Some documents, such as monetary instruments, certificates, and/or the like, may use certain optical articles to combat counterfeiting. One example of such an optical article is an ink with a variable optical property (e.g., color, reflectivity) based on a viewing angle.
In some possible implementations, an optical article printed on a substrate may include an organic binder; and a plurality of reflective magnetic platelets provided in the organic binder, wherein the plurality of reflective magnetic platelets are substantially aligned in accordance with at least part of a surface of revolution, and wherein the plurality of reflective magnetic platelets are aligned to cause a first reflective effect of the optical article when the substrate is rotated around a first axis and to cause a second reflective effect of the optical article when the substrate is rotated around a second axis, wherein the first reflective effect is different from the second reflective effect.
In some possible implementations, a method for forming an optical article on a substrate may include providing an organic binder that includes a plurality of reflective magnetic platelets on the substrate; applying a magnetic field to the organic binder using one or more magnets, wherein the magnetic field aligns the plurality of reflective magnetic platelets substantially in accordance with at least part of a surface of revolution, wherein the plurality of reflective magnetic platelets are aligned to cause a first reflective effect of the optical article when the substrate is rotated around a first axis and to cause a second reflective effect of the optical article when the substrate is rotated around a second axis, wherein the first reflective effect is different from the second reflective effect; and setting or hardening the organic binder.
In some possible implementations, a document may include an optical article comprising a plurality of reflective magnetic platelets, wherein the plurality of reflective magnetic platelets are substantially aligned in accordance with at least part of a surface of revolution, and wherein the plurality of reflective magnetic platelets are aligned to cause a first reflective effect of the optical article when the optical article is rotated around a first axis and to cause a second reflective effect of the optical article when the optical article is rotated around a second axis, wherein the first reflective effect is different from the second reflective effect.
The following detailed description of example implementations refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.
An optical article may generate a reflective effect based on an angle of light or a viewing angle. Some optical articles may use reflective magnetic platelets to create such a reflective effect. For example, magnetic platelets may be dispersed in an organic binder and coated on a substrate, such as a flexible substrate (e.g., a document, currency, a certificate, a transaction card, etc.). The magnetic platelets may be aligned in accordance with (e.g., using) a magnetic field, which may cause the magnetic platelets to exhibit the reflective properties of a shaped three-dimensional mirror. This may be referred to as a Fresnel-like reflective effect. The organic binder may be set or hardened (e.g., using curing, ultraviolet light, heat, epoxy, etc.). Notably, the optical article may be thin (e.g., may not be significantly thicker than the substrate) and flexible, which makes the optical article useful for currency and other such applications.
Some implementations described herein provide optical articles based on a surface of revolution. A surface of revolution is a three-dimensional surface generated by rotating a two-dimensional curve about an axis. A surface of revolution may have azimuthal symmetry. Some implementations described herein may use a magnetic field that is generated based on a surface of revolution to create a reflective effect that is based on the surface of revolution. For example, some implementations described herein may be based on a funnel-shaped surface of revolution, and may provide a reflective effect that resembles a funnel in some orientations. Other implementations described herein may be based on a saddle-shaped surface of revolution, and may provide a reflective effect that resembles a saddle in some orientations.
The above-described optical articles may have magnetic platelets that are aligned to cause a first reflective effect of the optical article when the substrate (or optical article) is rotated around a first axis, and to cause a second, different, reflective effect when the substrate or optical article is rotated around a second axis. The reflective effects, as well as magnet configurations to align the magnetic platelets accordingly, are described in more detail below. By providing reflective effects that are different when the optical article is rotated about different axes, complexity of the optical article is improved in comparison to optical articles that use a single axis of rotation. Thus, security of a document that uses the optical article is improved in comparison to documents using optical articles that use a single axis of rotation.
As shown, the optical article 102 exhibits a funnel-shaped reflection, which may be based on alignment of magnetic platelets of the optical article 102 with a magnetic field that is based on a funnel-shaped surface of revolution. This is described in more detail in connection with
As shown by reference number 106, when the substrate 104 (or the optical article 102) is rotated around a first axis (e.g., a horizontal axis), the rotation may cause a first reflective effect 108. Here, the first reflective effect 108 is a widening (in the horizontal direction) of a top of the funnel-shaped reflection and a narrowing (in the horizontal direction) of the bottom of the funnel-shaped reflection. This may be based on the alignment of the magnetic platelets with the funnel-shaped surface of revolution, as described in more detail below. In some implementations, the first reflective effect may be a widening of a first portion (e.g., the top) of a reflection, and a narrowing of a second portion (e.g., the bottom) of the reflection.
As shown by reference number 110, when the substrate 104 (or the optical article 102) is rotated around a second axis (e.g., a vertical axis and/or an axis orthogonal to the first axis), the rotation may cause a second reflective effect 112 that is different from the first reflective effect 108. Here, the second reflective effect 108 is a shifting to the left of a top of the funnel-shaped reflection while a bottom point of the funnel-shaped reflection remains substantially unmoved. In other words, the second reflective effect may be a first lateral motion of a first portion of a reflection (e.g., the shifting to the left or right of the top of the funnel-shaped reflection) that is larger than a second lateral motion of a second portion of the reflection (e.g., the bottom point remaining substantially unmoved).
