Disclosed are examples of transaction cards incorporating aluminum or aluminum alloys. The aluminum can be extracted or recycled from a retired aircraft. Other materials can also be incorporated into the transaction card to provide sufficient weight and rigidity to the transaction card. Stainless steel can be incorporated into the construction of the card in combination with aluminum to provide a desired user experience.

A metal smartcard (SC) having a transponder chip module (TCM) with a module antenna (MA), and a card body (CB) comprising two discontinuous metal layers (ML), each layer having a slit (S) overlapping the module antenna, the slits being oriented differently than one another. One metal layer can be a front card body (FCB, CF1), and the other layer may be a rear card body (RCB, CF2) having a magnetic stripe (MS) and a signature panel (SP). The slits in the metal layers may have non-linear shapes.

RFID devices comprising (i) a transponder chip module (TCM, 1410) having an RFIC chip (IC) and a module antenna (MA), and (ii) a coupling frame (CF) having an electrical discontinuity comprising a slit (S) or non-conductive stripe (NCS). The coupling frame may be disposed closely adjacent the transponder chip module so that the slit overlaps the module antenna. The RFID device may be a payment object such as a jewelry item having a metal component modified with a slit (S) to function as a coupling frame. The coupling frame may be moved (such as rotated) to position the slit to selectively overlap the module antennas (MA) of one or more transponder chip modules (TCM-1, TCM-2) disposed in the payment object, thereby selectively enhancing (including enabling) contactless communication between a given transponder chip module in the payment object and another RFID device such as an external contactless reader. The coupling frame may be tubular. A card body construction for a metal smart card is disclosed.

According to an embodiment, an IC card includes a communication interface and a processor. The communication interface communicates with an IC card processing apparatus. The processor transmits extended format support information indicating whether an extended format is supported for each of commands to the IC card processing apparatus.

Metal layers (650, 730, 750, 830, 850) of a smartcard (SC, 600, 700, 800) have module openings (614, 712, 714, 812, 814) for receiving a transponder chip module (TCM). Thermosetting resin (TR, 668B, 768A, 768B, 868A, 868B) coats (encapsulates) the bottom surfaces and fills the module openings of the metal layers. A first metal layer (650, 750, 850) may have a slit (S; 620, 720B, 820) which may also be filled by the thermosetting resin. A second metal layer (ML, 730) disposed above the first metal layer (750) may have a slit (S, 720A) which may also be filled by the thermosetting resin. A booster antenna circuit (BAC, 844) may be disposed between the first and second metal layers, with magnetic shielding material (842) disposed between the booster antenna circuit and the second metal layer (730).

Transaction cards, systems and methods involving an on-card display and an associated mobile computing device utilized for authenticating transactions are disclosed. In one embodiment, an exemplary transaction card may comprise transaction circuitry configured to conduct purchase transactions involving a mobile computing device coupled to or associated with the transaction card, communication circuitry configured to communicate with a provider of the transaction card, an e-ink display configured to display a QR code on the transaction card for use in authentication, data storage configured to store the QR code, and computer readable media having instructions for initiating a second-factor authentication process and displaying the QR code on the e-ink display to be captured by the mobile computing device and transmitted to a system or server for validating the second-factor authentication process.

Smartcards with metal layers manufactured according to various techniques disclosed herein. One or more metal layers of a smartcard stackup may be provided with slits overlapping at least a portion of a module antenna in an associated transponder chip module disposed in the smartcard so that the metal layer functions as a coupling frame. One or more metal layers may be pre-laminated with plastic layers to form a metal core or clad subassembly for a smartcard, and outer printed and/or overlay plastic layers may be laminated to the front and/or back of the metal core. Front and back overlays may be provided. Various constructions of and manufacturing techniques (including temperature, time, and pressure regimes for laminating) for smartcards are disclosed herein.

Systems and methods allow for the integrated circuit cards (ICCs) to removably couple to each other and transmit information to an access device as a single device. One among the two or more ICCs coupled together may read data from the remaining ICCs and provide the data to an access device via contactless communication. The ICC may include a substrate; an integrated circuit embedded in the substrate; input ports exposed on a first surface of the substrate, and output ports exposed on a second surface of the substrate. The input ports and the output ports are electrically coupled to the integrated circuit. The output ports are configured to be removably coupled to the input ports of a second ICC.

The invention relates to a chip card with a dual, contactless and contact-based communication interface, comprising a card body made up of two metal sheets and an electronic module provided with a terminal block and an antenna designed for radio-frequency communication with the antenna of a remote reader. The electronic module includes an active communication circuit powered by a battery in the chip card, and configured to generate a carrier signal capable of interacting with the carrier signal emitted by a remote contactless reader in order to establish active radio-frequency communication between the chip card and the remote reader.

Connection bridges (CBR) for dual-interface transponder chip modules (TCM) 200 may have an area which is substantially equal to or greater than an area of a contact pad (CP) of a contact pad array (CPA). A given connection bridge may be L-shaped and may comprise (i) a first portion disposed external to the contact pad array and extending parallel to the insertion direction, and (ii) a second portion extending from an end of the first portion perpendicular to the insertion direction to within the contact pad array (CPA) such as between C1 and C5. The connection bridge may extend around a corner of the contact pad array, may be large enough to accommodate wire bonding, and may be integral with a coupling frame (CF) extending around the contact pad array. The transponder chip modules may be integrated into a smart card (SC).