Patent Grant
9658373
Field
Anti-copy optical materials, particularly for use in anti-counterfeiting applications, are disclosed. More particularly, embodiments related to anti-copy optical materials incorporating fluorescent materials and one or more optical absorbers configured to absorb visible light, are disclosed.
Background Information
Advances in document reproduction technology over the past several decades have led to an increase in the illicit reproduction and counterfeiting of documents worldwide. Such documents include, but are not limited to: banknotes, government bonds, identity documents such as passports and driver's licenses, bank checks, bills of sale, deeds, and prescriptions for pharmaceuticals. The evolution of new reprographic technology has spawned a new class of “casual counterfeiters” with limited, if any, traditional counterfeiting skills. These counterfeiters take advantage of the increased availability of advanced color copiers and color scanner-computer-printer systems to counterfeit, e.g., banknotes that can be passed off as authentic currency.
One difficulty in stopping such illicit reproduction is that platen-based scanners readily copy most of the low-cost, level one, anti-counterfeiting features that exist on banknotes and other documents. These reprographic systems, like a human viewer, detect light in a visible spectrum that is diffusely reflected from a document surface, to capture an image of the document. Since both photocopier systems and humans detect light in the visible spectrum, it is difficult to create a feature on the document that will be imaged differently by a photocopier system, than how the feature will be seen under white light by a user.
Current anti-counterfeiting measures rely mainly on manufacturers to install firmware in scanners that can recognize predefined document images, e.g., images of specific banknotes, and in response, to disable the photocopy process. However, such scanners can be readily retrofitted with other software lacking the anti-counterfeiting restriction, thus rendering attempts to prevent illicit reproduction useless.
Anti-copy optical materials, particularly for use in anti-counterfeiting applications, are disclosed. In an embodiment, an anti-copy optical material is provided having a fluorescent material and one or more optical absorbers. The fluorescent material may include a fluorophore, configured to absorb incident light having an excitation wavelength in a visible spectrum, and to emit light having a fluorescent wavelength in the visible spectrum. The incident light may include one or more peak wavelengths in the visible spectrum different from the excitation wavelength. The one or more optical absorbers may be configured to absorb substantially all of the incident light having the one or more peak wavelengths in the visible spectrum. For example, the optical absorbers may absorb more than about 50% of the incident light having the one or more peak wavelengths or provide at least about 1/e absorption of the incident light having the one or more peak wavelengths. The anti-copy optical material may also include a black binding medium that includes a binding medium refractive index. In an embodiment, the fluorescent material also includes a fluorescent material refractive index, and a difference between the binding medium refractive index and the fluorescent material refractive index is less than 5.
In an embodiment, the fluorescent material includes a shell surrounding the fluorophore. The shell may further surround a fluorescent dye in solution with a solvent. In an embodiment, the one or more optical absorbers include an optically absorptive pigment or an optically absorptive dye. The shell may surround at least one of the optically absorptive pigment or the optically absorptive dye.
In an embodiment, the visible spectrum includes an emission spectrum of a scan lamp, and the one or more peak wavelengths include one or more peak wavelengths in the emission spectrum. Also, an intensity of the fluorescent wavelength may be under a noise floor of the emission spectrum. In an embodiment, the excitation wavelength is in a blue color range of the visible spectrum, and the fluorescent wavelength is in a green color range of the visible spectrum.
In an embodiment, a medium is provided, such as a linear barcode or a matrix barcode printed or otherwise integrated on a substrate, and the medium is optically readable by a machine. The medium may include an anti-copy optical material on the substrate. The anti-copy optical material may include a fluorescent material and one or more optical absorbers. The fluorescent material may include a fluorophore configured to absorb incident light having an excitation wavelength in a visible spectrum and to emit light having a fluorescent wavelength in the visible spectrum. Furthermore, the incident light may include one or more peak wavelengths in the visible spectrum different from the excitation wavelength. The one or more optical absorbers may be configured to absorb substantially all of the incident light having the one or more peak wavelengths in the visible spectrum. In an embodiment, the fluorescent material includes a shell surrounding the fluorophore.
