HK1160698B - Univocal label to be stored by optical devices, method of production of the same and use thereof in the anticounterfeiting and in the identification of products - Google Patents

Description

Univocal label to be stored by optical means, method for producing same and use thereof in anti-counterfeiting and product identification

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of means for product identification and forgery prevention, and more precisely to univocal labels having a distinct marking detectable by an optical image acquisition device, which can be applied to products to be marked with a logo or any marking characteristic of the user and/or the seller, and to a method for producing such products, and to their use in forgery prevention and product identification.

According to the invention, the univocal label consists of a suitable sheet made of transparent material with a thickness of about 0.25-200 μm, on which, by means of printing or holographic imaging, applied by gluing, is a marking or characteristic mark in a random and non-repeating manner, which will constitute for each label a univocal map that can be detected by reading and image acquisition optics. The map can be filed in a central control database, into which the user can enter at any time to verify the originality and authenticity of the purchased product.

For said purpose, according to another aspect of the invention, once applied on the product, the univocal label is designed to be imaged in an inspection state by a remote system (for example, a suitable optical device or a simple mobile phone device equipped with a camera or a digital camera) under various conditions of picture, light and resolution and processed by image processing algorithms to restore it as far as possible to the optical conditions imaged by the main system.

Algorithms used in the present invention include, for example, filtering, image erosion, gray scale measurement, focusing, and warping.

From the image thus enhanced, the coordinates and size of each particle are extracted. The data thus obtained are compared by means of a merit function with the data stored in the database, which provides a positive factor for coincident points and a negative factor for each point that cannot be identified.

Whether the tag is considered to be genuine or counterfeit is determined according to an acceptable threshold at which the reliability of the identification can be set.

Background

In recent times, due to the global production of products and the marketing of products and the inter-continental movement of people, the phenomenon of imitation and imitation of the impersonability of the products themselves and of many well-known trademarks encounters an increase in the index and, in some specific cases, such as in the food or pharmaceutical field, impairs the health of the consumers. As a result, a number of new generations of anti-counterfeiting and product identification systems have been developed, such as magnetic labels, three-dimensional holograms, and security inks. These systems have obtained highly innovative imprint patterns, but are vulnerable and can be circumvented by their possible duplication, interception or formulation, which can be copied or identified with suitable equipment, given that they are mainly mass produced industrial products.

Disclosure of Invention

The task of the present invention is to provide a univocal label that can be obtained at very low cost and that will enable any product to be characterized, which is coated or attached on the product, which is made up of a plurality of randomly distributed logos or characteristic marks or parts thereof, thanks to the presentation of a non-repeating identifier map (substantially similar to a fingerprint) designed to be read by an optical image acquisition device, stored in a central control database and subsequently detected at any place and at any time by a suitable optical detection device, such as a digital camera, to check the characteristics, for the overall assurance of the origin.

This has been achieved according to the invention by printing or holographically imaging a logo or indicia on a sheet made of a suitable material such as polyester. The thickness of the sheet is preferably about 2 to 25 μm.

By decorating the print or/and hologram obtained, particles are obtained which can be distributed in a single layer or by dusting on the adhesive side of a sheet made of a suitable transparent material, for example PVC, polypropylene or ethylene polymer, preferably with a thickness of about 0.25 to 200 μm.

The sheet may also be previously spread on one surface with a mixture comprising said particles in an amount ranging from about 4% to 70% in a suitable adhesive, such as an acrylic adhesive, even in aqueous solutions commonly used to make labels tacky.

The label thus obtained, which appears transparent on the side not treated with adhesive, the random distribution of the particles constitutes a background picture and is a univocal and non-repeating real fingerprint, taking into account that it is not possible to reconstruct the same imprint as the image filed, since it has been obtained beforehand in a completely random manner.

The label forming the subject of the invention is therefore the best solution for product protection and is not only surprisingly simple, inexpensive and applicable on any industrial line, but can also be easily detected by the end user himself even with a simple mobile telephone device having a camera.

