Production of Personalized identity cards

Claim 1

A system for personalization of integrated circuit microchip cards, said system comprising:- a plurality of stations arranged in sequence and adapted to receive respective cards and programme the microchips of said cards with personalized data; in-feed means for feeding respective cards to said stations for programming; out-feed means for feeding said programmed cards away from said stations; means for moving said stations relative to said in-feed means and said out-feed means, such that respective ones of said stations in said sequence are successively and repeatedly brought into register with said in-feed means and said out-feed means; means for controlling the speed of said movement between successive registrations with said in-feed means and said out-feed means, in dependence on the time required for programming said cards; and means for controlling the rate of in-feed of said cards into said stations, in dependence on said speed, to establish a substantially continuous flow of cards through said system.

Claim 2

A system for personalization of integrated circuit microchip cards, said system comprising:- a plurality of stations arranged in sequence and adapted to receive respective cards and programme the microchips of said cards with personalized data; in-feed means for feeding respective cards to said stations for programming; out-feed means for feeding said programmed cards away from said stations; means for moving said stations relative to said in-feed means and said out-feed means, such that respective ones of said stations in said sequence are successively and repeatedly brought into register with said in-feed means and said out-feed means; means for controlling the speed of said movement between successive registrations with said in-feed means and said out-feed means, in dependence on the time required for programming said cards; and means for controlling the rate of in-feed of said cards into said stations, in dependence on said speed, to establish a substantially continuous flow of cards through said system.

Claim 5

A system as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3 and including a device for encoding a magnetic stripe, provided on each card, with information corresponding to the programmable data of said card, said encoding of said magnetic stripes being implemented prior to said cards being fed into said stations for programming.

Claim 6

A system as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims and including a device for affixing human-readable information to the cards.

Claim 7

A system as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims and including means for producing an output record indicative of the personalized data programmed into the microchip of each card.

Claim 8

A system as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims wherein each of said stations is provided with a replaceable PROM control chip to enable different chip card architectures to be utilised without the necessity of changing overall control software of the system.

Claim 9

A system for personalization of cards having an encodable magnetic stripe and an integrated circuit microchip, said system comprising, in combination:- means for encoding the magnetic stripe of each card with personalized data from a data store; means for programming the microchip of each card with data encoded on said magnetic stripe; means for affixing human-readable information onto each of said cards; guide means for conveying said cards between said encoding means, said programming means and said information affixing means, and means for controlling the rate of conveying of said cards to establish a substantially continuous flow through said system.

Claim 10

A system for personalization of cards having an encodable magnetic stripe and an integrated circuit microchip, said system comprising, in combination:- means for encoding the magnetic stripe of each card with personalized data from a data store; means for programming the microchip of each card with data encoded on said magnetic stripe; means for affixing human-readable information onto each of said cards; guide means for conveying said cards between said encoding means, said programming means and said information affixing means, and means for controlling the rate of conveying of said cards to establish a substantially continuous flow through said system.

Claim 11

A system for personalization of integrated circuit microchip cards, said system comprising:- a rotary personalization module comprising a plurality of stations sequentially arranged in a circular formation in a plane perpendicular to the flow of said cards through said system, said stations each being adapted to receive respective cards and programme the microchips of said cards with personalized data; a card-feed mechanism for supplying respective cards for programming to said stations and for conveying programmed cards away from said stations; means for rotating said module relative to said card-feed mechanism, such that respective ones of said stations in said sequence are successively and repeatedly brought into register with said card-feed mechanism; and means for controlling the speed of rotation, and thus of successive registrations of said respective ones of said stations with said card-feed mechanism, in dependence on the time required for programming said cards; said card-feed mechanism comprising means for feeding an unprogrammed card into a station in register with said mechanism, means for enabling said feeding means when programming of a card in said station is complete, so that said programmed card is pushed out of said station by the in-fed unprogrammed card, and means for guiding said programmed card away from said station.

Claim 12

A system for personalization of integrated circuit microchip cards, said system comprising:- a rotary personalization module comprising a plurality of stations sequentially arranged in a circular formation in a plane perpendicular to the flow of said cards through said system, said stations each being adapted to receive respective cards and programme the microchips of said cards with personalized data; a card-feed mechanism for supplying respective cards for programming to said stations and for conveying programmed cards away from said stations; means for rotating said module relative to said card-feed mechanism, such that respective ones of said stations in said sequence are successively and repeatedly brought into register with said card-feed mechanism; and means for controlling the speed of rotation, and thus of successive registrations of said respective ones of said stations with said card-feed mechanism, in dependence on the time required for programming said cards; said card-feed mechanism comprising means for feeding an unprogrammed card into a station in register with said mechanism, means for enabling said feeding means when programming of a card in said station is complete, so that said programmed card is pushed out of said station by the in-fed unprogrammed card, and means for guiding said programmed card away from said station.

Claim 13

A method for personalizing integrated circuit microchip cards, said method comprising:- in-feed means supplying respective cards to a plurality of stations arranged in sequence for programming; programming, at the stations, the microchips of said cards with personalized data; out-feed means feeding said programmed cards away from said stations; moving said stations relative to said in-feed means and said out-feed means, such that respective ones of said stations in said sequence are successively and repeatedly brought into register with said in-feed means and said out-feed means; controlling the speed of said movement between successive registrations with said in-feed means and said out-feed means, in dependence on the time required for programming said cards; and controlling the rate of in-feed of said cards into said stations, in dependence on said speed, to establish a substantially continuous flow of cards through said system.

Claim 14

A method for personalizing integrated circuit microchip cards, said method comprising:- in-feed means supplying respective cards to a plurality of stations arranged in sequence for programming; programming, at the stations, the microchips of said cards with personalized data; out-feed means feeding said programmed cards away from said stations; moving said stations relative to said in-feed means and said out-feed means, such that respective ones of said stations in said sequence are successively and repeatedly brought into register with said in-feed means and said out-feed means; controlling the speed of said movement between successive registrations with said in-feed means and said out-feed means, in dependence on the time required for programming said cards; and controlling the rate of in-feed of said cards into said stations, in dependence on said speed, to establish a substantially continuous flow of cards through said system.

Claim 17

A method as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 12 comprising producing an output record indicative of the personalized data programmed into the microchip of each card.