JP5186655B2 - Information carrier that can detect authenticity - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention is an information carrier imparted with an effect of changing a visual image depending on an observation angle, and in particular, a banknote, passport, securities, identification card, card, traffic that is a security product that requires an anti-counterfeit effect The present invention relates to an information carrier for anti-counterfeiting or authenticity discrimination in the field of valuable printed matter such as tickets.

  In recent years, anti-counterfeiting elements and printing techniques having new design properties and high anti-counterfeiting effects have been desired for valuable printed matter that requires security. For this reason, there are many cases where an optical security element such as a hologram whose image changes depending on the observation angle is attached.

  The anti-counterfeit printed matter exhibiting optical changes as described above is generally expensive and requires special equipment and materials, so an additional manufacturing process is required, and the cost is high. There was a problem.

  Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the present applicant uses common and relatively inexpensive materials and simple printing means, and recognizes the human eye at a specific observation angle. Has filed an invention relating to an anti-counterfeit information carrier in which the information to be changed into completely different information by changing the observation angle (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  The information carrier for anti-counterfeiting according to Patent Document 1 uses a commercially available silver or gold ink containing a general-purpose inexpensive aluminum powder or brass powder as a component, and exhibits a hologram effect by a general printing means. The present invention is a forgery prevention and authenticity discrimination printed matter characterized by a configuration in which an image is directly applied to a substrate of a printed matter, excellent in cost performance, and excellent in mechanical distribution strength.

  In the information carrier for forgery prevention disclosed in Patent Document 1, as a first effect, a first image is formed by two glittering material layers having a difference in density of an appropriate area on a base material. In the observation area where the diffused light is dominant, the amount of reflected light reaching the viewer's eyes from both of the two glittering material layers becomes small, so the first image can be easily recognized. become. On the other hand, in the observation angle region where specular reflection light is dominant, the amount of reflected light reaching both the eyes of the observer from both of the two glittering material layers becomes extremely large, so that it is difficult to visually recognize the first image. Become.

  Furthermore, the anti-counterfeit information carrier disclosed in Patent Document 1 has, as a second effect, the first image formed on the above-described extremely dense glittering material layer having the area ratio and the glittering material. Compared to the second image, the second image formed by layering color material layers with a very sparse area ratio formed using a color material having higher visible light absorption is observed in an observation angle region where diffused light is dominant. Because the amount of reflected light reaching the eyes of the person is small, it is difficult to visually recognize the difference in color and brightness from the two layers even though the components are different. The second image cannot be visually recognized because it is observed by the eyes.

On the other hand, in the observation angle region where specular reflection light is dominant, the amount of reflected light reaching the viewer's eyes from the layer made of only the glittering material becomes extremely large, whereas the color material having high visible light absorption is glittered. Since the amount of reflected light that reaches the eyes of the observer from the layer superimposed on the conductive material layer becomes relatively small, the second image can be easily visually recognized by the color difference due to the difference in the amount of reflected light.

In addition, the applicant forms a swelled image line using a plane-oriented pearl pigment, and has a configuration in which the image line angle is different between the background image part and the message image part, and only when observed from an oblique direction. The invention has been filed for an invention relating to a printed matter capable of authenticating authenticity having an effect that the message image portion changes from positive to negative or from negative to positive (see, for example, Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3). .

  The printed matter disclosed in Patent Literature 2 and Patent Literature 3 has a background image and a message image formed by an image line structure that is raised on the surface of the base material, and an image line pattern of the background image Since the line pattern of the message image is formed at different angles, in the angle region where diffuse reflection is dominant, the message image is hardly visible to the naked eye, and the angle where the regular reflection is dominant from the diffuse reflection. As the area changes, the background image and the message image having a bulge are structured to reflect light different from the incident light, so that the message image is visually recognized as a negative image or a positive image.

  In Patent Document 4, a stripe-shaped pearl layer is formed on a base material such as fine paper, and a color similar to the visible color (purple) in the observation angle region where the diffused light of the pearl layer is dominant is formed on the pearl layer. A latent image of the intaglio printing layer with a bright color (gray) is provided. In the observation angle region where diffuse light is dominant, the pearl layer and the intaglio printing layer are observed in similar colors, so the latent image is visible. However, in the observation angle region where specular reflection light is dominant, the pearl layer emits an interference color (gold color), so a latent image display in which an intaglio printing layer that does not emit an interference color is visible. A medium is disclosed.