In an embodiment, a non-transitory machine-readable medium is provided having instructions which, when executed by a data processing system, causes the data processing system to perform a method. The method may include directing incident light toward a medium. The incident light may include one or more peak wavelengths in a visible spectrum and the medium may include an anti-copy optical material printed or otherwise integrated on a substrate. Further, the anti-copy optical material may include a fluorescent material having a fluorophore configured to absorb the incident light having an excitation wavelength in the visible spectrum and to emit light having a fluorescent wavelength in the visible spectrum. The anti-copy optical material may also include one or more optical absorbers configured to absorb substantially all of the incident light having the one or more peak wavelengths in the visible spectrum. The method may further include receiving returned light from the medium. The returned light may include the emitted light having the fluorescent wavelength. The method may further include authenticating the medium based on a relative intensity of the returned light having the fluorescent wavelength.
In an embodiment, the method also includes comparing the relative intensity of the returned light having the fluorescent wavelength to a relative intensity of the returned light having the one or more peak wavelengths. In an embodiment, the medium includes a barcode on the substrate, such as a linear or a matrix barcode. Authenticating the medium may include validating the barcode based on the relative intensity of the returned light having the emission wavelength being higher than the relative intensity of the returned light having the one or more peak wavelengths.
In an embodiment, a method is provided including generating light from a light source, such as on a tablet or a smartphone. The method further includes directing the light toward a barcode and capturing an image of the barcode while the barcode is illuminated by the light. The method may also include comparing the captured image to a stored barcode pattern, the stored barcode pattern representing an authentic version of the barcode when the authentic version is illuminated with light from a representative version of the light source. Furthermore, the method may include determining that the barcode is authentic when the captured image substantially matches the stored barcode pattern. The stored barcode pattern may not visually match the authentic version of the barcode when the authentic version of the barcode is viewed in ambient lighting, such as sunlight.
In an embodiment, the light source emits light having a predetermined set of peak wavelengths in a visible spectrum, and the barcode includes a fluorophore configured to be excited by an excitation wavelength, which may be different from the predetermined set of peak wavelengths, and to emit a fluorescence in the visible spectrum. Furthermore, the fluorescence from the fluorophore may alter the captured image such that the captured image does not visually match the authentic version of the barcode when the authentic version is viewed in the ambient lighting. In an embodiment, the barcode includes an optical absorber configured to absorb the light having the predetermined set of peak wavelengths in the visible spectrum.
Embodiments describe anti-copy optical materials, particularly for use in anti-counterfeiting applications. However, while some embodiments are described with specific regard to frustrating attempts to make physical copies of documents, the embodiments are not so limited and certain embodiments may also be applicable to other uses. For example, anti-copy optical material may be incorporated onto an object to allow a scanning device or other equipment to detect the anti-copy optical material and validate the object as being authentic without the need to produce a physical copy or capture an image of the object.
In various embodiments, description is made with reference to the figures. However, certain embodiments may be practiced without one or more of these specific details, or in combination with other known methods and configurations. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth, such as specific configurations, dimensions, and processes, in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. In other instances, well-known processes and manufacturing techniques have not been described in particular detail in order to not unnecessarily obscure the description. Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment”, or the like, means that a particular feature, structure, configuration, or characteristic described is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrase “one embodiment,” “an embodiment”, or the like, in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, configurations, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
In an aspect, embodiments describe anti-copy optical material that may be used to passively frustrate the photocopy process of typical scanners and photocopiers. The anti-copy optical material may be printed or otherwise integrated onto documents and into document features to frustrate the photocopy process in a manner that is independent of the firmware or optical configuration of the scanner or photocopier. In an embodiment, the anti-copy material causes the scanner to record a document image that is substantially different from an appearance of the document as seen by a human viewer, rendering a copy of the document unusable by someone trying to pass it off as legitimate.
In an aspect, an anti-copy optical material may be incorporated in features of a document to alter a spectrum of visible light that is returned to a detector array of a photocopier in response to a lamp illuminating a surface of the document with a high-intensity visible emission spectrum. In an embodiment, an anti-copy optical material may include a fluorescent material configured to absorb visible light having an excitation wavelength and to emit visible light having a fluorescent wavelength such that short wavelength visible light directed toward the anti-copy optical material by the photocopier lamp may be absorbed and longer wavelength visible light may be fluoresced by the anti-copy optical material and captured by the detector array of the photocopier. Thus, the short wavelength visible light, which may have a low relative intensity in the incident light from the photocopier lamp, may be converted to longer wavelength visible light and returned to the photocopier detector array. As a result, the longer wavelength visible light may be reproduced as a corresponding color in a reprographic copy of the anti-copy optical material.
