US20060280331A1 — Authentication of secure items by shape level lin…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 127 words

1 . A method for authenticating a secure item by shape level lines, the secure item being selected from the group of security documents and valuable products, the method comprising the steps of: a) superposing a base layer and a revealing layer, thereby producing shape level lines and b) observing said shape level lines and, depending on characteristic features of said shape level lines, accepting the secure item as authentic or rejecting it; where the base layer comprises sets of lines, each line of a set of line being characterized by its intensity, respectively color, where the revealing layer comprises a line grating and where one of the two layers is a modified layer which embeds a shape elevation profile generated from an initial motif shape image.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 127 words

1 . A method for authenticating a secure item by shape level lines, the secure item being selected from the group of security documents and valuable products, the method comprising the steps of: a) superposing a base layer and a revealing layer, thereby producing shape level lines and b) observing said shape level lines and, depending on characteristic features of said shape level lines, accepting the secure item as authentic or rejecting it; where the base layer comprises sets of lines, each line of a set of line being characterized by its intensity, respectively color, where the revealing layer comprises a line grating and where one of the two layers is a modified layer which embeds a shape elevation profile generated from an initial motif shape image.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 76 words

2 . The method of claim 1 , where the initial motif shape image is a bilevel image and where the characteristic features of the shape level lines comprise (a) their outlines which for an authentic secure item are visual offset lines of the boundaries of the initial motif shape image and (b) their intensities, respectively colors, which for an authentic secure item should be the same as base layer sets of lines intensities, respectively colors.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 59 words

3 . The method of claim 1 , where the initial motif shape image is a bilevel image and where an additional step of applying a relative superposition phase transformation to the revealing layer creates as characteristic feature level lines moving dynamically between the initial motif shape boundaries and shape foreground centers, respectively background centers, thereby growing and shrinking.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 17 words

4 . The method of claim 3 , where the relative superposition phase transformation is a translation.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 77 words

5 . The method of claim 1 , where the shape elevation profile is embedded into said modified layer by obtaining from the shape elevation profile an elevation value at a current position of the modified layer, by reading in a corresponding unmodified layer an intensity, respectively, color at a position corresponding to the current position shifted according to the elevation value and by writing said intensity, respectively, color into the current position of the modified layer.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 31 words

6 . The method of claim 1 , where the base and revealing layers are curvilinear layers obtained by applying a same geometric transformation to original untransformed base and revealing layers.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 42 words

7 . The method of claim 6 , where the curvilinear base and revealing layers are individualized according to a geometric transformation selected from a set of geometric transformations and according to geometric transformation parameters selected from a range of admissible parameters.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 31 words

8 . The method of claim 7 , where the curvilinear base and revealing layers are further individualized by creating the initial motif shape image according to secure item content information.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 60 words

9 . The method of claim 1 , where the base layer is a halftone image generated by dithering an input image with a dither matrix made of sets of lines embedding said shape elevation profile, and where without superposition of the revealing layer, the halftone image appears and with superposition of the revealing layer, the shape level lines appear.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 72 words

10 . The method of claim 1 , where the base layer is a composed base layer of at least two base layer elements having different angular orientations, each base layer element embedding its own shape elevation profile, and where superposing the composed base layer and the revealing layer at one of the base layer elements angular orientation yields the shape level lines of that base layer element's embedded shape elevation profile.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 88 words

11 . The method of claim 1 , where the secure item is a security document, where lines of the base layer sets of lines are printed side by side on front and back faces of said security document, and where the characteristic features of the shape level lines comprise their colors which for an authentic security document should be the same as the colors of said lines of the base layer sets of lines printed side by side on front and back faces of said security document.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 85 words

12 . The method of claim 1 , where the base layer sets of lines comprise lines printed with a special ink selected from the group of inks visible only under ultraviolet light, inks visible under infrared light, metallic inks, and iridescent inks and where a characteristic feature of shape level lines consists in having shape level lines appearing only under a certain viewing and illumination conditions, said viewing and illumination conditions being selected from the group of ultraviolet illumination, infrared illumination and observation angle.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 33 words

13 . The method of claim 1 , where at least one of the two layers comprises lines selected from the group of continuous lines, dotted lines, interrupted lines and partially perforated lines.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 51 words

14 . The method of claim 1 , where the base layer and the revealing layer are located on two different parts of the same secure item, thereby enabling the shape level lines to be revealed by the superposition of the base layer and the revealing layer of said secure item.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 70 words

