Data carrier having a contact plate with printing thereon
A data carrier having a main card body and a contact plate included on a surface of said main card body, wherein an area of the contact plate has a printed image thereon. In particular the image on the contact plate of the card is personalized and matches an image on the main card body so providing a further security feature for the data carrier.
1. A data carrier having a main card body and a contact plate embedded in the main card body, the contact plate being metalized on a first area to produce external contacts on the first area of the contact plate, wherein a second area of the contact plate has a printed image thereon, the printed image being in a discrete area of the contact plate distinct from the external contacts,
the external contacts being arranged in compliance with International Organization for Standards (ISO) standards in two parallel rows so that the external contacts connect to contacts on a receiving device, the two parallel rows being spaced apart from each other,
the first area being metalized only in an area for the external contacts compliant with the ISO standards to connect to the contacts of the receiving device.
2. The data carrier according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more areas comprise areas having external contacts for the contact plate.
3. The data carrier according to claim 1 , wherein the printed image is printed on a monochrome base layer on the contact plate.
4. The data carrier according to claim 1 , wherein the printed image is printed with an ink selected from the group consisting of inks readable by a machine, inks reactive to changes in temperature or atmosphere, and inks reactive to UV or IR.
5. The data carrier according to claim 1 , wherein the data carrier is a Smart Card, a bank card, a credit card, a debit card or a passport.
6. The data carrier according to claim 1 , wherein the printed image corresponds to a printed image on the main card body of the data carrier.
7. The data carrier according to claim 1 , wherein the printed image is partially on the contact plate and partially on the main card body of the data carrier.
8. The data carrier according to claim 1 , wherein the contact plate and the main card body of the data carrier are of different materials.
9. A method of manufacturing a data carrier wherein a contact plate is printed with an image and embedded in a main card body of the data carrier, the contact plate being metalized on an area to produce external contacts on the area of the contact plate, the printed image being in a discrete area of the contact plate distinct from the external contacts,
the external contacts being arranged in compliance with International Organization for Standards (ISO) standards in two parallel rows so that the external contacts connect to contacts on a receiving device, the two parallel rows being spaced apart from each other,
the first area being metalized only in an area for the external contacts compliant with the ISO standards to connect to the contacts of the receiving device.
10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the contact plate is first coated with a base layer and then the image is printed onto the base layer.
11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein, prior to printing the base layer, external contacts on the contact plate are masked.
12. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the image is printed by a printing process selected from the group consisting of: a direct LASER beam application on the contact plate, local LASER ablation of a base layer pre-deposited on the contact plate, laser printing, and Dye Diffusion Thermal Transfer.
13. A method of manufacturing a data carrier wherein a contact plate is embedded in a main card body of the data carrier and the contact plate is printed with an image after embedding, the contact plate being metalized on an area to produce external contacts on the area of the contact plate, the image being in a discrete area of the contact plate distinct from the external contacts,
the external contacts being arranged in compliance with International Organization for Standards (ISO) standards in two parallel rows so that the external contacts connect to contacts on a receiving device, the two parallel rows being spaced apart from each other,
the first area being metalized only in an area for the external contacts compliant with the ISO standards to connect to the contacts of the receiving device.
14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the contact plate and the main card body are printed with images in one printing pass.