Patent Publication Number: US-2010108771-A1

Title: Financial transaction card

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the priority of Hong Kong short term patent application No. 08113410.7 filed on Dec. 9, 2008 and Hong Kong short term patent application No. 08111981.0 filed on Oct. 30, 2008. 
     FIELD OF THE PATENT APPLICATION 
     The present patent application generally relates to financial transaction cards and more particularly to a financial transaction card that includes a flexible printed circuit board and incorporates the functions of fingerprint scanning and keyboard input. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Financial transaction cards such as credit cards, debit cards, ATM (Automated Teller Machine) cards and so on have been widely used for some time, gaining popularity as convenient substitutes for cash. In the meantime, the demand for improved security and usability of the financial cards is increasing. In particular, it is desired to have a financial transaction card that can be used to scan a user&#39;s fingerprint and provide a keyboard for the user to securely and conveniently input confidential data therewith. 
     SUMMARY 
     A financial transaction card is provided. In one aspect, the financial transaction card includes a housing having a substrate and a cover, a flexible printed circuit board disposed between the cover and the substrate, and an integrated circuit configured for driving the flexible printed circuit board to operate as a sensing device. The sensing device includes a fingerprint scanning module and a keyboard module. The cover of the housing includes a touch panel is above the flexible printed circuit board. The touch panel includes a pattern of a plurality of touch buttons printed on the cover. 
     The touch buttons may form a keyboard having number keys, letter keys and function keys. 
     The cover of the housing may include a window above the flexible printed circuit board, a portion of the flexible printed circuit board being exposed through the window. 
     The financial transaction may further include a storage module electrically connected to the flexible printed circuit board and configured for storing data. 
     The financial transaction card may further include an interface module electrically connected to the flexible printed circuit board and configured for electrically connecting the financial transaction card to an external device. The interface module includes a plurality of metal contacts, the metal contacts being disposed on a side of the financial transaction card. 
     The flexible printed circuit board may include a substrate and a plurality of connecting wires. Both the substrate and the connecting wires are transparent. 
     In another aspect, the financial transaction card includes a housing having substrate and a cover, a flexible printed circuit board disposed between the cover and the substrate, an integrated circuit configured for driving the flexible printed circuit board to operate as a sensing device, and an interface module electrically connected to the flexible printed circuit board and configured for electrically connecting the financial transaction card to an external device. The sensing device includes a fingerprint scanning module and a keyboard module. 
     The cover of the housing may include a touch panel above the flexible printed circuit board. The touch panel includes a pattern of a plurality of touch buttons printed on the cover. The touch buttons may form a keyboard having number keys, letter keys and function keys. The flexible printed circuit board may be configured to sense a user&#39;s touch on the keyboard and thereby to receive data input by the user. 
     The keyboard module may be configured to sense the user&#39;s touch by radio frequency electromagnetic waves. 
     The cover of the housing may include a window above the flexible printed circuit board. A portion of the flexible printed circuit board may be exposed through the window, and the flexible printed circuit board may be configured to scan a user&#39;s fingerprint through the window. 
     The fingerprint scanning module may be configured to scan the user&#39;s fingerprint by radio frequency electromagnetic waves. 
     The financial transaction may further include a storage module electrically connected to the flexible printed circuit board and configured for storing data. 
     The flexible printed circuit board may include a substrate and a plurality of connecting wires. Both the substrate and the connecting wires are transparent. The connecting wires may be made of indium tin oxide (ITO). The substrate of the flexible printed circuit board may be made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). 
     The integrated circuit may be configured to control the fingerprint scanning module to acquire fingerprint scanning data, to control the keyboard module to acquire keyboard input data, and to transmit the fingerprint scanning data and the keyboard input data to an external device through the interface module. 
     The interface module may include a plurality of metal contacts, the metal contacts being disposed on a side of the financial transaction card. 
     The housing and the flexible printed circuit board are capable of being bent together as a whole piece. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an illustrative view of a financial transaction card according to an embodiment of the present application. 
         FIG. 2  is an illustrative view of a financial transaction card according to another embodiment of the present application. 
         FIG. 3  shows a front side and a back side of the financial transaction card illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a circuit schematic diagram of the circuit on the flexible printed circuit board of the financial transaction card illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 5  is a functional block diagram of the financial transaction card illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the financial transaction card in the present patent application, examples of which are also provided in the following description. Exemplary embodiments of the financial transaction card disclosed in the present patent application are described in detail, although it will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art that some features that are not particularly important to an understanding of the financial transaction card may not be shown for the sake of clarity. 
     Furthermore, it should be understood that the financial transaction card disclosed in the present patent application is not limited to the precise embodiments described below and that various changes and modifications thereof may be effected by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the protection. For example, elements and/or features of different illustrative embodiments may be combined with each other and/or substituted for each other within the scope of this disclosure. 
       FIG. 1  is an illustrative view of a financial transaction card according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the financial transaction card includes a housing  11  and a flexible printed circuit board  12 . The housing  11  includes a substrate  111  and a cover  112 , both of which are made of plastics. The flexible printed circuit board  12  is disposed between the substrate  111  and the cover  112 . The housing  11  and the flexible printed circuit board  12  can be bent together as a whole piece. 
