Incremental printing of symbolic information – Light or beam marking apparatus or processes – Scan of light
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-13
2003-05-13
Pham, Hai (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Light or beam marking apparatus or processes
Scan of light
C347S251000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06563527
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an information recording technique usable in an authentication system or other systems and, more particularly, to a new method of information processing for recording and reproducing information according to the wavelength of light from a light emitting element.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally available cardlike recording media include magnetic cards using a magnetic recording technique, IC cards using a semiconductor technique, optical cards using an optical technique, and other similar cards. These recording media are described in “Handbook for Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers”, pp. 605, published by the Institute of Electronics, Information, and Communication Engineers of Japan.
For example, the magnetic card has magnetic stripes, and personal information is recorded using the magnetic stripes. The IC card includes an integrated circuit, onto which information is electronically written. In the optical card, pits, which reflect light, are arranged in accordance with information, and thereby information is stored in a bit by bit manner.
In connection with the method of recording information, in the magnetic card, a magnetic material is magnetized in accordance with 1 or 0 of binary data in a manner such that magnetic intensity represents on or off of the bit. In the IC card, binary data is directly written onto an integrated circuit, and the written information is directly read. In the optical card, pits are formed in a light non-reflective layer arranged above a light reflective layer in accordance with 1 or 0 of binary data, and to read them, a laser beam is directed to the pits, thereby reading information responsive to the intensity of the reflected light.
The specifications of the conventional recording medium and the conventional recording method are standardized, and information recording cannot be performed on an individual, low-cost and easy basis. In today's information society, there is a great demand for recording personal information in a diversity of businesses. Information recording is preferably carried out onto any medium, without the need for magnetic recording media working together with computer or standardized cards. The conventional technique keeps individual users from flexibly recording information without any limitation to media.
The security of information is an important concern in today's information society. Security cannot be assured in a method in which an imitator is able to easily read information. There is a great demand for the proposal of a new system for information recording. Since the conventional technique requires, in principle, that information be recorded in a binary code, there is the risk that imitators can easily know the content of information if they read, from a recording medium, a signal corresponding to the information.
Since the amount of information at any given recording point in the binary data is one bit at most, the overall amount of information recordable at a limited number of recording points on the recording medium is not so large. By changing physical constants, such as a wavelength of light, a multi-value recording is performed on a single recording point, and the amount of information recorded onto the recording medium will dramatically increase.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a first object of the present invention to provide a new information recording method, which has not been available, and thus to provide new methods for recording and reproducing information to enhance the security of information.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a new information reproducing method which reads information from a recording medium, and thus to provide new methods for recording and reproducing information to enhance the security of information.
It is a third object of the present invention to provide an information recording medium for the new information recording and reproducing methods, and thus to enhance the security of information.
It is a fourth object of the present invention to provide an information recording apparatus for carrying out the new information recording and reproducing methods, and thus to allow individual users to easily record security information and the like.
It is a fifth object of the present invention to provide an information reproducing apparatus for carrying out the new information recording and reproducing methods, and thus to enhance the security of information.
Noticing electroluminescence (EL) in which the emission of light results from the application of an electric field and photoluminescence (PL) in which luminescence is stimulated by the irradiation of light having a particular wavelength, the inventors of this invention have proposed a technique to record, read and reproduce information using the wavelength of the light emission of a light emitting element. The light emitting element is easily formed by appropriately selecting the light emitting material and thanks to the rapidly advanced ink jet technique today, the information recording method using the light emitting element serves individual use at a personal level.
To achieve the first object of the present invention, an information recording method for recording desired information onto a recording medium includes
1) the step of identifying a characteristic of light, which corresponds to information to be recorded, in accordance with a corresponding relationship predetermined between specific information and the characteristic of light,
2) the step of selecting a light emitting material that emits the light having the identified characteristic in response to supplied energy, and
3) the step of arranging the selected light emitting material onto a substrate of the recording medium.
The present invention may further include the step of forming a reflective layer for reflecting the light from the light emitting material, prior to or subsequent to the step of discharging the selected light emitting material.
The “characteristic of light” characterizes the property of light by physical constants, and may be anything which is related to information by numerical values, such as the wavelength, frequency, frequency distribution, quantity of light (amplitude of wave). The energy may be anything that stimulates the light emitting element, for example, electricity, light, magnetic field, heat, etc. The light emitting material may be anything that performs a predetermined light emission when supplied with energy. For example, an organic electroluminescence material, an inorganic electroluminescence material, a photoluminescence material or the like may be used. The substrate may be anything that holds the light emitting material thereon. For example, a hard material, such as a bonded glass or ceramic, or a flexible material, such as paper or a plastic film, may be employed. Available as a method for arranging the light emitting material on the substrate is an application method such as a printing method or a roll coating method, or a fluid light emitting material may be applied through an ink jet recording head. The discharging method of discharging the material through the ink jet recording head is preferable as a method for implementing the present invention, because the device for it is simple and easy to control.
To achieve the second object of the present invention, an information reproducing method for reading information from a recording medium, includes
1) the step of emitting light from a light emitting element by supplying energy to a recording medium which includes at least one light emitting element emitting light having a characteristic correspondingly predetermined to specific information,
2) the step of reading the light emitted by the light emitting element,
3) the step of identifying the characteristic of the read light, and
4) the step of identifying unique information indicated by the identified characteristic of the light, in accordance with a corresponding relationship between the identified information and the characte
Miyashita Satoru
Shimoda Tatsuya
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