Authenticity indentifying system for information storage cards.

摘要

To prevent unauthorized duplication or alteration of an information storage cards (1) such as magnetic cards, IC cards, and optical cards, the card carries an identification region (4) which may be identified by a simple optical sensor (7). The identification region may consist of holograph, diffraction grating, a multiplicity of parallel grooves and other processed surfaces having certain reflective directivities. Identification of the card can be easily carried out by placing one or more optical sensors at locations where a reflected light beam is or reflected light beams are expected to impinge upon. For more sophisticated purposes, the identification region may consist of a plurality of parts which may be used as a kind of combination lock to more effectively discourage unauthorized duplication of the identification region. To prevent illegal reuse of such a card by rewriting its information contents, a card reader/writer for accessing such information may be provided with a punching unit or other equipment for destroying the identification region.