WO2015160276A1

WO2015160276A1 - Plastic card having zonal stereo-vario effect

Info

Publication number: WO2015160276A1
Application number: PCT/RU2014/000315
Authority: WO
Inventors: Олег Умарович АЙБАЗОВ; Алексей Ильич КЕДРИНСКИЙ
Original assignee: Олег Умарович АЙБАЗОВ; Алексей Ильич КЕДРИНСКИЙ
Priority date: 2014-04-18
Filing date: 2014-04-30
Publication date: 2015-10-22

Abstract

The utility model relates to printed products such as protected plastic personal bank cards and credit cards but could, to an equal extent, also relate to discount cards, admission passes, greeting cards, book covers, etc. A plastic card contains, connected to one-another forming a packet, an upper layer and substrate which are made of a transparent material, and a lower layer, and also contains lenticular lenses and printed images which are intended for forming stereo-vario images. Applied to the front side of the upper layer is a transparent heat-resistant material on which lenticular lenses are formed; additionally provided on the card is a simple image, wherein the simple image and the stereo-vario image are arranged in different zones; the above is achieved by the simple image being provided on the front side of the substrate, and the stereo-vario image being provided on the reverse side of the substrate; the parameters of the lenticular lenses and the thickness of the substrate are selected in such a way that the focus of the lenticular lenses is on the stereo-vario image provided on the reverse side of the substrate, and the simple image, applied to the front side of the substrate, is in an unfocused area of the lenticular lenses.

Description

PLASTIC MAP WITH ZONE STEREO / VARIO

EFFECT

The utility model relates to printing products, such as secure plastic bank and credit personal cards, but can equally apply to discount cards, passes, greeting cards, book covers, etc.

A common feature of printing products, to which the claimed utility model relates, is that in their design, in addition to attributes that are integral to each particular product, elements that reproduce optical effects, namely stereo and / or vario images, are introduced.

These images perform various functions - from purely aesthetic to practical - to reproduce certain information specific to a product of this purpose - to protect it from fake, to attract attention, to identify a product (logos, text information, etc.). For the production of such products, many printing technologies have been developed with the aim of creating various optical effects, such as visibility of depth, volume and movement. Currently, technologies are widely used that allow you to create hidden images, as well as stereo or vario images on two-dimensional media. The presence of such images may be useful to prevent counterfeiting of printing products, since these images cannot be copied in the usual way.

Currently, one of the common design techniques for obtaining printing products with a stereo / vario effect is the use of imaging systems based on lenticular lenses or lens structures. In these systems, parallel convex lenses are formed on one side of the transparent plastic substrate, and images are printed on the other side, and to obtain a qualitative effect, the focus of the lenses F must necessarily be on the image (see Fig. 1). Printing products may contain areas where drop-shaped lenses are selectively formed on top of the graphic image, creating the illusion of depth at this point. For some types of printing products, such as, for example, bank cards, increased demands are placed on the quality of reproduction of logos and texts depicted on the front side. The use of standard lenticular plastic to obtain a stereo / vario effect on a bank card does not allow to fulfill the above requirements, because on the contours of logos and texts viewed through lenticular lenses, geometric “saw” distortions occur. The use of drop-shaped lenses has a number of disadvantages known to specialists.

The solution to the above problem is possible if you divide stereo / vario images and simple images (logos, etc.) into separate zones, and in the area of applying simple images the action of lenticular lenses should be absent.

Thus, the creation of a plastic card with a zonal stereo / vario effect is a very urgent task.

The foregoing is clearly supported by information from the prior art below.

Thus, it is known a printed product containing a transparent flat substrate, on which one side a layer of graphic images is printed, and on the other side several sets of polygonal lenses are printed in parallel in several rows, the polygonal lenses being colorless magnifying convex lenses, have a height between 0.0001 and 0.005 inches , a width between 0.0005 and 0.01 inches when viewed from above and a distance between the lenses between 0.0005 and 0.01 inches (see RF patent N ° 2503983, CL G02B27 / 10, 2014).

