WO2023118918A1

WO2023118918A1 - Security inlay, method of fabricating a security inlay, security document, method of fabricating a security document, system for authenticating a security document having at least one security feature, and method of authenticating a security document

Info

Publication number: WO2023118918A1
Application number: PCT/IB2021/000929
Authority: WO
Inventors: Khiengkrai Khusuwan; Niwat Somkhantee
Original assignee: Linxens Holding
Priority date: 2021-12-23
Filing date: 2021-12-23
Publication date: 2023-06-29

Abstract

In various aspect, the present disclosure relates to a security inlay, a method of fabricating a security inlay, a security document, a method of fabricating a security document, a system for authenticating a security document having at least one security feature, and a method of authenticating a security document. In some aspects herein, a security inlay for a security document is provided, the security inlay comprising an inlay substrate, an antenna provided in or on the inlay substrate, and a chip or chip module integrated into the inlay substrate and coupled to the antenna. The antenna is equipped with a security feature formed by an antenna wiring pattern having an antenna coding section in which an antenna wire is routed in accordance with a coding pattern.

Description

SECURITY INLAY, METHOD OF FABRICATING A SECURITY INLAY, SECURITY DOCUMENT, METHOD OF FABRICATING A SECURITY DOCUMENT, SYSTEM FOR AUTHENTICATING A SECURITY DOCUMENT HAVING AT LEAST ONE SECURITY FEATURE, AND METHOD OF AUTHENTICATING A SECURITY DOCUMENT

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a security inlay, a method of fabricating a security inlay, a security document, a method of fabricating a security document, a system for authenticating a security document having at least one security feature, and a method of authenticating a security document.

Background

In the field of security documents, there are presently various different types of security documents, such as smart cards (bank cards, electronic identity cards, key cards, etc.), a datapage of an identity document booklet (e.g., an electronic passport), and the like. These security documents increasingly include an electronic circuit for enabling contactless communication with an electronic module of the security document so as to store on and/or retrieve electronic data from the electronic module of the security document.

As an example of such security documents, contactless smart cards are worldwide on the rise and becoming the preferred solution for many applications, such as banking, identification, etc. Those smart cards are no longer simple plastic cards, but contain instead plural added-value attributes from embedded electronics to security features to fingerprint sensors and special materials. Similarly, a datapage of an electronic passport is no longer a simple page of a booklet of a passport, but may contain instead a plurality of embedded electronic features enabling at least one of a wireless function, data storing function, etc.

Typically, a smart card is a plastic card having the size of a credit card, with electrical interconnections among one or more internal chip modules and/or contacts to outside chip modules. Upon integrating different modules into the body of a smart card, at least some of a variety of different functions may be implemented with a smart card, e.g. functions for transmitting, storing and/or processing data. For example, a smart card may be equipped with a memory chip and/or a processor and/or an antenna module allowing wireless communication with the card, and an optional external contact for contacting the smart card via external contacting means. Today, a wide variety of smart cards and other security documents are in use and the complexity of their production process depends on the industry and application requirements (banking, identity, transport, etc.). To adapt to new demands, card and inlay manufacturing processes in the fabrication of a smart card have evolved over the past 10 years in order to provide cards and inlays with plural functions. For example, a smart card typically includes transmission means for transmitting data from a chip of the smart card to a card reader device or vice versa. The transmission means can be a contact interface in which a direct electrical contact to an external contact element of the smart card is established and a card reader is able to communicate with the chip of the smart card via a direct electrical contact. Another way of communicating with a chip of the smart card is in a contactless manner by a contactless interface, such as an antenna module integrated into the smart card, allowing to communicate with the chip of the smart card in a contactless manner.

In a plurality of current designs of a security document, a double interface is provided for not only allowing contactless communication with a chip of the security document, but also providing an electric contact for directly contacting the chip of the security document, such as an external contact provided in the security document. For example, a card body of a smart card may be provided with one or more external contacts for directly coupling the smart card with a card reader device in a contact manner. Such a double interface transmission means is generally referred to as “dual” in case that a contact mode and a contactless mode are managed by a single chip of the security document, or as “hybrid” if the contact mode and the contactless mode are managed by two physically distinct chips integrated into the security document.

As an example of such a dual interface security document, a dual interface (DIF) smart card consists of a rigid plastic support such as PVC, PVC/ABS, PET or polycarbonate, constituting a card body of the smart card into which one or more modules are incorporated. For example, in a common approach, an antenna is integrated into a laminated body (a laminated body prepared at an early stage during fabrication of a smart card, i.e., before integrating electronic modules into the smart card, in the following referred to as a “prelam body”) prior to the integration of a chip module and a contact module into the prelam body.

The fabrication of such a conventional DIF smart card is very complex because the antenna module as an inlay is usually prepared and integrated at a first factory, while a further customization of the prelam body into a card body takes place at another factory, typically in supplying modules in a supply chain as tape/module. Furthermore, the embedding of a wire antenna as an inlay into a smart card becomes problematic when considering other materials as the materials of the smart card other than the materials providing a rigid plastic prelam body. For example, it is very difficult to provide a wire embedding for an antenna inlay in a prelam body formed of wood or metal or some other non-plastic material.

One way of integrating functions into a security document, such as a smart card, is using functional inlays. In the process of fabricating a smart card, for example, inlay production is one of the first steps in a process of manufacturing a smart card in which an inlay is provided in form of a pre-laminated inlay or so-called “prelam body”. This pre-laminated inlay is typically a product integrating an electronic device within a sheet carrier in that single layers with embedded electronics are fused together under pressure and temperature during the lamination process to form one homogeneous and durable sheet carrier.

Various manufacturing steps used in fabrication of an inlay, become increasingly complex and, as a consequence, of the fabrication of security documents becomes increasingly complex. On one hand, manufacturing steps comprise more and more unique processes, while on the other hand, different design combinations and various variables need to be mixed in order to be compliant with technical requirements and final application standards as demanded on a customer side, such as different materials, sheet layouts, thicknesses, antenna technology, chip module connections, security feature integration, mechanical and functional requirements, etc. As a result, the quality of inlays is becoming an increasingly importance factor that determines the quality of end-products. For example, dimensional precision and radio frequency accuracy are only two checking points that have to be considered in the fabrication of inlays.

Aside from these considerations on the quality, another important aspect to be taken into account in the fabrication of security documents, is the security of a security document. In the current technological development, security documents may often be used for carrying sensitive personal data depending on the intended use of the security document, in particular when being used for banking, identification, etc. It is therefore an important task to make a security document secure against undesired access to data on a security document and/or unauthorized replication of a security document, particularly its function.