The first subject forming the invention is therefore a label made of at least one sheet of suitable transparent material on which are present, distributed and randomly oriented holographically imaged or printed particles decorated in different sizes from 10 to 4000 μm, so that their detection can be archived in a central database by means of an optical image acquisition device during production or packaging.

The subject forming the invention is a method for producing the aforementioned label, comprising the following steps:

-printing and/or holographically imaging a logo or signature having a maximum dimension of about 10-3000 μm in a repeated sequence on a sheet of suitable material having a thickness of about 2-25 μm;

-decorating each print or holographic image thus obtained, so as to obtain particles for labels that can be dispensed on suitable sheets of transparent material, having a thickness of about 0.25-200 μm, pretreated with a suitable glue or sprinkled with a mixture comprising about 4-70% of said particles in a suitable glue; the particles may also be sprayed on the adhesive with an industrial sprayer or disposed on a PVC-based, vinyl polymer-based or polypropylene-based sheet to form the substrate of the transparent label;

-printing indicia on the back surface to limit the particles applied on the sheet of material for the label to about 0.50-2.5cm²Thereby producing a map or "fingerprint" of the background pattern with a single meaning;

-reading a background map of the tag using a reader host system, storing its univocal features in a compact format; the background image is optically detected by a high-resolution digital camera which geometrically makes it an image, illuminates it in a preset manner and extracts the coordinates and dimensions of each particle; and is

-associating the data with a univocal code reading (digital matrix or other code) and storing them in a database for subsequent verification.

According to another aspect of the invention, the adhesive and non-adhesive labels can be used as security labels with a logo or an intrinsically univocal marking (a figure or "fingerprint"), which can be archived from the outset for possible comparison of authenticity. The practical use of the univocal label according to the invention in forgery prevention and product identification is envisaged according to the following characteristics:

-detecting a map of the label applied to the product by means of an optical detection device; and

-analyzing and/or archiving the map in a central document database, which may be local or remote, so that the products on which the labels are applied are verified and inspected by the optical device.

This occurs, according to the invention, by entering in a known manner the database referred to previously and comparing the image of the detected label with the corresponding image stored beforehand in said database during the production process of the label of the invention.

Drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge clearly from the detailed description that follows, with reference to the attached drawings, which illustrate, purely by way of non-limiting example, some preferred embodiments. In the drawings:

FIG. 1A shows a sequence of repeated alignments of markers or markers to be employed;

FIG. 1B shows a sequence of individual particles obtained by decorating each individual logo or mark using the "edge mark" method or cutting according to a program control;

fig. 1C and 1D are schematic views of a system for obtaining tags, according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in a stop step and during its operation, respectively;

fig. 2A and 2B show a delimiting step of the background map, which is defined not only by the random position of each individual particle but also by the positions of the read variants and marks and by the dimensions of the defined area under consideration;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the steps of storing tags in a database and then remotely probing with an optical device; and is

Fig. 4 is a schematic illustration of the steps of preparation and use of the label of the invention according to different methods of embodiment, which envisages the combination of a transparent PVC sheet with a double-stick polyethylene sheet, on the surface of which an acrylic adhesive containing particles is spread, wherein the particles are in the form of logos, marks or letters, obtained from black polyester sheets or holograms.

Detailed Description

With reference to the figures, in order to produce, for example, a polypropylene label featuring a customer's identification printed with a univocal marking for future examinations of the origin, as indicated by reference numeral 6 in fig. 3, it is first envisaged to provide a multiplicity of granules having the identification or having a particular personal marking selected by the manufacturer as a distinctive mark, also as a marking for identifying a specific company.

To obtain said result, on a sheet of plastic material or paper, whether neutral or coloured, having a thickness of approximately from 2 to 30 μm, an aligned sequence is printed, then decorated with the manufacturer's logo or with a unique mark in repeated positions and having dimensions of approximately 10-4000 μm (fig. 1A).

This decoration of each individual logo or mark is carried out using the "edge mark" method, or according to its programmed and limited shearing, producing an infinite series of individual grains, the size of which can vary according to the printing, each being characterized by its distinct appearance and its colour (fig. 1B).