In an aspect, an anti-copy optical material may substantially absorb high-intensity light in a visible emission spectrum of a photocopier lamp illuminating a surface of the document such that reflection of the high-intensity light to the photocopier detector array is substantially reduced. In an embodiment, an anti-copy optical material may include one or more optical absorbers configured to absorb visible light having wavelengths that correspond to one or more peak wavelengths in an emission spectrum of the photocopier lamp. Thus, incident light directed by the photocopier toward the anti-copy optical material may be substantially absorbed at the specified wavelengths. As a result, when used in combination with the fluorescent material, a relative intensity of visible light fluoresced by the fluorescent material may be correspondingly higher in the light returned to a detector array of the photocopier. That is, fluoresced light that may be unnoticeable under ambient lighting and that may otherwise be submerged below a noise floor of the light signal returned to the detector array, may be detected, imaged, and recorded by the photocopier.
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Within the visible spectrum, the emission spectrum may include one or more peak intensities 206 for light having corresponding one or more peak wavelengths 208. More particularly, while emission spectra may vary from light source to light source, photocopier 103 lamps tend to emit spectra that are comprised of narrow peaks in the red, green, orange, yellow, violet, and blue color regions of the visible spectrum. For example, lamp 104 may emit light having peak intensities 206 at about 415 nm, 475 nm, 540 nm, 580 nm, 605 nm, and 680 nm. Accordingly, light emitted by lamp 104 may include spectra of relatively high-intensity light separated by spectra of relatively low-intensity light. The spectra having relatively low-intensity light may be used to define a noise floor 210. In an embodiment, noise floor 210 may include an average relative intensity of spectra having relatively low-intensity light. Alternatively, noise floor 210 may be predefined as a particular fraction of a selected peak intensity. For example, noise floor 210 may be predefined as being less than about 25% of the highest peak intensity, e.g., 0.25 a.u. More particularly, noise floor 210 may be predefined as being less than about 5% of the highest peak intensity, e.g., 0.05 a.u.
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In an embodiment, an anti-copy optical material may be incorporated in features of document 100 to alter a spectrum of light that is returned to detector array 122 of photocopier 103 in response to lamp 104 illuminating a surface of document 100 with an emission spectrum, such as CCF lamp emission spectrum 200 or LED lamp emission spectrum 300. The anti-copy optical material may also incorporate optical absorbers in features of document 100 to allow for a fluorescence included in the spectrum of light that is returned to the detector array 122 to exhibit an intensity above a noise floor 210 of the returned signal, such that the fluorescence may be detected, imaged, and recorded.
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In an embodiment, fluorescent material 404 is configured to absorb light having excitation wavelength 414, and in response, to emit a fluorescence 416. For example, fluorescent material 404 may have an absorption maxima centered on a blue scan lamp emission line and be configured to emit Stokes' fluorescence with a maxima centered roughly between the green (543 nm) and the yellow (592 nm) peak wavelengths 208, e.g., at a fluorescence wavelength of about 570 nm. In an embodiment, fluorescent material 404 may absorb an amount of scan lamp energy at the absorption maxima on the order of about 1×10−9% up to about 100%. Thus, in an embodiment, the absorption maxima of fluorescent material 404 does not substantially overlap any of the one or more peak spectra of the lamp emission spectrum and/or the fluorescence does not correspond to any of the one or more peak spectra. Some fluorescence 416 may transmit away from substrate 402 and propagate as imageable reflected light 120 along an optical path to detector array 122 for imaging.
In an embodiment, base layer 408 provides an optical absorber configured to absorb at least some of the incident light having the one or more peak wavelengths 208. For example, base layer 408 may include colorants, such as pigments or dyes, which effectively absorb high-intensity spectra of the emission spectrum. The colorant may be black, e.g., carbon black pigment, which provides for absorption of all wavelengths. Thus, light having first peak wavelength 410 and second peak wavelength 412 may have long wavelengths that transmit through fluorescent material 404 and binding medium 406, which may not be particularly well-suited to absorption of such wavelengths, and may instead be absorbed by base layer 408. In an embodiment, base layer 408 may be engineered to absorb substantially all, e.g., 1/e absorption, of incident visible light having a predetermined narrow of broad spectrum. Although base layer 408 may also absorb fluorescence 416, enough fluorescence 416 may emit away from base layer 408 to be collected by detector array 122 and photocopied as a visible color.
