Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to adding an identification element to a personal card. More specifically, aspects of the disclosure may provide for enhanced systems for adding an identification element to a card proximate an edge of the card and outward of any magnetic strip, chip, text, photo, or image on the card.
Individuals often have multiple personal cards in their wallet or purse, such as credit cards, debit cards, ATM cards, medical insurance cards, membership cards, and other types of identification cards. Retrieving the cards from a wallet or purse can be difficult at times, as the cards have smooth surfaces without anything for the user to grasp other than the card itself. Further, identification of different cards can be difficult at times, since only a portion of the peripheral edges of the cards are visible when the card is in a slot of a wallet or purse. Differentiating between a number of cards with similar background colors can be challenging.
The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects described herein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intended to identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in a simplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detailed description provided below.
Aspects discussed herein may provide a system that allows a user to add an identification element to a personal card, such as a credit card. The identification element may be a raised element extending outwardly from an exterior surface of the card, or a recess formed in the exterior surface of the card, for example. Such identification elements allow a user to more easily grasp and remove the card from a wallet or purse, and helps the user distinguish between different cards that are housed in the user's wallet or purse.
Certain embodiments allow a user to design their own identification elements for different cards, as well as select the locations on the cards where they would like the identification elements positioned. Certain embodiments provide a server device that allows multiple users access to design tools to create custom identification elements. Other embodiments provide a stand-alone kiosk into which users can insert a card and have an identification element added to a card while they wait.
In accordance with certain embodiments, a computer-implemented method may include prompting, by a server device, a user to access an on-line tool to create an identification element to be added to an exterior surface of a personal card; receiving, by the server device, the identification element created by the user; prompting, by the server device, the user to select a location for the identification element from a plurality of pre-selected locations on the personal card, each of the plurality of pre-selected locations being proximate edges of the personal card and outward of any of magnetic strips, chips, text, photos, and images on the personal card; receiving, by the server device, the location for the identification element selected by the user; modifying, by the server device, an exterior surface of the personal card to include the identification element at the selected location; and delivering the personal card to the user.
In accordance with other aspects, a system may include a server device having a database of images of a plurality of existing credit cards of a user; the server device configured to provide a user with an on-line tool to create an identification element to be added to an exterior surface of an additional credit card of the user; receive, by the server device, the identification element created by the user; provide the user with a plurality of locations for locating the identification element on the additional credit card that are different than locations of identification elements on the plurality of existing credit cards; prompt the user to select one of the plurality of locations; receive, by the server device, the selected location; and modify the exterior surface of the additional credit card to include the identification element at the selected location as one of a raised element on the exterior surface, an indentation on the exterior surface, and a cutout in the exterior surface.
In accordance with further aspects, one or more non-transitory media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform steps including prompt a user to insert a personal card into a slot of a server device; scan, by the server device, the personal card with an image detection system to determine non-modifiable areas on the personal card that include any of magnetic strips, chips, text, photos, and images and identify modifiable locations proximate edges of the personal card; provide the user with a design tool to create a design for an identification element to be added to an exterior surface of the personal card; prompt the user to create a design for the identification element to be added to the personal card; upload, to the server device, the element created by the user; prompt the user to select one of the modifiable locations on the personal card for the identification element; upload, to the server device, a location selected by the user; modify the exterior surface of the personal card with the identification element created by the user at the selected location; and discharge the personal card from the slot of the server device.
By using computing devices and applications to add identification elements to their personal cards, individuals can more readily identify and retrieve a desired card when the user's cards are stored in a wallet or purse.
Corresponding apparatus, systems, and computer-readable media are also within the scope of the disclosure. These features, along with many others, are discussed in greater detail below.
The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limited in the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:
In the following description of the various embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in which aspects of the disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Aspects of the disclosure are capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. Rather, the phrases and terms used herein are to be given their broadest interpretation and meaning. The use of “including” and “comprising” and variations thereof is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items and equivalents thereof.
By way of introduction, aspects discussed herein may relate to systems, methods, techniques, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer readable media for adding an identification element to a personal card of user.
