Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-07
2002-09-10
Mayes, Curtis (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S277000, C156S299000, C053S131200, C053S055000, C053S411000, 36
Reexamination Certificate
active
06447625
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to a method and an apparatus for bringing together and joining plastic cards, which are provided with an identification mark, and printed card carriers associated with the respective plastic cards.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is generally possible to automatically join (apply) a variable number of plastic cards, such as thick plastic cards, type CR-80, to card carriers by means of known systems. The card carriers having applied thereto the plastic cards are then packed into envelopes, e.g. in an enveloping station, and either deposited in a scalelike mode of arrangement or subjected to further treatment, such as sorting or encircling by a plastic strip.
In a method and in an apparatus known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,217 presorted and personalized plastic cards are applied to presorted and personalized card carriers. The term “personalized” means in this connection that the plastic card and the card carrier, respectively, have already been provided with the necessary data, such as name, address etc.. The card carriers can in this case by supplied from a stack of continuous sheets or from a stack of single sheets.
In
FIG. 5
such an apparatus for applying plastic cards and card carriers is shown. The apparatus is designated generally by reference numeral
500
.
In this known apparatus, the plastic cards are contained in a turret means
502
comprising four magazines
504
. Individual plastic cards
506
are discharged from the turret means
502
and supplied to a reader
508
. The supply of the individual cards to the various stations takes place via so-called stop points
510
at which the cards stop until a signal arrives from a subsequent station which indicates that the subsequent station is ready to receive the card.
In the reader
508
, an identification number (ID number) of the plastic card
506
is read. A processing means (VE)
512
detects and stores the identification number. Subsequently, the plastic card
506
is guided to an application means
514
via a plurality of stop points
510
. Prior to supplying the plastic card
506
to the application means
514
, the plastic card may be provided with a gummed label at a station
516
so as to guarantee the subsequent connection to the card carrier.
The card carrier is supplied from a second direction (arrow
518
), which does not correspond to the direction in which the plastic card
506
is supplied to the application means
514
.
The card carrier is contained in a stack
520
comprising the card carriers in a presorted form. As has been described hereinbefore, the card carriers have already been provided with the relevant data, such as the name and the address of the person receiving the card.
From the stack
520
, the card carrier is supplied to a reader
522
, which will read an identification number printed on the card carrier. This identification number is compared (arrow
524
) with the identification number of the card occupying the last stop point prior to the application means
514
. If the identification numbers correspond, the plastic card and the card carrier will be connected.
In this known apparatus
500
, all components are controlled by the same system clock, i.e. the number of strokes elapsing until a plastic card reaches the application means
514
after the reading of the identification number at
508
is known, so that, depending on this known transit time, the supply of the card carriers from the stack
520
and the examination of the identification numbers can be controlled such that the card carrier will arrive at the application means
514
at the same time as the plastic card
506
belonging to this card carrier.
One disadvantage of this known apparatus is to be seen in the fact that the plastic cards as well as the card carriers must be presorted and that, in addition, the card carriers must already be personalized. This results in a substantial restriction of the flexibility of such an apparatus.
DE 195 08 282 C1 discloses a method and an apparatus for bringing together and joining plastic cards, which are provided with an identification mark, and printed card carriers associated with the respective plastic cards. The correct association of the card and of the carrier is achieved by a print job number which is associated with a plastic card and printed on a card carrier. Before the card and the carrier are joined, it is examined whether the print job number of the plastic card, which is about to be joined to the card carrier, corresponds to a print job number of a carrier which is about to be joined.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the object of the present invention to provide a simplified method and a simplified apparatus for bringing together and joining plastic cards and card carriers, the method and the apparatus permitting a correct association of the card and of the carrier and showing an improved flexibility.
The present invention is a method of bringing together and joining plastic cards, which are provided with an identification mark, and printed card carriers associated with the respective plastic cards, by providing the plastic card, detecting the identification mark of the plastic card, deriving a test mark from the identification mark of the plastic card in such a way that unequivocal calculating back to the identification mark is not possible on the basis of the test mark, reading a data base by means of the identification mark, printing on the card carrier data read from the data base as well as the test mark, detecting the test mark of the card carrier prior to joining the card carrier to the plastic card, determining whether the test mark derived from the identification mark of the plastic card, which is about to be joined to the card carrier, corresponds to the detected test mark, provided that the test marks of the plastic card and of the card carrier correspond, bringing together and joining the plastic card and the card carrier.
The present invention is an apparatus for bringing together and joining plastic cards, which are provided with an identification mark, and printed card carriers associated with the respective plastic cards, having a carrier means containing the plastic cards, means for detecting the identification mark of the plastic card and for deriving a test mark from the identification mark of the plastic card in such a way that unequivocal calculating back to the identification mark is not possible on the basis of the test mark, a data base means containing data depending on the identification mark, a printer which prints onto the card carrier the data read from the data base means as well as the test mark, a means used for detecting the test mark of the card carrier and for comparing the test mark derived from the identification mark of the plastic card, which is about to be joined to the card carrier, with the test mark of the card carrier, and a bringing-together and joining means used for bringing together and joining the plastic card and the card carrier, provided that the test marks of the plastic card and of the card carrier correspond.
In accordance with one aspect, the invention is a system system, which is used for bringing together and joining plastic cards provided with an identification mark and printed card carriers associated with the respective plastic cards and which is used for packing the plastic cards having applied thereto the card carriers, having a tower of cards comprising the plastic cards, a temporary store for temporarily storing the plastic cards received from the tower of cards, a processing means which detects the identification mark of the plastic card and which derives a test mark from the identification mark of the plastic card in such a way that unequivocal calculating back to the identification mark is not possible on the basis of the test mark, a data base from which data can be read depending on the identification mark, a single-sheet printer connected to the processing means, the single-sheet printer printing the card carrier on t
Dassinger Herbert
Erpenstein Ulrich
Magg Wolfgang
Schmid Eduard
Bowe Systec AG
Glenn Michael A.
Mayes Curtis
Wong Kirk D.
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