Coded Identification Card

Abstract

A coded identification card which includes a core sheet and an outer adherent covering for the core sheet. The core sheet has a given transmissivity to radiant energy of a given frequency and intensity or a given range of frequencies and intensities while preselected coded regions of the core sheet have a transmissivity which differs from that of the remainder of the core sheet. The outer adherent covering for the core sheet has a higher transmissivity to the radiant energy than the lowest transmissivity portion of the core sheet. The outer adherent covering preferably has a transmissivity which obscures the preselected coded regions from view by the naked eye.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Within recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in the use of credit cards by the purchasing public. Indeed, the use of credit cards has become so wide spread that the retailer who demands cash operates at a considerable disadvantage with respect to his competitor who will honor a credit card.

Due to competitive pressures, credit cards have been issued by all manner of businesses such as petroleum companies, air lines, department stores, etc. The net result has been a proliferation of credit cards such that a businessman or housewife may not feel properly attired unless accompanied by a bulging wallet or purse containing 20 or more credit cards.

As a convenience to purchasers and also to small businesses which do not have the sales volume to justify issuance of their own credit cards, there has evolved the multi-purpose credit card. The holder of such a credit card may now purchase all varieties of goods and services with a single card and receive a single monthly statement. This has eliminated, to a large extent, the problems inherent in carrying a large number of limited-purpose credit cards and receiving a separate monthly statement for the purchases made on each of the separate credit cards.

The use of multi-purpose credit cards also provides other advantages for the consumer. The major multi-purpose credit cards are generally recognized over large geographical areas so that a purchaser, for example, living in California might charge purchases while on vacation in Europe to his credit card. Such flexibility was not generally possible with the limited-purpose credit cards which were frequently issued by a medium-sized business for usage within a confined geographical area. As a further advantage of multi-purpose credit cards, the credit card may be issued, for example, by a bank and be keyed to the holder's account at the bank. With this type of arrangement, the purchases made by the card holder may be debited against his checking account with the bank. With this innovation, it is now not even necessary for the credit card holder to make out a check for his monthly statement since the payment is handled automatically by his bank.

A disadvantage in the increasing usage of multipurpose credit cards by the public has been a corresponding increase in the losses by business due to use of fraudulently acquired or stolen credit cards. Whereas a thief using a limited-purpose credit card might conceivably run up charges of several hundred dollars in a short period of time, the loss exposure resulting from fraudulent use of a multi-purpose credit card can be many thousands of dollars. As a corollary problem, the use of a multi-purpose credit card is much more difficult to police than that of a limited-purpose credit card. For example, if a limited-purpose credit card is stolen, the notification of the theft need only be communicated to personnel of the issuing business, which might comprise one or more stores in a small geographical area. However, to police the fraudulent use of a multi-purpose credit card, it may be necessary to notify thousands of individual businesses around the world which recognize that credit card.

Initially in their use, the risk of theft of a multi-purpose credit card was borne to a substantial extent by the credit card holder who might protect himself by carrying insurance to cover such losses. Recently, however, legislation has been enacted which sharply reduces the ability of the issuer of the multi-purpose credit card to pass on the risk of loss to the credit card owner. Thus, this has made it imperative that a multi-purpose credit card be devised which is substantially fraud proof and whose usage may be readily policed by the credit card user.

At present, there is under consideration the use of multi-purpose credit cards whose usage will be keyed to a central computer. Individual businesses which honor a particular credit card will have a readout device on the premises which will be keyed to the central computer. Before honoring the credit card, it will be inserted into the readout device which will then transmit the information on the credit card to the computer. Within a relatively short period, the computer will then either authorize the use of the credit card or inform the businessman that this particular credit card has been reported stolen and should not be honored.

Further, the use of such a computerized system may provide information as to the purchasing limits permitted with the particular credit card or whether the credit card holder is in arrears in his monthly payments. Also, the computer may contain information on the purchasing pattern of the credit card holder which would indicate a purchase whose amount was completely inconsistent with the previous purchasing pattern. Given such a computerized system, the use of multi-purpose credit cards will be much more effectively policed to reduce losses from their fraudulent use.