In an embodiment, optical absorbers of anti-copy optical material 400 may include optically absorptive pigments and dyes that exhibit fluorescence. For example, optically absorptive pigments and dyes may be configured to absorb light having one or more peak wavelengths 208 of the lamp emission spectrum and to emit fluorescence at longer wavelengths, e.g., in the infrared range. Thus, although light may be emitted from optical absorbers back toward detector array 122, the emitted light may be in a non-visible spectrum such that it passes undetected and/or is not reproduced as a color in a photocopy. Accordingly, the light fluoresced from an optical absorber may not overwhelm light fluoresced from fluorescent material 404 in a return signal.
In an embodiment, binding medium 406 includes colorants that absorb certain wavelengths of incident light. For example, binding medium 406 may be a blackish or otherwise colored ink that absorbs a broad spectrum of light wavelengths or a narrow band of light wavelengths. Binding medium 406 may also transmit a broad spectrum of light wavelengths or a narrow band of light wavelengths. Thus, binding medium 406 may be a chosen color of ink with the desired transmission characteristics that will permit sufficient visible light to be absorbed by anti-copy optical material in order to make the printed area appear very dark, and yet will not prevent the emission of fluorescent light along an optical path toward detector array 122.
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Depending upon the encapsulation method used, fluorescent material 404 may have a generally spherical shape, or it may be differently shaped. For example, fluorescent material 404 having shell 500 may have a cubic, polygonal, or ellipsoidal structure. An outside dimension of fluorescent material 404 may be in a range of between about 10 nm to 10 mm. More particularly, fluorescent material 404 may have an outside dimension of between about 100 nm to 100 μm. For example, an outside dimension of fluorescent material 404 may be about 3 μm. One skilled in the art will recognize that fluorescent material 404 may be sized and shaped in a wide range of configurations at least because anti-copy optical material 400 may not only be printed on substrate 402, but may also be embedded in an ancillary object, e.g., a plastic film, and then applied over substrate 402. Accordingly, the physical morphology of anti-copy optical material 400 constituents may vary depending on the target application.
Shell 500 may also be formed with varying shapes and thicknesses. For example, shell 500 may be spherical or otherwise shaped. An average thickness of shell 500 may be between about 1 picometer to 1 meter, depending on the application. In an embodiment, shell 500 includes an average thickness of between about 100 nm to 1 μm.
Fluorophore 502 may be incorporated in a fluorescent dye having one or more absorption peaks centered in the visible spectrum. More particularly, fluorescent material 404 may include a fluorescent dye configured to be excited by one or more excitation wavelength 414. Similarly, the fluorescent dye may be configured to emit fluorescence having one or more corresponding fluorescence wavelength. Fluorescent dye may further be combined with an appropriate solvent to form a solution that is encapsulated by shell 500. As an example of a suitable solution, fluorescent dye may include Rhodamine 6G in a 50% saturated solution with one or more of ethanol, methanol, or acetone. Table 1 below provides a listing of other suitable fluorescent dyes that are commercially available and that may be combined with an appropriate solvent to form a fluorescent solution, as well as a corresponding excitation wavelength 414 and fluorescence wavelength of the resulting fluorescent material 404.
The listing of fluorescent dyes in Table 1 is provided as a non-limiting example, and one skilled in the art will recognize that other fluorescent dyes may be used and combined with appropriate solvents in accordance with this disclosure. For example, some of the fluorescent dyes above, or other fluorescent dyes, may be placed in solution with solvents, including polar and non-polar solvents, such as: acetic acid, acetone, acetronitrile, benzene, buffer, chloroform, cyclopentane, cyclohexane, dichloromethane, diethyl ether, dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, 1,4-dioxane, ethanol, ethyl acetate, formic acid, hexane, isopropanol, methanol, propylene carbonate, n-butanol, nitromethane, n-propanol, pentane, tetrahydrofuran, toluene, and water. Similarly, any of the solvents listed above may be combined with fluorescent dyes not specifically provided in Table 1. One skilled in the art of will understand that the choice of fluorescent dye and solvent combinations may be made to render an adequate solution, and that the adequacy of such solution may depend not only on intrinsic factors such as solubility, but also on factors such as compatibility with the chosen microencapsulation materials and methods. The microencapsulation materials and methods may be known in the art, and thus, a suitable combination of fluorescent dyes, solvents, and shell materials may be chosen by one skilled in the art. Accordingly, neither Table 1 nor any of the listings of dyes, solvents, and microencapsulation materials provided herein shall be interpreted to limit the breadth of embodiments contemplated to be within the scope of this disclosure.
