DE69718329T2 - COMBINATION OF PROTECTION SYSTEMS FOR SECURITY DOCUMENTS. - Google Patents

Abstract

A combined protection system for documents comprising one or more protections selected among an OSI (Overt Security Image) group with apparent security images and/or a CSI (Covert Security Image) group with latent security images, wherein said OSI group comprises: (I) protection against falsifications and colour photocopies based upon adoption of printing processes that, in combination with particular patterns and engravings, utilize the light reflection phenomena to impart different evidence to different particulars of the patterns; (II) protection of the modifiable data by printing different portions of said modifiable data upon portions of the document provided with said different light reflection characteristics; and wherein said CSI group comprises: (I) drawing or embossing those portions of the document it is desired to protect from erasures, particularly those containing numeric data, according to particular patterns; (II) inserting an additional magnetically readable letter or numeral upstream of the standard magnetic band, the letter or numeral being variable according to a personalized algorithm; (III) applying a "sympathetic" ink invisible to the naked eye, adapted to become permanently visible upon contact with particular activating materials; (IV) for documents the negotiability of which should be restrained, irreversibly removing a predetermined portion thereof.

Description

The present invention relates to security and protection systems for documents that are the subject of attempts at forgery or falsification and relates in particular to a combined synergy system which, using a combination of different protection systems, each of which is individually justified and effective, enables a finished product to be provided with an absolute level of security, or at least a level of security that is far higher than the level of security achievable by the sum of the security levels of the individual systems.

It is known that documents that are subject to forgery or falsification, such as bank checks, banknotes or, in general, all so-called securities, are protected by various systems against forgery or attempts at falsification.

The use of watermarks is one of the systems mentioned. Another system adds metal wires to the paper thickness.

Usually, for example when printing banknotes or bank checks, an attempt is made to achieve a specific combination of graphics or patterns as well as individual colors, which should make duplication difficult and almost impossible.

The above-mentioned systems are specifically designed to prevent counterfeiting attempts, such as the production of counterfeit banknotes.

As the demands of modern life increase and printing and reproduction techniques become increasingly sophisticated, and given the ever-evolving inventiveness of the criminal underworld, It should be noted that a real race is underway between the civil authorities, on the one hand, which are striving to organise new and more advanced means and tools to prevent counterfeiting and falsification, and the criminal underworld, on the other hand, which has at its disposal even more versatile and effective means to counterbalance the effects of these tools.

One problem that needs to be solved, for example, is how to protect the amount written on a bank check from being erased or altered.

US-A-4 033 059 provides an article suitable for use as a security document including the combination of a storage medium having an intaglio-writable surface and an intaglio embossing of block printed and raised inked form elements on the surface, in which the embossing comprises an image and an adjacent background, each formed by form elements, the form elements in the image differing from those in the background to produce a contrast therebetween such that the viewing angle of the embossing varies in at least one plane perpendicular to the surface.

US-A-5 396 559 discloses an anti-counterfeiting method in which a hologram is recorded as either a regular or irregular dot pattern by a dot grid which is in contact with a storage medium, thereby limiting the display to selected dots. When the hologram is viewed through a second grid which is a duplicate of the contact grid, except that some portions of the second grid are inversions of the contact grid, the inverted portions appear as portions which are either lighter or darker than the surrounding areas, depending on the exact position of the second grid relative to the hologram.

EP-A-0 581 414 discloses a method for producing an anti-counterfeiting hidden image array object comprising a Base bodies, projections and recess means formed on the base body to produce different types of patterns, in which said different types of patterns include straight image edges forming a pattern, a relief pattern or a combination of both, a plurality of straight lines printed on an upper surface of said projections and recess means at predetermined locations.

It is an object of this invention to propose a special set or combination of means which, when considered individually, produce a high level of validity but, especially when combined in a certain way, provide an almost absolute level of security to any papers which could be subject to forgery or falsification.

This invention specifically proposes to provide the documents in question with two protection systems: a so-called 051 (Overt Security Image) system for "visible" protection and a so-called CSI (Covered Security Image) system for hidden protection, the details of which will now be explained in detail to an appropriate extent so that they are understandable and applicable to those skilled in the art.