In view of the above-described situation, it is desirable to increase the security level of security documents already during fabrication, in particular at an early stage during fabrication. Furthermore, it is desirable to allow authentication of a security document. Summary of the Disclosure

The above described problems and objects are solved in various aspects of the present disclosure by means of a security inlay in accordance with claim 1 , a method of fabricating a security inlay in accordance with claim 7, a security document in accordance with claim 15, a method of fabricating a security document in accordance with claim 18, and a method of authenticating a security document in accordance with claim 20. More advantageous embodiments of these various aspects are defined in the dependent claims 2 to 6, 8 to 14, 16 to 17, and 21 to 23.

In the present disclosure, the expression “prelam body”, as used herein, is understood as representing a material body with one or more layers of an insulating material, such as PVC, PC or some other appropriate thermoplastic polymer. In particular, the expression “prelam body” may be understood as denoting an inlay formed of one layer which is inserted into a recess of a body of a security document as an inlay of the security document (provided in appropriate dimensions), such as an inlay inserted into a smart card or in a datapage or elD. Accordingly, the term „prelam body" may represent an unlaminated body, e.g., a monolayer body. Alternatively, the expression “prelam body” may denote multiple layers, which are pre-laminated together. In any case, a prelam body or prelaminated body may be considered as representing an intermediate product obtained during fabrication of a security document, e.g., a smart card or a datapage or elD. For example, an illustrative prelam body being formed of multiple layers may be obtained by fusing together different layers of a thermoplastic material into a single homogeneous sheet body, thereby forming a monolithic substrate body. In some illustrative examples of a prelam body, an inlay substrate (or base substrate) may have at least one contact and/or interconnection embedded therein, optionally with one or more electronic modules integrated into the substrate body in electric connection with at least one contact and/or interconnection of the inlay substrate.

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a security inlay for a security document is provided, the security inlay comprising an inlay substrate, an antenna provided in or on the inlay substrate, and a chip or chip module integrated into the inlay substrate and coupled to the antenna, wherein the antenna is formed of an antenna wiring pattern comprising an antenna winding section and an antenna coding section in which an antenna wire is routed in accordance with a coding pattern. In this way, the antenna is equipped with a security feature formed by the antenna wiring pattern having the antenna coding section in which the antenna wire is routed in accordance with the coding pattern. Accordingly, an inlay fulfilling security levels may be already present at an early stage during fabrication, where the coding pattern allows identifying the security inlay and prevents unauthorized replication of security documents at an early stage during fabrication. In the illustrative embodiments of the first aspect, the antenna coding section is electrically coupled with the antenna winding section, thereby forming the antenna of the security inlay and equipping the security inlay with an antenna function for wireless communication with the chip or chip module of the security inlay. For example, the antenna coding section may discontinue or interrupt the antenna winding section. In other words, the antenna coding section may be formed in a winding of the antenna winding section and removal of the antenna coding section would destroy the integrity of the antenna winding section.

As used herein, a “code” is understood as implying presence of a predetermined mapping C which is defined as follows: let S and T be two finite sets, S being a source set of characteristics or symbols and T being a target set of characteristics or symbols. Thus, a “code” is defined as a mapping C: S -> T, mapping a sequence of elements of S to a dedicated sequence of elements of T. Accordingly, a “coding pattern” is understood as a set comprising at least one sequence of elements from S or T. A verification of the coding pattern may be achieved when the mapping C is known.

In some explicit illustrative examples herein, the set S comprises at least a subset of letters of an alphabet and T may comprise at least one of a semiotic sign, a symbol and a glyph. For example T may comprise at least one of one or more numerical digits, one or more ideograms, one or more hieroglyphs, one or more of a punctuation mark and another typographic mark.

In the present disclosure, a security document may represent one of a smart card and an electronic identity booklet or a datapage of it. In some special illustrative examples herein, the security document may be a smart card, such as a bank card, electronic identity card, key card, and the like. In some other special illustrative examples herein, the security document may be an electronic identity booklet, a datapage of an electronic identity document or booklet (e.g., an electronic passport), and the like.

The inlay substrate of the first aspect may be a prelam body as used in the production of inlays for security documents and the chip may be an RFID chip or RFID chip module inte- grated into the inlay substrate, where a chip or chip module integrated into the inlay substrate may be also understood indicating that the chip or chip module is disposed on the inlay substrate or accommodated into a recess provided in the inlay substrate.

In some illustrative examples herein, the security inlay may differ from a conventional inlay in that it has additional features such as an additional chip, e.g., an additional RFID chip, integrated into the inlay substrate on a location. The additional chip may store information about the production processes in the value chain as well as having personalization features integrated into the security inlay such as a hologram, an anti-skimming material or security codes embedded into the security inlay.

In some illustrative embodiments of the first aspect, the coding pattern may be formed on the basis of a code comprising at least one of a standard code, a binary code, a pulse wave code, a Morse code, a code resembling a tactile code, a bar code and a QR code. Accordingly, a high level security feature may be provided. For example, the antenna coding section may implement a code that allows to verify the security inlay to a high degree of confidence. For example, the antenna coding section may have antenna portions located at different depths in the inlay substrate such that at least one of a standard code, a binary code, a pulse wave code, a Morse code, a code resembling a tactile code, a bar code and a QR code is realized.

In some illustrative embodiments of the first aspect, the security inlay may further comprise an additional security feature formed by an additional antenna coding section with an additional coding pattern. Accordingly, a level of security may be further increased in an easy way. For example, the additional coding pattern may comprise a wire graphics implementing a coding pattern or a predetermined symbol such that the additional security feature is easily implemented.

In some illustrative embodiments of the first aspect, the antenna may be embedded into the inlay substrate, the inlay substrate having a window portion exposing the security feature. Accordingly, the security feature may be accessible to direct inspection.

In some illustrative embodiments of the first aspect, the antenna may be an RFID antenna and the chip or chip module is an RFID chip or RFID chip module. Accordingly, a contactless readable and/or writable security document may be easily provided. For example, such a security inlay may be provided in form of an RFID wet inlay including an integrated circuit (IC) or chip that stores and processes tag data and an antenna, which gathers power from the reader to power the tag and enable RFID communication.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method of fabricating a security inlay is provided, the method comprising providing an inlay substrate, forming an antenna on or in the inlay substrate, wherein the antenna is equipped with a security feature, the antenna comprising an antenna wiring pattern having an antenna winding section and an antenna coding section in which an antenna wiring track is routed in accordance with a coding pattern, and integrating a chip or chip module into the inlay substrate. Accordingly, an inlay fulfilling security levels may be easily provided at an early stage during fabrication, where the coding pattern allows identifying the security inlay and prevents unauthorized replication of security documents at an early stage during fabrication.

