Identification card with delimited usage

Claim 1

An access system for determining access to an event or transaction for a bearer of a data holding article, the bearer having a personal identifier, access to the event or transaction being dependent on the satisfaction of predetermined bearer identification requirements and the existence of prior occurrences, the method employing the data holding article and an information processing apparatus; the method comprising the steps of providing a data holding article, the data holding article having recorded thereon machine-readable data, the machine-readable data including encoded data representative of a bearer's personal identifier, the machine-readable data including encoded data representative of at least one event or transaction, each event or transaction having a predetermined number of permissible occurrences; providing information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus having means for reading the encoded event-related or transactional data, the information processing apparatus having means for reading the encoded personal identifier data, the information processing apparatus having input means for receiving a personal identifier presented by the bearer, the presented personal identifier being correspondent with the encoded personal identifier data, the information processing apparatus having means for computing correlation between the encoded personal identifier data and the presented personal identifier; presenting the data holding article to the information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus reading the encoded personal identifier data, the information processing apparatus reading the encoded event-related or transactional data for a determination of prior occurrences; presenting the bearer's personal identifier to the information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus computing the correlation between the presented personal identifier and the encoded personal identifier data for a determination of bearer identity; and a) the information processing apparatus effecting a bar to the event or transaction when the correlation between the presented personal identifier and the encoded personal identifier data is inconsistent with the predetermined bearer identification requirements or when there is a determination that access would exceed the predetermined number of permissible occurrences, and b) the information processing apparatus effecting access to the event or transaction when the correlation between the presented personal identifier and the encoded personal identifier is consistent with the predetermined bearer identification requirements and when there is a determination of prior events or transactions within the predetermined number of permissible occurrences, the information processing apparatus altering the data holding article to record the access, the recordation being machine-readable by the information processing apparatus for the determination of prior occurrences.