Using this solution allows you to increase the effective area occupied by the lenses, and, consequently, the image quality, however, applying polygonal lenses by printing does not allow the lens parameters to be identical over the entire area of the substrate, while the geometric shape of the resulting lenses has a very complex irregular shape, which does not Allows you to encode images to create volumetric or vario effects. Given the solution allows you to only selectively observe the background against the background of a flat image, simulating the depth.

A lenticular map is known, made in the form of a transparent sheet 254-660 μm thick connected to each other by means of a moisture-curable adhesive and a transparent, translucent or opaque substrate, one side of the transparent sheet is smooth and a printed image is placed on it, and the second contains a lenticular region moreover, on the substrate there is a magnetic strip.

To form a card, a layer of moisture-curable glue is applied to the substrate through a stencil, the substrate is combined with a transparent sheet, the side with the image of which is facing the substrate, and, by compressing the sheets with a press roller, a card is formed (see EP 346315, class B42D15 / 00, 2003 g.).

The disadvantage of this solution is that the image is printed on the back of the sheet of material with lenticular lenses, whose focus is on the back of the sheet of material, and therefore small details of images with clear contours (logos, etc.) acquire geometric distortions type of "saw", which reduces image quality. In addition, this card does not have flat areas on the lens side for applying a hologram and embossing personal information, which reduces its scope.

A known plastic card with lenticular lenses used for financial transactions, made multilayer and containing three layers connected in a package, the top of which is a flat sheet of material with lenticular lenses embossed on its front side and a vinyl resin base layer, on which a printed image is applied - on the back. The middle layer of plastic connected by glue to the upper layer, on the back of which the image is placed, and the lower layer connected to it in the form of a PVC film, laminated with magnetic material. A hologram is placed on the front side of the card, and a window for signing the card holder is executed on the reverse embossing (see EP. 421046515, class B42D15 / 10, 2000) - the closest analogue. The disadvantage of this solution is that the image is printed on the back of the sheet of material with lenticular lenses, whose focus is on the back of the sheet of material, and therefore small details of images with clear contours (logos, etc.) acquire geometric distortions type of "saw". The proposed method of forming a flat region for applying a hologram by applying vinyl resin after lamination is technologically complex and leads to a rise in the cost of the card, while the applied resin can peel off during operation of the card along with the hologram.

The technical result of this utility model is the development of a plastic card with a zonal stereo / vario effect, reliably protected from fakes, technologically advanced in production, providing a long service life, as well as reproducing stereo / vario images and simultaneously reproducing high-quality simple images.

The specified technical result is ensured by the fact that in a plastic card with a zonal stereo / vario effect, containing an upper layer, a substrate made of transparent material bonded to each other in a bag, and a lower layer, as well as lenticular lenses and printed images designed to form stereo / vario images, new is that on the front side of the upper layer a transparent heat-resistant material is applied, on which lenticular lenses are formed, a simple image is additionally placed on the map moreover, the simple image and the stereo / vario image are separated into different zones, for which the first one is placed on the front side of the substrate, and the second on its reverse side, while the parameters of the lenticular lenses and the thickness of the substrate are selected so that the focus of the lenticular lenses is on a stereo / vario image placed on the back side of the substrate, and a simple image deposited on the front side of the substrate is at the defocus of the lenticular lenses, materials used as a transparent heat-resistant layer acrylic-based, and the substrate may be formed consisting of several interconnected layers of transparent plastic, wherein the magnetic strip can be placed on the back side of the lower layer, and on its front side there is a window in which an electronic contact chip is placed. An electronic chip or antenna can be mounted in the lower layer of the card, and smooth windows are formed on the front side of the upper layer to emboss personal data and apply a protective hologram.