In some illustrative embodiments of the second aspect, forming the antenna coding section may comprise forming the antenna wiring track of the antenna in the antenna coding section by means of one of printing a conductive material onto the inlay substrate, etching a deposited conductive material layer, and routing a conductive material wire in or on the inlay substrate in accordance with the coding pattern. Accordingly, the security feature may be easily fabricated without adding complexity to the fabrication processes.

In some illustrative embodiments of the second aspect, the coding pattern may be provided on the basis of a code comprising at least one of a standard code, a binary code, a pulse wave code, a Morse code, a code resembling a tactile code, a bar code and a QR code. Accordingly, a high level security feature may be provided. For example, the antenna coding section may implement a code that allows to verify the security inlay to a high degree of confidence. For example, the antenna coding section may have antenna portions located at different depths in the inlay substrate such that at least one of a standard code, a binary code, a pulse wave code, a Morse code, a code resembling a tactile code, a bar code and a QR code is realized.

In some illustrative embodiments of the second aspect, the method may further comprise forming an additional security feature by providing the antenna wiring pattern with an additional antenna coding section which has an additional coding pattern. Accordingly, a level of security may be further increased during fabrication without adding to complexity of the fabrication processes. For example, the additional coding pattern may comprise a wire graphics implementing a coding pattern or a predetermined symbol such that the additional security feature is easily implemented. In some illustrative embodiments of the second aspect, the method may further comprise providing a window portion in the inlay substrate, the window portion partially exposing the security feature. Accordingly, the security feature may be accessible to direct inspection.

In some illustrative embodiments of the second aspect, the antenna may be an RFID antenna and the chip or chip module is an RFID chip or RFID chip module. Accordingly, a contactless readable and/or writable security document may be easily provided. For example, such a security inlay may be provided in form of an RFID wet inlay including an integrated circuit (IC) or chip that stores and processes tag data and an antenna, which gathers power from the reader to power the tag and enable RFID communication.

In some illustrative embodiments of the second aspect, various illustrative embodiments of the second aspect may be advantageously combined with various illustrative embodiments of the first aspect.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a security document is provided, comprising the security inlay of the first aspect and one or more overlays formed on at least one exposed surface of the security inlay. Accordingly, a security document having the benefits of the first aspect may be provided.

In some illustrative embodiments of the third aspect, the security document may be one of a smart card and an electronic identity booklet. In some special illustrative examples herein, the security document may be a smart card, such as a bank card, electronic identity card, key card, and the like. In some other special illustrative examples herein, the security document may be an electronic identity booklet, a datapage of an electronic identity document or booklet (e.g., an electronic passport), and the like.

In some illustrative embodiments of the third aspect, the one or more overlays may be translucent or opaque. Accordingly, the security level of the security document may be increased upon appropriately selecting optical characteristics of the one or more overlays.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a method of fabricating a security document is provided, the method comprising providing a security inlay fabricated in accordance with the method of one of the second aspect, and forming at least one overlay on at least one exposed surface of the security inlay. Accordingly, the security feature may be easily fabricated in the fabrication process of a security document without adding complexity to the fabrication process. In some illustrative embodiments of the fourth aspect, the method may further comprise providing a security window portion in the security document, the security window portion exposing at least one security feature of the security document. Accordingly, the security feature may be accessible to direct inspection.

In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a system for authenticating the security document of the third aspect, the system comprising an inspection device comprising a source of electromagnetic radiation configured for emitting electromagnetic radiation towards the security document and/or an imaging device configured for rendering the at least one security feature of the security document visible, e.g., by generating at least one of a virtual image and a real image of the at least one security feature. Accordingly, a reliable authentication of the security document is possible. In some illustrative embodiments herein, the inspection device may be configured for providing a real image of the at least one security feature and the inspection device may comprises the imaging device, while the source of electromagnetic radiation may be optional. For example, when using an external source of electromagnetic radiation (e.g., the sun, artificial light source, an X-ray source, etc.), the inspection device may only comprise an imaging device for generating a real image of the at least one security feature in the presence of the electromagnetic radiation of the external source of electromagnetic radiation. Alternatively, the inspection device may only include a source of electromagnetic radiation such that the inspection device generates a virtual image of the at least one security feature once the security document is exposed to the electromagnetic radiation generated by the inspection device. In some explicit examples herein, the system may further comprise the security document of the third aspect.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a method of authenticating a security document is provided, the method comprising providing the security document of the third aspect, subjecting the security document to an inspection procedure, the inspection procedure resulting in an image of the security feature, and determining an authentication status of the security document on the basis of the image. Accordingly, a reliable authentication of the security document is possible. The security document may be the security document of the third aspect.

In some illustrative embodiments of the sixth aspect, the image may be one of a virtual image of the security feature and a real image of the security feature. Accordingly, an authentication may be documented and/or quickly verified upon direct inspection. In some illustrative embodiments of the sixth aspect, the inspection procedure may comprise using an imaging device for producing the image of the security feature. Accordingly, a high security level may be achieved without substantially affecting a fabrication of the security document.

In some illustrative embodiments of the sixth aspect, the inspection procedure may comprise using a light source comprising at least one of a visible wavelength region and an LIV wavelength region, or an X-ray source. Accordingly, a high security level may be achieved without substantially affecting a fabrication of the security document.

In some illustrative embodiments of the sixth aspect, the method may comprise employing the system of the fifth aspect in the inspection procedure.

From the above described illustrative embodiments in the various aspects, the person skilled in the art will appreciate that any manipulation of at least one security feature may impair the integrity and function of the security inlay and/or security document fabricated on the basis of such a security inlay. Thereby a security level of a security inlay and of a security document with such a security inlay may be increased.

Brief description of the Drawings

Various illustrative embodiments and other advantageous of the various aspects will become apparent from the detailed description of the accompanying figures as presented below.

Fig. 1 schematically shows a top view of a security inlay for a security document in accordance with some illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 shows an illustrative coding pattern of the inlay of Fig. 1 in an enlarged view together with an illustrative translation of the coding pattern into an illustrative code.

Fig. 3 shows another illustrative code.

Fig. 4 schematically shows a top view of a security document in accordance with some other illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic perspective view of a security document in accordance with another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 6 schematically shows a system for authenticating a security document in accordance with some illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 schematically shows a top view of a security document in accordance with some other illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure.

The figures as accompanying the present disclosure are only provided for schematically showing some concepts of the present disclosure without showing all possible details of certain embodiments and without being actually to scale.