15 . The method of claim 1 , where the base layer and the revealing layer are fixed on two sides of said secure item, said base layer and said revealing layer being separated by a substantially transparent layer, where when moving the eyes across the revealing layer line grating, due to a parallax effect, shape level lines appear which move between shape borders and shape foreground and background centers.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 46 words

16 . The method of claim 1 , where the base layer is created by a process for transferring an image onto a support, said process being selected from the set comprising lithographic, photolithographic, photographic, electrophotographic, engraving, etching, perforating, embossing, ink jet and dye sublimation processes.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 37 words

17 . The method of claim 1 , where the base layer is embodied by an element selected from the set of transmissive devices, opaque devices, diffusely reflecting devices, paper, plastic, optically variable devices and diffractive devices.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 69 words

18 . The method of claim 1 , where the revealing layer is embodied by an element selected from the group comprising: set of transparent lines within a light absorbing surface, set of transparent lines within a light absorbing transmissive support, set of transparent lines imaged on a film, set of transparent lines within an opaque support, lenticular lenses and Fresnel zone lenses emulating the behavior of lenticular lenses.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 65 words

19 . The method of claim 1 , where the secure item is an item selected from the group of security document, valuable product, and security element associated to a valuable product, where a security document is a document selected from the group of bank notes, checks, securities, trust papers, certificates, customs documents, identification cards, passports, travel documents, tickets, valuable documents, business documents and contracts.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 44 words

20 . The method of claim 19 where a valuable product is a product selected from the group of optical disks, CDs, DVDs, software packages, electronic products, medical products, prescription drugs, beverages, foodstuff, cosmetics, clothes, fashion articles, furniture, vehicles, pieces of art, and watches.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 62 words

21 . The method of claim 19 , where the security element associated to a valuable product is an element selected from the set of label attached to a valuable product, metallic foil incorporated into a valuable product, piece of plastics incorporated into a valuable product, diffractive substrate incorporated into a valuable product and where the valuable product possibly comprises its package.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 32 words

22 . The method of claim 1 , where the initial motif shape image comprises at least one shape selected from the set of typographic character, word of text, symbol, logo, ornament.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 43 words

23 . The method of claim 1 where the base layer sets of lines comprises lines printed with at least one non-standard ink, thus making its faithful reproduction difficult using standard cyan, magenta, yellow and black prints available on photocopiers and desktop systems.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 59 words

24 . The method of claim 1 , where an additional reference motif element selected from the group of motif shape image, shape elevation profile and reference shape level lines is imaged on one of the two layers, thereby facilitating the observation of a characteristic feature consisting in having shape level lines in accordance with said reference motif element.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 24 words

25 . The method of claim 1 , where the revealing layer is an electronic display driven by a revealing layer display software module.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 109 words

26 . A secure item selected from the group of security documents, valuable products and security elements associated to valuable products, said secure item comprising a base layer, said base layer comprising sets of lines, each line of a set of line being characterized by its intensity, respectively color, where the superposition of said base layer and of a revealing layer comprising a line grating yields shape level lines, where the base layer is a modified layer which embeds a shape elevation profile generated from an initial motif shape image and where said secure item is authenticated by verifying on said shape level lines the presence of characteristic features.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 109 words

26 . A secure item selected from the group of security documents, valuable products and security elements associated to valuable products, said secure item comprising a base layer, said base layer comprising sets of lines, each line of a set of line being characterized by its intensity, respectively color, where the superposition of said base layer and of a revealing layer comprising a line grating yields shape level lines, where the base layer is a modified layer which embeds a shape elevation profile generated from an initial motif shape image and where said secure item is authenticated by verifying on said shape level lines the presence of characteristic features.

Claim 29

Dependent Claim 68 words

27 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the initial motif shape image is a bilevel image and where characteristic features of the shape level lines comprise (a) their outlines which are visual offset lines of the initial motif shape boundaries and (b) their intensities, respectively colors, which are substantially identical to the intensities, respectively the colors of lines of the base layer sets of lines.

Claim 30

Dependent Claim 56 words

28 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the initial motif shape image is a bilevel image and where applying a relative superposition phase transformation to the revealing layer creates as characteristic feature level lines moving dynamically between the initial motif shape boundaries and shape foreground centers, respectively background centers, thereby shrinking and growing.

Claim 31

Dependent Claim 18 words

29 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the relative superposition phase transformation is a translation.

