Credit card

• US 5,259,649 A
• Filed: 06/24/1991
• Issued: 11/09/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gur Shomron
• Original Assignee: Gur Shomron
• Inventors: Shomron, Gur
• Primary Examiner(s): Bell, Paul A.
• Application Number:
  US07/718,416
• Time in Patent Office: 869 Days
• Field of Search: 283/114, 283/904
• US Class Current: 283/114
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/00 Information-bearing cards or sheet-like structures characterised by identification or security features; Manufacture thereof printing processes to produce identification or security features B41M3/14
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/23 Identity cards
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/26 Entrance cards; Admission tickets
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/30 Identification or security features, e.g. for preventing forgery
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/347 Passive cards
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/10 together with a coded signal , e.g. in the form of personal identification information, like personal identification number [PIN] or biometric data
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1058 PIN is checked locally
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 283/904 Credit card

Abstract

Credit cards intended to eliminate or at least greatly reduce misuse by unauthorized persons. The card bears in addition to the correct identification number a number of further digits or letters, so that a person obtaining such card in an unauthorized manner will not be able to identify the correct number. The rightful owner has only to remember which of the numbers or letters is not part of the correct identification code. A card may be provided with a number of identification codes, encircled by a variety of different geometrical shapes, thus the owner has only to remember the shape in order to identify his correct access code.

Claims

1. A credit-card comprising as identification of an authorized card-holder a sequence selected from numbers and letters, wherein in addition to an authorizing sequence the card bears a plurality of indicia imprinted on a substrate selected from a sequence of numbers and letter, one of which is an authorizing code to be used by a user for purchases, said groups further comprising different geometrical shapes one of said geometrical shapes identifying the authorizing code, which pattern cannot be identified by an unauthorized user.

2. A credit card according to claim 1 where the groups are sequences selected from numbers and letters.

3. A credit card according to claim 1 comprising more than one correct code, amongst a plurality of incorrect codes.

4. A credit card as claimed in claim 1, where the groups comprise distinctive patterns including encircling said groups by different geometrical shapes, whereby the card-owner has to remember only the shape in order to find the correct code.

5. A credit card according to claim 1 where at least one of the code groups represents a secret number for use in a bank machine.

6. A credit-card according to claim 1 being a card for making phone calls wherein the purchases are purchases of phone calls and at least one of the indicia sequence is an authorizing code for making phone calls.