Detailed Description

Referring to Fig. 1 , a security inlay 1 of a security document (not illustrated) is shown in a schematic top view. Examples of a security document may be a smart card or an electronic identity document, such as an electronic passport or elD, such that the security inlay 1 is configured for integration into a smart card or an electronic identity document, such as an electronic passport or elD. In some illustrative applications, the security inlay 1 may be provided for application with a smart card or an electronic identity booklet. In some special illustrative examples herein, the security document may be a smart card, such as a bank card, electronic identity card, key card, and the like. In some other special illustrative examples herein, the security document may be an electronic identity booklet, a datapage of an electronic identity document or booklet (e.g., an electronic passport), and the like.

In accordance with illustrative embodiments, the security inlay 1 comprises an inlay substrate 3, an antenna 5 provided in or on the inlay substrate 3, and a chip or chip module 7 integrated into the inlay substrate 3 and electrically coupled to the antenna 5. The chip or chip module 7 may be an RFID chip or RFID chip module integrated into the inlay substrate 3 such that the chip or chip module 7 is disposed on the inlay substrate 3 or accommodated into a recess (not illustrated) provided in the inlay substrate 3.

With ongoing reference to Fig. 1 , the antenna 5 is formed of an antenna wiring pattern comprising an antenna winding section 5a and an antenna coding section 5b in which an antenna wiring track is routed in accordance with a coding pattern. In this way, the antenna 5 is equipped with a security feature formed by the antenna coding section 5b being formed in accordance with the coding pattern. In this way, the security inlay 1 fulfills a certain security level at an early stage during fabrication of a security document (not illustrated). The coding pattern of the antenna coding section 5b allows identifying the security inlay 1 and may prevent unauthorized replication of the security inlay 1. Information encoded in the antenna coding section 5b may comprise without limitation at least one of a manufacturing code, a product code, a batch number or code, a product design info, a customer info, personal data of a user of a security document (not illustrated), identification and/or trace information etc.

The coding pattern of the antenna coding section 5b implies that a code is predefined, the code representing a predetermined mapping C between two finite sets S and T, S being a source set of characteristics or symbols and T being a target set of characteristics or symbols. In particular, the predefined code is defined as a mapping C: S -> T, mapping a sequence of elements of S to a dedicated sequence of elements of T. Accordingly, the antenna coding section 5a encodes a coding pattern representing a set comprising at least one sequence of elements from the set S or the set T. For example, the set S may comprise at least a subset of letters of an alphabet and T may comprise at least one of a semiotic sign, a symbol and a glyph. In special illustrative examples herein, T may comprise at least one of one or more numerical digits, one or more ideograms, one or more hieroglyphs, one or more of a punctuation mark and another typographic mark.

In some illustrative embodiments herein, the coding pattern may be formed on the basis of a code comprising at least one of a standard code, a binary code, a pulse wave code, a Morse code, a code resembling a tactile code, a bar code and a QR code. Accordingly, a high level security feature may be provided. For example, the antenna coding section 5b may implement a code that allows to verify the security inlay to a high degree of confidence. For example, the antenna coding section 5b may have wiring portions located at different depths in the inlay substrate 3 such that only some wiring portions of the antenna coding section 5b are exposed in a surface of the inlay substrate 3, thereby the exposed wiring portions representing a coding pattern based on at least one of a standard code, a binary code, a pulse wave code, a Morse code, a code resembling a tactile code, a bar code and a QR code in the antenna coding section 5b.

Referring to Fig. 1 and 2, an explicit illustrative but non-limiting example of the antenna coding section 5b and the associated coding pattern is shown. Fig. 2 shows an enlarged view of the antenna coding section 5b in Fig. 1 , the antenna coding section 5b being formed of an antenna wiring track routed in a meander-like fashion implementing an graphical representation of a Morse code pattern MC based on a Morse code. The illustrated wiring routing of the antenna coding section 5b may be visually translated into a Morse code pattern MC representing the letters LXS (L: ; X: ; S: ...). According to an alternative illustrative example, a code pattern MC’ based on a Morse code is shown in Fig. 3, representing “LINXENS”. In this way, information may be encoded in the antenna coding section 5b, comprising without limitation at least one of a manufacturing code, a product code, a batch number or code, a product design info, a customer info, personal data of a user of a security document (not illustrated), identification and/or trace information etc. For example, the code pattern MC’ may instead be the name of a final manufacturer of the smart card 1 , the name of a final customer or user etc.

Referring to Fig. 1 , the antenna coding section 5b is electrically coupled with the antenna winding section 5a, thereby forming the antenna 5 of the security inlay 1 and equipping the security inlay 1 with an antenna function for wireless communication with the chip or chip module 7 of the security inlay 1. The antenna coding section 5b discontinues or interrupts the antenna winding section 5a, that is, the antenna coding section 5b is formed as part of a winding of the antenna winding section 5a such that, upon removal of the antenna coding section 5b, the integrity of the antenna winding section 5a is destroyed.

In accordance with some illustrative embodiments, the antenna function may be substantially realized by the antenna winding section 5a which substantially defines a desired resonance frequency of the security inlay 1 in combination with the chip or chip module 7. In other words, the antenna coding section 5b may not substantially contribute to electric and/or magnetic characteristics of the antenna 5 or the antenna coding section 5b may absolutely not contribute to electric and/or magnetic characteristics of the antenna 5, e.g., by compensation of the coding section 5b so as to keep a total wire/antenna length constant independent of the presence of the coding section 5b. Alternatively, the antenna coding section 5b may be coupled in parallel to the antenna winding section 5a of the antenna 5 (this alternative is not illustrated in Fig. 1 ). Substantially, as used in this context, means that the antenna function is at least maintained to a degree of 50% by the antenna winding section 5a and that the antenna winding section 5a, taken by itself, determines a resonance frequency of at least 70% of a desired resonance frequency of the security inlay 1. For example, the resonance frequency may be adapted to fall within a communication frequency range such that the antenna 5 may function as at least one of a high frequency (HF) and Ultra-high frequency (UHF) antenna.

In some illustrative but non-limiting embodiments, in case that the security inlay 1 is to be integrated into a smart card (not illustrated) or datapage (not illustrated), the security inlay 1 may be provided as a prelam body formed of one or more layers of an insulating material, such as PVC, PC, HDPE, PETG, PLA, a paper based material, a synthetic paper material or some other appropriate thermoplastic polymer, as the inlay substrate 3 on or in which the antenna 5 is formed. The security inlay 1 may be provided in an appropriate size and shape such that it may be inserted into a recess of a body (not illustrated) of a security document (not illustrated) during subsequent fabrication processes in the fabrication of the security document (not illustrated). For example, the security inlay 1 may be configured for insertion into a smart card (not illustrated). In case that the inlay substrate 3 is formed of multiple layers, these layers may be pre-laminated together by fusing together different layers of a thermoplastic material into a single homogeneous sheet body, thereby forming a monolithic substrate body. In some illustrative examples, the inlay substrate 3 may have at least one contact and/or interconnection embedded therein, optionally with one or more electronic modules (not illustrated) integrated into the inlay substrate 3 in electric connection with at least one contact and/or interconnection of the inlay substrate 3. For example, at least one lead frame (not illustrated) may be integrated into the inlay substrate 3.