In devising a multi-purpose credit card for use in a computerized system, it is imperative that the credit card be substantially fraud proof so that it may not be altered by an ingenious thief to provide false information for the computer. One means which has been suggested is to merely punch holes in the credit card with the arrangement of holes providing a readout code for a computer. Such a credit card would not be satisfactory for several reasons. First, the holes in the credit card could collect dirt or other debris which would interfere with the readout of the information on the credit card. Second, the hole pattern could be easily altered by an ingenious thief to provide false information for the computer.

A second form of construction which has been suggested, and which may soon be widely adopted, is to place a strip of magnetic material on the surface of the credit card. The orientation of the magnetic particles in the strip would contain coded information which could be read and transmitted to a central computer. This type of credit card construction is also unsatisfactory since the coded information may also be altered by an ingenious thief to provide false information for the computer. By passing the magnetic strip beneath a magnetic head, for example, the magnetic strip could be erased with new and false information then being placed on the strip to confuse the computer.

A still further form of construction which has been suggested is to place bits of magnetic material at preselected locations within the credit card. This type of card is also not satisfactory because it is difficult to construct and difficult to read due to the presence of an overlying layer of plastic material.

At the present time, there is a very substantial need for a credit card which can be easily read and contains coded information which cannot be altered, even by the most ingenious of thieves, to provide false information for the computer. The continuing battle of the U. S. Department of the Treasury with counterfeiters demonstrates the ingenuity and persistence possessed by individuals intent on crime. It may be reasonably anticipated that the same degree of persistence and ingenuity will be exercised by persons intent on credit card fraud. Thus, the problem of providing an easily read, yet fraud-proof credit card, is a very real one which demands a solution to provide the basis for a workable computerized system regulating the use of multi-purpose credit cards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a solution to the problem of a fraud-proof credit card by providing a card which contains coded information that may be read by passing radiant energy through the card. The card includes a core sheet of a material which has a given transmissivity to radiant energy of a given frequency and intensity. Included in the core sheet are preselected coded regions whose transmissivity differs from that of the remainder of the core sheet. An outer adherent covering is provided for the core sheet which has a higher transmissivity to the radiant energy than those portions of the core sheet having the lowest transmissivity to the radiant energy, i.e., either the preselected coded regions or the remainder of the core sheet.

The coded regions in the core sheet may either have a higher or a lower transmissivity to radiant energy of a given frequency and intensity than the remainder of the core sheet. Conveniently, the preselected coded regions may take the form of holes which are punched in the core sheet. Thus, when the coded identification card is exposed to the radiant energy, the energy passes through the outer adherent covering, and through the holes in the core sheet but does not pass through the core sheet itself. The energy passing through the core sheet may then be received by sensors which translate the presence or absence of radiant energy into data bits which are fed to a computer.

The coded information on the identification card, as described above, is contained within the core of the card, which is surrounded by an adherent covering. Thus, the encoded regions on the core sheet are protected from dirt, debris, or tampering by the outer adherent covering. To alter this coded information, it would be necessary to first remove the outer adherent covering. This would destroy the card and make it completely unusable in an attempt to provide false information for the computer.

Preferably, the coded identification card has an outer covering whose transmissivity obscures the preselected coded regions from view by the naked eye. The coded information contained within the card is, thus, hidden from the credit card user who will probably not even be aware that it is there. However, when the card is exposed to radiant energy of a given frequency and intensity, the radiant energy will pass through the outer covering and the preselected regions of the core to reveal the encoded pattern to radiant energy sensors positioned on the opposite side of the card.

In a preferred form of the invention, the card is of a laminated construction in which an inner-core sheet is laminated to outer sheets of a plastic material which are adhered to the core sheet.

The inner-core sheet is composed of a material having a given transmissivity to radiant energy of a given frequency and intensity or range of frequencies and intensities and the core sheet has preselected coded regions whose transmissivity differs from that of the remainder of the sheet. The outer sheets have a transmissivity to the radiant energy which is higher than the lowest transmissivity portion of the core sheet. If, for example, the preselected coded regions have a lower transmissivity than the remainder of the core sheet, the outer sheets would have a higher transmissivity to the radiant energy than the coded regions, but not necessarily higher than the transmissivity of the remainder of the core sheet. on the other hand, if the preselected coded regions have a transmissivity which is higher than that of the remainder of the core sheet, the outer sheets have a transmissivity which is higher than the transmissivity of the remainder of the core sheet, but not necessarily higher than the transmissivity of the coded regions.

