EP1897037B1 - Security document or valuable document comprising a contactless interface and a bi-stable display - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a security document or a valuable document, which is equipped with a device for contactless communication with an external read and/or write device and a bi-stable display field (3) that is integrated into the document. According to the invention, the device for contactless communication and the bi-stable display field (3) are produced by a printing method and the bi-stable display field (3) is designed to hold data relating to a person and/or a product.

Description

The invention relates to security or value document with a device for contactless communication with an external reading and / or writing device.

Documents with personal and document related data, such as identification cards, passports, identity cards, driver's licenses, credit and debit cards, customer IDs, travel documents and the like, are often provided with integrated circuit components in the form of a contact or contactless chip module. Also known for this purpose is the use of a so-called dual-interface chip, which not only works via contacts, but also has a contactless interface. In verification, identification and authentication processes, these chip modules enable a high increase in efficiency. Speed and time efficiency as well as the safety of the test processes play a decisive role here. The process of checking persons and documents, for example, in addition to the visual control and electronically with direct ohmic contact with the chip module as well as contactlessly via various wireless communication solutions and with a dual-interface solution. According to the state of the art, silicon-based integrated circuits (ICs) with a few mm ² silicon area are used. This solution offers a high degree of functionality in the smallest space. This microscopic fineness must be adapted by various technologies to the relatively coarse communication structures, a contact chip module, dual-interface module or contactless module, the last two with antenna structures. In addition to the classical modules with wire bonding technology, more and more modules are being used by means of flip chip technologies with different contacting processes. The various quality requirements are specified, for example, in ISO 10373.

From the EP 1 073 993 B1 and US 6,830,192 a paper-made substrate with an integrated circuit for security documents and banknotes is known. This integrated circuit can be read out without contact. It is designed on the basis of a semi-conductive organic polymer and part of a diffractive security element in the form of a film (eg holograms, Kinegram, Excelgram etc.), with additional security features in the form of special colors / dyes may be present with relevant known luminescent materials. The integrated circuit may store a code containing biometric data, such as fingerprints or the portrait of the document holder.

The publication WO 2004/068389 relates to a method for producing metallic structures on a substrate such as plastic or tissue. It relates in essence to the production of electrically conductive connections between electronic assemblies that are previously or at least separately arranged on the substrate. To form the desired printed conductors, a metal salt and a reducing agent are printed, for example by means of the inkjet process. Due to the occurring between the two components redox reaction form according to the printed pattern metallic structures. As far as the application of the known method is concerned; For example, security documents such as ID documents, RFIDs or smart cards are to be produced. The RFID capability also includes the ability to communicate with an external writing and reading device. The method should also find application in the manufacture of displays.

In the publication US 2003/0156090 A1 from which the invention proceeds in claim 1, is based on the Fig. 1 a bistable display panel for price tags equipped with a contactless communication device that can be remotely written and updated. The display panel is typically a liquid crystal display fabricated, for example, by printing. Also addressed is the use of such LCD displays in smart cards, ie in security documents that contain an integrated circuit.

From the publication DE 42 02 265 A1 is an IC card with an LCD display and a keypad known about the user can write data. The IC card is constructed on a printed circuit board, on the top of contact elements are applied. The contact elements are separated by gaps where the IC card is thinner and weaker. In order to prevent breakage at such locations, the leads on the underside of the printed circuit board are guided so that they form a reinforcement of the IC card at the locations of said gaps.

The WO 2005/024 595 and the US 2005/134 461 disclose display devices made by printing technology.

The use of conductive polymers for the production of RFID antennas is out of the WO 2004/088 582 and the US 2006/181 478 known.

The patent US 6,459,418 B1 describes a printer-made display based on an encapsulated material and can be made bistable both with its own power supply and (for energy saving reasons). In one embodiment, the display is remotely controlled via radio. For example, it can be placed on a book cover or catalog.

The publication US 2003/0011868 A1 also relates to an electrophoretic display which may be bistable and contained in a smart card. It is addressed the possibility to apply the display in the printing process. The display consists essentially of a photoconductive layer and an electrophoretic layer. If the photoconductor is exposed, its conductivity increases at the exposed areas. By applying an electric field, the image is then transferred to the electrophoretic layer.

From the publication EP 1 345 116 A1 is a price tag known that can be described and read by remote control. But it can also be a security and value document. It contains a contactless communication antenna, a processor with memory and a bistable display that does not require its own battery for power. The display is based on printable electronic ink. A structure will be described in which the aforementioned elements are stacked one above the other.