However, this does not pose any limitation on the present disclosure and the inlay substrate 3 may be a paper material when the security inlay 1 is provided for a booklet (not illustrated). In some examples herein, the paper material comprises a piece of paper, a piece of cardboard, a piece of paperboard, a piece of millboard, a piece of pasteboard, a piece of corrugated fiberboard, a board of polycarbonate material and a paper-based material and a synthetic fiber paper and/or the like. For example, synthetic fiber paper may be understood as representing a non-cellulosic sheet material resembling paper and used in a similar fashion, typically made from thermoplastic materials such as polyolefins, nylon, polystyrene, etc., by direct film or foil extrusion or by bonding filaments thereof. Additionally or alternatively, synthetic fiber paper is understood as representing a category of paper that is made without any wood fibers and is especially formulated to be receptive to commercial printing inks. In any way, synthetic fiber paper differs from a plastic film with respect to printing characteristics and it differs from traditional paper due to the lack of wood fibers. In other words, synthetic fiber paper is considered as being a paper-like film that lies somewhere between traditional plastic films and high-value paper. As opposed to traditional paper, synthetic fiber papers use a plastic resin backbone rather than the pulped wood fibers used in traditional paper. However, synthetic fiber papers and traditional papers both use mineral fillers and optical brighteners to gain opacity, brightness and smoothness. Therefore, printability characteristics for synthetic fiber papers and traditional papers formed of a wood pulp are comparably developed by the use of calendering rolls and imparting surface printability enhancements. In some illustrative embodiments, the antenna 5 may be embedded into the inlay substrate 3 such that the antenna 5 is only partially visible in the inlay substrate 3, wherein the inlay substrate 3 is made of a translucent or opaque material. For example, only the antenna coding section 5b may be visible or exposed in a surface of the inlay substrate 3, while the antenna winding section 5a is not visible, e.g., exposed in the inlay substrate 3. In some special illustrative examples herein, the antenna coding section 5b and the antenna winding section 5a may be formed in different depth in the inlay substrate 3 or the inlay substrate 3 may have a window portion exposing the antenna coding section 5b as a visible security feature accessible to direct inspection in the security inlay 1.

In some illustrative embodiments, the antenna 5 may be an RFID antenna and the chip or chip module 7 is an RFID chip or RFID chip module for implementing a contactless readable and/or writable security document (not illustrated) when integrating the security inlay 1 into a security document (not illustrated). For example, the security inlay 1 may be provided in form of an RFID wet inlay comprising an integrated circuit (IC) or chip that stores and processes tag data and the antenna 5, which gathers power from the reader to power the tag and enable RFID communication.

Although the embodiments described above with regard to Fig. 1 show a single chip or chip module 7, this does not pose any limitation on the present disclosure and the security inlay 1 may have additional features (not illustrated) such as an additional chip (not illustrated), e.g., an additional RFID chip (not illustrated), integrated into the inlay substrate 3. The additional chip (not illustrated) may store information about a production processes in a value chain. Another example of an additional feature may result in having personalization features integrated into the security inlay 1 such as a hologram (not illustrated), an anti-skim- ming material (not illustrated) or security codes (not illustrated) embedded into the security inlay 1 .

Although the embodiments described above with regard to Fig. 1 show a single security feature integrated into the security inlay 1 , this does not pose any limitation on the present disclosure and the security inlay 1 may further comprise an additional security feature (not illustrated) formed by one or more additional antenna coding sections (not illustrated) with one or more additional coding patterns (not illustrated). For example, the one or more additional coding patterns (not illustrated) may comprise a wire graphics implementing a coding pattern or a predetermined symbol (not illustrated). Although Fig. 1 only shows a single security inlay 1 , this does not pose any limitation on the present disclosure and the security inlay 1 may be provided with multiple other security inlays on a carrier substrate, e.g., a tape as employed in reel-to-reel techniques, or the inlay substrate 3 may host a plurality of security inlays which may be removed by cutting out individual security inlays.

With ongoing reference to Fig. 1 , the security inlay 1 may be fabricated in accordance with some illustrative embodiments in a method comprising providing the inlay substrate 3, forming the antenna 5 on or in the inlay substrate 3, and integrating the chip or chip module 7 into the inlay substrate 3. The antenna 5 is formed so as to comprise the antenna winding section 5a and the antenna coding section 5b in which an antenna wiring track is routed in accordance with a coding pattern, thereby equipping the security inlay 1 with a security feature.

In some illustrative embodiments, the antenna coding section 5b may be formed by forming the antenna coding section 5b by means of one of printing a conductive material onto the inlay substrate 3, etching a deposited conductive material layer (not illustrated), and routing a conductive material wire in or on the inlay substrate 3 in accordance with the coding pattern.

Referring to Fig. 4, a security document 10 in form of a smart card is shown in a schematic top view. Although a smart card is described in the following, this does not provide any limitation on the present disclosure and the following description applies equally to any electronic identity document such as an electronic passport and a datapage of an electronic passport.

The smart card 10 comprises a card body 13 formed by a security inlay (not denoted by a reference numeral in Fig. 4) integrated into the card body 13 and covered by one or more overlays (omitted in Fig. 4 for a clear illustration in Fig. 4) on at least one of an upper surface (the surface shown in the top view of Fig. 4) and a lower surface (a surface opposite the surface illustrated in Fig. 4). The overlays may adjust a thickness of the smart card 10 and sandwich the security inlay in-between for protection of the security inlay against environmental impact.

The smart card 10 comprises an antenna 15 provided in or on a substrate of the card body 13, e.g., an inlay substrate associated to the security inlay integrated into the card body 13. The smart card 10 further comprises a chip or chip module 19 integrated into the inlay substrate and electrically coupled to the antenna 15. For example, the chip or chip module 19 may be an RFID chip or RFID chip module integrated into the card body 13 such that the chip or chip module 19 is disposed on or accommodated into a recess (not illustrated) of the card body 13.

