Safes – bank protection – or a related device – Combined
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-02
2002-04-23
Gall, Lloyd A. (Department: 3627)
Safes, bank protection, or a related device
Combined
C070S058000, C070S063000, C070S276000, C109S024000, C206S037000, C206S038000, C206S449000, C340S568700
Reexamination Certificate
active
06374757
ABSTRACT:
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for preventing unauthorized use of card- or disk-shaped proofs of legitimacy and/or data carriers, such as ATM cards, credit cards and flexible disks and, in particular, to a mechanical device for preventing such unauthorized use.
Consumers are vulnerable to credit card and bank card fraud when a card is lost or stolen. Safety programs proposed and used up to now—e.g. centralized “on line” stop payment registers—have not proven to be sufficiently effective. Moreover, no solution has been found to the problem of bridging the frequently long time interval from the point of time at which the true card owner loses his card up to the point of time at which the corresponding information has been entered in a computer file. Often the credit-card owner does not realize that the card is missing until after the unauthorized use of the card. Thus, such safety procedures do not provide comprehensive protection from the vantage point of the consumer.
Although methods for preventing credit card and bank card fraud have been developed, such as applying a photograph of the owner or a reflection hologram to the card, such solutions have proven cumbersome and/or expensive. In any event, these security-oriented methods can only be implemented in a centralized fashion. In the absence of, and perhaps even in addition to centralized protection, the individual consumer desires local, personal protection.
It is previously known to electronically validate credit cards and the like each time before they are used, thereby to prevent improper use. For example, DE 3,131,761 discloses a device for this purpose. Such devices require, however, that the receiver of the card or data carrier has recourse to electronic equipment indicating whether the correct validating operation has been made. In contrast the present invention requires no recourse to external data equipment of any kind.
The most effective method for preventing the fraud is to invalidate the stolen or lost card and to preventing its use altogether. A device of this kind is known from French Patent Application 2,445,429. In the known device the security shield consists of two electrically conducting layers which are separated from each other by an insulating layer and which are disposed against or preferably in the walls of the container. The processing circuit is arranged in such a way that if a short-circuit occurs between the electrically conducting layers which are separated from each other, the damaging means are activated. The safety container is large, the object being the protection of large-scale conveying between defined locations. The manufacture of the container and the mechanism thereof is intricate and requires great precision, making such devices costly. The safety enclosures described are also very large and are impractical for routine personal use.
Great-Britain Patent No. 2,006,322 discloses a safety enclosure for credit cards, provided with a mechanical-combination lock and mechanical means causing projecting of a material which makes the credit cards unusable with a break-in attempt. Said mechanical means are sensitive and thus bring a danger of accidental triggering even for the authorized user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,435 to Mareels et al. discloses a small case which may be put in a pocket by the user thereof, and which allows conveying valuable documents on a personal basis. The case encloses a capsule containing a liquid that can destroy or make unusable the documents. The capsule is made from a fusible material, as a whole or in part, and may also be closed with a plug made from such a material. The case comprises electric means for opening or unplugging the capsule in the case of a break-in attempt on the case.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,792 to Wales discloses a credit card security device for preventing credit card fraud. The device includes a case with an access door secured by a lock for storing the cards and a detection member within the case for determining an entry into the case when the door is locked. The detection member operates an electromagnet within the case upon entry. The electromagnet scrambles the code contained in the magnetic strip of each credit card, thereby invalidating the credit cards for future use. The detection member comprises a normally open electrical circuit when the door is closed and locked and includes switches for providing a current flow to the invalidating electromagnet upon the entry. At least one such switch is a normally open pressure switch mounted in the wall of the case, which closes when the entry to the case is through the wall, thereby providing the current flow to the electromagnet. Another switch is associated with the lock and is open when the lock is unlocked, thereby precluding a current flow through the circuit. The switch closes when the door is forcibly opened while locked, thereby providing the current flow to the electromagnet and invalidating the credit cards stored within the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,831 to Tel discloses a safety box comprising a multi-layered wall having provided therein at least one conductor, which responds by interruption or short-circuiting to damage caused to the wall, and which, if the wall is damaged, activates a circuit connected to said conductor. In response to activation of said circuit, documents contained in said safety box are marked or destroyed via an ignition means. The wall of the safety box is provided with electric shield means. In order to increase the response reliability of the circuit, the invention provides the feature that the shield means is galvanically separate from the circuit.
The above-mentioned security devices have several drawbacks. The electrical circuitry complicates the device and necessitates a power source. Moreover, fluctuations or temporary curtailment of current from the power source can trigger the deactivation mechanism, thereby rendering the stored cards useless. The devices are heavy and bulky, making routine personal use impractical. In addition, the sophistication of the mechanisms appreciably increases production costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,826 to Hertzen discloses a device for preventing unauthorized use of data carriers, such as ATM cards, credit cards and flexible disks, comprising a cover or case-shaped device or the like having at least one pocket or the like adapted to receive at least one card, disk, etc., actuators and control means arranged in said pocket, said control means being adapted to control said actuators and preferably being of the code lock type and comprising one or more means which, when actuated in a certain sequence or in a certain combination, are adapted to control said actuators. The actuators comprise means which are activatable when an attempt at gaining access is made without proper actuation of said control means and which, in the event of such an attempt at unauthorized access, are adapted to permanently mechanically damage said card, disk etc. and/or the data carried thereon.
The disclosed embodiments include chemical, mechanical, magnetic, and electrical actuators. Regarding magnetic actuators, it is taught that the device is characterized by actuators comprising at least one magnet or the like adapted to negatively affect the information magnetically stored on said card or disk when an attempt at removing said card is made without proper actuation of said control means.
A mechanical embodiment of the device may comprise a cover- or case-shaped card holder having at least one insert opening which is adapted to the cross-section of the credit card. The card holder may accommodate a plurality of actuating or marking means provided with marking or cutting edges and activated by external control means, and preferably eccentric holding means which allow insertion of a card into the holder, but which on extraction of the card urge it against the side where the marking means are positioned. By setting correctly the control means which may consist of laterally displaceable buttons, the edges of the a
Friedman Mark M.
Gall Lloyd A.
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