     The flexible printed circuit board  12  includes a substrate (not shown in  FIG. 1 ) and a plurality of connecting wires (not shown in  FIG. 1 ). The substrate of the flexible printed circuit board  12  is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The connecting wires are made of indium tin oxide (ITO). 
     The financial transaction card in this embodiment further includes an integrated circuit (not shown in  FIG. 1 ). The integrated circuit is configured for driving the flexible printed circuit board  12  so that the flexible printed circuit board  12  can operate as a sensing device. In this embodiment, the sensing device includes a keyboard module and a fingerprint scanning module. The keyboard module is configured to sense a touch by a user&#39;s finger so as to receive data input such as a password. The fingerprint scanning module is configured to scan a user&#39;s fingerprint so as to acquire the fingerprint information of the user. It is understood that the integrated circuit can be disposed on the flexible printed circuit board  12 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a window  1121  is disposed on the cover  112  of the housing  11  above the flexible printed circuit board  12  and a portion of the flexible printed circuit board  12 , namely a scanning area  121 , is exposed through the window  1121 . When a user places a finger on the window  1121 , the scanning area  121 , driven by the integrated circuit, is configured to operate as the fingerprint scanning module and scan the user&#39;s fingerprint. In this embodiment, the fingerprint scanning module is configured to scan the user&#39;s fingerprint by radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic waves. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a touch panel  1122  is disposed on the cover  112  of the housing  11  above a sensing area  122  of the flexible printed circuit board  12 . The touch panel  1122  includes a pattern of a plurality of touch buttons printed on the cover  112 . The touch buttons form a keyboard that includes function keys such as directional keys, a confirmation key and etc. When a user&#39;s finger touches or presses the touch buttons, the sensing area  122  of the flexible printed circuit board  12 , driven by the integrated circuit, operates as a keyboard module to receive commands associated with the touch buttons from the user. 
     It is understood that the keyboard formed by the touch buttons may include other keys such as number keys and English letter keys.  FIG. 2  is an illustrative view of a financial transaction card according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in  FIG. 2 , a user can input a password that includes English letters and numbers and execute other operations such as language selection, deletion, confirmation and etc. through keyboard  211 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the financial transaction card in this embodiment further includes a housing that has a cover  21  and a substrate  22 . The keyboard  211  is formed by touch buttons printed on the cover  21  and disposed above a sensing area  221  of a flexible printed circuit board  23  between the cover  21  and the substrate  22 . The sensing area  221  is configured for receiving data input by the user through the keyboard  211 . A window  212  is disposed on the cover  21  and above a scanning area  222  of the flexible printed circuit board  23 . When a user places a finger on the window  212 , the scanning area  222  is configured to scan the fingerprint of the user. In this embodiment, the keyboard sensing can be realized by radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic waves. 
     The financial transaction card further includes a solid state storage device (not shown in  FIG. 2 ) electrically connected to the flexible printed circuit board  23  and configured for storing data such as system files, user information and encrypted fingerprint data. 
       FIG. 3  shows a front side and a back side of the financial transaction card illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Referring to  FIG. 3 , the financial transaction card further includes an IC (integrated circuit) card interface. The IC card interface includes a plurality of metal contacts  223  for connecting the financial transaction card to external devices such as a card reader. The metal contacts  223  in this embodiment are electrically connected with the flexible printed circuit board  23 . 
       FIG. 4  is a circuit schematic diagram of the circuit on the flexible printed circuit board in this embodiment.  FIG. 5  is a functional block diagram of the financial transaction card in this embodiment. Referring to  FIG. 5 , from a functional perspective, the financial transaction card includes a fingerprint scanning module  51 , a keyboard module  52 , a storage module  53 , a control module  54  and an interface module  55 . The fingerprint scanning module  51  is configured to scan a user&#39;s fingerprint through the window  212  (as shown in  FIG. 2 ) by RF electromagnetic waves and corresponding to the scanning area  222  in  FIG. 2 . The keyboard module  52  is configured to receive data input by the user through the keyboard  211  (as shown in  FIG. 2 ) and corresponding to the sensing area  221  in  FIG. 2 . As previously mentioned, the data may include a password composed by numbers, English letters and etc. The storage module  53  is configured to store data such as system files, user information and encrypted fingerprint data, and corresponding to the previously mentioned solid state storage device. The interface module  55  includes the metal contacts  223  (as shown in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 5 ). The control module  54 , corresponding to the previously mentioned integrated circuit, is configured to control the fingerprint scanning module  51  to acquire fingerprint scanning data, to control the keyboard module  52  to acquire keyboard input data, and to transmit the fingerprint scanning data and the keyboard input data to an external device through the interface module  55  so that the external device can compare the received data with the data stored in the storage module  53  and thereby verify the identity of the user. 
     In this embodiment, because the financial transaction card has a keyboard module  52  and a fingerprint scanning module  51 , the need of providing an external keyboard or an external fingerprint scanning device at the location where the financial transaction card is used is eliminated. In addition, with the financial transaction card provided by this embodiment, the input of a user&#39;s password and the user&#39;s fingerprint can be combined to verify the user&#39;s identify, which makes the use of the financial transaction card more secure. 
     While the present patent application has been shown and described with particular references to a number of embodiments thereof, it should be noted that various other changes or modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.