Before discussing these concepts in greater detail, however, several examples of a computing device that may be used in implementing and/or otherwise providing various aspects of the disclosure will first be discussed with respect to
A computing device 101 may, in some embodiments, operate in a standalone environment. In others, computing device 101 may operate in a networked environment. As shown in
As seen in
Devices 101, 105, 107, 109, 110, 112 may have similar or different architecture as described with respect to computing device 101. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the functionality of computing device 101 (or device 105, 107, 109, 110, 112) as described herein may be spread across multiple data processing devices, for example, to distribute processing load across multiple computers, to segregate transactions based on geographic location, user access level, quality of service (QoS), etc. For example, devices 101, 105, 107, 109, 110, 112 and others may operate in concert to provide parallel computing features in support of the operation of control logic 125 and/or design software 127.
One or more aspects discussed herein may be embodied in computer-usable or readable data and/or computer-executable instructions, such as in one or more program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices as described herein. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types when executed by a processor in a computer or other device. The modules may be written in a source code programming language that is subsequently compiled for execution, or may be written in a scripting language such as (but not limited to) HTML or XML. The computer executable instructions may be stored on a computer readable medium such as a hard disk, optical disk, removable storage media, solid state memory, RAM, etc. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments. In addition, the functionality may be embodied in whole or in part in firmware or hardware equivalents such as integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and the like. Particular data structures may be used to more effectively implement one or more aspects discussed herein, and such data structures are contemplated within the scope of computer executable instructions and computer-usable data described herein. Various aspects discussed herein may be embodied as a method, a computing device, a data processing system, or a computer program product.
Having discussed several examples of computing devices which may be used to implement some aspects as discussed further below, discussion will now turn to an illustrative environment and network for adding an identification element to a user's personal card.
Embodiments discussed herein depict an example method for modifying personal cards of users to include an identification element. The users may access an on-line design tool to create an identification element to be placed on one or more personal cards of each user. The personal cards can include credit cards, debit cards, ATM cards, medical insurance cards, membership cards, and other types of identification cards. Such cards may include magnetic strips, EMV chips, text, photos, and images. An identification element may be added to a user's card, proximate a peripheral edge of the card.
Server device 101 may utilize a card modifier 112 to add an identification element to user's personal cards. Card modifier 112 may be a punch press, for example, which may be used to create recesses and/or apertures, or cutouts, in the user's personal cards, which recesses and/or apertures serve to act as identification elements based on their shape and location. In other embodiments, card modifier 112 may be an embossing machine that creates raised elements, or projections, on the surface of the user's personal cards, which raised elements serve to act as identification elements based on their shape and location. It is to be appreciated that card modifier 112 may take other forms as well, and serves to create elements that extend outwardly from the exterior surface of the personal card, such as projections, or elements that extend inwardly into the exterior surface of the personal card, such as recesses.
Various embodiments of a personal card 205 are illustrated in
As illustrated in
In certain embodiments, identification elements 240A-E may be elements that are raised or recessed with respect to the surface of personal card 205. Thus, in such embodiments, identification elements 240A-E provide something that the user can grasp in order to help remove the personal card from a wallet or purse. For example, the user may be able to use their fingers, or a fingernail, to hook on or engage an identification element 240 of a card as they remove it from their wallet. By positioning an identification element 240 proximate a peripheral edge 250 of a personal card 205, a user will be easily able to use their fingers or a fingernail to hook the identification element and pull the personal card from the user's wallet or purse.
In the embodiment illustrated in
In the illustrated embodiment, identification element 240A has a circular shape. It is to be appreciated that in certain embodiments, as illustrated in
In other embodiments, as illustrated in
It is to be appreciated that identification element 240A can take on any desired shape. As illustrated in
In certain embodiments, as illustrated in
A user with a plurality of personal cards 205 in their wallet or purse can help distinguish one card from another through the use of different identification elements 240A-E. The user can advantageously put a different identification element 240A-E on each card, as well as put each identification element 240A-E in a different location, thereby allowing the user to quickly recognize a desired card by the particular identification element 240A-E on that card, and easily pull the card from their wallet or purse because of the location and structure of the identification element 240A-E.
In certain embodiments, as illustrated in
In certain embodiments, server device 101 may allow a user to access design software 127 to select one of the pre-selected shapes in image database 129 and locate their desired shape in drag-and-drop fashion in a selected location on an image of a personal card 205. Once the user has selected the shape and its location, server device 101 may instruct card modifier 112 to modify a personal card 205 with the selected shape as the selected location.