The essence of the claimed utility model is illustrated by graphic materials on which:

- figure 1 is a diagram of a traditionally used plastic sheet with lenticular lenses;

- figure 2 - detail of a plastic card;

- in Fig.Z - view A of Fig.2;

- figure 4 is a view of B in figure 2.

When describing the essence of the claimed utility model, the design of a bank personal plastic card will be considered in detail, however, the design principle disclosed in this utility model can easily be used by specialists to obtain other printing products.

The claimed plastic card, presented in this section, descriptions as a personal bank card, is a multilayer product from several layers connected in a single package. Naturally, the information presented in the description cannot cover all the particular cases of the card, in this description does not reflect all the features of the product that can be implemented without changing its essence for special cases of use.

In the claimed solution, as in many others known from the prior art for the manufacture of a wide range of printed products carrying an optical effect, a standard plastic transparent sheet 1 is used as the top layer, one side of which is flat and the other has lenticular lenses 2. In traditional solutions, the focus (F) of each lens must necessarily be on the back of the sheet (see figure 1).

A feature of the claimed solution is that for the production of the card, the top layer of the product uses not ready-made standard plastic with lenticular lenses on one side and a smooth other side, but sheet 3 (see figure 2) of transparent plastic, both surfaces of which are smooth . The thickness of this layer is 50 - 100 microns, that is, it is several times thinner compared to the sheet used traditionally. As the material of the upper layer, a wide range of materials can be used, for example, polyvinyl chloride, polyester, polyethylene terephthalate, acrinitrile-butadiene-styrene, polycarbonate, etc.

A transparent layer 4 of heat-resistant transparent material is applied to the front side of the sheet, on which longitudinal lenticular lenses are formed by embossing. As such a material, a wide range of acrylic-based materials can be used.

The application of layer 4 can be carried out according to known technology using standard equipment. The thickness of the coating is 30 - 50 microns. Lenses have a lineature of 125 - 200 lines per inch. A feature of the claimed solution is that the parameters of the embossed lenses are calculated in such a way that their focus is not located on the back of the upper layer, as usual, but goes far beyond it - at a distance of 350 - 650 microns.

The advantages of this form of lenses will be described below.

The upper layer 3 described above in detail is connected by means of the adhesive layer 5 to the second layer 6, which we will call the liner. This layer can be made of one plate of a transparent material, for example, polyvinyl chloride, polyester, polyethylene terephthalate, acrynitrile-butadiene styrene, polycarbonate, or of several plates of a lesser thickness, connected by glue to planes with each other.

When using multi-layer insert 6 each of its layers can fulfill its function, due to their selection it is possible to form optimal properties of each plastic card, which increases their service life.

Regardless of whether the insert 6 is solid or multi-layered, simple graphic images 7 are printed on the front (facing sheet 3), which should not be affected by the stereo / vario effect, and which should be reproduced with maximum quality - for example logos, brand names, etc. On the bottom (back) side stereo / vario images are printed 8. Printing on the surface of the input is not technically difficult and is carried out in a known manner on standard equipment (for example, by offset printing).

It is fundamentally important that the insert 6 has a thickness at which the foci of the lenticular lenses F of the layer 4 placed on the front side of the sheet 3 are located strictly on the stereo / vario image 8. This allows you to get the highest quality stereo / vario effect.

The principal difference of the claimed solution is that the printed images inside the card are spaced into two zones, of which:

- one zone - images forming stereo / vario effects. They are applied on the lower (back) side of the insert and are located in the multilayer plastic card pie at a distance strictly corresponding to the focal length of the lenticular lenses F of the upper layer, which ensures the maximum quality of the stereo / vario effect;

- the second zone - images that should not be affected by the stereo / vario effect, and which should be reproduced with maximum quality - for example, logos, company names, etc. They are applied on the top (front) side of the insert and in the multi-layer pie of a plastic card are in close proximity to the lenticular lenses of the upper layer (80-150 microns.), outside the focus area of these lenses. As a result, when viewing these images through the lenses, they are reproduced with maximum quality, without distortion like a “saw”, since the lenses do not work in the out-of-focus area, since the top layer 4 behaves like a simple transparent material.

