ELECTRONIC CREDIT CARD

• US 3,604,900 A
• Filed: 07/07/1969
• Issued: 09/14/1971
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/1969
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Charles G. Kalt
• Original Assignee: Charles G. Kalt
• Inventors: Kalt, Charles G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Thomas A.
• Application Number:
  US04/839,500
• Time in Patent Office: 799 Days
• Field of Search: 235/61.12,61.12NP,61.12M,61.12C,61.7B 340/149,173 200/46
• US Class Current: 235/488
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/067 Record carriers with conductive marks, printed circuits or semiconductor circuit elements, e.g. credit or identity cards also with resonating or responding marks without active components

Abstract

An electrically encoded credit card includes encoded information in the form of electrical elements and is adapted for decoding by a card-reading means for advising a merchant as to customer identification and credit rating.

Claims

1. In an electronic credit card having laminated-insulative material with electrical elements thereon and terminal areas connected to the electrical elements adapted for external coupling the improvement which consists of sheets of organic polymer insulative material of dielectric properties having at least one sheet interposed between two other sheets which are immediately adjacent to the interposed sheet so that the interposed sheet and the immediately adjacent sheets form a three-layer combination of sheets, a first metallization on a major surface of the interposed sheet, a second metallization on the major surface of one of the adjacent sheets which abuts the interposed sheet, said first and second metalizations being separated by the dielectric material of the interposed sheet and in capacitive relationship, a plurality of edge terminals on said adjacent sheets and at least one metallized conductive strip on said interposed sheet contacting the first metallization and extending to the edge of the interposed sheet and terminating in contact with at least one of the edge terminals on an adjacent sheet whereby the edge terminals provide both vertical conductors and external contact terminals for the card.

2. The card of claim 1 wherein said sheets are flexibly connected continuously into a folded strip of material, and strip metalizations form conductive paths extending over the folded edges which make the flexible connections so as to provide conductive paths from one sheet to the other.