In other embodiments, server device 101 may allow a user to access design software 127 in order to create a freeform design of their own for the identification element 240A-E on a particular card. By using design software 127 the user could create an identification element 240A-E that has a particular meaning to the user, which could help the user in more quickly identifying the particular personal card and distinguish the particular personal card from other personal cards of the user. As illustrated in
In other embodiments, the user could upload an image from a user device 105, 107, 109, or 110 to be used as the identification element 240A-E on a particular personal card 205. User devices 105, 107, 109, or 110, could be, for example, a tablet device, a PDA, a laptop, or a personal computer. The user could obtain a desired image and upload it to server device 101 from any of user devices 105, 107, 109, or 110. Server device could then instruct card modifier 112 to use the uploaded image to modify the personal card 205.
Such an embodiment could help the user with branding through the use of logos, for example. As illustrated in
In certain embodiments, as seen in
In certain embodiments, server device 101 may send instructions to card modifier 112 to modify a new personal card 205 with an identification element 240A-E. In other embodiments a user may wish to have one or more existing personal cards 205 modified to include identification elements 205. In such embodiments, server device 101 may be a stand-alone device, such as a kiosk, similar to an ATM machine, as illustrated in
In such an embodiment, server device 101 may have a card slot 302 into which the user may insert their existing personal card 205. Server device 101 may also include a keyboard 304 and a display 306. Display 306 may be a touch screen display that allows the user to navigate through design software 127 when designing the identification element 240A-E to be added to personal card 205. In other embodiments, server device 101 may include a cursor (not shown).
Server device 101 may also include image recognition software that allows server device 101 to recognize the areas where text, images, photos, chips, magnetic strips, and other elements are positioned on personal card 205. Server device 101 can then restrict where the user is allowed to position identification element 240A-E on personal card 205 so that the identification element 240A-E does not interfere with the text, images, photos, chips, magnetic strips, and other elements on personal card 205.
In certain embodiments, a database of images of a plurality of existing credit cards 205 of a particular user may be uploaded to image database 129 of server device 101. In certain embodiments, the user may provide a plurality of credit cards 205 that are scanned and uploaded to image database 129. It is to be appreciated that the user could scan each of the credit cards 205 themselves and upload the images to image database 129 of server device 101. In other embodiments, server device 101 could access the images of the user's credit card 205 from images already in image database 129 and/or images from an image database of external entities, such as a financial institutions and card issuing entities. Once image database 129 has been updated with images of the user's existing credit cards 205, server device 101 can then allow a user to create and add an identification element 240A-E to an additional credit card 205 at a location different from locations of identification elements 240 A-E on the user's existing credit cards 205, thereby ensuring that each of the user's credit cards 205 has an identification element 240A-E in a unique location.
A method 600 of adding an identification element 240A-E to a personal card 205 is shown in
At step 620, server device 101 receives the location selected by the user for identification element 240A-E on personal card 205. At step 625, server device 101 modifies the exterior surface 255 of personal card 205 to include the selected identification element 240A-E at the selected location through the user of card modifier 112. At step 630, the modified personal card 205 is delivered to the user.
An alternative method 700 of adding an identification element 240A-E to a personal card 205 is shown in
Another alternative method 800 of adding an identification element 240A-E to a personal card 205 is shown in
At step 815, server device 101 may provide the user with a design tool of design software 127 to create an identification element 240A-E to be added to an exterior surface 255 of the user's personal card 205. At step 820, server device 101 may prompt the user to create a design element using the design tool of design software 127. As discussed above, the on-line tool may allow the user to select an identification element 240A-E from a set of pre-selected design elements. In other embodiments, the on-line tool of design software 127 may allow the user to create a freeform design of any type for the identification element 240A-E. In yet further embodiments, the on-line tool of design software 127 may allow the user to upload a scanned image of a design for the identification element 240A-E.
At step 825, server device 101 may upload the design created by the user for identification element 240A-E. At step 830, server device 101 may prompt the user to select one of the modifiable locations on personal card 205 for identification element 240A-E. At step 835, server device 101 may upload the selected modifiable location. At step 840, server device 101 may modify the exterior surface 255 of personal card 205 with the identification element 240A-E created by the user at the selected location using card modifier 112. At step 845, server device may discharge personal card 205 from slot 302.
By having a server device that can add an identification element to personal cards of a user, the user can more easily distinguish between different cards in their wallet or purse, as well as more easily remove the personal cards from their wallet or purse.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
The application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/557,003, filed Aug. 30, 2019, and entitled “System for Adding Identification Element to Card”, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 16557003 | Aug 2019 | US |
Child | 16831954 | US |