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A first optically absorptive pigment 516 may be suspended within the fluorescent solution. First optically absorptive pigment 516 may include, for example, a black pigment, such as carbon black pigment, or a selective color absorbing pigment. For example, first optically absorptive pigment 516 may be configured to selectively absorb incident light having one or more of peak wavelengths 208, e.g., corresponding to a green color spectrum. In an embodiment, a second optically absorptive pigment 518 may be incorporated within anti-copy optical material, and more particularly, encapsulated within shell 500. Second optically absorptive pigment 518 may be configured to selectively absorb incident light having a different peak wavelength than light absorbed by first optically absorptive pigment 516. For example, second optically absorptive pigment 518 may selectively absorb incident light corresponding to a red color spectrum.
Optically absorptive pigments encapsulated in shell 500 may have be sized and shaped in a range similar to that described above for fluorescent material 404. For example, optically absorptive pigments may have a generally spherical, a cubic, a polygonal, an ellipsoidal structure, etc. An outside dimension of optically absorptive pigments may be in a range of between about 100 nm to 10 mm. More particularly, optically absorptive pigments may have an outside dimension of between about 100 nm to 100 μm.
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Anti-copy optical material 400 may include a plurality of fluorescent material 404 suspended in binding medium 406. Fluorescent material 404 may have a structure similar to that described with respect to
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As described above, fluorescent dye 504 combined with solvent 506 may absorb excitation wavelength 414 of incident light from photocopier 103 and emit fluorescence 416, which directs some fluoresced light along an optical path to detector array 122 of photocopier 103. In an embodiment, each optical absorber is selectively absorptive of a given wavelength of visible light. For example, first optically absorptive dye 510 may absorb first peak wavelength 410, e.g., corresponding to a peak wavelength in a green spectrum of lamp 104 emission spectra, first optically absorptive pigment 516 may absorb second peak wavelength 412, e.g., corresponding to a peak wavelength in a red spectrum of lamp emission spectra, and second optically absorptive pigment 518 may absorb third peak wavelength 602, e.g., corresponding to a peak wavelength in a yellow spectrum of lamp emission spectra. In an alternative embodiment, any of first optically absorptive dye 510, first optically absorptive pigment 516, and second optically absorptive pigment 518 may be broad spectrum optical absorbers, e.g., including carbon black, to absorb substantially all incident light in relatively high-intensity regions and relatively low-intensity regions of the lamp emission spectra.
It is further illustrated that in an embodiment, none of the optical absorbers encapsulated within shell 500 are particularly suited to absorbing a fourth wavelength 702 of visible light, e.g., in an orange color range. Thus, incident light having fourth wavelength 702 may diffract or reflect internally when fluorescent material 404 or encapsulated optical absorbers are encountered. To minimize the amount of incident light having fourth wavelength 702 that returns along an optical path to detector array 122, binding medium 406 may include colorants, e.g., carbon black pigments or blackish dyes, that absorb reflected fourth wavelength 702 of light before it escapes anti-copy optical material 400.
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In an embodiment, one or more optical absorbers incorporated in binding medium 406 outside of shell 500 include a first optically absorptive pigment 516 and a second optically absorptive pigment 518. The optically absorptive pigments may be configured to absorb a narrow or a broad spectrum of incident light. For example, first optically absorptive pigment 516 may be configured to absorb incident light having first peak wavelength 410, e.g., corresponding to a narrow green color spectrum. However, second optically absorptive pigment 518 may be configured to absorb incident light having second peak wavelength 412, third peak wavelength 602, or fourth wavelength 702. For example, second optically absorptive pigment 518 may integrate black pigment, e.g., carbon black, into binding medium 406 along with first optically absorptive pigment 516 and fluorescent material 404. By combining optical absorbers and fluorescent material 404 in a binding medium 406 without encapsulating the optical absorbers within shell 500, the optical absorbers can contribute to absorption without requiring the photons of incident light to penetrate shell 500. This may reduce light scattering from a surface of shell 500, and thus, enable more absorption of incident light. Although the optical absorbers may absorb some fluorescence 416 emitted by fluorescent material 404, enough fluorescence may still return to detector array 122 to be photocopied as a visible color.
Optically absorptive pigments suspended in binding medium 406 outside of shell 500 may be sized and shaped in a range similar to optically absorptive pigments encapsulated by shell 500, as previously described. For example, optically absorptive pigments may have a generally spherical, a cubic, a polygonal, an ellipsoidal structure, etc. An outside dimension of optically absorptive pigments may be in a range of between about 10 nm to 10 mm. More particularly, optically absorptive pigments may have an outside dimension of between about 100 nm to 100 μm.