OSI Protection: Overt Security Images

This protection system includes protection against falsification and color photocopying, as well as protection of accessible data against modification.

I. The protection against counterfeiting and the coloured photocopies is realised, according to this invention, based on the assumption of a printing process which, combined with special markings and special etched patterns, applies the effect of light reflection to cause a differentiated visual appearance to some details of the marking, such that, by means of small movements, a detail which initially appears optically positive becomes negative or vice versa.

This protection can be easily verified not only by a professional but also by users who are not particularly trained, since it is implemented in a very obvious way in the image itself.

The fact is that this printing technique is very different from the latent image technique currently practiced in the securities field, consisting of an image hidden in the marking (as is readily understood by the term "latent"), such a hidden image only becoming visible when viewed at certain angles and only when illuminated by grazing light. In other words, the effect is hidden and can only be made visible under certain conditions known only to experts in the field.

The technique according to this invention is comparable to the technique of holograms in which the image is not hidden, but it is visible in any way and at any viewing angle, but the presentation of a "holographic effect" varies when its supporting sheet is displaced.

Such a technique can be implemented by:

- Combining certain patterns with each other to increase the visible effect under any conditions;

- Treating the paper surface to increase the phenomenon of light reflection in such a way that the interrelationship between the patterns and the light reflections becomes even more obvious;

- Realization of patterns capable of magnifying this phenomenon;

- Realization of special engravings in these patterns to increase the holographic visibility.

This technique adopted in this invention differs from the holograms that are positioned on the paper and, as such, are removable from there and transferable to another document, and it allows a effect directly associated with the paper itself, without any possibility of it being removed and reapplied to another document.

The holographic effect mentioned above, which is clearly visible and identifiable by everyone, is achieved through a printing process, namely a chalcographic printing process. It is carried out by making engravings in the printing plates and then filling these engravings with ink, which is then transferred to the paper by applying very high pressures (such as those typically used in chalcographic printing machines), which deform the paper in such a way that it is forced to penetrate the tiny engravings of the plate, with simultaneous transfer of ink. At the end of the process, the plate segments that have been filled with ink transfer the latter to the paper. These segments have a relief that can also be perceived by touch, provided that the engravings made in the plate have sufficient depth.

The process behavior is detailed below: if we consider two parallel segments, namely a set of parallel lines, a set of furrows will be perceptible on the plate, and consequently after said transfer there will be a set of ridge lines on the paper, which have vertical walls as high as the engravings are deep. If these walls have a certain color, and the paper has a different color, then the perceived color when viewed from above will be the sum of the colors of the walls (e.g. blue if a sky blue was used) and of the paper (e.g. yellow if a yellow paper was used) and consequently the perceived color is green (because the sum of a yellow color and a sky blue color gives a green color according to the additive color technique). As soon as the point of view shifts from the vertical line to these furrows, the bottom of the furrows is less visible and the walls become more visible, so that in the sum of the two colors (the color of the bottom and the color of the walls) the importance of the yellow color decreases while the importance of the sky blue increases, with the result of different and varying color. If the sheet of paper is rotated in different directions, a deviation in the colors can be seen.

Assuming that patterns are inserted differently from each other, which have grooves that repeatedly cross themselves and which have different slant positions, then the holographic effect is ensured.

Even further variations are perceptible through grooves of variable height, achieved by realizing engravings of variable depths in the printing plates.

In addition, special effects can also be achieved by treating the underside of the paper to achieve a clearer light reflection, whereby the affected surface is made reflective in a special way with regard to the light rays by means of the printing process.

As far as the objects of the invention are concerned, it is sufficient to specify such a printing process, equipped for a dense succession of tiny grooves, which are not individually recognizable and have variable depths with differently inclined flanks.

II. In the context of OSI protection, the protection of modifiable data, such as serial numbers, is achieved according to the proposal of this invention by printing the serial numbers, or more generally the data to be protected against any modification, half on the positive tape and the other half on the negative tape.

