Data storage device, apparatus and method for using same

• US 7,201,324 B2
• Filed: 10/20/2005
• Issued: 04/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
• Original Assignee: Ultracard, Inc.
• Inventors: Mann, Donald C., Cook, Bert D. Jr., Parkison, Robert L., Zeissner, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Frech; Karl D.
• Application Number:
  US11/256,525
• Publication Number:
  US 20060038014A1
• Time in Patent Office: 537 Days
• Field of Search: 235/449, 235/450, 235/487, 235/493
• US Class Current: 235/487
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06196 Constructional details

Abstract

Data storage device for use as a portable card, magnetically encodeable card, or magnetic credit card, including a substrate having at least one surface. A high density, magnetically coercive material layer is disposed/deposited on the substrate for storing magnetic signals. The magnetically coercive material may have an axis of magnetization that is oriented in a predetermined direction relative to a surface of the substrate. A layer of non-magnetically material is disposed on the substrate for defining an exchange break layer. A protective coating is formed on the magnetic material layer and has a thickness between a maximum thickness which would materially attenuate magnetic signals passing between the magnetic material layer and a transducer and a minimum thickness enabling the protective coating to be abraded by usage in an ambient natural atmosphere operating environment. The protective coating may comprise one or more layers.

Claims

1. A card and card writer/reader system comprising:

an encodeable card having a body having upper and lower surfaces and side and end edges, said body including on at least one of said upper and lower surfaces a data storage section adapted to interact with a data processing station when said card and said data processing station are moved relative to each other to at least one of write encoding signals in said data storage section and read encoded signals from said data storage section, said data storage section including at least one layer of high density storage material for storing data;

a diamond-like hardness, abradeable protective coating formed on said at least one high density storage material layer and being selected to have a thickness between a maximum thickness which would materially attenuate encoding and encoded signals passing between said storage material layer and a transducer and a minimum thickness enabling said protective coating to be abraded by usage in an ambient natural atmosphere operating environment for removing therefrom a known quantity of the protective coating; and

a writer/reader having a transducer for at least one of writing encoding signals in said data storage section and reading encoded signals from said data storage section during relative movement of said card relative to the data processing station to enable data flow between said data storage section and said transducer.

2. The card and card writer/reader system of claim 1 wherein said an encodeable card is a magnetically encodeable card and wherein said data storage section has at least one thin film layer of high density, high coercivity magnetic material having a predetermined magnetic field orientation for storing data.

3. The card and card reader system of claim 2 wherein said transducer is an inductive head.

4. The card and card reader system of claim 2 wherein said transducer is a thin film head.

5. The card and card reader system of claim 2 wherein said transducer is a magnetoresistive head.

6. The card and card reader system of claim 2 wherein said transducer is a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) head.

7. The card and card reader system of claim 1 wherein said encodeable card is an optically encodeable card and wherein said data storage section has at least one layer of high density, optical recording material which is capable of reading and storing data in optical form.

8. The card and card reader system of claim 1 wherein said transducer is a laser adapted to reading and record optical data on said optical recording material.

9. The card and card reader system of claim 1 wherein said encodeable card is a magneto-optical encodeable card and wherein said data storage section has at least one layer of high density, magneto-optical recording material which is capable of reading and storing data.

10. A card and card writer/reader system comprising:

a magnetically encodeable card having a body having upper and lower surfaces and side and end edges, said body including on at least one of said upper and lower surfaces a data storage device adapted to interact with a data processing station when said card and said data processing station are moved relative to each other, said data storage device including at least one thin film layer of high density, high coercivity magnetic material having a predetermined magnetic field orientation for storing data;

a diamond-like hardness, abradeable protective coating formed on said thin film magnetic material layer and being selected to have a thickness between a maximum thickness which would materially attenuate magnetic signals passing between said magnetic material layer and a transducer and a minimum thickness enabling said protective coating to be abraded by usage in an ambient natural atmosphere operating environment for removing therefrom a known quantity of the protective coating;

a first transducer for reading said magnetically encoded signals from said data storage device during relative movement of said card relative to the data processing station to enable data flow between said data storage device and said transducer; and

a second transducer for writing magnetically encoding signals in said data storage device as magnetically encoded signals during relative movement of said card relative to the data processing station to enable data flow between said data storage device and said transducer.