The invention has for its object to provide further improvements for value and security documents.

The object is solved by the subject matter of the independent claims.

According to the invention, bistable display elements which can be produced by printing technology and the driver logic circuits necessary for this purpose are used. Likewise, the circuit for using the RFID field, both in terms of power supply, as well as what the writing and reading of information in / from the display panel, realized by printing technology.

By a bistable element is meant, for example, an element on an organic bistable adjustable functional layer, as it is known in the art WO 2004/068534 A2 is described. Electrophoretic solutions as well as liquid crystals or ferroelectric solutions can also be used for the display panels mentioned. In this case, the electrical display structure can be used only in one plane as a significant advantage. In this case, the various pairs of electrodes of the pixels are not arranged one above the other but laterally in a plane next to each other.

A bistable display field can itself serve as electronic memory for the printed circuit in the document electronic circuit.

It is advantageous that the bistable display panel can be programmed and read out via the bidirectional driver circuit, the programming taking place via capacitive coupling fields embodied in the document or via an inductive coil field. In the case of capacitive coupling, flat electrode elements are provided next to or above one another in the document. By means of corresponding counterelectrodes, which are arranged in the reading / writing device, not only an efficient energy supply but also suitable writing techniques for personalization or for entering product-specific data can be effected with suitable modulation techniques.

Preferably, the programming is irreversible. It is carried out according to an embodiment under the action of an elevated temperature, in particular under the action of a temperature above 40 ° C, or under exposure to electromagnetic radiation, in particular in the range of the near infrared (NIR). In this way, the necessary energy for personalization can be reduced, because the radiation-related exposure lowers the barrier for a bistable state change, so that even lower voltage pulses are sufficient for this purpose. In the area of short-wave radiation, it is essentially photoinduced effects that can be used here; in the area of NIR, it is advantageously possible to use the effect that such radiation is not absorbed by certain printing inks and NIR-transparent and otherwise opaque plastic films. This allows underlying NIR-absorbing structures to interact with the introduced radiation.

Furthermore, the document may be made immutable during or after programming by supplying energy and subsequently inducing chemical / physical processes. This fixation can be induced for example by electromagnetic radiation (X-ray microwave range), by thermal energy (heating, cooling) by magnetic fields (permanent magnets), by pressure (pressing, embossing) or by a combination of the aforementioned forms of energy. Examples of chemical / physical fixation processes are e.g. the color film development process (Polaroid) or solid phase conversions (CD, DVD). In principle, the fixation methods of the present invention may include redox reactions (e.g., as in the dichromated gelatin color film), polymerizations (photopolymers in holography), photoinduced rearrangements (e.g., as in bacterio-rhodopsin), and other effects. A reversible fixation is possible, for example in the form of a photochemical rearrangement.

The programming process can be done for example under appropriate shielding (Faraday cage). This can provide more RFID energy than it does the various, from country to country different standards is allowed to set the harmless for humans limits.

In addition to the use of the aforementioned RFID supply and communication methods, depending on the arrangement of the display and memory elements distributed on the document, very different frequency bands, possibly also in combination, can be used.

Furthermore, a hole-like recess about which a coil is laid can be provided in the document. The energy supply and also optionally the information transfer then takes place via an in this recess cross-induction core.

Several display and memory elements can be distributed on the document, with the memory elements in the simplest case being provided with binary yes / no information. Likewise, however, it is also possible to use matrix-type memory elements with corresponding serial driver logic.

It is particularly advantageous if the pictorial representation in the display panel 3 contains steganographically hidden information. This will further increase security against abuse and counterfeiting.

The display panel of the security or value document according to the invention is preferably protected by a built-in shielding in the manner of a Faraday cage against changing interventions.

An advantageous embodiment of the security or value document is that not only passive but also actively radiating elements such as, for example, printed OLED systems are suitable for the display field. Such OLED display panels can be monochrome or multicolored. Preferably, a backup battery is integrated in the document, which is rechargeable. In particular, it is connected to a first button with which the display field can be activated. Another button may be provided to trigger a contactless transmission. Optionally, a solar cell element is used for additional energy supply as an energy buffer.