The printing inks used in this invention can be highly opaque or transparent in order to achieve the following effects.

A. In the case of a highly opaque ink, the erasure operations prove to be very difficult, given the fact that if ink located between the aforementioned printing grooves is to be removed it is absolutely necessary to scratch the paper structure, which of course makes the manipulation visually perceptible.

B. In the case of a penetrating color, it can be observed that the color penetrates into the grooves mentioned at an even deeper level, so that the difficulty of removal increases even more, making any manipulation even more noticeable.

C. On the other hand, in the case of transparent colors, the negative-positive alternation effect is magnified and, in addition, since this effect is based on the special shape of said tiny furrows, any attempt to remove them necessarily results in a modification of the shape of these highly sensitive furrows or even their complete removal: both effects are very easily perceptible to the naked eye without any special training or preparation.

CSI protection: latent security imaging

I. This protection system according to the present invention provides, in the first place, for markings according to predetermined patterns of all those parts which require protection against removal, e.g. the serial number of bank checks or anything written which must be resistant to modification and the like. This marking step, which practically involves embossing the paper, can be carried out either before or after the insertion of the serial number. The latter procedure is certainly the more effective, given the fact that it deforms the letters of the printed serial number itself according to the embossed patterns. The letters become extremely difficult to remove because the ink is absorbed into the depth of the deformations and it becomes inaccessible not only to abrasive mechanical means but also to chemical solutions.

II. Secondly, this protection system based on hidden images provides for the implementation in front of the standard magnetic tape of certain documents, such as a writing in CMC7 letters, magnetically protected by an algorithm, possibly an intelligent algorithm, previously the customer. Since the magnetic tape commonly placed in secure banking documents is read by passing the document through a magnetic reader, the magnetic tape can be said to "flow" through the magnetic reading and a letter appears substantially "upstream" of the magnetic tape in the direction of travel through the reader.

This algorithm can be implemented in electronic computers and can be varied, e.g. according to fixed number series. Just to explain with examples, let us mention a case with a customer with whom it was agreed to use a letter as suffix 13 of the serial number according to the following scheme, which is one of countless possible schemes:

1. If the remainder of the serial number divided by 13 is 0, assuming the letter A is printed,

2. If the remainder of the serial number divided by 13 is 1, assuming the letter F is printed,

3, If the remainder of the serial number divided by 13 is 2, assuming the letter H is printed,

4. If the remainder of the serial number divided by 13 is 3, assuming the letter P is printed, .............. up to

13. If the remainder of the serial number divided by 13 equals 12, it is assumed that the letter W is printed.

In a variation of this system, the above-mentioned letters may also be illegible to the naked eye, so that only magnetic readers can decode them. As far as documents are concerned which are passed through readers which are not equipped with the necessary software to recognize such letters, the position of a literal or numerical algorithm is such that these documents are somehow read without interference or noise caused by the literal suffix concerned.

C. As stated above, the algorithm can also be intelligent and designed in such a way that it can only be processed by an electronic computer and can only be changed according to the previously defined consequences directly with the client involved. One of the countless intelligent algorithms can be the following, which is given only as an example:

- only the odd digits are taken from the serial number, starting with the first, which is unit (one),

- each of these digits, starting with the first, is multiplied by each digit of a predetermined fixed number (such as 97246), namely the first digit is multiplied by 6, the second digit is multiplied by 4, the third is multiplied by 2 and so on,

- the results are then added together, with the even digits also being summed, without performing any subsequent operation,

- whatever the resulting number is, the complement of the following ten (this is of course a number between 0 and nine) is considered an intelligent algorithm.

D. Aiming avoided any problem regarding the inter-bank agreement related to the adoption of the CMC7 standard by adopting an approximation to remove the space between the serial number and the number representing the bank code and the so-called CAB code (this space was necessary when the above-mentioned codes were added in successive steps and therefore the space was needed to adjust to tolerances and to avoid overlaps of the two codes in question). When the above-mentioned codes are added in a single step, this space is no longer needed, so that the serial number can be moved to the right of a slot and the algorithm is inserted into the said space and the space now available.

