ES2286200T3 - PROTECTION AGAINST DATA FALSIFICATION. - Google Patents

Abstract

Means for protecting a printed document from data falsification comprises a relief pattern in a zone bearing the data, the relief being exclusively due to the thickness of the ink used to form the pattern. An Independent claim is also included for protecting a printed document from data falsification by printing a substrate with the data, printing a design with a thick layer of ink containing an activatable polymerizable material, and activating polymerization by supplying energy.

Description

Protection against data falsification.

The present invention relates to devices and procedures that prevent counterfeiting of Mentions arranged either by printing, or manually, on A printed document.

The type of forgery provided by the device of the invention is specifically the alteration of initial data, which are replaced by others, that serve to the intentions of the fraudster.

This data can be either data "fixed", which are found identically again in all documents of a series (face value of a bond), or some data specific to a given document; in this case, the same are designated under the generic term "variable data" and they can be, typically a signature, a serial number, a code, etc.

The documents provided herein protection device are, in particular, the documents authentic or authenticated checks, travelers checks, certificates, identity cards, lottery tickets, the titles, etc. The substrate on which these documents are printed will therefore go from plain paper to the plastic card, going through the special papers with filigree, etc.

According to a classic fake technique, the fraudsters start from a worthless (or less valuable) document relative) and alter by erasing or scratching certain initial data that annoy them (face value of a check, lottery number, name of a beneficiary, etc.) to replace them with others.

To complicate the work of these fraudsters, different methods are applied, such as the use of papers with alterable surface or printing of a motif underlying: the alteration of the initial data also alters the underlying motive that must therefore be drawn again or completed

EP 0 184 529 describes the use of a substrate that absorbs the ink used by the data variables

Another method is to give a relief to the substrate surface in particular by the process of fine carving (intaglio), forcing fraudsters to alter even more the surface of the substrate.

It is clear that these different procedures can also be combined with each other, making  work of fraudsters much more arduous.

The effectiveness of these different procedures it is however defeated by the procedures more and more tortuous applied by fraudsters, what results in The need for sometimes very elaborate equipment to detect frauds

An object of the invention is that an attempt of fraud is easily detectable, even for a little eye exercised

Another object of the invention is the set-up of a relatively inexpensive procedure, which can be Easily extended to numerous types of documents.

The object of the invention is a protection device against the falsification of data supported by a printed document in which, at least in an area intended for the placement of variable data, the document comprises at least one embossed motif, obtained by one of the following procedures: screen printing, flexography, heliogravure. This relief being exclusively due to the thickness of the ink layer used to form this motif, this motif is embossed either above or below the data to be protected.
ger.

The ink used preferably contains about pigments with optical effect; the optical effect is advantageously a iridescence or opalescence.

Another object of the invention is a process. for the protection against falsification of data placed on the printed document that includes the following operations:

to)

select a substrate,

b)

print on this substrate a data to to protect,

C)

select an ink that contains a polymerizable material and a polymerization accelerator,

d)

select a procedure from printing between the following procedures: screen printing, flexography, heliogravure,

and)

print a motif with this ink with the help of this procedure,

F)

activate the polymerization accelerator by an ad hoc energy contribution,

g)

do polymerize the ink as a thick layer.

In this procedure, operation b can be practiced after operation g, developing the sequence as follows: a, c, d, e, f, g, b.

The printing process is preferably selected from the following procedures: screen printing, flexography, heliogravure.

Advantageously, the polymerization is activated by an energy contribution by radiation electromagnetic, selected from the following: Infrared, UV, microwave.

Other peculiarities and advantages of the invention will become more clearly apparent from the following description of particular embodiments of the invention, referring to the attached plans in the which:

Figure 1 is a schematic view in exaggerated perspective that shows fake by scratching a flat substrate document.

Figure 2 is a schematic view in perspective that shows the falsification by scratching a document  with embossed substrate.

Figure 3 is a schematic view in perspective of the result of an attempt to counterfeit the device of the invention.

Figure 4 is a schematic view similar to Figure 3 with further application of the data to be protected.

Figure 1 shows the effect of scratching on the case of a classic printed document on flat substrate 8.

Scratching by any pointed object 2 of a data to be protected, or a "variable data" 4 (here a letter A) also alters an underlying printed motif 6, leaving subsist a "soft zone" that the fraudster is obliged to make up to hide the fake.

Figure 2 shows the effect of scratching on the case of an embossed substrate 9: the fraudster is obliged, in the scratching course, to slightly affect the surface of the substrate embossing 9.

Such alteration is, easily, manually detected by transparency. Some malefactors particularly however, they manage to minimize this characteristic.