With ongoing reference to Fig. 4, the antenna 15 is formed of an antenna wiring pattern comprising an antenna winding section 15a and an antenna coding section 15b in which an antenna wiring track is routed in accordance with a coding pattern. In this way, the antenna 15 is equipped with a security feature formed by the antenna coding section 15b being formed in accordance with the coding pattern. In this way, the smart card 10 provides a security feature of a certain security level. The coding pattern of the antenna coding section 15b allows identifying the smart card 10 and may prevent unauthorized replication of the smart card 10. Information encoded in the antenna coding section 15b may comprise without limitation at least one of a manufacturing code, a product code, a batch number or code, a product design info, a customer info, personal data of a user of a security document (not illustrated), identification and/or trace information etc.

The coding pattern of the antenna coding section 15b implies that a code is predefined, the code representing a predetermined mapping C among two finite sets S and T, S being a source set of characteristics or symbols and T being a target set of characteristics or symbols. In particular, the predefined code is defined as a mapping C: S -> T, mapping a sequence of elements of S to a dedicated sequence of elements of T. Accordingly, the antenna coding section 15a encodes a coding pattern representing a set comprising at least one sequence of elements from the set S or the set T. For example, the set S may comprise at least a subset of letters of an alphabet and T may comprise at least one of a semiotic sign, a symbol and a glyph. In special illustrative examples herein, T may comprise at least one of one or more numerical digits, one or more ideograms, one or more hieroglyphs, one or more of a punctuation mark and another typographic mark.

In some illustrative embodiments herein, the coding pattern may be formed on the basis of a code comprising at least one of a standard code, a binary code, a pulse wave code, a Morse code, a code resembling a tactile code, a bar code and a QR code. Accordingly, a high level security feature may be provided. For example, the antenna coding section 15b may implement a code that allows to verify the security inlay to a high degree of confidence. For example, the antenna coding section 15b may have wiring portions located at different depths in the card body 13 such that only some wiring portions of the antenna coding section 15b are exposed in a surface of the card body 13, thereby the exposed wiring portions representing a coding pattern based on at least one of a standard code, a binary code, a pulse wave code, a Morse code, a code resembling a tactile code, a bar code and a QR code in the antenna coding section 15b.

As discussed in the context of Fig. 1 and 2 above and equally applying to the antenna coding section 15b in a straightforward manner, an explicit illustrative but non-limiting example of the antenna coding section 15b and the associated coding pattern may be realized in parallel to the coding section 5b of Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. In particular, the antenna coding section 5b in Fig. 2 may correspond to the antenna encoding section 15b of Fig. 4 such that the antenna coding section 15b may be formed of an antenna wiring track routed in a meander-like fashion implementing an graphical representation of a Morse code pattern MC based on a Morse code. The illustrated wiring routing of the antenna coding section 15b may be visually translated into the Morse code pattern MC of Fig. 2 representing the letters LXS (L: ; X: ; S: ...). In an alternative illustrative example, the code pattern MC’ based on a Morse code as shown in Fig. 3 may be used for the antenna coding section 15b, thereby the antenna coding section 15b representing “LINXENS”. In this way, information may be encoded in the antenna coding section 15b, comprising without limitation at least one of a manufacturing code, a product code, a batch number or code, a product design info, a customer info, personal data of a user of a security document (not illustrated), identification and/or trace information etc. For example, the code pattern MC’ may instead be the name of a final manufacturer of the smart card 1 , the name of a final customer or user etc.

With ongoing reference to Fig. 4, the antenna coding section 15b is electrically coupled with the antenna winding section 15a, thereby forming the antenna 15 of the smart card 10 and equipping the smart card 10 with an antenna function for wireless communication with the chip or chip module 19 of the smart card 10. The antenna coding section 15b discontinues or interrupts the antenna winding section 15a, that is, the antenna coding section 15b is formed as part of a winding of the antenna winding section 15a such that, upon removal of the antenna coding section 15b, the integrity of the antenna winding section 15a is destroyed. In some illustrative embodiments, the antenna function may be realized substantially only by the antenna winding section 15a which substantially defines a desired resonance frequency of the smart card 10 in combination with the chip or chip module 19. In other words, the antenna coding section 15b may not substantially contribute to electric and/or magnetic characteristics of the antenna 15. Alternatively, the antenna coding section 15b may be coupled in parallel to the antenna winding section 15a of the antenna 15 (this alternative is not illustrated in Fig. 4).

The card body 13 of the smart card 10 may be made of any material, e.g. a plastic or nonplastic material, such as a rigid plastic material, a flexible plastic material, and a non-plastic material such as a metal or wood. For example, a plastic material may include at least one of PVC, PVC/ABS, PET and polycarbonate. In other words, the card body 13 is not limited to a particular material and may be made of any material because the functions of the smart card 10 may be provided by the security inlay and optionally one or more modules (not illustrated), which is to be integrated into the card body. For example, the card body 13 may be formed from a prelam body formed of one or more layers of an insulating material, such as PVC, PC or some other appropriate thermoplastic polymer. The card body 13 may be provided in an appropriate size and shape of the smart card 10. The card body 13 is formed of multiple layers laminated together by fusing together different layers of a thermoplastic material into a single homogeneous sheet body, for example, thereby forming a monolithic substrate body.

In some illustrative examples, the card body 13 may have at least one contact and/or interconnection embedded therein, optionally with one or more electronic modules (not illustrated) integrated into the card body 13 in electric connection with at least one contact and/or interconnection of the card body 13. For example, at least one lead frame (not illustrated) may be integrated into the card body 13.

In some illustrative embodiments, the antenna 15 may be embedded into the card body 13 such that the antenna 15 is only partially visible in the card body 13, wherein the card body 13 is at least partially made of a translucent and/or opaque material. For example, only the antenna coding section 15b may be visible or exposed in a surface of the card body 13, while the antenna winding section 15a is not visible, e.g. exposed, in the card body 13. In some special illustrative examples herein, the antenna coding section 15b and the antenna winding section 15a may be formed in different depth in card body 13 or the card body 13 may have a window portion (not illustrated) exposing the antenna coding section 15b as a visible security feature accessible to direct inspection in the smart card 10.

In some illustrative embodiments, the antenna 15 may be an RFID antenna and the chip or chip module 19 is an RFID chip or RFID chip module for implementing a contactless readable and/or writable function to the smart card 10. For example, the smart card 10 may be formed using a security inlay in form of an RFID wet inlay comprising an integrated circuit (IC) or chip that stores and processes tag data and the antenna 15, which gathers power from the reader to power the tag and enable RFID communication.