III. Within the framework of the CSI protection, it is intended to accept a special ink, invisible to the naked eye, which is produced by contact with special substances such as bleach. This system can be very useful in two ways, both to verify the validity of a document, namely to determine that a document is not forged, and to prove the existence of hidden information, such as the prize or price (a type of so-called "scrape-and-win", which in this case becomes "smear-and-win").

Still within the framework of CSI protection and in connection with documents whose circulation is strictly restricted, such as the transferability of bank cheques, it is recommended to provide for measures for the irreversible removal of part of the document, for example a triangular part of its upper right-hand corner, as is done in banks with the lower left-hand corner, to indicate that the document is no longer available for public purchase, or an appropriate hole punch, also in this case an irreversible punch. This device can be supplemented in the part to be removed or cut by adding a security pattern with lines that are very difficult to realign once they have been cut, in order to thwart any attempt to reattach the small triangular part removed.

The preferred embodiments of this invention have been described and a number of variations have been suggested above, but it should be expressly understood that other variations or changes in details or details of design may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (11)

1. A combination of security document protection systems comprising parts with erasable data embossed thereon and parts with variable data embossed thereon, as well as a magnetic tape on which data can be magnetically recorded, characterized in that said combination of protection systems comprises one or more protection systems selected from a first set of apparent security images with overt security images or "Overt Security Image" (OSI) and one or more protection systems selected from a second set of covert security images with latent security images or "CSI", said first set comprising: I. A security system against counterfeiting and colour photocopying, based on the assumption of a printing process which, in conjunction with special patterns and engravings, uses the phenomenon of light reflection to create a different visual appearance to different details of the patterns, thereby making the visual image variable, so that by means of slight changes in the angle of observation, a detail of the patterns which initially appears optically positive becomes negative, or vice versa, II. a security system for these variable data in which different parts of these variable data are printed on parts of the document which have different light reflection characteristics, and said second group (CSI) includes: I. a security system in which the said parts of the erasable document are engraved according to specific patterns, in particular those containing numerical data, II. a security system in which an additional magnetically readable letter or number is inserted above this magnetic tape, where the letter or number is variable according to a customer-specific algorithm, if possible an intelligent algorithm agreed in advance with the customer, and is printed in a standardized format, III. a security system in which a "sympathetic" ink is applied to the naked eye, the ink being adapted in such a way that it becomes permanently visible when in contact with a special activating agent, IV. a security system in which, for documents whose marketability is to be restricted, a proportion of them are removed. 2. A combination of security document protection systems according to claim 1, characterized in that different light reflection features are created by means of small, superficial scratches having different angles and depths in such a way that the parts processed to look positive will look negative and vice versa, due to small movements and, overall, when movement of the paper slips occurs, the image is changed, thereby showing a holographic effect. 3. A combination of security document protection systems according to claim 2, characterized in that said various light retroreflective features are achieved by means of chalcographic printing processes. 4. A combination of security document protection systems according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said element of variable data is protected by printing a part of it on a part of the document that looks optically positive and another part on a part of the document that looks optically negative. 5. A combination of security document protection systems according to claim 4, characterized in that said variable data is printed using an ink selected from inks with high opacity or from inks with high penetrability or from transparent inks. 6. A combination of security document protection systems according to claim 1, characterized in that said numerical data protected by embossing are printed before embossing. 7. A combination of security document protection systems according to claim 1, characterized in that said numerical data protected by embossing are printed after embossing. 8. A combination of security document protection systems according to claim 1, characterized in that said additional letter, which is inserted above the standardized magnetic tape, can only be read by means of magnetic readers. 9. A combination of security document protection systems according to claim 1, characterized in that said reversible marketability restriction is achieved by eliminating a corner portion of the document. 10. A combination of security document protection systems according to claim 9, characterized in that a pattern of security is applied to said removable corner part, such pattern having lines which are very difficult to realign so as to fail all attempts to recreate that part after its removal. 11. A combination of security document protection systems according to claim 1, characterized in that said invisible ink is made permanently visible upon contact with standardized agents such as chlorine bleach.