In the next step, the granules are introduced into a hopper 8 (fig. 1C) which distributes and sprinkles them, by means of a surface provided with a vibrating screen 10, on smooth transparent polypropylene sheets 11 having a thickness of about 0.25 to 200 μm (fig. 1C, 1D), during or after the application of glue to make the sheets sticky.

The granules mixed with or coated on the glue are distributed randomly and differently oriented over the whole area of the polypropylene sheet 11 with its tackiness, this sheet 11 being bonded to a transparent support sheet 14 preferably made of polyethylene compound.

On the back of the polyethylene compound sheet, the differently positioned particles fixed by the glue will stand out precisely due to their transparency (fig. 2A).

These particles, when confined by being printed in a particular space, will generate a background map 12, which comes not only from the random position of each individual particle, but also from the variability of the reading and the position of the logo (fig. 2B).

The substrate 14 may be made of a plastic material or a single or double stick paper having different thicknesses depending on the requirements of the label to be applied to the product.

In the next step, the reading of the univocal marks generated by the individual diversity of fig. 12 of the background of each tag is performed (fig. 3).

The indicia are detected by an optical detection device such as an optical-digital camera (or video camera) 16, then converted and processed by a suitable software program, and finally stored to a document database 18 for possible retrieval for inspection purposes.

The present principles of each univocal label 6 applied on the product 20 and distributed in commercial channels can thus be checked at any time, in real time or even remotely, by imaging the univocal background data with a suitable optical detection device or with a conventional mobile phone device 22 provided with a camera, possibly transmitting the detected identification or marking even through MMS or the internet.

The mark thus transmitted can be compared with a previously archived or originally stored mark in the database 18, giving almost immediate response to authenticity for the overall assurance of the origin of the product 20.

As an alternative to the method just described, the production of univocal labels 6a applied to transparent PVC sheets 24 is envisaged, the transparent PVC sheets 24 having a thickness of about 0.25 to 200 μm (fig. 4) and having a coating thereon of sheets 26 of a double-tack vinyl polymer, on one side of the sheets 26, spread by an acrylic adhesive of neutral colour in aqueous solution, comprising about 4 to 70% of the particles previously obtained from the black polyester sheets as described above or other holographic particles, the larger particles having a size of about 10-3000 μm (fig. 4).

The PVC sheet thus functions as a basic fixing support for future applications as a transparent self-adhesive label on products with the possibility of printing additional and individualized data on the back (fig. 3C).

The spread and random distribution of the various black or holographic particles in the adhesive is revealed by the transparency of the PVC sheeting and gives: the particles, which are confined and positioned by the printed marks, form a background image per square centimeter.

In this way, a univocal marking is provided which can be detected by the optical detection device and can be sent to a centralized document database having the same form as described in the previous case.

From what has been described so far, it is evident that the invention does not constitute a mere label, but a label that provides a primitive guaranteeing inherent mark constituting its original archived "fingerprint" for future comparison of authenticity, thus providing guarantees for the product on which it is applied, and that the mark is characterized in that it can be read and compared in a remote mode by the product purchaser in a timely manner using an optical device, such as a mobile telephone device, for timely verification of the primitive.

Obviously, many details of the method of production and the technique of image acquisition to which the invention relates may vary, without however departing from the scope of the invention as implied by the claims that follow.

Examples of the invention

Purely by way of non-limiting illustration, the example of embodiment which follows describes in detail a self-adhesive polypropylene label characterized by the manufacturer's logo and printed with univocal markings for possible verification of the origin.