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In an embodiment, a fluorescent layer 908 may be printed, deposited, or otherwise incorporated in the layered structure of anti-copy optical material 400. For example, fluorescent layer 908 may be printed on top of the other layers of the structure, or it may be incorporated between or underneath the other layers. Fluorescent layer 908 may include a plurality of fluorescent material 404, such as shell 500 encapsulating fluorophore 502, within binding medium 406. As a result, fluorescent layer 908 may be configured to absorb incident visible light having excitation wavelength 414 and to emit fluorescence 416 having a fluorescent wavelength in the visible spectrum.
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In an embodiment, fluorescent material 404 in binding medium 406 is configured to absorb incident visible light having excitation wavelength 414 and to emit fluorescence 416 having a fluorescent wavelength in the visible spectrum. First optically absorptive dye 510 may be configured to absorb incident visible light from lamp 104 having first peak wavelength 410, e.g., corresponding to a green spectrum of the lamp emission spectra. Second optically absorptive dye 512 may be configured to absorb incident visible light from lamp 104 having second peak wavelength 412, e.g., corresponding to a red spectrum of the lamp emission spectra. Third optically absorptive dye 1002 may be configured to absorb incident visible light from lamp 104 having third peak wavelength 602, e.g., corresponding to a yellow spectrum of the lamp emission spectra. Thus, a single ink layer or binding medium 406 may incorporate various layers, inclusions, or constituents that provide for the effect of either absorbing some of incident visible light from lamp 104 and emitting other visible light back to detector array 122, or of absorbing a narrow or a broad spectrum of incident visible light from lamp 104 to substantially suppress nearly all of the scan lamp 104 energy that does not induce fluorescence so that very little scan lamp light returns to the detector array 122 via a collection optical path.
It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that various features of the embodiments described above may be intermixed and combined to create variant anti-copy optical materials 400 in accordance with this disclosure. However, in any case, a feature formed from a resulting anti-copy optical material 400 and printed on a document 100 would typically appear substantially black to a human viewer, but would photocopy with a substantially larger amount of color consistent with the induced fluorescence. This is because in most cases a relatively small amount of fluorescence would be generated by low-level ambient room lights when viewed by a human, but the detector array 122 of photocopier 103 would receive fluorescence induced by substantially higher intensity lighting from lamp 104. For example, such a feature using a green fluorescent material 404 may look very dark green to black in room lighting, but may copy green. Such a feature may also appear strongly green under any traditional ultraviolet light used for illumination of ultraviolet security features, thereby providing the same utility as existing fluorescent anti-counterfeiting features, as in this case there is virtually no white light in the lamp 104 illumination spectrum to cause visual noise.
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In an alternative embodiment, fluorescent dye 504 incorporated in fluorescent material 404 may have its absorption maxima centered on the blue scan lamp 104 emission line. More particularly, absorbed excitation wavelengths 1102 may include several peak wavelengths of increasing intensity, and the maximum absorption peak may be centered on fifth peak wavelengths 1110 of the lamp emission spectrum. Furthermore, fluorescent dye 504 may emit Stokes' fluorescence with peak fluorescence wavelength 1106 centered roughly between the green (543 nm) and yellow (592 nm) lamp emission peaks. More particularly, a suitable fluorescent dye 504 may generate fluorescent energy in a wavelength band that does not substantially overlap one of the emission peaks of the scanner lamp spectrum. Thus, light returned from anti-copy material may be outside of the peak intensities that the photocopier has been calibrated to receive.
Scanners and photocopiers operate based on the expectation that only light that is diffusely reflected from a document 100 surface, which originated from a calibrated and known lamp 104 spectrum, can return to the detectors. These optical systems are not expecting surges of light at other spectral regions. Thus, if such bands can be created, and if they can pass through the collection path to the detector array 122, they will be recorded as if they were diffusely reflected from the document 100. That is to say, the copier cannot differentiate between reflected scan lamp light and lamp-induced fluorescence that sneaks into the system. By selecting dyes with properties such as those described above, the anti-copy effect may be optimized through absorption of short wavelengths, and emission largely into void areas where the lamps have little to no line strength. This helps to detune a calibration of photocopier 103 as it interferes with the baseline correction scan off of a highly reflective white background that the photocopier 103 uses to assess what spectral content is missing, and thus absorbed, by the colors on the document 100. In other words, the photocopied duplicate is likely to have even less resemblance to the original document 100.
