INFORMATION CARD SYSTEM

• US 20050035201A1
• Filed: 09/13/2004
• Published: 02/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Erica Tsai, John C. Tsai
• Original Assignee: Erica Tsai, John C. Tsai
• Inventors: Tsai, John C., Tsai, Erica
• Granted Patent: US 7,025,265 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/449
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/083 Constructional details
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/12 the marking being sensed by magnetic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/084 sensing magnetic material by relative movement detecting flux changes without altering its magnetised state
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/503 Laser transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/572 Wavelength control

Abstract

A data distribution system (10) including an information card (12) and a reader (14). The information card (12) includes visible indicia (20) on its front and stripe zones (34) and a ring zone (36) on its back. The zones (34, 36) are suitable for magnetically recording data, and optional characteristics for such data. The reader (14) may be a linear reader (14a), a rotary reader (14b), or a card-stationary reader (14c, 14d) and may optionally act automatically in response to reading one or more of the optional data characteristics. If the reader (14) is a rotary reader (14b) the information card (12) may particularly be loaded into a cartridge (16) which is loaded into the rotary reader (14b).

Claims

1. A system for distributing data, comprising:

an information card having a front surface, a back surface, and four edges defining a rectangular shape such that said information card resembles a conventional business card;

said information card including upon its said front surface visually-recognizable indicia;

said information card including upon its said back surface at least one stripe zone and a ring zone able to contain magnetically recorded instances of the data; and

a reader including a stationary read mechanism to read the data magnetically recorded in at least one of said zones by placing said information card proximate to said stationary read mechanism.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of said zones does contain the data and further includes data identifiers associated with at least some of the data; and

said reader initiates an action automatically in response to reading specific instances of said data identifiers.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein:

said reader includes a database of records having a plurality of uniquely identified fields; and

said action is storing instances of the data into said uniquely identified fields of said records when said data identifiers associated with the data match said uniquely identified fields.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein:

said reader includes a telephone device; and

when the data includes a telephone number, said action is dialing said telephone number.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein:

said reader includes a global positioning system (GPS) device and a display unit; and

when the data includes GPS data, said action is displaying a map or route based on said GPS data on said display unit.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said zones further includes at least one data orientator to permit reading the data regardless of a relative orientation of said information card relative to said stationary read mechanism.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said zones includes stored instances of the data including extensible markup language tagging.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said information card is constructed with a paper or plastic based substrate material, to facilitate economical manufacture of said information card.

9. An information card for distributing data, comprising:

a front surface, a back surface, and four edges defining a rectangular shape such that the information card resembles a conventional business card;

the information card including upon its said front surface visually-recognizable indicia; and

the information card including upon its said back surface at least one stripe zone and a ring zone able to contain magnetically recorded instances of the data, wherein at least one of said zones is readable by placing said information card proximate to a stationary read mechanism.

10. The information card of claim 9, wherein at least one of said zones does contain the data.

11. The information card of claim 10, wherein the data includes at least one encoded version of at least some of said visually-recognizable indicia appearing upon said front surface of the information card.

12. The information card of claim 10, wherein at least one of said zones further includes data identifiers associated with at least some of the data.

13. The information card of claim 10, wherein at least one of said zones further includes at least one data orientator to permit reading the data regardless of a relative orientation of the information card relative to said stationary read mechanism.

14. The information card of claim 10, wherein at least one of said zones includes instances of the data including extensible markup language tagging.

15. The information card of claim 9, wherein the information card is constructed with a paper or plastic based substrate material, to facilitate economical manufacture of the information card.