Polypropylene sheets with a thickness of 10 μm are color printed with an alignment sequence of repeating locations with the manufacturer's logo, a larger size of 3000 μm. After printing, edge marking decoration is performed for each individual logo to produce an infinite sequence of individual particles, each of which is characterized by the apparent appearance of the logo. In the next step, the individualized granules with the logo are introduced into a hopper which feeds a vibrating table which distributes and sprinkles a mixture of said granules in 4% acrylic glue through a varying mesh and a varying vibrating screen on a double-stick polypropylene sheet with a thickness of 25 μm. These particles are fixed to the glue and randomly distributed with different position orientations throughout the area of the sheet. The sheet with the particles on top is then knottedIncorporated into a transparent vinyl polymer substrate of thickness 20 μm, printed behind a given 0.5cm²To generate a background map that originates not only from the random position of each individual particle but also from the variability of the readings and the position of the markers. The next step is performed by the host system to read the univocal data of the limit, which results from the respective differences of the background map of each tag, which is able to store its univocality in a compact form. The background map is optically detected by a digital television camera, preferably a high resolution television camera, which formulates the limited data in preset geometric and lighting conditions and extracts the coordinates and dimensions of each particle. This data is correlated with the univocal reading code (data matrix) and stored in a database for subsequent verification.

Claims (10)

1. A univocal label (6, 6a), characterized in that it is formed by at least one sheet made of suitable transparent material, on which appear holographic imaged or printed particles decorated in different sizes ranging from 10 to 3000 μm and in sheets of suitable material with a thickness ranging from 2 to 25 μm and oriented so that, at the production or packaging stage, the coordinates and the size of each particle can be extracted by means of an optical image acquisition device and acquired so that they can be archived in a central database that can be accessed at a later stage even remotely to verify the origin of the product on which the label is applied.

2. The univocal label according to claim 1, characterized in that the holographed and/or printed particles can be of any colour, pattern and shape.

3. The univocal label according to claim 1, characterized in that the holographed and/or printed particles are black.

4. Univocal label according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the sheet on which the particles are dispersed can be combined with a single-sided adhesive or double-sided adhesive sheet.

5. Univocal label according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the sheet on which the granules are dispersed is formed from a material chosen from PVC, polypropylene and ethylene polymers.

6. Univocal label according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the sheet on which the logo or distinctive mark is printed is made on both sides of plastic material, paper or other material.

7. Method for producing univocal labels according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

-printing and/or holographically imaging logos or signatures with a maximum dimension of 10-3000 μm in a repetitive but varying sequence on a sheet of suitable material with a thickness of 2-25 μm;

-decorating the print or holographic image thus obtained to obtain particles which can be randomly distributed by single layer scattering or scattering on a suitable sheet for labels of single-or double-sided tackiness having a thickness of 2-25 μm, pretreated with a suitable glue or scattered with a mixture comprising 4-80% of said particles in a suitable glue; the particles can be sprayed with an industrial sprayer onto an adhesive or disposed on a PVC-based, ethylene polymer-based, or polypropylene-based sheet to form the substrate of a transparent label;

-bonding the sticky or non-sticky sheet with the particles to a PVC-, vinyl-or polypropylene-based sheet, so that the particles will remain interposed between the printed side and the side that may be sticky;

-printing indicia on the base sheet to limit the particles to 0.50-2.5cm²Thereby producing a map or "fingerprint" with a univocal background pattern; and

-adding printed individualized and complementary data along the background side of the meaning single for archiving barcodes, data matrices, alphanumeric data or manufacturer's identification.

8. A method for verifying the originality of a product provided with a label according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has the following steps:

-detecting the map of labels by means of an optical acquisition device at the end of or during the production process of the product;

-analyzing, processing and/or archiving the graph in a central document database, which is local or remote; and

-comparing, by entering said database, the images of the labels appearing on the products to be inspected, detected with known image acquisition means, with the corresponding images stored in said database, verifying and optically inspecting the originals of the products on which the labels are applied, at any time during the product cycle.

9. Use of univocal label according to any one of claims 1 to 6, for verifying and checking the originality of a product, characterized in that the image of the univocal label of the product is detected by means of an optical acquisition device and transmitted, through MMS or Internet, for comparison with the image of the label previously archived in a central database.

10. Use according to claim 9, characterized in that the image of the univocal label of the product is verified and optically checked by means of the camera of the mobile phone.