It is essential that the security or value document contains, in addition to the circuit, a display field as well as a pertinent antenna periphery, which according to the invention are each produced by printing technology and the document is thus RFID-capable. The used here The so-called polymer electronics are based, inter alia, on the use of intrinsically (semi-) conductive polymer pastes, which can be produced by electronic printing circuits with passive and active components, in particular with bipolar diodes and transistors. Thus, the use of ICs and thus of expensive monocrystalline semiconductor substrates based on silicon can be avoided.

The printing technology production takes place with the usual printing methods. The printing techniques include the state of the art and include the relevant known gravure, portrait, flat and printing processes such as intaglio, flexographic, letter set, offset and screen printing, but also include digital printing processes such as ink-jet or transfer printing process which replace the elaborate semiconductor patterning techniques of conventional chip-module security documents.

In experiments, the inkjet printing process and the additive technology have proven to be particularly flexible and suitable. There are a number of factors to be named for this. Inkjet printers are cost-effective digitally controllable printing systems. The methods have been developed so far that selfalignement methods, such as those in WO 01/46987 or in US 2004/0175963 are described, structures up to several 100 nm can be realized. Inkjet printing processes offer good edge coverage and highest positioning accuracy and can be used on glass substrates, polymer layers and paper substrates. They are also suitable for the sequential construction of multilayer circuits and have already proven themselves in the field of display manufacturing and highly integrated multilayer PCB applications. They can also be combined with other printing techniques used in security printing.

Antennas in coil form, for example in the 13.56 MHz range, and dipole antennas, for example in the UHF range at 860 MHz to 940 MHz or in the 2.45 GHz microwave range, are required for RFID elements. Such antennas can be manufactured very efficiently by conventional printing methods. Thinner layers and lower interconnect widths are also used in dipole antennas because the requirements for the electrical parameters are significantly lower here compared with the quality requirements for an antenna coil. With electrically conductive printing pastes therefore antennas are inexpensive to manufacture and contactable.

Steps in the area of the edges of the electrically conductive, insulating or semiconducting structures play a very important role. In particular, problems can occur when a 5 μm to 10 μm thick structure edge is crossed with a 0.5 μm to 3 μm thick structure got to. The inkjet printing process has proved to be very flexible in this respect, as it works without contact and edges can be printed without interruptions. Due to the low ink viscosity on the one hand a high flowability is given, on the other hand can be programmed digitally a correspondingly increased order or a multiple order. In addition to these possibilities, there is also an embossing and flattening process step which is carried out after each additive structuring step with an embossing roller or plate, wherein the flattening process can be additionally assisted by the action of heat.

Further advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments.

Fig. 1:

Ein erstes Ausführungsbeispiel eines drucktechnisch hergestellten RFID-tauglichen Dokuments in Form einer ID Karte mit spulenförmiger Antenne;

Fig. 2:

Ein zweites Ausführungsbeispiel eines drucktechnisch hergestellten RFID-Dokuments mit dipolartiger Antenne;

Fig. 3:

Ein Ausführungsbeispiel eines drucktechnisch hergestellten RFID-Dokuments in Form eines Reisepasses mit flächigen Elektroden zur kapazitiven Einkopplung;

Show it:

Fig. 1:

A first exemplary embodiment of a printable RFID-capable document in the form of an ID card with a coil-shaped antenna;

Fig. 2:

A second embodiment of a printed RFID document with Dipolartiger antenna;

3:

An embodiment of a printing technology produced RFID document in the form of a passport with flat electrodes for capacitive coupling;

In Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a printing technology produced RFID document 1 with a bistable display element 3, a bidirectional driver 5 and a corresponding logic 2 shown.

The document does not require a silicon-based IC module. In the illustrated example, the antenna 4 is designed as a circulating at the edge of the ID card coil for the RF range, in particular at 13.56 MHz. Logic 2 has the task of controlling the power supply as well as the input and output of information. The logic 2 can operate synchronously, ie as pure read and write logic for the display field 3 in the manner of a memory chip card, but it can also be organized asynchronously in the manner of a processor chipcard. The logic 2 includes at least the two units modulator / demodulator 11 for modulation or demodulation of RFID information and the controller 12 for reading and writing the display panel 3. The latter forms the electrically programmable memory field, the means of bidirectional driver 5 and logic. 2 or controller 12 after programming or personalization also read and so the display panel 3 as an electrically programmable read-only memory (PROM) can be used. The memory configuration of the display field 3 with the bidirectional driver can therefore be embodied as an EEPROM (Electrical Erasable PROM) or as an EPROM (erasable programmable ROM), ie it can be electrically programmed in both cases and erased electrically or with UV light. In addition to these two types of reversible design of the display field further deletion variants are possible, in particular by increasing the temperature or the pressure. In special cases, however, it will be useful to choose an irreversible electrical writing process. In all variants of the production of an irreversible display panel, however, care must be taken to ensure that the electrical read-out process, ie the ROM function of the display panel, is fully retained.

