Layered Playing Card Printing to Block Infrared See-Through
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing playing cards are vulnerable to fraudulent acts during shuffling and can be easily identified through infrared cameras, hindering fair gameplay and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating an infrared seeing-through preventing layer containing carbon as an intermediate layer and using ink without carbon for printing suits and ranks, while using carbon-containing ink for the back pattern, to absorb infrared rays and obscure printed details, and assigning unique IDs to shuffled cards.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If carbon black ink is used to print the front side of the playing card, then the black parts appear sharper and darker, but the printed parts can be seen through the card when viewed through an infrared camera
Solution Approach 1:
The card is divided into multiple layers: a front surface layer with carbon-free ink printing, a middle layer with infrared-absorbing material, and a back surface layer with carbon-containing ink printing. This segmentation prevents infrared rays from penetrating through the card while maintaining visual appearance.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediate layer containing infrared-absorbing material (carbon, metal oxide, or metal powder) is inserted between the front and back surface layers. This intermediary layer absorbs infrared rays, preventing them from passing through the card, while allowing the card to maintain its normal visual appearance.
2Productivity
If manual shuffling is performed by the game sponsor, then the cards can be distributed, but it takes a long time and provides opportunities for fraudulent acts
Solution Approach 1:
Cards are pre-shuffled and pre-packaged in sealed packages before reaching the game sponsor. The shuffling is performed in advance by automated equipment, eliminating the time-consuming manual shuffling process and reducing opportunities for fraud during game operation.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple identical decks of pre-shuffled cards are produced through automated manufacturing processes. Each deck is sealed in individual packages with unique identification codes, allowing for verification and traceability while maintaining consistency across multiple decks.
3Reliability
If unique IDs are assigned to pre-shuffled card packages, then fraudulent acts are prevented and fairness is ensured, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Unique identification codes are printed on the packaging using invisible or color-changing inks that can be detected by specialized equipment. This allows for verification of card authenticity and tracking of card distribution without requiring complex electronic systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The ID system includes verification mechanisms that provide feedback on the authenticity and status of each card package. This feedback loop ensures that only genuine, properly shuffled cards are used in games and allows for tracking and accountability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively prevents fraudulent acts by ensuring fair distribution and secure gameplay, while making it difficult to identify card details through infrared cameras, and allows for easy identification of genuine cards.
Implementation Method 1
Carbon has characteristics that infrared emissivity (absorption ratio) is high, so the carbon black ink will appear black when viewed through an infrared camera.
Implementation Method 2
since the ink containing no carbon is used to print the suit and the rank, a difference between intensity of infrared rays radiated from the printed part and intensity of infrared rays radiated from an area therearound is small
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a playing card, where a suit and a rank are printed on one surface of a card base sheet, a back pattern is printed on a back surface, an intermediate layer having a black layer or a color layer similar to black is provided on the card base sheet to make transmission of visible rays difficult, and ink containing no carbon is used for printing the suit and the rank. The intermediate layer is configured to prevent transmission of visible rays from the back surface. The suit and the rank printed with the ink containing no carbon are configured to transmit infrared rays. The intermediate layer and the suit and rank printed with the ink containing no carbon are configured such that it is difficult for both the visible rays and the infrared rays to distinguish the suit and the rank from the back surface.