Japanese Patent No. 3398758 Japanese Patent No. 3718712 Republished Patent W02003 / 013871 JP 2003-182202 A

  However, in the invention according to Patent Document 1, by superimposing the two effects, the first image can be visually recognized in the observation angle region where the diffused light is dominant, and the first image is visible in the observation angle region where the regular reflection light is dominant. The anti-counterfeiting information carrier capable of confirming the image 2 can be formed, but the glittering material layer constituting the first image and the color material layer constituting the second image are precisely arranged at the same pitch. It is necessary to print them together. Therefore, it is necessary to manufacture the first image and the second image while managing the imprinting of the first image and the second image with appropriate accuracy.

  In addition, in order to form the forgery prevention information carrier described in Patent Document 1, diffused light dominates the glittering material layer constituting the first image and the color material layer constituting the second image. It is necessary to determine the density difference of an appropriate area that looks the same color (approximate color) in a typical observation angle region. For this purpose, visible light that can be printed by changing the color type and area ratio of a color material with high visible light absorption to provide an optimal switchability from the first image to the second image. A great deal of effort is required to determine the color and area ratio of a highly absorbent color material.

  Further, in order to obtain an optimal image switching property, the area ratio of the second image using a color material having high visible light absorption must be formed in a specific range of 15 to 30%. Furthermore, since the regularity is printed on the extremely dense glittering material layer of the first image, the visibility of the second image may deteriorate depending on the observation environment. There were some problems in obtaining a clear switch effect.

The printed matter described in Patent Document 2 can be used to determine whether the message portion is observed from an oblique direction, while the message portion changes from a negative image to a positive image or from a positive image to a negative image depending on the incident angle of light. When observed from directly above, not only the message image cannot be recognized, but also a significant image other than the message image cannot be recognized. That is, it was impossible to switch between two different images.

Moreover, in the printed matter described in Patent Document 3, in order to make the observer visually recognize a significant image that is not correlated with the message image using the structure of the printed material of Patent Document 2, an image line having a climax is used. Before printing, it was necessary to form a first image with a low-density ink in advance. Further, in order to clearly switch the first image at the low density and the message image by the image line having the bulge, the first image must disappear in the observation region where the message image is visually recognized, For this purpose, the first image needs to be an image with high brightness (light), and the visibility of the first image needs to be kept low.

Further, the latent image display medium described in Patent Document 4 has a similar color because the latent image is visually recognized when the color difference between the pearl layer and the intaglio printing layer in the observation angle region where diffused light is dominant is large. Therefore, it is difficult to adjust the color tone, and the effect is that an image is not formed in the observation angle region where the diffused light is dominant, and the latent image formed by the intaglio printing layer is only in the observation angle region where the regular reflection light is dominant. Since the image is visible, the two images do not switch and the design is poor. In the image portion of the intaglio printing layer, it was necessary to form a thick mask layer by intaglio printing so that the interference color of the lower pearl layer could not be seen.

  The present invention provides an information carrier that cannot be reproduced by a color copier because information recognized by the human eye changes to other information by changing the observation angle.

The information carrier of the present invention is a printing ink containing a material having a color different from that of the base material and having color flip-flop properties on the entire surface of the print image region on one surface on the base material, and an image portion. The first image formed with a difference between the background portion and the background portion of 5% or more and 40% or less overlaps the second printed image formed of the transparent material on at least a part of the surface of the first image. It is formed.

An information carrier characterized in that the second image of the present invention is a solid image with an area ratio of 100% or a multi-tone image expressed with gradation within an area ratio of 0% to an area ratio of 100%. is there.

The material having the color flip-flop property contained in the printing ink for forming the first image of the present invention is a dichroic pearl pigment, an iris pearl pigment, a scaly pigment, a scaly mica pigment, or a scaly metal pigment An information carrier comprising at least one of a glass flake pigment or a cholesteric liquid crystal pigment.