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Refractive and reflective interfaces may exist in anti-copy optical material 400, for example, between fluorescent material 404 surfaces, binding medium 406, and substrate 402. More particularly, with respect to an anti-copy optical material 400 embodiment described above, refractive interfaces may exist at the interface of binding medium 406 and an outer surface of shell 500, as well as at the interface of an inner surface of shell 500 and the fluorescent solution. The refractive interfaces may scatter light, potentially causing the light to reflect back toward the detector array 122 prior to being absorbed by anti-copy optical material 400. Such reflected light may overwhelm the fluorescent light in the return signal. However, such scattering may be minimized by providing a system in which the refractive index of binding medium 406 (nbm), the refractive index of shell 500 (ns), and the refractive index of fluorescent material 404 (nfm), closely match. More particularly, the refractive indices of the interface materials may be described by the equation: Δn=nbm−ns−nfm=0. Alternatively, the refractive indices may satisfy the equation: Δn=nbm−ns=ns−nfm=0. Alternatively, Δn may be larger than zero while the refractive indices of the interface materials may nonetheless closely match. For example, Δn may be in a range between about 0 to 5.0, while still allowing for scattering to be minimized to a point at which fluorescent energy returned to detector array 122 is not overwhelmed by scattered energy at other wavelengths and remains above a noise floor of the returned signal.
As described above, features formed with anti-copy optical material 400 on substrate 402 may appear differently when photocopied as compared to when viewed under ambient light. Most ambient light is either incandescent or fluorescent, and may include similar peak wavelengths 208, though of lower intensity relative to what lamp 104 uses to illuminate document 100 for photocopying. Thus, there may still be a small amount of fluorescence emanating from a printed anti-copy optical material 400 feature under normal viewing conditions, which may give the feature a slight hue that is not entirely black. Nonetheless, this slight hue can be of benefit to the anti-copy functionality of anti-copy optical material 400. The human eye is very sensitive to even low levels of light. Thus, a viewer can sometimes see a small amount of visible fluorescence that is generated by ambient light on the anti-copy feature. The amount of filtering of the scan lamp 104 peaks, i.e., the efficacy of optical absorbers, may be controlled to provide for a nominal amount of fluorescence to be present under normal viewing. This nominal amount of fluorescence may be selected to be viewable by a human, but not high enough to be photographable by a camera. This further helps to prevent counterfeiting that might be done by a camera, specifically a smart phone or other digital camera. Proper matching or contrasting of the appearance of the fluorescent anti-copy regions, in proximity to other colors or hues that do not have anti-copy attributes, will act to enhance the anti-copy features on protected documents.
By way of example, documents may incorporate anti-copy features that, once fluorescence has been produced, is discernable to a human viewer, but is too low in intensity to be photographed. In an embodiment, an anti-copy region includes a very slight greenish appearance when viewed in ambient fluorescent light, but appears entirely black when photographed with a digital camera. Furthermore, when photocopied, the anti-copy regions may appear as a bright green region, due to exposure to the high-intensity lamp 104 of the scanner. Thus the anti-copy aspects of the embodiments described above may help to protect against both direct photocopying and camera photography counterfeiting.
Although several of the embodiments described above describe the use of black ink, black dye, or black pigment as a complementary optical absorber to absorb substantially all incident light that is not otherwise absorbed by other optical absorbers in anti-copy optical material 400, some embodiments may allow for selective reflection of certain wavelengths other than the fluorescence wavelengths 1104 of fluorescent material 404. For example, colorants with narrow optical reflectivity and/or absorption ranges could be used to absorb some, but not all, of the color ranges present in a lamp emission spectrum. Accordingly, an anti-copy feature may be designed that is not very, very dark or black, and which when photocopied, shows the fluorescent emission and a non-black reflected spectrum. The fluoresced color range and the reflected spectrum may be combined in an image to provide for a wider variety of color combinations that go beyond a nominal black ambient appearance 1402 and a photocopy color of the selected fluorescent wavelength.
The anti-copy optical material embodiments above may be manufactured at varying levels of integration. For example, anti-copy optical material 400 may be manufactured to include fluorescent material 404 and optical absorbers already dispersed within an ink. Alternatively, fluorescent material 404, such as shell 500 surrounding fluorophore 502, may be provided to an end user separately, and the end user may mix the fluorescent material 404 pigment, along with one or more separately provided optical absorbers, into a self-provided ink, such as a black or blackish ink.