Figure 3 shows the result of a attempt to falsify a document protected by the device of the invention.

In this device, where the shape of the substrate 8 is of little importance, a reason 10 is superimposed on the data protect 4. This motif 10 appears in relief since it is formed in an ink applied in thick layer 12.

Consequently, the data to be protected 4 is intimately linked to motif 10 and it is impossible to scratch  selective. Any attempt of falsification causes automatically a three-dimensional destruction 14 of motif 10. It is impossible for the fraudster, even if he had an ink that it comprises pigments that reproduce a color comparable to the of the ink used (which is not already so easy), restore the effect given by the relief of the ink layer 12 of the device the invention.

To obtain the particular relief 12 of the device of the invention, an ink containing is used, In addition to pigments and a certain amount of solvents, some polymerizable materials ("varnish", monomers), which deposited on the appropriate substrate using a procedure of printing that allows the transfer of a layer of thick ink and the use of large pigments.

Among these procedures, we can mention, typically, screen printing, flexography, and heliogravure.

Current practice in printing requires that, to get maximum optical effect from pigments dispersed in the ink, the ink layer is as thin as possible, and by Both virtually two-dimensional. A thin layer also offers The advantage of making scratching harder.

The result is generally obtained by Classic drying

In opposition to this practice, in the procedure of the invention, a brief drying is carried out with intense energy contribution, so that you get a almost instantaneous polymerization of the ink layer, practically No volume reduction Consequently, a layer 12 of three-dimensional extension (of the order of a tens of \ mum). This energy contribution can be made by raising the temperature, by electromagnetic radiation or by beam of electrons

As seen above, almost paradoxically, scratching the data 4 is not facilitated, by the opposite: alterations 14 are only more apparent.

On the other hand, so as not to alter readability of data 4 to be protected, the use of a dark motif is avoided and opaque: it is preferable to resort to a delicate motif such as a engraving of intersecting lines (typically a few strokes of a widths of the order of 0.1 to 0.2 mm, separated therein distance), more difficult to reproduce, made with some inks transparent or translucent, loaded for example with pigments that produce a particular optical effect when observed under a particular angle, such as iridescence or opalescence.

In the example in Figure 3, the application of the ink layer has been made above the data to be protected 4, whose own application is included in the procedure of substrate printing 8.

It will be observed that the data to be protected 4 can be in turn a piece of information that authenticates the document, such as an image orographic, whose only presence (even altered) can be enough for an attentive observer to conclude the authenticity of a document.

The same technique can also be used to protect a variable data 4 applied subsequently to the embossed ink layer 12, as shown in Figure 4. The most typical case is that of a handwritten data (signature, etc.).

In this case, the reliefs constituted by the thick layer 12 are crushed locally at the time of apposition handwritten The deletion, however careful, of the data to be protected 4 cannot mask the presence of "damaged" reliefs 16, what which allows a falsified document to be detected without difficulties.

Claims (8)

1. Device for protection against falsification of data applied to a printed document, comprising a document, a printed motif, a relief motif, characterized in that, at least in an area intended for the application of the data to be protected, the The document comprises at least one relief motif obtained by one of the following procedures: screen printing, flexography, heliogravure, this relief being exclusively due to the thickness of the ink layer used to form this motif, the relief motif being applied either above or below the data to be protected. 2. Protection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the ink used contains pigments with optical effect. 3. Protection device according to claim 2, characterized in that the optical effect is iridescence. 4. Protection device according to claim 2, characterized in that the optical effect is an opalescence. 5. Procedure for the protection against falsification of data applied to a printed document, characterized in that it comprises the following operations:

to)

select a substrate,

b)

print on this substrate a data to to protect,

C)

select an ink that contains a activatable polymerizable material,

d)

select a procedure from printing between the following procedures: screen printing, flexography, heliogravure,

and)

print a motif with this ink with the help of this procedure,

F)

activate polymerization through an ad hoc energy input,

g)

do polymerize the ink as a thick layer.

6. Procedure for the protection against falsification of data applied to a printed document, characterized in that it comprises the following operations:

to)

select a substrate,

b)

select an ink that contains a activatable polymerizable material,

C)

select a procedure from printing between the following procedures: screen printing, flexography, heliogravure,

d)

print a motif with this ink with the help of this procedure,

and)

activate polymerization through an ad hoc energy input,

F)

do polymerize the ink as a thick layer,

g)

print on this substrate a data to to protect.

7. Method according to any of claims 5 and 6, characterized in that the polymerizable material contains a polymerization accelerator.
tion. Method according to any one of claims 5 and 7, characterized in that the polymerization is activated by an energy input selected from the following means: infrared, UV, microwave.