Abstract:
A laminated construction that combines card stock with another card stock that has been printed with a dark pigmented coating, such as ink, to prevent the show through of information that appears beneath a scratch-off coating over the concealed information.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/316,586, filed Aug. 31, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates generally to cards containing information concealed under a scratch-off coating and more particularly to cards having security features to prevent the show-through of the concealed information when a bright light is applied to one side of the card. 
   Scratch-off coatings are commonly used to conceal printed or imaged information, such as a lottery card, phone card, or game piece. If the scratch-off coatings used are not sufficiently opaque, the concealed information runs the risk of being read if a bright light is shown through the card. To prevent this, very opaque scratch-off coatings such as latex have been used or special foil coated paper board products are used. 
   The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present cards with concealed information. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In one aspect of the present invention, a secure card is accomplished by providing a card with a laminated construction that combines a card stock (plastic, paper, synthetic film, etc.) with another card stock and a dark pigment, which may be in either card stock or may be placed between the card stocks. The two card stocks are laminated together, preferably with an adhesive. The laminated secure card can be used for lottery cards, phone cards, game pieces or other prepaid merchant or gift cards. 
   The foregoing and other aspects will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
       FIG. 1  is a simplified cross-sectional view of a card of the present invention; 
       FIG. 1A  is a simplified cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of a card of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a top view of the card shown in  FIG. 1 ; and 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating a method of making the card shown in FIG.  1 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   Briefly, the secure card  10  is made by taking a first or primary substrate  23 , such as a plastic, paper, or synthetic film, and printing fixed information  34  such as a message or design or a combination of both on the outer face  23   a  of the primary substrate  23  with printing ink, applying variable data  30 , such as an account number or PIN to the face  23   a  of the primary substrate  23  and covering the variable data  30  with a removable coating  32 , such as a scratch-off coating to conceal the variable data  30 . A second or secondary substrate  21  is printed with a dark pigmented ink (such as black ink)  25  on its inner surface and printed fixed information  34  on its outside surface  21   a . The two substrates  21 ,  23  are laminated or bonded together with a permanent adhesive  27 . The finished laminated construct is then die cut into cards  10 . 
     FIG. 1  shows a preferred embodiment of the secure card  10  comprising two substrates  21 ,  23  with a dark pigment ink layer  25  printed on the inner surface of one of the substrates  21 ,  23 . A layer of adhesive  27  is placed on one of the two substrates  21 ,  23  and the two substrates are laminated together. The preferred ink is a UV curable ink and the preferred adhesive is a rubber base hot melt adhesive.  FIG. 2  shows an alternate placement of the dark pigment ink layer  25 , where the dark pigment ink has a size that corresponds to the size of the concealed variable data  30  and is placed beneath the concealed variable data. Alternatively, the dark pigment ink layer  25  can cover the entire substrate  21  or  23  as shown in FIG.  1 . 
   An alternate embodiment of the secure-card  10  is shown FIG.  1 A. In this embodiment, the dark pigment is added to either substrate  21  or  23  or to the adhesive  27 . 
   In addition to the preferred dark pigment ink  25 , other light blocking pigments can be used, such as any sufficiently opaque pigment of other colors, including white. Light blocking pigments containing metallic components could also be used. Although the preferred light blocking pigment is dark pigment ink  25 , an ink of the same color and at least the same density as that used to print the concealed variable data  30  may be used. 
   Printed matter, comprising fixed information  34  and variable data  30 , can be printed on either substrate  21  or  23  or both substrates  21  and  23 . Some or all of the variable data  30  can be concealed with scratch-off coating  32 . For example, both an account number and a PIN could be printed with only the PIN being covered with scratch-off coating. In addition, magnetic stripes, bar codes, etc. can be placed on the card  10 . 
     FIG. 3  illustrates one method  100  of manufacturing a secure card  10  of the present invention. Generally, the order of the steps is not critical to the manufacture of a secure card  10 . For example, the variable data  30  may be printed before the fixed information  34 , which may include a message, logo, or graphical design. Or the fixed information  34  may be printed before the variable data  30 . Although not preferred, the two substrates  21 ,  23  may be laminated together along with the dark pigment layer  25  before the fixed information  34  and variable data  30 , and removable coating  32  are applied. 
   In  FIG. 3 , the starting material, substrates  21 ,  23  are provided in the form of sheets or rolls. The variable data  30  is printed on the outer surface  23   a  of first substrate  23 . Next, the fixed information  34  is printed on the outer surface  23   a  of the first substrate. The parts of the variable data  30  that need to be concealed, PINs, etc. are then covered with a removable coating  32 . For the preferred embodiment, the inner surface of the first substrate  23  or the inner surface of the second substrate  21  is covered with a layer of dark pigmented ink  25 . Then fixed information  34  is printed on the outer surface  21   a  of the second substrate  21 . Adhesive  27  is then applied to the inner surface of the second substrate  21  on top of the layer of dark pigmented ink  25 . The two substrates  21 ,  23  are laminated together through the use of a pressure (nip) roller. The printed laminated material is finally die cut to the approximate finished size. 
   Variable data  30  can be printed on one or both substrates and some or all of the variable data  30  is covered with removable coating  32 . 
   Alternatively, the starting material for secure card  10  can be pre-cut card sized sections of substrate materials. Also, the laminated secure card  10  can be assembled with the two substrates  21 ,  23 , the dark pigment  25  (in one of the substrates, an ink layer on one or both of the substrates  21 ,  23  or in the adhesive  27 ) and the adhesive  27 , cut to the final size with the printing of the fixed information  34 , the variable data  30  and the removable coating  32  being applied after lamination.