FR2815747A1 - Method to guarantee the authenticity of an article equipped with a registration element for information storage. - Google Patents

Abstract

Method to guarantee the authenticity of an article (1) equipped with a system of information storing (6) such as a microprocessor or a magnetic field. An inscription (5) is imposed on the article. The inscription has a code, which is not naturally coded, but can be decoded by an ad hoc developer. The code can be registered and be encrypted or not. This allows control of the ultimate authenticity of the article, by taking into account, on one hand, the code imposed on the article, and on the other hand, the code registered in the memory. The two are then compared to see which codes are identical.

Description

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 The present invention relates to a method for guaranteeing the authenticity of an article provided with an element for recording and storing information, such as a microprocessor or a magnetic strip in particular.

 It also relates to the article thus guaranteed.

 In various applications, it is important to be able to guarantee the authenticity of an article of the aforementioned type, which is exposed to fraud and / or counterfeiting; this is the case for example in the banking field, in particular for credit cards which are liable to be falsified, and in the field of literary and artistic property, for information carriers with large storage capacity, such as that, in particular, compact discs (CD, CD-ROM or DVD), likely to be copied.

 These examples are, of course, in no way limitative of the vast field of applications to which the present invention can be addressed.

 Being a bank card, it is relatively easy for a malicious person, expert in the matter, to copy the computer content of the microprocessor and / or the magnetic strip of a card not belonging to him, the save, and transfer it to a blank card; he can then use the latter, and carry out illicit banking transactions, even if the original card has been returned to its owner.

 With regard to information carriers with a large storage capacity, such as, in particular, compact discs, it is also fairly easy for a counterfeiter, by means of appropriate materials, to copy the content thereof onto blank carriers, which 'he can then market illegally, regardless of the rights of the author.

 The present invention aims to reduce these risks.

 To this end, the process which is the subject of the invention consists in affixing to the article in question an inscription constituting a code which is not naturally decipherable, but which is by means of a revealing device ad ad hoc, and to register said code, encrypted or not, in the system for recording and storing information in order to memorize it, which makes it possible to subsequently control the authenticity of the article, by taking note, on the one hand, using the revealing device, of the code which is affixed on the article, and on the other hand

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 code which is memorized in said information recording and storage system, then comparing them in order to verify that they are identical or, in the case of encryption, that they correspond well with one another.

 The potential fraudster is thus faced with an additional difficulty, namely to reproduce on the blank medium, not only the computer content which is on the original medium, but also the code which is not naturally decipherable.

 Otherwise, counterfeiting can be easily detected.

 Insofar as the code is designed to be difficult to reproduce, this can constitute a major obstacle for the fraudster.

 Furthermore, according to a certain number of advantageous, non-limiting characteristics of the invention: - the code affixed on the article is capable of being revealed by means of an infrared reading camera.

- Said article is a card carrying a microprocessor and / or a magnetic strip, for example a bank card.

- Said bank card has a composite structure, and comprises a basic element which serves as a support for said information recording and storage system, and is covered on at least one side with a coating film, on which is affixed said code which is not naturally decipherable, but which is by means of an ad hoc revealing device.

 - Said article is an information medium with large storage capacity, such as a CD, CD-ROM or DVD disc.

 The article provided with a system for recording and storing information, such as a microprocessor or a magnetic strip in particular, which is also part of the present invention is characterized in that its authenticity is guaranteed by the setting implementing the method as set out above.

 Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which will now be made of it, with reference to the appended drawings, which represent a possible embodiment thereof.

In these drawings:
Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view and exploded, before assembly, of a bank card with composite structure according to the invention.

 Figure 2 shows the same card, front view.

 Figure 3 is a partial view of the map, which shows a border area on which is affixed the code, it has been revealed.

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 FIG. 4 illustrates the industrial process of printing the codes on the coating films intended to be assembled to the card holders.

 FIG. 5 illustrates, in the form of block diagrams, the encryption and the recording of the code in the microprocessor of the card.

 FIG. 6 illustrates, also in the form of block diagrams, the operation of checking the authenticity of the card.

 Figure 7 is a perspective view of a large storage capacity disk according to the invention.

 The bank card 1 shown in Figures 1 and 2 has a rectangular shape, with rounded corners. It has a composite structure of known type, sandwiched, comprising a support 2 of relatively rigid synthetic material, coated on each face with a protective film of thin, flexible and transparent plastic material 3,4.