The content of the display field, for example a face image 10, is readable in authentication and verification processes, in which the authenticity of the document or the correspondence of the personal data with the person presenting the document is checked. For this reason, the driver circuit 5 is bidirectional and designed for a serial flow of information.

The display panel 3 is provided with a shield 6 surrounding the display panel 3. In the example shown, a thin, substantially transparent and electrically conductive layer (for example made of ITO = indium tin oxide) is formed in the direction of the upper and lower sides of the document, covering the display field on both sides. In this way, a type of Faraday cage is formed which prevents selective field imprinting and altering the content of the ad.

The Fig. 2 shows a further embodiment of the invention in the form of an RFID-capable document 1. The block diagram schematically shows a pressure-produced bistable display panel 3 with a bidirectional driver 5, a corresponding logic 2 and a dipole-like antenna 4, in the UHF frequency range at about 860th Mhz is operated up to 940 MHz. Other frequencies, for example in the microwave range at eg 2.45 GHz are possible. The properties of the polymer electronics, in particular the mobility of the charge carriers and the required switching speeds require field effect transistors and bipolar diodes, in particular for the rectification of the RFID signals.

In the example shown the Fig. 2 In turn, the display panel 3 is initialized and programmed with the information in the authentication and verification processes, the stored information is readable, which is why the driver circuit 5 is again designed bidirectionally for serial information flow. Modulator / demodulator 11 and controller 12 are as in the example of Fig. 1 designed. With 6 again a shield is designated, which covers the memory element 3 on both sides to the surfaces of the value document.

The Fig. 3 shows in analogy to Fig. 1 a schematic block diagram of a printed RFID document 1 in the form of a passport with a bistable display element 3, a bidirectional driver 5 and corresponding logic 2. On the display panel 3, which is secured by the shield 6, biometric data, such as the face image 10th represented. The antenna 4 is formed like a coil in the edge region of the document and surrounds display element 3, driver 5, controller 12, modulator / demodulator 11, I-CAO line 7 and two flat electrodes 8, 9, which serve as capacitive coupling fields. The additional coupling elements 8, 9 serve primarily for the power supply. But they can also be done during the personalization process, the programming of the display panel 3.

Instead of capacitive energy coupling can also be done inductively. When forming area capacitive coupling fields, as in Fig. 3 shown, in a read / write device relatively high energy in the circuit elements 2, 11, 12 are introduced, which greatly facilitates the programming of the display panel 3.

Claims (3)

1. Method for producing a security document or a valuable document, the document containing

   - a logic circuit (2, 12),

   - a bistable display field (3) for storing and displaying data of the logic circuit (2, 12),

   - a driver circuit (5), which serves for programming the data, for the display field (3),

   - a device (2, 11) for contactlessly communicating with an external read and/or write appliance,

   - wherein organic, electrophoretic or ferroelectric solutions or liquid crystals are used for producing by printing technology the bistable display field (3)
   characterized in that
   the logic circuit (2, 12), the driver circuit (5) and the device (2, 11) for wireless communication are produced by printing technology, wherein intrinsically conductive polymer pastes are used.
2. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that the production by printing technology is effected using at least one of the following methods:

   - intaglio, relief, planographic or stencil printing methods such as copperplate printing, flexographic printing, letterset printing, offset printing, screen printing,

   - digital printing methods such as inkjet printing or transfer printing methods.
3. Security document or valuable document, containing:

   - a logic circuit (2, 12),

   - a bistable display field (3) for storing and displaying data of the logic circuit (2, 12), for whose production by printing technology organic, electrophoretic or ferroelectric solutions or liquid crystals are used,

   - a polymer-electronic driver circuit (5), which serves for programming the data, for the display field (3),

   - a device (2, 11) for contactlessly communicating with an external read and/or write appliance,
   characterized in that the logic circuit (2, 12), the driver circuit (5) and the device (2, 11) for wireless communication are produced by printing technology, wherein intrinsically conductive polymer pastes are used.

Images