Claim 32

Dependent Claim 78 words

30 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the shape elevation profile is embedded into the modified layer by obtaining from the shape elevation profile an elevation value at a current position within the modified layer, by reading in a corresponding unmodified layer the intensity respectively color at a position corresponding to the current position shifted according to the elevation value and of writing that intensity, respectively color into the current position of the modified layer.

Claim 33

Dependent Claim 31 words

31 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the base and revealing layers are curvilinear layers obtained by applying a same transformation to original untransformed base and revealing layers.

Claim 34

Dependent Claim 43 words

32 . The secure item of claim 28 , where the curvilinear base and revealing layers are individualized according to a geometric transformation selected from a set of geometric transformations and according to geometric transformation parameters selected from a range of admissible parameters.

Claim 35

Dependent Claim 32 words

33 . The secure item of claim 32 , where the curvilinear base and revealing layers are further individualized by creating the initial motif shape image according to secure item content information.

Claim 36

Dependent Claim 61 words

34 . The secure item of claim 26 where the base layer is a halftone image generated by dithering an input image with a dither matrix made of modified sets of lines embedding the shape elevation profile, and where without superposition of the revealing layer, the halftone image appears and with superposition of the revealing layer, the shape level lines appear.

Claim 37

Dependent Claim 72 words

35 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the base layer is a composed base layer of at least two base layer elements having different angular orientations, each base layer element embedding its own shape elevation profile, and where superposing the composed base layer and the revealing layer at one of the base layer element's angular orientation yields shape level lines of that base layer element's embedded shape elevation profile.

Claim 38

Dependent Claim 103 words

36 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the secure item is an item selected from the set of security document and security element associated with a valuable product, where lines of the base layer sets of lines are printed side by side on front and back faces of said secure item, and where the characteristic features of the shape level lines comprise their colors which for an authentic secure item should be the same as the colors of said lines of the base layer sets of lines printed side by side on front and back faces of said secure item.

Claim 39

Dependent Claim 81 words

37 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the base layer sets of lines comprise lines printed with a special ink selected from the group of inks visible only under ultraviolet light, inks visible under infrared light, metallic inks, and iridescent inks and where characteristic features of shape level lines comprise shape level lines appearing under certain viewing and illumination conditions, said viewing and illumination conditions being selected from the group of ultraviolet illumination, infrared illumination and observation angle.

Claim 40

Dependent Claim 34 words

38 . The secure item of claim 26 , where at least one of the two layers comprises lines selected from the group of continuous lines, dotted lines, interrupted lines and partially perforated lines.

Claim 41

Dependent Claim 52 words

39 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the base layer and the revealing layer are located on two different parts of the same secure item, thereby enabling the shape level lines to be revealed by the superposition of the base layer and the revealing layer of said secure item.

Claim 42

Dependent Claim 47 words

40 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the base layer is created by a process for transferring an image onto a support, said process being selected from the set comprising lithographic, photolithographic, photographic, electrophotographic, engraving, etching, perforating, embossing, ink jet and dye sublimation processes.

Claim 43

Dependent Claim 37 words

41 . The method of claim 26 , where the base layer is embodied by an element selected from the set of transmissive devices, opaque devices, diffusely reflecting devices, paper, plastic, optically variable devices and diffractive devices.

Claim 44

Dependent Claim 83 words

42 . The method of claim 26 , where the revealing layer is embodied by an element selected from the group comprising: set of transparent lines within a light absorbing surface, set of transparent lines within a light absorbing transmissive support, set of transparent lines imaged on a film, set of transparent lines within an opaque support, lenticular lenses, Fresnel zone lenses emulating the behavior of lenticular lenses and electronic display working in transmissive mode driven by a revealing layer display software module.

Claim 45

Dependent Claim 76 words

43 . The secure item of claim 26 , where security documents are documents selected from the group of bank notes, checks, securities, trust papers, certificates, customs documents, identification cards, passports, travel documents, tickets, valuable documents, business documents, and contracts and where valuable products are products selected from the group of optical disks, CDs, DVDs, software packages, electronic products, medical products, prescription drugs, beverages, foodstuff, cosmetics, clothes, fashion articles, furniture, vehicles, pieces of art and watches.

Claim 46

Dependent Claim 33 words

44 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the initial motif shape image comprises at least one shape selected from the set of typographic character, word of text, symbol, logo, ornament.

