Patent Application
20050029799
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to law enforcement badges and other badges and, more particularly, to a secure identification badge with tamper-resistant hologram to resist copying and prevent fraud.
2. Description of the Background
State and federal government officials have long used metallic identification badges, each of which have a unique visual appearance to identify the respective administration or agency. Indeed, the use of such badges is usually required by laws which require the bearer to wear the badge in such a way that the badges may be easily read while doing business. The same laws require that the license and identification badges shall be used only by the person to whom they were issued and may not be transferred to any other person. Nevertheless, this does not prevent criminals from committing consumer fraud using counterfeit badges. It is also difficult to differentiate between civilian private guards and the real official government badge carriers such as law enforcement, fire and rescue, military, or other officials. Counterfeit badges can be acquired quite easily directly from the manufacturer of the badge. Many of these manufacturers are located overseas and operate via the internet. These manufacturers are often willing to sell to anyone able to pay for their services, and their risk is minimal since they operate over the internet. Often the only difference between identical badges from the same manufacturer is a sequential number located on the badge, thus immediate verification is not practical or even possible.
Many administrators believe that identification badges are too easily counterfeited, and have even tried requiring the bearer's name and/or social security number to be stamped on the badges as an anti-fraud measure. However, police unions tend not to like such precautions, decrying them as an invasion of the officer's privacy. There remains, therefore, a substantial need for an improved identification badge which will facilitate avoidance of counterfeiting.
One of the inventors named herein has patented a method for producing an information article that virtually prevents replication, imitation and or duplication, and therefore is highly tamper resistant. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,364,994 and 6,164,548 both to Curiel et al. teach a tamper resistant informational article utilizing metallic hologram technology. Curiel et al. place a hologram in an area with the information and secures a transparent tape having a write resistant exposed surface over both. The hologram resists photocopy duplication of the article and the write resistant tape resists alteration of the information.
It would be greatly advantageous to adapt the concept for security identification badges in order to provide a copy proof, highly tamper resistant badge to allow one to easily identify and authenticate any law enforcement, fire and rescue, military, or other federal officer badge, or even machine parts, automotive parts, firearms, and other metal parts.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a mechanism for verification of the authenticity of an identification badge which utilizes personalized hologram technology incorporated into any “First Responder” such as law enforcement, fire and rescue, military, or other federal officer badge, machine part, automotive part, firearm, or other appropriate application. Personalized hologram technology generally employs printed personal information that is patterned as a refractive hologram so as to resist reproduction by a form of photocopying. Efforts to photocopy, even on paper of identical color as the original form would fail to reproduce the personal information and thereby preclude photocopying as a means of counterfeiting. A personalized hologram may incorporate specific information about the individual wearing the badge, such as a picture of the wearer or other identifying information. In this way, the identification of the person can be easily verified using this highly visible personalized hologram. This personalized hologram technology incorporates the added feature of being immune from duplication. Specific applications of personalized hologram technology are set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,364,994 and 6,164,548 both to Curiel et al. described above.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of incorporating a hologram in any surface of appropriate dimensions to accommodate said identification.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an identification that is highly durable, completely immune from duplication, and quick to produce, thus facilitating mass application of the identification.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an identifying means in a form of purely metallic personalized image that ties the badge to a specific person. Such personalized image can be made of any metal, and be permanently secure to the surface of the badge.
Yet another object of the present invention is to make identification and authentication of the item in question fast and easy.
According to the present invention, the above described and other objects are accomplished by providing a security identification badge and method of making the same that utilizes metallic hologram technology currently used for manufacture of identification cards, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,548 to Curiel et al. published on Dec. 26, 2000. Curiel et al. '548 teaches a method of creating a tamper resistant informational article utilizing metallic hologram technology. The present invention adapts this hologram technology to a portion of a 3D metallic object by formation of a recessed tamper-proof enclosure.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and certain modifications thereof when taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:
The present invention is a secure identification badge and method of construction thereof with a duplication-proof metallic hologram, with optically overt and cover identifying features that are embedded in the badge for visual authentication of First responders. The hologram personalizes the badge with information that is specific and identifiable to the individual application. Each badge is manufactured for a specific application and is duplication proof and thus is non-transferable. Verification of the information contained in the hologram is easy as it is accomplished visually. Personalization may include the picture of the intended user, or any other personalized data, but is not limited to this form of personalization.
In the preferred embodiment the badge 2 is die-struck as die-striking creates a more durable product. However, the badge may be die-cast if necessary. To form the secure ID badge, the die is custom shaped to with a protruding block in order to strike or cast the badge (as shown) with depression 6. The depression 6 provides for a flat surface on the article onto which the personalized hologram 4 will be applied. The depression 6 is very slightly deeper and larger than the hologram 4, approximately 0.010 to 0.020 inches deep to accept a 0.008 to 0.018 inch hologram. The dimensions are necessarily close-tolerance so that the surface of the hologram 4 rests flush with the surface of the die-struck or die-cast badge 2 as this helps to prevent tampering. The hologram 4 is seated in recess 6 and is preferably bonded therein using an epoxy. This way, the hologram 4 self destructs if tampered with.
If desired, an epoxy or plastic dome or window 9 can be attached over the hologram 4 for added protection from tampering. In this regard, the recess 6 is preferably formed from the back of the badge 2 leaving an open aperture at the front, and a reverse flange 7 (shown in dotted lines) about the aperture to seat and restrain the window 9 and/or hologram 4. As before, the dimensions must be close-tolerance so that the surface of the window 9 rests flush with the surface of the die-struck or die-cast badge 2. The epoxy or plastic dome or window 9 is inserted into the recess from the back, and then the hologram 4 is seated in the recess 6 to show through the epoxy or plastic window.
It is noteworthy that rather than forming the die with a protrusion to create the recess 6, and then manually inserting the hologram 4, it is also possible to reform an existing die used to strike or cast the metal object to include a depression where the hologram can be seated, and then inserting the hologram into the die prior to casting.
The hologram 4 is a preferably a “parallax” hologram with the ability to cast an image and colors from many angles and depths. The colorful effect comes from microstructures within the hologram, which causes diffraction of the light hitting them. The hologram is preferably imprinted with information about the wearer, and may be visible only under certain types of light allowing for an additional level of security and verification. In this regard, the hologram 4 may be any 2-D or 3-D metallic OVD (optically Variable Device) including inks, thin films and foils, or DOVID (Diffractive optically variable image device) including proprietary devices such as Kinegram® and Exelgram®, whether 2D or 3D.
As seen in
In addition to its application to badges 2 as described above, the present invention contemplates application of a hologram may to any metal item upon which it is desired to place a security feature as described herein, so long as the metal item can be formed as described. Potential articles include machine parts, automotive parts, firearms, jewelry, or other articles that often are targets of fraud.
The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof.
For example, in another embodiment, the protective device is comprised of a substrate with optically variable three dimensional surface, personalized data printed on top of this surface, and finally over coated with a layer of pure metal. This last metallic layer is then permanently affixed to the metallic based Badge.
In another embodiment, a very light weight badge is provided, by making the entire badge of thermoplastic material, by way of injection molding. After molding the badge, it is coated with pure metallic in a process similar to the one described as protecting the personalized data. The badge can be secured as described before.
The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description and all changes which come from within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.
The present application derives priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/492,406 filed Aug. 4, 2003.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60492406 | Aug 2003 | US |