In order to improve the orientation of the material having the color flip-flop property contained in the printing ink for forming the first image of the present invention, the pigment surface is subjected to a surface treatment for imparting water repellency and oil repellency. It is an information carrier characterized by the above.

An information carrier that improves the visibility of the first image in the observation of the diffused light region by including a color pigment in the printing ink for forming the first image of the present invention.

An information carrier according to the present invention is characterized in that the first image of the present invention is formed in an area ratio of 35% to 80% over the entire printed image area.

The first image of the present invention is an information carrier characterized in that it is formed of swelled image elements, and the height of the swelled image elements is in the range of 10 μm to 150 μm.

An information carrier, wherein the transparent material for forming the second printed image of the present invention is any one of a transparent varnish, an ink varnish, a transparent ink and a medium ink.

The first image of the present invention is the size of lines such as lines, wavy lines, broken lines, etc., the arrangement of checkered flag patterns, etc., the size of halftone dots such as circular halftone dots and star dots, or the area ratio due to these image elements It is an information carrier characterized by being formed by the difference.

Since this invention is the above structure, the following effect arises.
When the information carrier of the present invention is observed under visible light, in the observation angle region where diffuse reflected light is dominant, the first image formed by the difference in area ratio due to thick and thin lines. In the observation angle region where the regular reflection light is dominant, the second image formed by overlapping the transparent material on the first image can be visually recognized.

Since the information carrier in the present invention forms an image by printing with an ink in which an iris pearl pigment and a colored pigment are mixed, only a change in brightness characteristic of metallic ink in an angular region where specular reflection light is dominant. However, an extremely large hue change occurs due to the interference of the iris pearl pigment, and the two colors, the color of the colored pigment in the ink and the interference color of the pearl pigment, appear according to the change in the observation angle. It became possible to give a vivid hue to an image.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the best mode for carrying out the invention described below, and various other modes can be implemented within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims. .

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an information carrier (1) of the present invention, and is shown in FIG. 2 printed with colored pearl ink on a printed image (3) in a frame on white paper as a base material (2). The first image (4) as shown in FIG. 3 is formed and printed with a transparent material in the printed image (3) on the first image (4). Is an information carrier (1) in which the printed image (3) changes depending on the viewing angle.

The base material (2) is not limited to white paper, and may have a flat surface capable of carrying a print image such as high-quality paper, coated paper, or a plastic card.

In the present specification, in the step of forming the first image (4) and the second image (5) on a printed image of a certain area on the base material, a condition in which the ratio that can cover the base is expressed in%. The area ratio will be described.

FIG. 4 is a first image (4) and a partially enlarged view thereof. The printed image (3) on the white paper as the base material (2) is heightened to about 10 μm by the colored pearl ink shown in Table 1. And is formed on the substrate (2) by UV drying screen printing with an image line having a constant pitch of 0.4 mm. The first image (4) is composed of an image portion (6) and a background portion (7), and the image portion (6) is formed by a thick line (area ratio 75%) having an image line width of 0.3 mm. The background portion (7) is formed by a fine line (area ratio 50%) having a line width of 0.2 mm, and by providing a difference in area ratio between the image portion (6) and the background portion (7). A “鳳凰” image (trademark registration number: 3042101) is formed.

The colored pearl ink shown in Table 1 is a pearl ink colored by adding a small amount of a black color pigment to a pearl ink containing an iris pearl pigment whose interference color is gold. Colored pearl ink absorbs colors other than the interference color of pearl when the formed line is specularly reflected by adding a colored pigment having a color different from that of the base material, for example, black or other dark colors, to the pearl ink. As a result, there is an effect of further enhancing the interference color of pearl, and the visibility of the interference color is enhanced. Further, when the image line formed with the ink containing only the pearl pigment is diffusely reflected, the interference effect of the pearl cannot be visually observed, so that the color of the pearl pigment itself is simply visually recognized. Therefore, depending on the combination of the color of the base material and the pearl pigment, the visibility of the image line is lowered. Therefore, the visibility is enhanced by containing a color pigment having a color different from that of the base material. That is, the image line formed with this colored pearl ink is visually recognized as “black” in the observation region where the diffuse reflection light where the pearl interference effect cannot be seen is dominant, and in the observation region where the regular reflection light is dominant. It is visually recognized as “golden” which is an interference color.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the information carrier (1), the light source (10), and the observer's viewpoint (11). For example, the print surface of the information carrier (1) of the present invention is shown in FIG. When the angle of the viewpoint to be observed is changed from −20 ° to 80 ° when light enters from 45 °, the observation angle region changes from the diffused light region to the specularly reflected light region and becomes the diffused light region. . Therefore, with respect to two light receiving angle regions in which only one image can be viewed particularly remarkably, the region A in FIG. 4 (light receiving angle −20 ° to 0 °) is observed in the “diffused light region”, and the region B in FIG. (Angle 40 ° to 50 °) is defined as observation of a “specular reflection light region”.