 The support 2 carries a certain number of printed and / or stamped information, such as the name of the bank 20, the name of the card holder 21, and its account number 22. It also carries a microprocessor-or chip containing different computer data related to the bank account and card management.

 According to the invention, it is affixed to one of the protective films, in this case the upper film 3, coded information 5. This consists, in the example illustrated, in a dark colored strip, for black example, which is printed along one of the short sides of the card.

 To the naked eye, the strip band 5 has a uniform appearance from one end to the other.

 It is actually composed of a set of sections - or segments - in the form of rectangular zones positioned end to end; the different areas are made in inks having the same aspect in terms of color and tonality in natural light, but which may have different transparencies when exposed to infrared radiation.

 There are, for example, six categories of ink, of identical color (black), but whose transparency to infrared rays varies gradually.

 Thus, as the ink most permeable to infrared, it is completely transparent when the area in question is read by a camera suitable for infrared reading.

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 Conversely, the ink that is the least permeable to infrared radiation remains black during this reading.

 The other four ink categories have more or less dark tones (grayscale), ranging from black to transparent when read.

Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 3, when the strip 5 is read by an infrared camera, a set of segments 51.52, 53.54, 55.56 and
57 of different tones.

 In the example illustrated, the strip is, in fact, composed of seven different segments placed end to end.

 It is understood that it is thus possible to obtain a large number of different combinations of configuration of the strip 5, by playing on the ink categories used for each of said segments.

 In order to further increase the number of possible combinations, one can play with the gray levels and the infrared wavelengths.

 The distribution of these segments is easily transformable into a Co code, for example a digital code, thanks to the implementation of an ad hoc algorithm, which can be integrated, moreover, into the reading device.

 This transformation into code can result from a combination of shape recognition and grayscale.

 FIG. 4 shows how it is possible, on an industrial level, to print banners corresponding to different codes, on a set of films 3 which will then be used to cover a bank card support.

 The different films 3 are cut, after printing, from a strip 30 of flexible and transparent plastic film, of great length.

 This is initially contained on a reel drum 8a, and is recovered after the operation on a receiver drum 8b.

 The strip printing installation 5 comprises a set of printing units 70, 71, 72, 73, 74 and 75, suitable for printing - or not printing - one or more segments of the strip during the passage of the strip 30 between ink rollers fitted to each of said units.

 The direction of advance of the strip in the installation is symbolized by the arrow F in the figure.

 Each unit is adapted to supply and print a given ink category, among the six categories implemented.

 All of these rollers are controlled by an appropriate control device 7, which makes it possible to control each time the activation or the

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 non-activation of each unit, so as to print on the strip a successive series of strips 5 corresponding to different codings, for example randomly or preprogrammed.

 The strip thus printed is cut at the outlet from the ink rollers by a device of known type 9, which separates from the strip the individual rectangular films then used in the assembly of the bank card.

 Each card is thus assigned a given Co code.

 A part of the code in question (for example its first two digits, if it is a numeric code) can be determined for example to correspond to the bank with which we are dealing, the rest of the code being random.

 According to the invention, the code Co assigned to a bank card is then recorded on the chip 6.

 Alternatively, the code Co could be recorded on the magnetic strip provided on the back of the card (and not visible in Figures 1 and 2).

 This recording can advantageously be done after encryption of the code, via a determined algorithm, which gives an encrypted code C1, as illustrated in FIG. 5.

 Once this operation has been carried out, the bank card therefore has the particularity of presenting on its upper face a strip 5 which is not naturally decipherable, but which corresponds to a given code Co, while in the microprocessor equipping the same card, this code Co is stored in a determined space of the memory of this microprocessor 6, and this in an encrypted form Ci.

 It is therefore easy to see that it is difficult, for a potential counterfeiter, to reproduce a card of this kind, which obliges him not only to copy the information stored in the microprocessor 6, but also to reproduce the code 5, the reading of which requires very specific infrared reading equipment, and the subsequent reproduction of which is also very delicate, since it requires the use of very specific inks, the tones of which are well defined.

 To verify the authenticity of a card of this kind, we proceed as illustrated in Figure 6.

 On the one hand, by current computer reading means, the memory of the microprocessor 6 is read; this reading can concern the whole of the memory or only the space of the memory in which the information relating to the code in question is stored.

 This reading is associated with a decryption, which reveals the code Co.