In a preferred form of the coded identification card, the outer sheets are preferably composed of a plastic material and are laminated to the inner-core sheet. The core sheet may likewise be formed of a plastic material or of a thin sheet of metal or a sheet of metal clad with a plastic material. The coded regions on the inner-core sheet may be formed by punching a preselected hole pattern in the core sheet, by a photographic process in which preselected high or low transmissivity areas are imposed on the core sheet, or by any means which provides the preselected coded regions with a transmissivity to radiant energy which differs from that of the remainder of the core sheet. As stated previously, the outer sheets which are adhered to the inner-core sheet preferably have a transmissivity which obscures the preselected coded regions from view by the naked eye. Thus, the credit card holder is probably not aware of the coded information contained within the interior of the identification card. Moreover, the construction of the card makes it difficult to observe and impossible to change the preselected coded information without first physically removing the cover sheets from the inner-core sheet. This would result in the destruction of the card and make it unusable. Moreover, in removing the outer sheets, the core sheet might well be obliterated so that it would then not be possible to observe the coded pattern previously contained on the core sheet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With reference to the drawings, which are merely illustrative of my invention:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of my identification card with a coded hole pattern shown therein in phantom line drawing;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing the several layers which may be employed in a five-layer card construction;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a three-layer card construction showing the appearance of the coded holes in cross section;

FIG. 4 is a plan view along the lines 4--4 of FIG. 3 of a core sheet as employed in my card construction in which the coded information is presented in the form of holes in a coded pattern;

FIG. 5 is a plan veiw of a core embodiment of my card construction in which the coded information is in the form of preselected low-transmissivity areas on the core surface;

FIG. 6 is a sectional veiw of a further form of core construction in which the core is formed of a metallic sheet having sheets of a plastic material adhered thereto;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the core element of FIG. 6 illustrating the flow of plastic material into the holes within the metallic sheet due to the effect of heat and pressure applied to the plastic covering material;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view of the core element of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view of a metallic core element which is bonded to sheets of a plastic material through use of a thermosetting glue;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a further embodiment of a metallic core element in which holes are provided adjacent the corners of the element to improve the adherence of the overlying plastic sheets to the core element;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a further embodiment of the identification card in which the core is formed of a metallic sheet having sheets of plastic material adhered thereto in which the core has a smaller dimension than the overlying plastic sheets, and

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of the card construction of FIG. 11, taken along the section lines 12--12.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

As shown in FIG. 1, the identification card 2 may conveniently be of a generally rectangular configuration in which the corners are rounded. The card may contain printed information, as indicated at 4, to designate the credit card issuer while contained within the interior of the card are preselected coded areas in the form of holes 6, whose transmissivity differs from that of the sheet of core material as will be described. Preferably, the preselected coded regions, or holes 6, are obscured from view by the naked eye due to the card's construction and, thus, are shown in phantom line drawing in FIG. 1.

The card, as shown in FIG. 2, may be of a laminated construction in which a core sheet 8 has cover sheets 10 and 12 adhered thereto, which are in turn covered by outer sheets 14 and 16. The core sheet 8, as shown in FIG. 4, has a given transmissivity to radiant energy of a preselected wave length and intensity. The preselected coded regions of the core sheet 8, shown as holes 6 in FIG. 4, have a higher transmissivity to the radiant energy than does the remainder of the core sheet. Thus, as the radiant energy impinges upon the core sheet 8, it passes through the holes 6 to convey coded information but does not pass through the core sheet 8.

The cover sheets 10 and 12, shown in FIG. 2, have a transmissivity which is higher than the portions of the core sheet 8 having the lowest transmissivity. Thus, when the coded information contained in the core sheet 8 is in the form of punched holes 6, the transmissivity of the cover sheets 10 and 12 will be higher than the transmissivity of the core sheet itself, but not necessarily higher than the transmissivity of the coded regions. Preferably, the transmissivity of the cover sheets 10 and 12 is sufficiently low to obscure the coded regions in the core sheet 8 from view by the naked eye. For example, the cover sheets 10 and 12 may be formed of white polyvinyl chloride, and the core sheet 8 may be formed of black polyvinyl chloride. Also, the cover sheets 10 and 12 may conveniently be supplied with a matte finish which is suitable for printing. The printed information or indicia, as illustrated at 4, may be printed on the cover sheets 10 or 12 prior to their being laminated or adhered to the core sheet 8 to form a finished card.

