Tamper-proof identification card and identification system

Claim 2

A tamper-proof and wear-resistant identification card characterised by: a support member (10) having a front surface (12)and a rear surface (11); a recording means (5) on one of said surfaces for storing encoded data; a first transparent layer (30) overlying said front surface (12) of said support member (10) and having a first surface bonded to said front surface of said support member; a second transparent layer (20) overlying and bonded to said rear surface (11) of said support member (10) and said recording means (5); and an invisible optically-readable code (7) imprinted at the bond (35) between one of said transparent layers (30) and said support member (10).

Claim 3

An identification card having a thin flexible self-sustaining support member (10) having front and back surfaces (12,11), a magnetic recording strip (5) fixed to said back surface (11), a code area (4) on said support member bearing embossed indicia, a recessed area (2a) receiving visually inspectable identification (2), and a transparent cover (30) bonded to one of said surfaces (12); characterised by: an invisible verification code (7) located at the bond (35) between said cover (30) and said one surface (12), said verification code being detectable upon exposure to radiant energy of a predetermined wavelength.

Claim 4

An identification card having a thin flexible self-sustaining support member (10) having front and back surfaces (12,11), a magnetic recording strip (5) fixed to said back surface (11), a code area (4) on said support member bearing embossed indicia, a recessed area (2a) receiving visually inspectable identification (2), and a transparent cover (30) bonded to one of said surfaces (12); characterised by: an invisible verification code (7) located at the bond (35) between said cover (30) and said one surface (12), said verification code being detectable upon exposure to radiant energy of a predetermined wavelength.

Claim 5

An identification card as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said optically-readable code (7) includes coded alphanumeric characters corresponding in at least some respects to the data encoded on said recording means.

Claim 6

An identification card as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said optically readable code (7) includes a dot-matrix detectable under light conditions outside the visible spectrum.

Claim 7

An identification card as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said optically readable code (7) includes a bar code detectable under light conditions, outside the visible spectrum.

Claim 8

An identification card as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said recording means (5) comprises at least one layer of high coercivity magnetic tape.

Claim 9

An identification card as claimed in claim 6 wherein said recording means (5) further includes a layer of standard coercivity magnetic tape overlying said layer of high coercivity magnetic tape.

Claim 10

An identification card as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said recessed area (2a) is formed in the front surface (12) of said support member (10), said visually inspectable identification comprising a first insert positioned within said recessed area, at least a portion of said first transparent layer (30) being bonded to said first insert.

Claim 11

An identification card as claimed in claim 8 wherein said first insert is a photograph.

Claim 12

An identification card as claimed in claim 8 wherein the portion of said first transparent layer (30) which is bonded to said first insert includes at least a part of a screen on which is provided said invisible optically readable code.

Claim 13

An identification card as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 10 further comprising a second recess (3a) in said front surface (12) of said support member (10) and a second insert (3) positioned within said second recess, said second insert containing printed identifying information.

Claim 14

An identification card as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said support member (10) is composed of two base layers (11,12) of opaque polyester and said first and second transparent layers (30,20) are transparent polyester.

Claim 15

An identification card as claimed in claim 12 wherein said polyester layers (20,30) are bonded to each other by bonding layers (13,15,25,35) which include a layer of a copolymer.

Claim 16

An identification card as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising bonding means (35) interposed between one said transparent layer (30) and support member (10), said code (7) being imprinted in ink dispersed in said bonding means upon bonding of said transparent layer to said support member.

Claim 17

An identification system comprising: an identification card including at least one support member (10) having a first surface (12), at least one transparent layer (30) overlying said first surface of said support member, said transparent layer having a first surface bonded to said first surface of said support member, a screen (17) written on said surface of said transparent layer including optically-readable characters, magnetic recording means (5) for storing magnetically-encoded data, means for reading said optically-readable characters of said screen, means for reading said magnetically-encoded data; and means for correlating said optically-readable data in said magnetically-encoded data.

Claim 18

An identification system comprising: an identification card including at least one support member (10) having a first surface (12), at least one transparent layer (30) overlying said first surface of said support member, said transparent layer having a first surface bonded to said first surface of said support member, a screen (17) written on said surface of said transparent layer including optically-readable characters, magnetic recording means (5) for storing magnetically-encoded data, means for reading said optically-readable characters of said screen, means for reading said magnetically-encoded data; and means for correlating said optically-readable data in said magnetically-encoded data.

Claim 19

An identification system as claimed in claim 15 wherein said optically-readable characters (7) include dot matrix or a bar code, said matrix or said code being essentially visually undetectable under visible light spectrum conditions.