The surface of revolution shown in
An example of an optical article 102 is shown by reference number 124 in
As indicated above,
An expanded view of an optical article 202 in a first view (e.g., a head-on view without rotating a substrate 204 around an axis) is shown at the top of
As shown by reference number 206, when the substrate 204 (or the optical article 202) is rotated around a first axis (e.g., a horizontal axis), the rotation may cause a first reflective effect 208. Here, the first reflective effect 208 is a widening (in the horizontal direction) of a top of the funnel-shaped reflection and a narrowing (in the horizontal direction) of the bottom of the funnel-shaped reflection. As shown by reference number 210, when the substrate 204 (or the optical article 202) is rotated around a second axis (e.g., a vertical axis and/or an axis orthogonal to the first axis), the rotation may cause a second reflective effect 212 that is different from the first reflective effect 208. Here, the second reflective effect 212 is a shifting, to the left of a top of the funnel-shaped reflection.
As indicated above,
As shown by reference number 306, when the optical article 302 is rotated in a first direction about a first axis (e.g., a horizontal axis), the rotation may cause a first reflective effect, in which the reflection moves downward at the edges while the center remains substantially unmoved. For example, left and right portions of the reflection may bend downward. As shown by reference number 308, when the optical article 302 is rotated in a second direction about the first axis, the reflection moves upward at the edges while the center remains substantially unmoved. For example, the left and right portions of the reflection may bend upward. As can be seen, the regions of the optical article 302 that are not occupied by the band of reflected light (e.g., the triangular sections at the top center and the bottom center of the optical article 302) remain dark when the optical article 302 is rotated about the first axis.
As shown in
As indicated above,
As shown in
The organic binder may include a plurality of reflective magnetic platelets. The platelets may include substantially flat particles with dimensions in a range from approximately 10 μm×10 μm×0.5 μm to approximately 100 μm×100 μm×10 μm. The particles may include layers of different materials. One or more of the materials can be magnetized in the field of an external magnet or external magnet. In some cases, the reflective magnetic platelet is one of many security pigment particles. The reflective magnetic may include a layer made from magnetically soft or hard material, such as a ferromagnetic alloys. The central core may be coated with two or more layers of aluminum as a reflector. The aluminum layers may be coated with a transparent material such as MgF2, SiO2, or the like. A semi-transparent chromium layer may be coated on the top of the transparent material. This particular material is known as a security optically variable magnetic pigment (OVMP). The pigment may be mixed with a UV-curable organic binder described above to form a security optically variable magnetic ink (OVMI) used for printing of anti-counterfeiting security elements on documents of value.
In some implementations, the substrate may be a document, or may be affixed to a document. In some implementations, the organic binder and the platelets (and optionally the substrate) may be referred to collectively as an optical article.
As further shown in
As further shown in
Process 400 may include additional implementations, such as any single implementation or any combination of implementations described below and/or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.
In some implementations, the surface of revolution is defined based on a natural logarithm. In some implementations, the surface of revolution is substantially funnel-shaped. In some implementations, the surface of revolution is defined based on a parabola or hyperbola. In some implementations, the surface of revolution is substantially shaped as a hyperbolic paraboloid. In some implementations, the first axis is a horizontal axis and the second axis is a vertical axis. In some implementations, the first axis is orthogonal to the second axis.
In some implementations, the one or more magnets include two magnets provided parallel to each other, and corners of the two magnets are cut off or rounded. In some implementations, the one or more magnets include two substantially triangular magnets that are provided in a coplanar fashion. In some implementations, first sides of the two substantially triangular magnets are provided parallel to and distal from the organic binder, and wherein second sides of the two substantially triangular magnets are provided perpendicular to the organic binder and in contact with each other. In some implementations, the one or more magnets include a magnet with two or more triangular notches.
In some implementations, the first reflective effect is a widening of a first portion of a reflection from the optical article and a narrowing from a second portion of the reflection the optical article. In some implementations, the second reflective effect is a first lateral motion of a first portion of a reflection from the optical article that is larger than a second lateral motion of a second portion of the reflection from the optical article.
In some implementations, the first reflective effect is a first movement of left and right portions of a reflection from the optical article that is larger than a second movement of a center portion of the reflection from the optical article. In some implementations, the second reflective effect is a brightening of a first half of a reflection from the optical article and a darkening of a second half of the reflection from the optical article.
Although
In this way, reflective effects that are different when an optical article is rotated about different axes are provided. This may improve complexity of the optical article. Thus, security of a document that uses the optical article is improved.
The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the implementations to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the implementations.
As used herein, the term component is intended to be broadly construed as hardware, firmware, and/or a combination of hardware and software.
It will be apparent that systems and/or methods, described herein, may be implemented in different forms of hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. The actual specialized control hardware or software code used to implement these systems and/or methods is not limiting of the implementations. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and/or methods were described herein without reference to specific software code—it being understood that software and hardware can be designed to implement the systems and/or methods based on the description herein.
Even though particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of possible implementations. In fact, many of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification. Although each dependent claim listed below may directly depend on only one claim, the disclosure of possible implementations includes each dependent claim in combination with every other claim in the claim set.
No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the articles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or more items, and may be used interchangeably with “one or more.” Furthermore, as used herein, the term “set” is intended to include one or more items (e.g., related items, unrelated items, a combination of related items, and unrelated items, etc.), and may be used interchangeably with “one or more.” Where only one item is intended, the term “one” or similar language is used. Also, as used herein, the terms “has,” “have,” “having,” or the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20160187546 | Raksha | Jun 2016 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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2013106462 | Jul 2013 | WO |
2013106470 | Jul 2013 | WO |
2017080698 | May 2017 | WO |
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Extended European Search Report for Application No. EP19190942.3, dated Jan. 20, 2020, 11 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20200050140 A1 | Feb 2020 | US |