When the first image (4) formed by the image line of the colored pearl ink is observed in the diffused light region, the difference in the area ratio between the image portion (6) and the background portion (7) becomes dominant, and Since interference by the pearl pigment does not occur, it is visually recognized as black, and a “black wrinkle” image is visually recognized.

When observed in the specularly reflected light region, both the image portion (6) and the background portion (7) of the first image (4) cause interference due to pearl, and therefore the first image (4) as shown in FIG. ) Is printed on the entire surface of the printed image (3), which is a gold color of interference color, resulting in a “golden hexagonal” image.

After the first image (4) is formed, the second image (5) is reduced by wet offset printing using the UV drying method in the print area (3) where the first image (4) is printed. Using a glossy transparent material (OP varnish mat made by DIC), a solid image having an area ratio of 100% is formed using the transparent material. The transparent material for forming the second image (5) is not limited to this transparent varnish, and may be any ink that can visually recognize the base such as ink varnish, transparent ink, or medium ink. It is also possible to include functional materials such as absorbing materials and magnetic materials.

Since the second image (5) is formed of a transparent material, when the information carrier (1) is observed in the diffused light region, as shown in FIG. 5) is not visually recognized, but the “black wrinkle” image of the first image (4) printed thereunder is visually recognized.

However, when the information carrier (1) is observed in the specularly reflected light region, the upper transparent material inhibits the interference effect of the pearl pigment in the image portion (8) of the second image by the transparent material. Therefore, since the background portion (9) of the second image is a plain portion on which the transparent material is not printed, it is visually recognized as "golden" due to the interference effect of the pearl pigment. A “printed wrinkle” image of the background portion (9) “golden” and the image portion (8) “black” shown in FIG.

That is, according to the present invention, the viewing image is changed from the “black wrinkle” image shown in FIG. 7A to the one shown in FIG. The information carrier (1) to be converted into the “background golden black printed wrinkle” image shown is formed.

This is because the printed image (3) of the information carrier (1) of the present invention is shown in FIG. 8 (b), with the image element 1 formed only by the thick image line of the colored pearl shown in FIG. 8 (a). The image element 2 formed only by the thin line of the colored pearl and the image element 3 formed by overlapping a transparent material on the thick line of the colored pearl shown in FIG. 8C, and FIG. A transparent material overlaps on a thin line of colored pearls shown in FIG. 5), and the image element 4 formed is divided into four image regions, and the diffused light region shown in FIG. This can be described with reference to FIG. 11 showing the color difference ΔE of each image element when the image element 1 in the area B indicating the area is used as a reference value.

9 (a), 9 (b), 10 (c) and 10 (d) respectively show the positions of the image element 1, the image element 2, the image element 3, the image element 4 and the light source 10 and the measurement device. It is the figure which showed the range. Each of the image elements 1 to 4 is irradiated with light from the light source 10 at 45 °, L * a * b * is measured at a light receiving angle of −20 ° to 80 °, and the image element 1 is used as a reference. A graph comparing the color differences ΔE of the image element 2, the image element 3, and the image element 4 is the polygonal line (12-2), the polygonal line (12-3), and the polygonal line (12-4) in FIG. The measuring device was measured using a variable angle spectrophotometric system GCMS-4 type (Murakami Color Research Laboratory).