As shown in the construction illustrated in FIG. 2, the outer sheets 14 and 16 overlie the cover sheets 10 and 12. These outer sheets give the card a shiny outer surface and provide convenient surfaces for subsequently embossing the card (not shown) with the holder's name or address, etc.

In the layered construction of the card illustrated in FIG. 2, the various layers may be adhered together in any suitable manner to form a finished credit card. Thus, the various layers may be adhered together with a glue or, if the various layers are formed of compatible materials which adhere together under the effects of heat and pressure, they may be laminated or pressed to form the finished card. The thickness of the various layers may be varied depending upon the desired thickness of the finished card, its strength, etc.

In a more simplified embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 3, the card may be of a three-layered construction in which the core sheet 8 has cover sheets 10 and 12 adhered thereto. The coded information within the core sheet 8 is illustrated in the form of holes 6 in the core sheet 8 having preselected locations. Actually, the number of layers employed in the card, if of a laminated construction, is not at all critical to the functioning of the card. Thus, the card could conceivably be of a seven, nine, or even an 11-layered construction providing that the encoded information contained on an inner-core sheet is protected from dirt, debris and tampering by overlying sheets positioned outwardly of the core sheet which preferably obscure the coded regions of the core sheet from view by the naked eye.

Also, in utilizing the invention, several core sheets may be employed within a single card with each of the core sheets having coded information hereon in the form of preselected regions whose transmissivity to radiant energy differs from that of the remainder of the particular core sheet. In a card containing several core sheets, one of the core sheets may, for example, have a selectively low transmissivity to radiant energy of a given frequency and intensity while another of the core sheets may have a selectively low transmissivity to radiant energy of a different frequency and intensity. In the use of such a card, the card may be exposed to one source of radiant energy which passes through one of the core sheets but only through preselected coded regions of a second core sheet to reveal coded information on the second core sheet. Following this, the card may then be exposed to a different source of radiant energy which passes through only the preselected coded regions of the first core sheet but completely through the second core sheet to reveal only the coded information on the first core sheet.

Turning to FIG. 5, in a further embodiment of the invention, a core sheet 8a may contain coded information in the form of dots 18 or other indicia arranged on the core sheet to form a coded pattern. The dots 18 have a lower transmissivity than the remainder of the core sheet 8a. Thus, when radiant energy is caused to impinge upon core sheet 8a, after passing through a covering which is adherently bonded to the core sheet, the radiant energy will pass through the core sheet but not through the low-transmissivity areas 18. Using this construction, the reading device may then sense the absence of radiant energy at the low-transmissivity areas 18 to determine the coded information.

In a further embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 6, a core sheet 20 may be employed which is composed of a thin metallic inner sheet 22 having coating sheets 24 and 26 adherently bonded thereto. Typically, for example, the inner sheet 22 may be formed of aluminum and the coating sheets 24 and 26 may be formed of polyvinyl chloride. Such composite structures are commercially available and are used in wrapping materials of various types such as wrappings for food products.

The core 20 may contain preselected coded regions having a higher transmissivity to radiant energy in the form of holes 25 punched in a predetermined manner. The use of the core sheet 20 is quite advantageous in forming a laminated card structure which is formed by the use of heat and pressure. During the laminating procedure, there may be some tendency to run or undergo plastic deformation. In some instances, depending on the conditions employed, this may result in deformation of the pattern of previously encoded information on the core material. If, for example, the information encoded on the core sheet is in the form of holes, the holes may be deformed by the lamination procedure such that the information cannot be properly read by the card viewer when the card is exposed to radiant energy. The composite core sheet 20, as shown in FIG. 6, provides structural integrity for the coded hole pattern, even though the coating sheets 24 and 26 may be deformed by the laminating procedure.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, with respect to a laminated card 27, the holes 25 which previously passed through the entire core 20, as shown in FIG. 6, have partially closed due to the plastic flow of the material in the cover sheets 10 and 12 and the coating sheets 24 and 26 due to the effect of heat and pressure with plastic 28 forced into the holes 25. However, due to the structural integrity of the metal sheet 22, the plastic flow of the coating sheets 24 and 26 has not changed the conformation or location of the holes which will still perform in their intended manner to transmit radiant energy to the viewing source. FIG. 8 illustrates in enlarged scale the flow of plastic into the holes 25.