11. The card and card writer/reader system of claim 10 wherein said transducer is an inductive head.

12. The card and card writer/reader system of claim 10 wherein said transducer is a thin film magnetic head.

13. The card and card writer/reader system of claim 10 wherein said transducer is a magnetoresistive head.

14. The card and card writer/reader system of claim 13 wherein said data storage device includes data tracks having a predetermined width formed on a selected surface of said card wherein said predetermined width is in the range of about “

1”

times to about “

2”

times wider than said magnetoresistive head.

15. The card and card writer/reader system of claim 13 wherein said magnetoresistive head includes a dual stripe magnetoresistive element.

16. The card and card writer/reader system of claim 13 wherein said magnetoresistive head includes a magnetic flux guide for conducting magnetic flux from said data storage section of said card read by said reader to said magnetoresistive head.

17. The card and card writer/reader system of claim 13 wherein said data storage device includes data tracks having a predetermined width formed on a selected surface of said card and wherein said predetermined width is wider than said magnetoresistive head.

18. The card and card writer/reader system of claim 10 wherein said transducer is a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) head.

19. A method for reading a card with a card reader comprising the steps of:

forming on a substrate of a card a data storage section adapted to interact with a data processing station when said card and said data processing station are moved relative to each other to at least one of write encoding signals in said data storage section as encoded signals and read encoded signals from said data storage section;

forming a relatively hard, abradeable protective coating on said data storage section wherein said protective coating has a thickness between a maximum thickness which would materially attenuate encoding and encoded signals passing between said data storage section and a transducer and a minimum thickness enabling said protective coating to be abraded by usage in an ambient natural atmosphere operating environment for removing therefrom a known quantity of the protective coating; and

moving said card and data processing station relative to each other to interface said data storage section relative to a transducer to enable data flow therebetween.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of forming includes forming a data storage device having at least one thin film layer of high density, high coercivity magnetic material having a predetermined magnetic field orientation for storing data.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein said step of moving includes using a transducer that is an inductive head.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein said step of moving includes using a transducer that is a thin film head.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein said step of moving includes using a transducer that is a magnetoresistive head.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein said step of moving includes using a transducer that is a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) head.

25. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of forming includes forming a data storage section having at least one thin film layer of high density, optical recording material which is capable of reading and storing data in optical form.

26. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of forming includes forming a data storage section having at least one thin film layer of high density, magneto-optical recording material which is capable of reading and storing data in magneto-optical form.

27. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of moving includes using a transducer which is a laser adapted to read and record optical data on said optical recording material.

28. A method for reading a card with a card reader comprising the steps of forming on a substrate of a card a data storage section including a thin film of magnetic material having a predetermined magnetic orientation for storing data in a predetermined axis;

forming on said data storage section a bendable, diamond like hardness protective coating having a thickness which allows passage of magnetic signals in an ambient natural atmospheric operating environment through said protective layer and said thin film layer, said protective layer being formed of a material which resists at least one of chemical, magnetic and mechanical degradation of the data storage device; and

moving said card and data processing station relative to each other to interface said data storage section relative to a transducer to enable data flow therebetween.

29. A magnetic signal processing apparatus comprising:

a magnetic recording medium having a high density magnetically coercive material for storing magnetic signals with the coercive material axes of magnetization oriented in a predetermined direction;

a non-magnetic material disposed on said high density magnetically coercive material for defining an exchange break layer;

a bendable, relative hard, protective coating including a magnetically permeable, magnetically saturable material disposed on said exchange break layer and being responsive through said exchange break layer to the coercive material axes of magnetization to produce a magnetic image field in a direction opposite to said predetermined direction, said protective coating being selected to have a thickness between a maximum thickness which would materially attenuate magnetic signals passing between said magnetic material layer and a transducer and a minimum thickness enabling said protective coating to be abraded by usage in an ambient natural atmosphere operating environment for removing therefrom a known quantity of the protective coating;