Claim 47

Dependent Claim 45 words

45 . The secure item of claim 26 , where the base layer sets of lines comprises lines printed with at least one non-standard ink, thus making its faithful reproduction difficult using standard cyan, magenta, yellow and black prints available on photocopiers and desktop systems.

Claim 48

Dependent Claim 61 words

46 . The secure item of claim 26 , where an additional reference motif element selected from the group of initial motif shape image, reference shape elevation profile and reference shape level lines is imaged on one of the two layers, thereby facilitating the observation of a characteristic feature consisting in having shape level lines according to said reference motif element.

Claim 49

Dependent Claim 250 words

47 . A secure item computing and delivery system comprising a server system and client systems, said server system comprising a) a repository module operable for registering secure items and creating associations between secure item content information and corresponding base and revealing layer synthesizing information; b) a base layer and revealing layer synthesizing module operable for synthesizing a transformed base layer comprising sets of lines and a transformed revealing layer line grating, one of the layers being a modified transformed layer embedding a shape elevation profile, said transformed base layer and said transformed revealing layer line grating being synthesized according to corresponding base and revealing layer synthesizing information; c) an interface module operable for receiving requests from client systems, operable for interacting with the base layer and revealing layer synthesizing module and further operable for delivering to clients systems secure items, base layers as well as revealing layers; where said secure items are items selected from the group of security documents, security elements associated to valuable products and valuable products; where said base layer and revealing layer synthesizing module is operable for synthesizing base and revealing layers (i) by computing the shape elevation profile from an initial motif shape image, (ii) by transforming original base and revealing layers according to a geometric transformation and (iii) by embedding within said modified transformed layer said shape elevation profile; and where the superposition of said transformed base layer and said transformed revealing layer line grating yields shape level lines used for authentication purposes.

Claim 50

Dependent Claim 250 words

47 . A secure item computing and delivery system comprising a server system and client systems, said server system comprising a) a repository module operable for registering secure items and creating associations between secure item content information and corresponding base and revealing layer synthesizing information; b) a base layer and revealing layer synthesizing module operable for synthesizing a transformed base layer comprising sets of lines and a transformed revealing layer line grating, one of the layers being a modified transformed layer embedding a shape elevation profile, said transformed base layer and said transformed revealing layer line grating being synthesized according to corresponding base and revealing layer synthesizing information; c) an interface module operable for receiving requests from client systems, operable for interacting with the base layer and revealing layer synthesizing module and further operable for delivering to clients systems secure items, base layers as well as revealing layers; where said secure items are items selected from the group of security documents, security elements associated to valuable products and valuable products; where said base layer and revealing layer synthesizing module is operable for synthesizing base and revealing layers (i) by computing the shape elevation profile from an initial motif shape image, (ii) by transforming original base and revealing layers according to a geometric transformation and (iii) by embedding within said modified transformed layer said shape elevation profile; and where the superposition of said transformed base layer and said transformed revealing layer line grating yields shape level lines used for authentication purposes.

Claim 51

Dependent Claim 66 words

48 . The secure item computing and delivery system of claim 47 where the base layer and revealing layer synthesizing module is also operable for creating as final base layer a halftone image by dithering an input grayscale respectively color image with a dither matrix formed by modified transformed sets of lines embedding a shape elevation profile, each set of lines comprising lines of increasing intensity.

Claim 52

Dependent Claim 110 words

49 . The document security computing and delivery system of claim 47 , where the base and revealing layer synthesizing information comprises (a) base layer sets of lines properties comprising (i) base layer sets of lines period T b in the original space, (ii) number of lines per set and (iii) intensity respectively color of each individual line within a set of lines in the original space, (b) the geometric transformation mapping both the base layer and the revealing layer from transformed space back to the original space and the transformation parameters of said geometric transformation; (c) an initial motif shape image to be embedded into one of the layers.

Claim 53

Dependent Claim 57 words

50 . The document security computing and delivery system of claim 49 , where the base and revealing layer synthesizing information also comprises an original grayscale, respectively color image to be halftoned with a dither matrix formed by modified transformed sets of lines embedding a shape elevation profile, each set of lines comprising lines of increasing intensity.

Claim 54

Dependent Claim 49 words

51 . The document security computing and delivery system of claim 47 , where the client system is operable for emitting secure item registration requests, operable for emitting secure item synthesizing requests, operable for emitting base layer synthesizing requests and operable for emitting revealing layer line grating synthesizing requests.

Authentication of secure items by shape level lines

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