Although several of the embodiments described above describe the use of a fluorescent material 404 to fluoresce light that is captured and imaged by a photocopier 103, one skilled in the art will recognize that other materials may be substituted to generate a similar anti-copy effect. For example, rather than using a fluorescent material 404, such as a fluorophore 502, a fluorescent dye 504, or a fluorescent pigment 514, an alternative material may be used that absorbs light in a first wavelength and emits light in a second wavelength. For example, other luminescent materials, such as phosphorescent materials may be used. Such phosphorescent materials may include a phosphor, including phosphorescent transition metal compounds or phosphorescent rare earth compounds to absorb incident visible light having an excitation wavelength 414 and to emit visible light along an optical path to detector array 122.
Other suitable materials include quantum dots, which are nanocrystals typically made from semiconductor materials that exhibit fluorescence spectrums dependent on the quantum dot size. More particularly, the absorption and fluorescence characteristics of quantum dots can be controlled through appropriate quantum dot size selection. Thus, in an embodiment, fluorescent material 404 may include quantum dots of one or more sizes that absorb a variety of incident light wavelengths and fluoresce a variety of fluorescent wavelengths. Accordingly, the complexity of a returned light signal can be varied considerably, making successful attempts to override an anti-copy feature even more difficult to achieve. Although quantum dots have historically included heavy metals, such as cadmium, advances in cadmium-free quantum dots may promote the commercial viability of such an embodiment.
Anti-copy optical material 400 as described above may be used to create features, which when incorporated into a document 100 in various manners, contribute to an anti-copy or anti-counterfeiting effect. As described above, an anti-copy feature may have an initial appearance to a viewer in ambient light and a different appearance when photocopied. This bi-modal appearance attribute of an anti-copy feature may be augmented and enhanced by placing the anti-copy feature next to, on top of, and/or in close proximity to other regions of appropriate colors to help reveal, conceal, or complicate an area. For example, a region of the document 100 that has been printed with the anti-copy optical material 400 and possibly in conjunction with other non-anti-copy optical materials, may be termed the anti-copy feature. Accordingly, hidden information, which is effectively embedded in the anti-copy region, can be “concealed” or “revealed” when sufficient contrast is induced in the image.
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In addition to being an anti-copy counterfeiting deterrent for banknotes using platen-based document scanning and photocopying, the present invention can be used to provide a means of identifying other documents, such as linear barcodes or matrix barcodes, e.g., QR codes. These codes, which are small and which are generally found on products for sale, e.g., food, clothing, electronics, event tickets, etc., are also easily counterfeited. As anti-copy features may be created as described above to result in an altered appearance under illumination from bright white lights, the LED flash on a cell phone or other portable device can be used to induce the effect as well. This is because the barcodes are small and can be flash-photographed at close enough range to induce the fluorescence. In addition, under exposure from a cell phone flash, a photograph can be taken for documentation and analysis purposes. Using contrast reveal or conceal usage paradigms, certain information, that is not readily visible on the QR code under ambient lighting, can be exposed and used to identify the label as being either authentic or counterfeit. Appropriate software applications executing on a cell phone may be used to compare captured images of a candidate QR code to large databases of information accessed over a network connection. Thus, by authenticating the candidate QR code against legitimate QR codes, the products to which the candidate QR code is attached may be identified as an authentic or counterfeit product. Such authentication may be employed to track and trace trends in the counterfeiting production process. Having a documented chain of illicit products can be used to both halt the production, and legally to prosecute the perpetrators.
Referring to
Referring to
Computer 2000 of
The data storage device 2010 may include a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium 2018 on which is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g. software 2020, which may be a QR code scanning and authentication application stored on a smartphone or tablet) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or operations described herein. Software 2020 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the computer usable volatile memory 2006, computer usable non-volatile memory 2008, and/or within central processor unit 2004 during execution thereof by computer 2000, the computer usable volatile memory 2006, computer usable non-volatile memory 2008, and/or central processor unit 2004 also constituting non-transitory machine-readable storage media.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/932,707, filed Jan. 28, 2014, and this application hereby incorporates herein by reference that provisional patent application.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7094364 | Potyrailo | Aug 2006 | B2 |
| 7169615 | Pai-Paranjape | Jan 2007 | B2 |
| 7341850 | Liu | Mar 2008 | B2 |
| 8110281 | Downing | Feb 2012 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20150213349 A1 | Jul 2015 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61932707 | Jan 2014 | US |