(Observation of diffuse light area)
In the diffused light region of the light reception angle of −20 ° to 0 ° in the color difference ΔE graph of FIG. 11, the broken line 12-2 of the image element 2 and 12-4 of the image element 4 are compared with the image element 1 serving as the reference. The color difference ΔE of the broken line is as high as about 20 and is visually recognized as a color different from that of the image element 1, whereas the color difference ΔE of the broken line 12-3 of the image element 3 is as low as about 2 and is visually recognized as much as the image element 1. You can see that. Accordingly, the image element 1 composed of the thick line of the colored pearl ink and the image element 3 obtained by laminating the transparent varnish on the thick line of the colored pearl ink have the image portion (5) The image element 2 composed of colored pearl ink fine lines and the image element 4 formed by laminating a transparent varnish on the colored pearl ink thin lines have the same color difference ΔE as the image element 1. Since they are different, it can be seen as the background portion (6) of the first image (3).

(Observation of specular reflection region)
On the other hand, in the regular reflection light region having a light receiving angle of 40 ° to 50 ° in the graph of color difference ΔE in FIG. 11, the color difference ΔE of the broken line 12-2 of the image element 2 is about 20 with respect to the reference image element 1. On the other hand, since the broken line 12-3 of the color difference ΔE of the image element 3 is about 70 and the broken line 12-4 of the color difference ΔE of the image element 4 is about 85, the image element 3 and the image element 4 are The image element 2 is visually recognized as a color relatively different from that of the image element 1 since the image element 2 is visually recognized as a hue greatly different from the image element 1. From this, in the observation of the regular reflection light region, the image element 3 in which the transparent varnish is laminated on the thick line of the colored pearl and the image element 4 in which the transparent varnish is laminated on the thin line of the colored pearl are: The image element 1 which is visually recognized as the image portion (8) of the second image and is composed of a thick line of colored pearl ink and the image element 2 which is composed of a fine line of colored pearl ink are the background portion (9 ).

That is, in the information carrier (1), two latent image images as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are formed by four image elements. Specifically, the first image (3) is an image. It is composed of an image part (5) composed of element 1 and image element 3, and a background part (6) composed of image element 2 and image element 4. In observation of the diffused light region, image element 1 and image element 3 are imaged. Whereas the image element 2 and the image element 4 are visually recognized as different colors, the image element 2 and the image element 4 are visually recognized as the background part (6). On the other hand, the second image (4) includes a solid image portion of the second image (4) composed of the image element 3 and the image element 4, and a plain background portion of the second image composed of the image element 1 and the image element 2. In the observation of the specularly reflected light region, the image element 1 and the image element 2 are visually recognized to the same extent, whereas the image element 3 and the image element 4 are visually recognized as different colors. It is visually recognized as the second image. Therefore, since the information carrier (1) of the present invention has different visibility in the observation angle region of the four image elements, the image changes depending on the observation angle.

When the difference in the area ratio of the image lines forming the first image is not appropriate, the information portion (5) and the background portion (6) of the first image (3) are in the observation angle region where diffuse reflection is dominant. The first image (3) may be mixed with the second image (4) and appear in the observation angle region where specular reflection is dominant, or it may not be visually recognized. In order to realize a clear switching effect between the first image (3) and the second image (4), the information on the first image (3) in the range of an appropriate area ratio is selected according to the ink used. It is necessary to provide a difference between the portion and the background portion.

For example, three types of printed matter having different image line widths of the first image (3) are produced, and the switch effect is compared and confirmed. In all printed materials, the line pitch of the image part (6) is 0.4 mm, the line width is 0.3 mm (area ratio 75%), and the line pitch of the background part (5) is 0.4 mm. The line width of the printed material 1 is 0.15 mm (area ratio 37.5%), the line width of the printed material 2 is 0.20 mm (area ratio 50%), and the line width of the printed material 3 is 0.25 mm (area ratio). 62.5%) and three types of printed materials were prepared, and the second image (4) was formed of a transparent material on all the printed materials, and the results of confirming the visibility are shown in Table 2. . Table 2 shows the visual recognition of the first image (3) and the second image (4) when the width of the image line with the colored pearl ink constituting the background portion (5) of the first image (3) is changed. It is a sex evaluation result. The evaluation was made into a four-step evaluation, in which ◎ is very easy to visually recognize, ○ is easy to visually recognize, △ is difficult to visually recognize, and x cannot be visually recognized.

