards, this individual feature is obviously not another photo or name, as they are generally already attached to this type of card. In particular, the invention seeks to provide, for example, various codes, etc., enabling security personnel, etc. checking in a particularly simple way whether specific people have access to specific areas.

[0005] The object of the present invention is to provide a card that can be produced both on a large scale and on a small scale and which can be individualized in a simple and inexpensive way. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to ensure that simple individualization should not make the card easy to counterfeit.

[0006] According to the present invention, the card may be any type of card, such as identification cards, which may or may not form part of a passport, bank card and other security features / cards.

[0007] This object is achieved by means of the card described herein using the individual features contained in claims 1, 12 and 13.

[0008] According to the present invention, an information-bearing layer, such as an imprinted print, is beneath the metal foil. As a result of the local creation of a hole in the metal layer, some of this information is presented. If the hole is made in a metal layer elsewhere, other information is represented by the same imprinted print. For example, if the information is colored, cards having various color codes can easily be provided. Either way, the metal layer can be removed, for example, by laser treatment.

[0009] Of course, it is possible to write additional information after / during removal of the metal layer in the hole that has become free, for example as a result of the fact that the base layer contains a laser sensitive material, such as laser sensitive polycarbonate.

[0010] The metal layer is preferably a metal foil, and more preferably an aluminum foil having a very small thickness of, for example, less than 1.5 gm. A metal foil of this type can extend over the entire length of the card, but it is also possible that the foil extends over only part of the card's dimensions.

[0011] Metal foils of this type can be provided with a hologram / kinegram by embossing a relief therein.

[0012] It is also possible for the additional protective layer to protrude adjacent to the information.

[0013] This additional protective layer, which is directed away from the information, is preferably opaque in its configuration.

[0014] The hole in the aluminum foil can have any desired shape. The opening may or may not be configured as a recess or may be completely enclosed within the aluminum foil.

[0015] The present invention also relates to a method of making a card, comprising providing a base layer, attaching a metal foil to it, followed by placing a protective layer on the metal foil, said metal foil having a hole made by means of a laser beam in which between said metal foil and said basic layer is made an imprinted print, said opening being formed in said metal foil in such a way that only part of said imprinted print is visible through the protective layer. The metal foil can be removed with a laser beam. It has been observed that the removal of, for example, aluminum foil requires a relatively small amount of energy. This energy is generally much lower than the energy required to store information in the polycarbonate layer. It was noticed that laser processing makes the aluminum layer completely invisible. It is assumed that this is due to the fact that the thin aluminum foil is changed due to the effect of elevated temperature into very small droplets. It should be noted, however, that the scope of protection of the invention is not limited by the validity of this theory. If aluminum is used, the layer thickness is preferably

30/40 nanometers. It was noted that in this case, the droplets formed have a diameter of approximately 0.5 μm and are imperceptible or difficult to see with the naked eye.

[0016] The invention also relates to a group of cards consisting of at least two cards as described above. These cards are the same except for any changing personal individual characteristics (photo and date of the holder, in the case of identity card). According to the invention, the cards differ essentially in that the opening is formed at different places in the metallic foil, as a result of which various information elements become visible.

[0017] It should be noted that the metal foil can be any conceivable foil.

Instead of aluminum foil, an iron foil or similar can also be used.

[0018] The invention will be explained below with reference to an exemplary embodiment illustrated in the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows an example of a card according to the present invention;

Fig. 2a shows a first embodiment of a detail from Fig. 1;

Fig. 2b shows a second embodiment of a detail according to Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the card according to Figs. 1 and 2.

[0019] The card of the present invention is marked in Fig. 1 as a whole with reference number 1. The card is in this case an identity card, which is visible due to the presence of the photograph of the owner, which is marked with reference number 2 and additionally the date birth of the owner identified by reference number 3. It should be noted, however, that the card of the present invention may be any other type of card, such as a bank card, access card and the like.

[0020] As can be seen in Figs. 1 and 2, an individual feature 4 of the security device consisting of a metal foil 14, in this case aluminum foil (see also Fig. 3) is shown.

[0021] Holes or recesses are formed in the aluminum layer using laser processing. The recesses 5 and 6 are, as can be seen in Figs. 2a and 2b, formed at the same place in each card in the series. When the aluminum foil is removed at the recesses 4 and 6, information is stored in them by increasing the laser energy. Of course, this information can be individual information. The presence of these holes 5 and 6 is not essential to the invention.

[0022] According to the present invention, the card is constructed of a base layer 11 on which an imprint or other layer 13/16 containing various information is provided (Figure 3). This information is attached in such a way that when the aluminum foil layer 14 above it is removed, this information does not disappear, but remains visible (possibly in a modified form). Fig. 3 shows that the information consists of parts 13 and 16. The opening 15 is formed in the aluminum layer 14 at the information site of the part 16, the information 16 being visible through it. Other information 13 is not visible due to the presence of aluminum foil 14. If the opening 15 is formed elsewhere, information other than 16 will become visible. This is indicated in the opening 7 in Figs. 2a and 2b by reference numbers 8 and 9. In other words, a card constructed according to what is shown in Fig. 2a, discloses other information 9 through the opening made in the aluminum foil layer than the information 8 in the card according to Fig. 2b, while the same information 13, 16 is still present under the aluminum foil layer.

[0023] As can be seen in Figure 3, the transparent polycarbonate layer 10 is attached to the base layer and the opaque white polycarbonate layer is attached to the other side of the base layer. The design of the card can be extended if desired. It is also possible to skip layer 12.

[0024] The invention allows the provision of personalized information by attaching a universal imprinted print 13, 16 for a number of cards by making a visible portion of the imprinted print visible at all times by removing at any time a different part of the metal foil.

[0025] One skilled in the art will read a large number of exemplary embodiments when reading the above that fall within the scope of the appended claims. It is therefore possible to configure the information in any desired way. It is possible to have different information elements consisting of different colors, different patterns etc. The film layer can also be attached in any conceivable manner, such as by lamination, sputtering, etc.