Thus, the claimed plastic card has two zones over which the images are spaced. In one of the zones a stereo / vario image is placed, which provides a high-quality stereo / vario effect when viewing. The second zone, in which a simple image is placed, is free of stereo / vario effect, the images placed in it are reproduced with maximum quality. The presence during visual viewing of such images, perceived simultaneously at different levels, allows visual verification of the authenticity of the card. The insert 6 with its reverse side by means of the adhesive layer 9 is bonded to the lower layer 10 made of transparent or opaque plastic (polyvinyl chloride, polyester, polyethylene terephthalate, acrynitrile-butadiene-styrene, polycarbonate, etc.).

This layer typically has a thickness of 100 to 500 microns.

On the plastic layer 10 are placed the basic attributes specific to a particular product, which can be structurally implemented on the basis of a patentable utility model. For example, when implementing a utility model in the form of a personal bank card, a magnetic strip 11 can be placed on this layer (information about the card, manufacturer, holder, etc.), also in this layer, depending on the type of product being proposed, there may be a chip or an antenna that allows you to make contactless payments (cards such as Pay Pass and Pay Wave).

To emboss personal data on the card, as well as to apply a protective hologram, flat areas free of lenses are formed on the surface of layer 4 with lenticular lenses (windows 12 and 13), which is extremely important for bank cards.

To obtain windows 12 and 13 on the front side of the card, the lens relief is partially removed from it on predetermined coverage areas. To this end, the material with lenticular lenses in the form of a roll, from which layer 4 is made, is passed through a die-cutting rotary machine before cutting into sheets, in which the upper embossed layer is notched to remove notched sections. As a result, a thin lenticular coating acquires smooth areas free of lenses, which can be used to apply holograms and emboss personal data. On the front side of the card, a window (not shown) may be made to accommodate a contact electronic chip.

Naturally, optical effects are observed only in those parts of the map where lenticular lenses are on the front side.

The entire product from below is protected from damage by layer 14 of the laminate. The card is assembled using the high-temperature lamination method and is a standard procedure commonly used in the production of bank cards.

When using the product, which is described as an example as a personal bank card, the latter carries out all the financial transactions established for it. The use of heat-resistant material as layer 4 eliminates the melting of the lenses during lamination (using standard plastic, lamination leads to a loss of relief at the lenses, which makes viewing stereo / vario images impossible).

Claims

USEFUL MODEL FORMULA

1. A plastic card with a zonal stereo / vario effect, comprising a top layer, a substrate made of transparent material and a bottom layer fastened to each other in a bag, as well as lenticular lenses and printed images for forming stereo / vario images, characterized in so that a transparent heat-resistant material is applied on the front side of the upper layer, on which lenticular lenses are formed, a simple image is additionally placed on the card, moreover, a simple image and a stereo / vario image p are divided into different zones, for which the first one is placed on the front side of the substrate, and the second on its reverse side, while the parameters of the lenticular lenses and the thickness of the substrate are selected so that the focus of the lenticular lenses is on the stereo / vario image placed on the back side of the substrate, and a simple image deposited on the front side of the substrate is in the out of focus lenticular lenses.

2. A plastic card according to claim 1, characterized in that acrylic-based materials are used as a transparent heat-resistant layer.

3. The plastic card according to claim 1, characterized in that the substrate is made up of several interconnected layers of transparent plastic.

4. The plastic card according to claim 1, characterized in that a magnetic strip is placed on the back of the lower layer.

5. The plastic card according to claim 1, characterized in that on its front side there is a window in which an electronic contact chip is placed.

6. The plastic card according to claim 1, characterized in that an electronic chip or antenna is mounted in its lower layer.

7. The plastic card according to claim 1, characterized in that on the front side of the upper layer smooth windows are formed to emboss personal data and apply a protective hologram.