The plastic flow of material into the holes 25 provides an identification card having greater strength by providing better bonding between the metal sheet 22, the overlying plastic layers 24 and 26 and the cover sheets 10 and 12. In the core construction illustrated in FIGS. 6-8, it should, of course, be understood that the transmissivity of the cover sheets 10 and 12 and the coating sheets 24 and 26 is such that the flow of plastic material 28 into the holes 25 does not reduce the transmissivity of the holes below whatever value is required in the performance of the card.

Turning to FIG. 9, there is shown a further embodiment of an identification card 29 in which a metallic core sheet 22a is directly bonded to cover sheets 10 and 12 to form the completed card. A thermosetting glue may be employed in bonding the metallic sheet 22a to the cover sheets 10 and 12 and a coating of glue may be applied to the surfaces of the metallic sheet 22a prior to its bonding to the cover sheets. Thermosetting glues of this type are also available in the form of thin sheets which may be merely laid between the sheets to be bonded together. Then, under the effects of heat and pressure, the sheet of thermoplastic glue may be melted and permanently set to form a bond between the metallic core sheet 22a and the cover sheets 10 and 12.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, coded information in the form of punched holes 32 is contained in the core sheet 22a. These holes pass only through the metallic core sheet 22a, as opposed to holes 25 which pass through a core sheet 22 and also through coating sheets 24 and 26 when the core sheet is clad with a plastic as in FIG. 6. Since the core sheet 22a is not clad with coating sheets, the volume of the holes 32 is less than the volume of the holes 25 which pass through both the core sheet and the cladding. It may be advantageous in some cases to reduce the volume of holes in the metallic core sheet whose location conveys coded information. One way of accomplishing this is to reduce the thickness of the core sheet which has been done in the embodiment of FIG. 9 by eliminating the coating sheets or the cladding for the core sheet. By reducing the thickness of the core sheet and the volume of the holes therein there is less free volume within the core sheet. Thus, when the metallic core sheet is bonded to overlying plastic sheets through the use of heat and pressure, there will be less free volume to accommodate the flow of plastic material into holes within the core sheet. There will be some flow of plastic material into the core sheet 22a, as illustrated at 34; however, since this flow is reduced by the reduced free volume of the holes, there will be less tendency for the formation of dimples or minute depressions in the outer surface of the cover sheets 10 and 12.

As stated previously, it is preferable that the encoded information within the core sheet is not visible to the naked eye. The presence of small dimples or depressions in the outer surfaces of plastic sheets bonded to a metallic core sheet would tend to reveal the locations of holes within the core sheet whose location conveys coded information. This would, of course, be undesirable. Thus, to the extend that the formation of dimples or slight depressions in the outer surfaces of the plastic sheets may be a problem with a particular card construction, the problem can be lessened by employing the card construction illustrated in FIG. 9.

In the bonding of overlying plastic sheets to a metallic core sheet in the formation of a coded identification card, there may, in some instances, be a tendency for delamination to take place at the interface between the plastic and metal. To the extent that this is a problem in a particular card construction, a modification of the core sheet 22b, may be utilized, as illustrated in FIG. 10. The core sheet 22b may contain coded information in the form of punched holes 36 and, in addition, contains punched holes 30 located adjacent the corners of the core sheet. When the core sheet 22b is then laminated to overlying plastic sheets in the formation of a coded identification card, the effects of heat and pressure will cause plastic to flow into the punched holes 30. This will result in strengthening the bond between the core sheet 22b and the overlying plastic sheets in the regions adjacent the corners of the identification card. If delamination occurs, it will generally begin at one of the corners since the corners are the points of greatest weakness. By providing holes 30 through the core sheet 22b in the region of its corners, any tendency for delamination to take place at the corners is lessened.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, the holes 30 are of the same size as the holes 36. If desired, however, the holes 30 may be made substantially larger than the holes 36 to provide increased free volume within the metallic core sheet 22b at its corners to accommodate the flow of plastic during lamination. Since the locations of the holes 30 do not convey coded information, the formation of dimples or depressions in the outer surfaces of the overlying plastic sheets at the corners is not objectionable.