With ongoing reference to Fig. 4, the smart card 10 has an additional security feature 17 integrated into card body 13. The additional security feature 17 comprises a window 17a for rendering an additional antenna coding section 17b visible or exposing the additional antenna coding section 17b. The antenna coding section 17b may be provided as an antenna wiring track in form of another encoding pattern, such as a graphic, such as a wire graphics, a logo or another coding pattern as described above with regard to Fig. 1 to 4 in the context of the antenna coding section 5b or 15b, the disclosure of which is incorporated at this point by reference in its entirety. The additional antenna coding section 17b is electrically coupled with the antenna winding section 15a via connection line tracks 15c such that the additional antenna coding section 17b is in a series arrangement (that is, located upstream or downstream of the antenna coding section 15b in the antenna 15).

Although the embodiments described above with regard to Fig. 4 show a single chip or chip module 19, this does not pose any limitation on the present disclosure and the smart card 10 may have an additional chip (not illustrated), e.g., an additional RFID chip (not illustrated), integrated into the card body 13. The additional chip (not illustrated) may store information about a production processes in a value chain. Another example of an additional feature may result in having personalization features integrated into the smart card 10 such as a hologram (not illustrated), an anti-skimming material (not illustrated) or security codes (not illustrated) embedded into the security inlay 1.

With ongoing reference to Fig. 4, the smart card 10 may be fabricated in accordance with some illustrative embodiments in a method comprising providing a security inlay, e.g., the security inlay 1 as described above with regard to Fig. 1 to 3 and forming at least one overlay on at least one exposed surface of the security inlay. Furthermore, at least one security window portion may be provided in the smart card 10, the security window portion exposing at least one security feature of the smart card. Referring to Fig. 5, a security document 10’ is shown as an electronic identity booklet, e.g. an electronic passport. The security document 10’ comprises a number of pages, which are schematically illustrated in Fig. 4a by means of pages S1 , S2 and S3. The number of pages may be smaller than 32 pages, such as 1 page or more than one pages such as 17 or 28 pages, or may be greater than 32 pages, such as 43 pages or 52 pages. This does not pose any limitation to the present disclosure and an arbitrary number of pages may be provided in the security document 10’. The security document further comprises a datapage 13’ providing a security inlay 17’. For example, the datapage may be provided as a cover page 1 T of the security document 10’, e.g., a front cover page or a back cover page, separate to the pages S1 to S3. Alternatively, the datapage 13’ may be provided as an additional page in addition to the cover pages and the pages S1 to S3. For example, the datapage 13’ may be a sheet of polycarbonate material or a sheet of paper material as disclosed above and the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

In some illustrative examples herein, the security inlay 17’ may be similar to the security inlay as described above with regard to the first aspect and with regard to the illustrative embodiments described above in combination with Fig. 1 to 4, the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety by reference.

With regard to Fig. 6, a system 20 for authenticating a security document 21 having at least one security feature 23 is shown. The system 20 comprises an inspection device comprising a source of electromagnetic radiation configured for emitting electromagnetic radiation towards the security document 20 and/or an imaging device configured for rendering the at least one security feature 23 of the security document 20 visible, e.g., by reproducing at least one of a virtual image and a real image of the at least one security feature.

In some illustrative embodiments, the inspection device 25 may be configured for providing a real image of the at least one security feature and the inspection device 25 may comprises the imaging device, while the source of electromagnetic radiation may be optional. For example, when using an external source of electromagnetic radiation (e.g., the sun, artificial light source, an X-ray source, etc.), the inspection device 25 may only comprise an imaging device for generating a real image of the at least one security feature in the presence of the electromagnetic radiation of the external source of electromagnetic radiation. Alternatively, the inspection device 25 may only include a source of electromagnetic radiation such that the inspection device 25 generates a virtual image of the at least one security feature once the security document 21 is exposed to the electromagnetic radiation 27 generated by the inspection device 25.

In some illustrative embodiments herein, the inspection device 25 may comprise a source of electromagnetic radiation for generating electromagnetic radiation 27 (light in visible wavelength region and/or non-visible wavelength region, e.g. LIV light, IR light, X-rays, etc.) and an imaging device for obtaining a virtual image and/or a real image of the security feature which is exposed to the electromagnetic radiation.

The system 20 may be employed in a method of authenticating the security document 21 . In such a method, steps comprising providing the security document 21 , subjecting the security document 21 to an inspection procedure, the inspection procedure resulting in an image of the at least one security feature 23, and determining an authentication status of the security document 21 on the basis of the image. The inspection procedure comprises employing the inspection device 25 for generating the image of the at least one security feature 23. As described above, the image may be one of a virtual image of the at least one security feature 23 and a real image of the at least one security feature 23.

As described above, the inspection procedure may comprise using the inspection device 25 as an imaging device for producing the image of the at least one security feature 23 and/or as a source of electromagnetic radiation for subjecting the at least one security feature 23 to electromagnetic radiation 27. In some illustrative examples herein, the electromagnetic radiation to which the at least one security feature 23 is exposed, may comprise at least one of a visible wavelength region, a non-visible wavelength region (e.g., an LIV wavelength region, an IR wavelength region, and/or an X-ray wavelength region).

Referring to Fig. 7, a security document 10” in form of a smart card is shown in a schematic top view. Although a smart card is described in the following, this does not provide any limitation on the present disclosure and the following description applies equally to any electronic identity document such as an electronic passport and a datapage of an electronic passport. The security document 10” may be substantially correspond to the security document 10 of Fig. 4 such that the disclosure to Fig. 4 above equally applies to the security document 10” and is incorporated by reference in its entirety. As a difference to the security document 10 of Fig. 4, the security document 10” has a feature 17” instead of feature 17 in Fig. 4 where a possible crossing of wiring tracks is avoided in the design of feature 17. Furthermore, a chip or chip module 19” is provided, possibly identical with chip or chip module 19 in Fig. 4 in some examples. Although Fig. 1 to 4 and 7 are described with regard to a smart card, this does not pose any limitation on the present disclosure and the above disclosure of embodiments with regard to Fig. 1 to 4 and 7 may equally apply to any other security document, as well, such as without limitation to a datapage of an electronic passport, etc.

At least some of the above described embodiments allow for more security to be added not only at a finished product level, but also at early stages during fabrication. Furthermore, costs of items may be reduced as complexity in the fabrication may be reduced. The above described embodiments at least partly allow to overcome a problem of adding inlay security in a very limited manner and allowing customers to enable a variety of products for realizing security at inlay stage.

At least some of the above described embodiments allow introducing at least one of addon security level 1 (e.g., by forming coding exposed at windows), level 2 (e.g., coding visible under exposure to strong light and/or x-ray) and level 3 (coding) by using wire embedding technology antenna in the product, for example.