a magnetic transducer positioned relative to a surface of said recording medium for transferring signals with respect to the recording medium;

a drive member operatively coupled to at least one of said transducer and said recording medium to provide relative movement therebetween; and

a magnetic control device having a bias field adapted to increase through said protective coating the reluctance of said magnetic saturable, magnetically permeable material to enable a magnetic signal to pass between said high density magnetically coercive material through said exchange break layer and said protective coating to said magnetic transducer.

30. A method of processing magnetic signals using a magnetic recording medium having a high density magnetically coercive material for storing magnetic signals with the coercive material axes of magnetization oriented in a predetermined direction comprising the steps of:

providing a layer of a non-magnetic material disposed on said high density magnetically coercive material for defining an exchange break layer;

providing a protective coating including a magnetically permeable, magnetically saturable material which is disposed on said exchange break layer and responsive through said exchange break layer to the coercive material axes of magnetization to produce a magnetic image field in a direction opposite to said predetermined direction, said protection coating being formed of a material which resists at least one of chemical, magnetic and mechanical degradation of the magnetic recording medium; and

generating with a magnetic control device having a bias field adapted to increase through said protective coating and said exchange break layer the reluctance of said magnetic saturable, magnetically permeable material to enable the magnetic signal to pass between said high density magnetically coercive material through said exchange break layer and said protective coating to a magnetic transducer.

31. A system comprising:

a magnetic recording medium having a high density magnetically coercive material for storing magnetic signals with the coercive material axes of magnetization oriented in a predetermined direction;

a non-magnetic material disposed on said high density magnetically coercive material for defining an exchange break layer;

a relatively hard, abradeable protective coating formed on said magnetic material layer and being selected to have a thickness between a maximum thickness which would materially attenuate magnetic signals passing between said high density magnetically coercive material and a transducer and a minimum thickness enabling said protective coating to be abraded by usage in an ambient natural atmosphere operating environment for removing therefrom a known quantity of the protective coating;

a magnetic transducer positioned relative to a surface of said recording medium for transferring signals with respect to the recording medium;

a drive member operatively coupled to at least one of said transducer and said recording medium to provide relative movement therebetween;

a magnetic control device having a bias field adapted to increase through said protective coating the reluctance of said magnetic saturable, magnetically permeable material to enable the magnetic signal to pass between said high density magnetically coercive material through said exchange break layer and said protective coating to said magnetic transducer; and

a programmable control device operatively connected to said magnetic control device to cause said bias field to be applied to said recording medium when a selected magnetic image is located substantially adjacent said transducer.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein said protective coating has at least one layer which includes a magnetically permeable, magnetically saturable material.

33. The system of claim 31 wherein said protective coating has at least two layers wherein one of said layers includes a magnetically permeable, magnetically saturable material and the other of said layers is a non-magnetic abrasion resisting layer formed on said one of said layers.

34. The system of claim 31 wherein said protective coating has at least one layer which includes a magnetically permeable, magnetically saturable material and wherein said data storage device further includes:

a non-magnetic material layer positioned between the protective coating and said high density magnetically coercive material, said magnetically permeable, magnetically saturable material being responsive through said non-magnetic layer to the coercive material axis of magnetization in said predetermine direction to produce a magnetic image field in a direction opposite to said predetermined direction.

35. The system of claim 31 wherein said protective coating has at least two layers wherein said one of said layers includes a magnetically permeable, magnetically saturable material and the other of said layers is a non-magnetic abrasion resisting layer formed on said one of said layers and wherein said data storage device further includes a non-magnetic material layer positioned between the one of said layers of the protective coating and said high density magnetically coercive material, said magnetically permeable, magnetically saturable material being responsive through said non-magnetic layer to the coercive material axis of magnetization in said predetermine direction to produce a magnetic image field in a direction opposite to said predetermined direction.