The visibility of each printed matter can be explained by the color difference ΔE of each image element when the image element 1 of each printed matter is used as a reference. FIG. 12 is a graph of the color difference ΔE in each image element when the image element 1 in the printed material 1 is a reference value. FIG. 12 is a graph of the color difference ΔE in each image element when the image element 1 in the printed material 2 is a reference value. FIG. 11 is a graph of the color difference ΔE of each image element when the image element 1 in the printed matter 3 is set as a reference value, which is the same as the information carrier (1) in the best mode of FIG.

Since the printed product 1 has a narrower image line width of the background portion (6) than the printed product 2, the broken line (12-2 ') in the specularly reflected light region (B region in FIG. 12) of the graph of FIG. The value is higher than the polygonal line (12-2) in the reflection region (B region in FIG. 11). It can be seen that the printed material 1 has a difference between the color of the image element 2 and the color of the image element 1 in the regular reflection light region, and is less likely to be visually recognized as the background portion of the same second image as the image element 1.

Further, since the printed product 3 has a wider image line width in the background portion (6) than the printed product 2, the color difference ΔE of the broken line (12-2 ″) in the diffused light region (A region in FIG. 13) of the graph of FIG. The color difference ΔE of the broken line (12-4 ″) is about 6 and is a value close to 0, that is, the color difference from the reference image element 1 is small. It can be seen that it is difficult for the printed matter 3 to visually recognize the difference between the image portion (5) and the background portion (6) of the first image in the diffused light region.

In addition to the above-described conditions, the switch effect is also affected by the blending ratio of the pearl pigment and the interference color of the pearl pigment. Depending on the procedure used for the color pigment to be used, it is necessary to make several prototypes with different conditions of the area ratio difference between the information part (5) and the background part (6) of the first image and find the optimum conditions. There is.

As the pearl pigment to be used, a dichroic pearl pigment, an iris pearl pigment, a scaly mica pigment, a scaly metal pigment, a glass flake pigment, a cholesteric liquid crystal pigment, or the like may be used. The particle size of the pearl pigment is selected according to the printing method to be used, but is preferably 1 to 50 μm, more preferably about 5 to 15 μm. As described above, any pearl pigment may be used. However, in order to improve the orientation (leafing effect) of the scaly pigment, the pigment is oriented on the surface of a line drawing having a height of 10 μm to 150 μm. It is desirable to perform processing. Specifically, for example, by performing surface treatment such as water repellency and oil repellency treatment as described in JP-A-2001-106937, the pigment can be oriented on the surface of the image line of the printing portion, It becomes possible to make the interference color of pearl by specular reflection light appear more vividly.

In the present embodiment, since a pearl pigment having a relatively large particle diameter is used in order to bring out a high color change effect, the first image is formed with a swelled image line by the screen printing method. However, since pearl pigments having a small particle diameter have been developed in recent years, the swell of the image line is not essential for the present invention as long as it is an ink that causes interference light to appear even if the image line does not swell. Therefore, the printing method for forming the first image is not limited to screen printing, and can be implemented by a flexographic printing method, a gravure printing method, an intaglio printing method, an offset printing method, and the like. Further, the second image is not limited to the offset printing method, and can be implemented by a flexographic printing method, a gravure printing method, an offset printing method, an intaglio printing method, and the like.

Further, in the present embodiment, the embodiment using the pearl ink containing the coloring pigment has been described, but when the pearl ink not containing the coloring pigment is used, the visibility of the first image is lowered, Since the visibility in the second image is sufficient, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately implemented within the technical scope described in the claims.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 14 is a view showing an information carrier (1 ') in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The first image made of the colored pearl ink is formed by using not the thick and thin lines but the halftone dots as image elements, and the second image is a transparent and low-gloss material as in the embodiment. An example of forming using the above will be described.

