Registers – Records – Conductive
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-29
2001-07-24
Frech, Karl D. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Records
Conductive
C235S487000, C040S027500, C463S025000, C463S039000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06264109
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tokens in the general form of a disk, or to similar devices of flat shape, incorporating an electronic chip. The applications of the invention include, inter alia, the “contact-free” identification of individuals and of objects, also called electronic labeling, and the authentication and identification of gambling chips, also called casino chips. The term “gambling chip” should be understood to mean any token which can be used in gambling halls and which may or may not have a predetermined nominal value.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
Patent Application EP-A-0,694,872 in the name of the Applicant describes an electronic chip incorporated into the body of a token made of a rigid and strong plastic, which thus forms a protective shell for the electronic chip. The electronic chip includes an electronic circuit having a memory containing identification and/or coding information relating to the person or to the object associated with the token (electronic label) or to the token itself (gambling chip or payment token), the electronic circuit generally being associated with a transmitter-receiver having a peripheral antenna suitable for being powered by inductive coupling.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide a token having a relatively simple, compact and robust structure whose manufacture is facilitated in order to allow, as required, a certain amount of manufacturing automation.
To this end, the invention provides a token in the general form of a disk, or similar device of flat shape, comprising two half-disks fastened to each other, the two half-disks, made of plastic, being spaced apart by utilizing an axial spacing projection provided on the internal face of one of the half-disks or base half-disk so as to define, between the two half-disks, a peripheral annular region emerging at the edge of the token, and a plastic jointing material deposited by injection into the peripheral annular region, the axial spacing projection, of height approximately equal to that of the peripheral annular region, having the shape of a continuous or discontinuous ring defining an internal central region in the token for serving as a receptacle for an insert in the form of an electronic device comprising an electronic circuit incorporating a memory containing identification or coding information and a transmitter-receiver having a peripheral antenna, characterized in that the other half-disk or cover half-disk includes a continuous or discontinuous closure ring which bears on the receptacle ring with an axial overlap.
The structure of the token according to the invention, having asymmetric half-disks, allows there to be a large number of bearing points or points of contact between the two half-disks, these points being circularly distributed and with an axial overlap of the two rings. This results in a compact and robust token in which the electronic insert is well protected without imposing a diameter and/or thickness penalty on the token. This token structure allows easy axial centering of the two half-disks and, consequently, facilitated interlocking of the two half-disks, one with respect to the other, on, around or inside the receptacle ring.
According to a first embodiment of the token according to the invention, the receptacle ring includes a plane circular region surmounted by a band of protuberances in external position, these protuberances being distributed in a circular fashion and intended to hold the insert in place and to house the closure ring.
According to a first variant, the token includes an insert which with its antenna has the general shape of a thin tablet or wafer, the closure ring having an external side wall which comes into lateral contact with the protuberances of the receptacle ring, the wafer, after it has been mounted in the token, being held axially between the closure ring and the plane circular region of the receptacle ring. Advantageously, the wafer has a polygonal, preferably square or rectangular, shape and the band of protuberances of the receptacle ring has cuts in order to allow the tops of the wafer to project into the peripheral annular region of the token.
According to another variant, at least one of the two rings of the half-disks of the token has through-slots or through-channels for making the peripheral annular region communicate with the internal central region and for making it easier for the latter to be filled with injected material when injecting the jointing material.
According to another variant, the internal profile of the band of protuberances and the external profile of the closure ring have complementary polygonal, preferably square or rectangular, shapes.
According to yet another variant, the external profile of the closure ring is circular and the tops of the protuberances of the receptacle ring project into a shallow annular groove made in the cover half-disk.
This first embodiment is well suited to the manufacture of small tokens (for example, electronic labels). In addition, the token has a very compact and very robust structure.
According to a second embodiment of the invention, the receptacle ring includes a circular plane bearing region axially recessed by a circular annular groove intended to house a circular closure ring having a profile that is complementary to the groove. Advantageously, the groove, having a profile with a flat bottom and with flared edges, has a depth approximately equal to the height of the receptacle ring.
According to a third embodiment of the invention, the receptacle ring has a conical external profile that is complementary to the conical internal profile of the closure ring, the two rings also having approximately equal heights in order to ensure an axial overlap, between the two rings, at least equal to the height of the peripheral annular region.
According to a variant of these second and third embodiments of the invention, the internal face of the receptacle half-disk has, at the center of the internal central region, a C-shaped boss intended to house the electronic circuit and having a plane bearing region recessed by a C-shaped groove and [sic] intended to house a corresponding C-shaped protuberance made on the internal face of the cover half-disk. Advantageously, two half-disks are adhesively bonded in the C-shaped groove and on the corresponding protuberance with a cyanoacrylate or similar adhesive and the insert with an electronic circuit is held in position in the internal central region by an epoxy or similar adhesive.
These second and third embodiments are well suited to fitting tokens with an electronic insert which is unprotected or partially protected. In practice, it is possible to use and automatically deposit the two adhesives of different types without mixing them—the epoxy adhesive in the internal central region and the cyanoacrylate adhesive in the C-shaped groove.
The invention also relates to a token in the general form of a disk, or to a similar device of flat shape, comprising two half-disks fastened to each other, the two half-disks, made of plastic, being spaced apart by utilizing at least one axial spacing projection provided on at least one of the internal faces of the half-disks so as to define, between the latter, a peripheral annular region emerging at the edge of the token, and an internal central region housing an insert with an electronic circuit having a memory and a transmitter-receiver with a peripheral antenna, and a plastic jointing material deposited by injection into the peripheral annular region, characterized in that the two half-disks are injection-molded attached to each other around the periphery by a hinge, the hinge optionally being removed after the jointing material has been injected.
Although optional, the presence of the hinge between the half-disks is useful from several points of view. It allows the two half-disks to be obtained in a single injection-molding operation; it achieves angular indexation of the t
Boiron Dominique
Chapet Pierre
Charlier Gérard
Gassies Christophe
Etablissements Bourgogne et Grasset
Franklin Jamara A.
Frech Karl D.
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
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