Patent Application
20080076474
The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.
Please refer to
In this embodiment, the transaction card 20 is a standard plug-in size, which is approximately 25 mm long and 15 mm wide, and less than 1 mm thick. Furthermore, to ensure correct orientation of the transaction card 20 upon insertion in the mobile phone, one corner of the otherwise rectangular card is cut to form a slope 23, so that the length of one edge of the card is reduced to about 21 mm while the width of the adjacent edge is reduced to about 12 mm. The card can only be inserted in the phone with an angled corner in the correct direction. A hologram 27 is formed on another surface 26 (as shown in
On the other hand, the laminated card assembly also includes a flexible SIM sheet 30, shown in
In practice, the laminated card assembly could be applied for a portable device according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the portable device is a mobile phone or a personal digital assistant. Both of the transaction card 20 and the flexible SIM sheet 30 could be inserted together in the SIM sockets. In this embodiment, the laminated card assembly integrates functions of mobile phone (the flexible SIM sheet 30) and credit card (the transaction card 20).
Please refer to
The substrate for the transaction card 20 may be made from a plastic material similar to those used for credit cards. Preferably, the material, in one example, the shape and dimension of the transaction card 20 is adapted to the standard SIM card applied in a mobile phone. The ROM 211 could include a credit card system; and the EEPROM 212 could include applications associated with a fare applet of transportation, a loyalty applet of operator, a VIP management of membership, a mobile payment of bank, an e-ticket management of movie theater, and an e-coupon management of merchant and store. Therefore, the transaction card 20 could provide functions of credit card and multi-application card. Meanwhile, the transaction card 20 could be printed with a hologram thereon.
Furthermore, the flexible SIM sheet 30 includes a SIM memory module 31 mounted on or embedded into one surface of the card 33. In this embodiment, the flexible SIM sheet 30 is thinner than the transaction card 20. When the flexible SIM sheet 30 and the transaction card 20 are engaged together, the entire thickness of both is almost the same as that of a standard SIM for mobile phone.
One feature of this embodiment is that the laminated card assembly further includes an antenna 40 coupled to the transaction card 20. As shown in
The transfer or reading of information to or from the transaction device for contactless transaction via the transaction card 20 is achieved by sending RF signals through the antenna 40. When the user brings the transaction card 20 with the function of contactless transaction close to a card reader within a range, the reader is enabled to read the identification data contained in the memory module 21 via the antenna 40. When a contactless transaction is used in a transportation system, the memory module 21 mounted in the card contains the user's account information or billing information. The user may access or update the user's account. The transaction card 20 and the flexible SIM sheet 30 may be detachable from the socket of the portable device as known in the art. The flexible SIM sheet 30 and the transaction card 20 may be formed of a plastic material and be combined as a standard size of SIM card to insert into a card socket of a mobile phone. Antenna 40 can be provided as a length of a filament or wire, which may be formed by printing. Additionally, a radio frequency identification (RFID) technology could be introduced into the second engagement mechanism 32 of the flexible SIM sheet or the memory module 21 of the transaction card 20. Usually, the RFID system consists of an antenna, transceiver (often combined into one reader) and a transponder (i.e. tag). The antenna uses radio frequency waves to transmit a signal that activates the transponder. When activated, the tag transmits data back to the antenna. The data is used to notify a programmable logic controller that an action should occur. The action could be as simple as raising an access gate or as complicated as interfacing with a database to carry out a monetary transaction. Meanwhile, the antenna of RFIC module could be introduced into the second engagement mechanism 32 of the flexible SIM sheet, the memory module 21 of the transaction card 20 or both of them. Therefore, the laminated card assembly of the present invention provides additional service, which does not require direct contact or scanning.
In conclusion, the present invention provides a laminated card assembly for use with a communication terminal, which is capable of serving a payment function by means of contactless transaction and which is of a size that is easily and conveniently stored in a mobile phone. More particularly, the transaction card of the present invention further includes a ROM and an EEPROM for storing information of a credit card system, and information of a multi-application card system, such as a fare applet of transportation, a loyalty applet of operator, a VIP management of membership, a mobile payment of bank, an e-ticket management of movie theater, or an e-coupon management of merchant and store. Therefore, the laminated card assembly of the present invention could provide further functions of credit card and multi-application card, but the prior art fail to disclose that.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