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 At the same time (either simultaneously or later), the non-naturally visible code affixed to the card is read and revealed, which gives a result C.

 By means of an appropriate device, the two codes are compared, in order to arrive at the conclusion, either that the card is very authentic-if the code C is equal to the code Co-, or on the contrary that it is a falsified card, if these two codes are different.

 These different operations can naturally be processed using the same device specially designed for this purpose.

 Thus, in the case of a bank card, a transaction requested by the user of the card can be accepted or refused in a payment terminal, such as an ATM, either equipped with this device, or connected to that -this via a telecommunications network.

 The invention, as explained above, can be applied to other articles provided with an information recording and storage system, in particular to high density and storage capacity discs such as CD- ROM or DVD (designation derived from the English designation Digital Video Disk).

 Such a disc is illustrated in FIG. 7, on which is visible the upper, non-active face of the disc, referenced 1 ′.

 Indeed, track 6 ′ containing the computer data corresponds to the underside, which is not visible.

 As is well known, the upper face of the disc is printed and carries a certain amount of information 20 ′, making it possible in particular to identify the producer and the content of the disc 1 ′.

 According to the invention, a strip 5 ′, similar to the strip 5 described above, with reference to a bank card, is printed on this upper face.

 The corresponding code is stored, possibly after encryption, with the other computer data which is stored on track 6 ′ covering the underside of the disc.

 Thus, a potential counterfeiter encounters the same difficulties as those explained above in connection with the bank card. Indeed, if he can copy relatively easily the content of track 6 ′, it is difficult for him to reproduce the non-naturally decipherable inscription 5 ′ printed on the top of the

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 disc, and therefore to offer the marketing a disc that can pass for an original.

 It goes without saying that the naturally indecipherable inscription in the form of a strip 5 which has been described here is only one possible embodiment among others.

 As an indication, in order to further increase the difficulties of reproduction, the strip could be replaced by a surface in the form of a grid having areas no longer arranged linearly, but in two dimensions.

 The code in question could be printed directly on the article.

 It could for example be a digital code and / or formed of letters, on which would be printed a cover similar to the strip 5, and formed of ink zones of two different categories, one opaque, and the other, on the contrary, perfectly transparent to infrared.

 Thus, by reading by means of an infrared camera, certain numbers and / or certain letters only among those printed under the cover are revealed, which correspond to the code in question.

 Furthermore, other coding means of known type can of course be used, provided that they are naturally indecipherable, and that their disclosure requires the use of relatively sophisticated equipment, which is not easy to obtain in the trade, nor to reconstitute.

 In this regard, radar detection technology could, for example, be transposed here. For this purpose, the constitutive inscription of the code can be made in an ink containing metallic particles detectable at low frequency, the code being a function of the configuration of the mass of particles, as regards their distribution and their density.

 Among the various possible applications of the invention (other than those mentioned above), there may be mentioned for example: the electronic book, the cell phone, the health card, the microprocessor identity card, the microprocessor guarantee voucher.

 This list is by no means exhaustive.

Claims (5)

 subsequently the authenticity of the article, by taking cognizance, on the one hand, using said revealing device, of the code (C) which is affixed on the article, and on the other hand of the code ( Co) which is memorized in said information recording and storage system, then comparing them in order to check that they are identical or, in the case of encryption, that they correspond well with one another.

CLAIMS 1. Method for guaranteeing the authenticity of an article (1, 1 ') provided with an information recording and storage system (6,6'), such as a microprocessor or a magnetic stripe in particular , which consists in affixing on said article an inscription (5.5 ′) constituting a code (Co) which is not naturally decipherable, but which is by means of an ad hoc revealing device, and in registering said code (Co), encrypted or not, in said information recording and storage system (6,6 ') to memorize it, which makes it possible to control  2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the code (C) affixed on the article is capable of being revealed by means of an infrared reading camera.  3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said article (6) is a card carrying a microprocessor and / or a magnetic strip, for example a bank card.  4. Method according to claim 3, characterized in that said bank card (6) has a composite structure, and comprises a basic element (2) which serves as a support for said information recording and storage system, and is covered on at least one side with a covering film (3), on which is affixed said code (C) which is not naturally decipherable, but which is done by means of an ad hoc revealing device.  5. Method according to claim lou 2, characterized in that said article (1 ') is an information medium with large storage capacity, such as in particular a CD, CD-ROM or DVD disc.