At least in some illustrative examples, it is possible to provide a security inlay and a security document realizing security level 1 by defining an antenna wire pattern (optionally in addition to an RF antenna) as being visible at one or more security windows areas. Additionally or alternatively, a security level 2 may be realized in defining a code or wire pattern in a security inlay and a security document, e.g., the security pattern being visible when using strong light or x-ray. Additionally or alternatively, a security level 3 may be provided by coding an antenna pattern customizable to prefer coding system or product by manufacturing batch.

In the various illustrative embodiments as described herein, a security inlay and/or a security document is presented, wherein at least one security feature is realized by a coding technique. It is possible to implement at least one security level. For example, at least two security levels may be combined so as to provide a security inlay and/or a security document having an antenna coding section visible at least partly (e.g., via a clear window area in a translucent or opaque material body) and one other security feature of another higher security level.

In at least some illustrative embodiments as described above, the antenna coding section is part of a functional antenna and may even be related to RF performance. In at least some illustrative embodiments as described above, the security feature is provided such that no additional area is consumed, e.g., without affecting a customer’s forbidden area in a smart card as an explicit but non-limiting example of a security document, i.e., an area of the card that is reserved to the customer to put its essential features, such as labelling or embossing. That is, in integrating the security feature as part of the a functional module in the security document, there is no need to integrate the security feature by means of an additional structure into the security document, thereby consuming additional space in the security document.

References herein to terms modified by language of approximation, such as “about”, “approximately”, and “substantially”, are not to be limited to the precise value specified. The language of approximation may correspond to the precision of an instrument used to measure the value and, unless otherwise dependent on the precision of the instrument, may indicate +/- 10% of the stated value(s).

References herein to terms such as "vertical", "horizontal", etc. are made by way of example, and not by way of limitation, to establish a frame of reference. The term “horizontal” as used herein is defined as a plane parallel to a conventional plane of a semiconductor substrate, regardless of its actual three-dimensional spatial orientation. The terms “vertical” and “normal” refer to a direction perpendicular to the horizontal, as just defined. The term “lateral” refers to a direction within the horizontal plane.

A feature "connected" or "coupled" to or with another feature may be directly connected or coupled to or with the other feature or, instead, one or more intervening features may be present. A feature may be "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to or with another feature if intervening features are absent. A feature may be "indirectly connected" or "indirectly coupled" to or with another feature if at least one intervening feature is present. A feature "on" or "contacting" another feature may be directly on or in direct contact with the other feature or, instead, one or more intervening features may be present. A feature may be "directly on" or in "direct contact" with another feature if intervening features are absent. A feature may be "indirectly on" or in "indirect contact" with another feature if at least one intervening feature is present.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

CLAIMS Security inlay for a security document, the security inlay comprising: an inlay substrate; an antenna provided in or on the inlay substrate; and a chip or chip module integrated into the inlay substrate and coupled to the antenna, wherein the antenna is formed of an antenna wiring pattern comprising an antenna winding section and an antenna coding section in which an antenna wire is routed in accordance with a coding pattern. Security inlay of claim 1 , wherein the coding pattern is formed on the basis of a code comprising at least one of a standard code, a binary code, a pulse wave code, a Morse code, a code resembling a tactile code, a bar code and a QR code. Security inlay of claim 1 or 2, further comprising an additional security feature formed by an additional antenna coding section with an additional coding pattern. Security inlay of claim 3, wherein the additional coding pattern comprises a wire graphics implementing a coding pattern or a predetermined symbol. Security inlay of one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the antenna is embedded into the inlay substrate, the inlay substrate having a window portion exposing the security feature. Security inlay of one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the antenna is an RFID antenna and the chip or chip module is an RFID chip or RFID chip module. Method of fabricating a security inlay, the method comprising: providing an inlay substrate; forming an antenna on or in the inlay substrate, wherein the antenna is equipped with a security feature, the antenna comprising an antenna wiring pattern having an antenna winding section and an antenna coding section in which an antenna wiring track is routed in accordance with a coding pattern; and integrating a chip or chip module into the inlay substrate.

26 Method of claim 7, wherein forming the antenna coding section comprises forming the antenna wiring track of the antenna in the antenna coding by means of one of printing a conductive material onto the inlay substrate, etching a deposited conductive material layer, and routing a conductive material wire in or on the inlay substrate in accordance with the coding pattern. Method of claim 7 or 8, wherein the coding pattern is provided on the basis of a code comprising at least one of a standard code, a binary code, a pulse wave code, a Morse code, a code resembling a tactile code, a bar code and a QR code. Method of one of claims 7 to 9, further comprising forming an additional security feature by providing the antenna wiring pattern with an additional antenna coding section which has an additional coding pattern. Method of claim 10, wherein the additional coding pattern comprises a wire graphics implementing a coding pattern or a predetermined symbol. Method of one of claims 7 to 11 , further comprising providing a window portion in the inlay substrate, the window portion partially exposing the security feature. Method of one of claims 7 to 12, wherein the antenna is an RFID antenna and the chip or chip module is an RFID chip or RFID chip module. Method of one of claims 7 to 13, comprising fabricating the security inlay of one of claims 1 to 6. Security document, comprising the security inlay of one of claims 1 to 6 and one or more overlays formed on at least one exposed surface of the security inlay. Security document of claim 15, wherein the security document is one of one of a smart card, an electronic identity booklet and a datapage of an electronic booklet. Security document of claim 15 or 16, wherein the one or more overlays are translucent or opaque. Method of fabricating a security document, the method comprising: providing a security inlay fabricated in accordance with the method of one of claims 7 to 14; and forming at least one overlay on at least one exposed surface of the security inlay.

19. Method of claim 18, further comprising providing a security window portion in the security document, the security window portion exposing at least one security feature of the security document.

20. System for authenticating the security document of one of claims 15 to 17, the system comprising an inspection device comprising a source of electromagnetic radiation configured for emitting electromagnetic radiation towards the security document and/or an imaging device configured for rendering the at least one security feature of the security document visible.

21 . System of claim 20, wherein the inspection device is configured for reproducing at least one of a virtual image and a real image of the at least one security feature.

22. Method of authenticating a security document, the method comprising: providing the security document of claim 15 or 17; subjecting the security document to an inspection procedure, the inspection procedure resulting in an image of the security feature; and determining an authentication status of the security document on the basis of the image.

23. Method of claim 22, wherein the image is one of a virtual image of the security feature and a real image of the security feature.

24. Method of claim 22 or 23, wherein the inspection procedure comprises using an imaging device for producing the image of the security feature.

25. Method of one of claims 22 to 24, wherein the inspection procedure comprises using a light source comprising at least one of a visible wavelength region and an LIV wavelength region, or an X-ray source.

26. Method of one of claims 22 to 25, wherein the inspection procedure comprises employing the system of claim 20 or 21 .