Patent Application
20140339434
This invention relates to security markers.
Ultraviolet (UV) fluorescing marks are a common covert security feature used to authenticate items, documents and printed materials and are used to combat counterfeiting. The most common UV fluorescent inks available in the market are blue emitting. Typically they are compounds similar to optical brighteners used in print media. As a result, such inks cannot be used in combination with printing media containing optical brighteners. Most office papers, for example, contain such brighteners. Alternatives to blue emitters are green or red UV fluorescing molecules. While these can be used in combination with optically brightened substrates, they contain rare earth metals, are more expensive and less light stable. Green or red fluorescing pigments are often inorganic particles and are often not stable in low viscosity inks, e.g. inkjet, because of their high specific weight.
An alternative solution for printing hidden indicia on an optically brightened substrate is to print with a UV absorbing material instead of a UV fluorescing material. Such compounds are available from BASF under the trade name Tinuvin. While most examples of Tinuvin require organic (co-) solvents, there are water-based nanoparticle dispersions available, for example Tinuvin 99-DW (clear) or Tinuvin 477-DW (slight yellow). When the indicia are printed imagewise on the optically brightened medium using the UV absorbing ink, the hidden information is revealed in an attenuated form (darker vs. background) under UV illumination because the effect of the optical brightener is attenuated by the UV absorber. The contrast between image and background in this system is often less than is seen for UV fluorescing inks printed on neutral media, thus making the UV absorber on optically brightened substrate a more subtle covert mark, which is desirable. There is no characteristic “glow” of a UV fluorescing ink. This makes the mark less conspicuous to cursory investigation.
The information printed with UV ink can be alphanumeric text, a barcode, a logo, or a picture. It can also be a lenticular hidden image that requires a lenticular screen for revealing additional information under UV illumination. This can be useful because it is a common practice for counterfeiters to inspect items, documents, and printed materials with UV illumination to find hidden information. Once found, the information (e.g. a code) can be replicated on counterfeit product to make it appear to be genuine.
In general, requiring the use of a lenticular screen increases the level of security because it makes the covert mark more difficult to replicate. However, if a lenticular hidden image is printed with UV-green or UV-red fluorescing ink (UV-blue is impractical because of the optical brighteners), the presence of the security feature is easily revealed by the green or red glow under UV illumination even without a decoding lenticular lens. This alerts counterfeiters to the location of the security feature and encourages further analysis.
It is therefore highly desirable to have a system that allows covert embedding of information on optically brightened substrates, is subtle and difficult to detect by cursory investigation with UV illumination, and is difficult to decode even if located.
Briefly, according to one aspect of the present invention, a system for authenticating a document includes a document having a substrate comprising an optical brightener; printing a background with a ultraviolet (UV) absorbing material on the substrate comprising a first pattern of lines having a first frequency and a first orientation; printing a security mark with the UV material on the substrate comprising a second pattern of lines having a second frequency and a second orientation; a lenticular lens; placing the lenticular lens over the security mark and background; a UV lamp; illuminating the security mark and background through the lenticular lens with UV light; orienting the lenticular lens to match either the first orientation or the second orientation; and authenticating the document if the security mark matches a predetermined security mark. The security mark and background that are printed are line patterns with distinct phase, frequency and orientation. The hidden information is detected by using UV illumination in conjunction with a lenticular screen or other device that is capable of detecting the differences between the line patterns of the background and the line patterns of the image, such as a digital image capture device with an image analysis algorithm. Printing with a UV absorbing ink on an optically brightened substrate allows covert information to be printed that is invisible to the unaided eye. Additionally, the UV absorber ink is a less conspicuous under UV illumination than a green or red UV fluorescing ink would be and as a result in a cursory investigation of the document the printed area may not be apparent. Printing the information using line patterns as a means of creating the difference between background and image adds a level of security since a lenticular screen or other method of detection of the line patterns is required to distinguish the image from the background. The phase, frequency and orientation are chosen such that without the use of a lenticular screen or other such device, no image is apparent to the viewer. Should the general area be detected, recognition of what is printed is not possible without the lenticular screen. Only a person that has advance knowledge of the security feature and uses the appropriate lenticular screen in combination with UV illumination would be able to reveal the security feature.