In a further embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in FIG. 11, an identification card 37 is provided which contains a metallic core sheet 22c having a dimension smaller than that of the identification card. As illustrated, the metallic core sheet 22c contains coded information in the form of punched holes 38.

FIG. 12, which is a sectional view along the line 12--12 of FIG. 11, illustrates plastic cover sheets 10 and 12 overlying the metallic core sheet 22c and adherently bonded thereto. Outer sheets 14 and 16 may, in turn, be adherently bonded to the cover sheets 10 and 12 to produce a five-layered card construction. Since the core sheet 22c is of a smaller dimension than the identification card 37, the cover sheets 10 and 12 are adherently bonded to each other about the periphery of the card. This provides a stronger bond about the periphery of the card which serves to prevent delamination. As illustrated, the plastic material in cover sheets 10 and 12 flows, under the effects of heat and pressure, in the regions adjacent to the edges 40 of the core sheet 22a to substantially fill these regions with plastic.

A five-layered card construction is illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12. If desired, however, a three-layered construction could be formed by eliminating the outer sheets 14 and 16. Depending on the heat and pressure used in lamination and the thickness of the plastic sheets, there may be some tendency for the identification card 37 to be thinner adjacent its edges. However, this is not objectionable since a difference in the thickness of the card adjacent its edges will not detract from its usefulness.

In the coded patterns illustrated in the various views of the drawings, the holes are arranged in a binary configuration reading from the top toward the bottom of the card. As illustrated, a four-hole pattern can be employed for each number on the card in which a hole punched in the first or topmost location would indicate the number 1; in the next location reading down the card, the number 2; in the next location reading down the card, the number 4, and in the last or bottom location reading down the card, the number 8. This is merely one way of encoding information on the core sheet and is used only for purposes of illustration. It should be understood that any pattern may be utilized for encoding the information on the core sheet and that the invention is not concerned with any particular system of encoding.

The source of radiant energy employed in reading the coded information on the identification card of the present invention will generally emit energy covering a range of frequencies and intensities. Also, however, a source of coherent radiant energy, such as a laser beam, may be employed. The terminology "given frequency and intensity," as used herein in referring to transmissivity, does not, therefore, indicate the use of a source of coherent radiant energy in reading the information on the card.

It should be understood that printing or other indicia may be positioned in overlying relation with respect to the encoded regions of the core sheet of the card. This will not adversely affect the functioning of the card providing that the printing does not change the transmissivity of the covering layer or layers for the core sheet so as to prevent the sensing of radiant energy or the absence of radiant energy at the locations of the preselected coded regions.

Claims

I claim:

1. A coded identification card comprising:

a metallic core sheet having a given transmissivity to radiant energy of a given frequency and intensity;

said core sheet having pre-selected coded regions in the form of openings in said sheet whose transmissivity differs from that of said core sheet;

said core sheet being clad with a plastic material;

outer plastic sheets formed of a plastic material which is compatible with the plastic cladding on said core sheet;

said outer sheets being laminated to said core sheet, and

said plastic cladding on said core sheet and the plastic of said outer sheets extending into said openings as a result of heat and pressure employed in laminating said outer sheets to said core sheet,

whereby the bond between said core sheet and said outer sheets is enhanced to provide a stronger identification card.

2. The coded identification card of claim 1 wherein said core sheet is of a smaller dimension than said card, and said outer sheets extend beyond the peripheral edges of the core sheet with the outer sheets being bonded to each other in the region adjacent to the periphery of said card.

3. The coded identification card of claim 1 wherein said core sheet and said card are of a rectangular configuration with said core sheet having openings therein adjacent its corners and the corners of said card, and

the plastic from said outer sheets extending into the openings adjacent the corners of the core sheet to strengthen the plastic-to-metal bond in the region of said corners.

4. The identification card of claim 1 wherein said outer sheets have a transmissivity which obscures said pre-selected coded regions from view by the naked eye.

5. The identification card of claim 2 wherein said outer sheets have a transmissivity which obscures said pre-selected coded regions from view by the naked eye.

6. The identification card of claim 3 wherein said outer sheets have a transmissivity which obscures said pre-selected coded regions from view by the naked eye.