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Methods and Apparatus for Prepaid Card Packaging and Activation

a technology for prepaid cards and activation methods, applied in the field of prepaid card activation, can solve the problems of not providing the right balance of features, too expensive, and the package may be too susceptible to fraud, and the package may be too expensiv

Inactive Publication Date: 2010-08-26
OBERTHUR TECH OF AMERICA CORP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is a bi-panel with a fold line that has two panels on either side of the fold line. The first panel has a glue area for supporting a product literature insert, while the second panel has a glue area between the no glue area and the edges of the panel. The second panel also has a tear off strip that is torn away during activation to access the bar code or other indicia on the back surface of the panel. The invention allows for easy activation and access to the bar code or other indicia through a convenient and efficient process."

Problems solved by technology

While a wide variety of previous approaches have been tried, many such approaches have failed to provide the right balance of features.
For example, a highly secure package may be too hard to open by a legitimate customer after purchase, too expensive or both.
A very cost effective package may be too susceptible to fraud.
Where the bar code is externally on the card packaging it is publicly accessible and potentially subject to attack.
In such an approach, the bar code is again publicly visible and accessible and is potentially subject to fraud attempts.

Method used

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  • Methods and Apparatus for Prepaid Card Packaging and Activation
  • Methods and Apparatus for Prepaid Card Packaging and Activation
  • Methods and Apparatus for Prepaid Card Packaging and Activation

Examples

Experimental program
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first embodiment

[0013]FIG. 1 shows the inside of a card carrier blank utilized to form a gift card carrier 100 in accordance with the present invention. More specifically, FIG. 1 shows a bi-panel arrangement in which a first panel 110 and a second panel 120 are folded about a centerline 130 and glued shut to form a gift card carrier as described in further detail below. Illustrative dimensions are included in FIG. 1 for the gift card carrier 100 for use with a gift card which is the size of a standard credit card. Presently preferred materials for carrier 100 are 8 point or 12 point white paper having a nominal thickness of 0.008″ or 0.012″, respectively. It will be recognized that other dimensions may be suitably employed for cards having other dimensions and that materials other than paper may be suitably employed.

[0014]First panel 110 has a rectangular area 112 where a terms and condition pamphlet or other product literature insert 10 may be suitably attached with fugitive glue, for example, whi...

second embodiment

[0021]Aspects of a card carrier in accordance with the present invention are illustrated in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, a top fold tablet card carrier 400 is illustrated. Similar to the embodiment of FIG. 1, a first panel 410 includes a first area 412 reserved for a gift card. No gift card is shown in FIG. 4. A second area 413 defines a no glue region. First panel 410 also includes a first larger hangtag cutout 414. Additionally, the first panel 410 includes a tear strip 460.

[0022]Second panel 420 has a first area 422 reserved for attaching a terms and conditions pamphlet or other product literature insert. No literature is shown in FIG. 4. A second area 424 defines a no glue region. Second panel 420 also includes a second smaller hangtag cutout 428.

[0023]In this second embodiment, glue is applied around the edges of second panel 420 in either of the two ways described above in connection with FIG. 1. A gift card is attached to the panel 420. A terms and condition pamphlet or other product l...

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Abstract

Techniques for providing cost effective and tamper evident prepaid card packaging are described. By forming a tear strip in a panel of the prepaid card packaging and aligning an activation bar code or other indicia on the card with the tear strip when mounting the card within the packaging, the security of the activation indicia can be maintained until after purchase. After purchase, access can be achieved by tearing away the tear strip and the card can be activated in a secure manner. Because the activation indicia is maintained secure until after purchase, if desired a single number, for example, a card account number can be used to identify both the card account and to activate the card.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION [0001]The present invention relates generally to improvements in prepaid card packaging and activation, and more particularly to advantageous aspects of packaging of prepaid cards in a tamper evident manner to reduce fraud.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]As prepaid cards have become more and more prevalent, techniques for cost effectively packaging such cards in a tamper evident manner are highly desirable. While a wide variety of previous approaches have been tried, many such approaches have failed to provide the right balance of features. For example, a highly secure package may be too hard to open by a legitimate customer after purchase, too expensive or both. A very cost effective package may be too susceptible to fraud.[0003]Additionally, according to one aspect of many prepaid card systems, a bar code is scanned utilizing a bar code scanner at the time of sale of the card as part of the activation process for the card. Where the bar code is externally on th...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): B65D73/00B65D85/00B65B15/00B65B51/02B65B69/00
CPCB65D27/34B65D73/0078B65D2203/06B65D75/5833B65D75/20
Inventor SWAIN, JAMES ROBERT
Owner OBERTHUR TECH OF AMERICA CORP
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