In one embodiment, an optically brightened substrate is printed with UV absorbing ink and the image and background are comprised of line patterns wherein the orientation of the printed lines comprising the background of the image is different from the lines that comprise the image. The phase and the frequency of the lines in both the background and the image are the same. The hidden image is detected with the use of UV illumination in combination with a lenticular screen. The lenticular screen can be a lens or other device that is capable of detecting the differences between the line patterns of the background and the line patterns of the image, such as a digital image capture device with an image analysis algorithm. Authentication of a document is achieved when the revealed hidden image is confirmed by the investigator.
In a second embodiment, an optically brightened substrate is printed with UV absorbing ink. The image and background are comprised of line patterns where the frequency of the printed lines comprising the background of the image is different from the lines that comprise the image. The phase and the orientation of the lines in both the background and the image are the same. The hidden image is detected with the use of UV illumination in combination with a lenticular screen. The lenticular screen can be a lens or other device that is capable of detecting the differences between the line patterns of the background and the line patterns of the image, such as a digital image capture device with an image analysis algorithm.
In a third embodiment, an optically brightened substrate is printed with UV absorbing ink. The image and background are comprised of line patterns wherein the phase of the printed lines comprising the background of the image is different from the lines that comprise the image. The orientation and the frequency of the lines in both the background and the image are the same. The hidden image is detected with the use of UV illumination in combination with a lenticular screen. The lenticular screen can be a lens or other device that is capable of detecting the differences between the line patterns of the background and the line patterns of the image, such as a digital image capture device with an image analysis algorithm.
If the printing media contains no optical brighteners the hidden information can still be revealed using a UV sensitive camera. In this case the hidden information is visible because of the reduction of UV reflection from the substrate.
The invention and its objects and advantages will become more apparent in the detailed description of the preferred embodiment presented below.
The present invention will be directed in particular to elements forming part of, or in cooperation more directly with the apparatus in accordance with the present invention. It is to be understood that elements not specifically shown or described may take various forms well known to those skilled in the art.
Referring now to
In order to reveal the hidden indicia a lenticular lens or screen 106 is placed in contact with the substrate. A UV illuminator 108 irradiates the substrate with UV radiation 110, preferably through the lenticular lens 106. The lens itself is transparent to the UV radiation. The substrate and areas where no UV absorber is printed it will irradiate the optical brighteners. In areas where UV absorber is present the UV radiation will be attenuated and therefore the optical brighteners in that area will be irradiated to a lesser degree. The UV radiation reaching the optical brighteners will be converted to visible (blue) radiation 112 which will transmitted through the lenticular lens and be viewed by the operator performing the authentication. The correct placement of the lenticular lens will create an aliasing effect that will make the security mark appear as an area of different brightness with respect to the background.
The line frequencies should be high enough such that in the absence of a lenticular lens, they will only resemble an unstructured image to the unaided eye under UV illumination. Correct placement of the lenticular lens will create aliasing effects that will make the security mark visible. In order to achieve the aliasing effects, the frequency of the lenticular lens should be either equal to the frequency of one of the line patterns or be a multiple or integer fraction. The orientation of the lenticular lens should match the orientation of one of the line patterns.
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the scope of the invention. For example, the line described above may be comprised of dots rather than solid lines.
Reference is made to commonly-assigned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. K001321US01NAB), filed herewith, entitled METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATING UV ABSORBING SECURITY MARK, by Pawlik et al.; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. K001527US01NAB), filed herewith, entitled DOCUMENT CONTAINING UV ABSORBING SECURITY MARK, by Pawlik et al.; the disclosures of which are incorporated herein.