The information carrier (1 ′) shown in FIG. 14 was formed using the first image shown in FIG. 15 and the second image shown in FIG. The image portion (6 ′) and the background portion (7 ′) of the first image are formed by circular pixels with a predetermined constant pitch of 0.50 mm, and the diameters of the respective circles are different. The diameter of the circle forming the image area (6 ′) was 0.44 mm (area ratio 61%), and the background area (7 ′) was 0.40 mm (area ratio 50%). Using the colored pearl ink shown in Table 3, screen printing of the first image was performed on a base material (2 ′) which is a general fine paper.

After the first image (4 ′) is formed on the substrate (2 ′), a transparent low-gloss screen ink (UV curable Reicure OP, manufactured by Jujo Chemical Co., Ltd.) is applied by wet offset printing using a UV drying method. The second image (5 ′) shown in FIG. In UV offset wet offset printing, a low glossy transparent material (OP varnish made by DIC) is used and a solid image with an area ratio of 100% is formed using the transparent material.

In this embodiment, the visual effect of the formed information carrier will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 (a) and 17 (b). FIG. 17A is an image visually observed when the information carrier of the present invention is observed in an angle region where diffuse reflected light is dominant, and the color pigment is blue. The first image (4 ′) is recognized as the “saddle image”. FIG. 17B is a second image (5 ′) visually observed when the information carrier of the present invention is observed in an observation angle region where specular reflection light is dominant. Since it is blue and the pearl pigment is gold, the image portion (8 ′) of “printed wrinkles” is recognized as “blue” and the other background region (9 ′) is recognized as “gold”.

(Example 2)
FIG. 18 is a view showing an information carrier (1 ″) in Example 2 of the present invention. The first image made of the colored pearl ink forms an image portion of the first image by giving a fine image line to a part of the checkered flag-like lattice structure, and the second image is the embodiment. Similarly, an example in which a transparent material is used will be described with reference to FIGS.

A first image (4 ″) shown in FIG. 19A represents a background image (7 ″) having a checkered flag-like lattice structure of 0.40 mm × 0.40 mm and characters “laboratory”. And an image portion (6 ″). FIG. 19B is an enlarged view of the frame line 13 ″ portion of FIG. 19A, and a part of the lattice blank portion of the checkered flag-like lattice structure (area ratio 50%) of 0.40 mm × 0.40 mm. A vertical image line of 0.20 mm is added (area ratio 75%) to provide a difference in area ratio from the background portion (7 ″) to form an image portion (6 ″). Screen printing of the 1st image was performed on the base material (2 '') using the colored pearl ink shown in Table 1 used in the embodiment.

The second image (5 ″) shown in FIG. 20 forms a character image of “NEXT” with 100% solids. After the first printed image (4 ″) is formed on the substrate (2 ″), the second printed image (5 ″) shown in FIG. 20 is low-gloss by UV drying wet offset printing. A transparent material (OP varnish mat made by DIC) was used, and the information carrier shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the visual effect of the formed information carrier will be described with reference to FIGS. 21 (a) and 21 (b). FIG. 21 (a) is an image visually observed when the information carrier of the present invention is observed in an observation angle region where diffuse reflection light is dominant. Since the color pigment is black, The first image (4 ″) is recognized as the “laboratory” image. FIG. 21B shows a second image (5 ″) visually observed when the information carrier of the present invention is observed in an observation angle region where specular reflection light is dominant. Since the color is black and the pearl pigment is gold, the image portion (8 ″) is recognized as “NEXT” by “black”, and the other background region (9 ″) is recognized as “gold”.

(Example 3)
FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an information carrier (1 ″ ″) in Example 3 of the present invention. The first image has the motif of “Kaifu Sunny (Red Fuji)” by Hokusai Katsushika as shown in FIG. 23 (a), and the second image is a picture of “Okinami Ura, Kanagawa Prefecture” by Hokusai Katsushika as shown in FIG. It is a motif. The first image (4 ′ ″) expresses a multi-tone image by properly using a plurality of image lines having different thicknesses, and the second image (5 ′ ″) is 0% to 100%. An example of an information carrier that expresses a multi-tone image by using a halftone dot area ratio and includes two images each rich in tone expression will be described.

The first image (4 "') shown in Fig. 23 (a) using the colored pearl ink shown in Table 3 on the entire surface of the substrate (2"'), which is a general coated paper. Is printed on the entire surface of the print area of the first image (4 ′ ″), and the second image (5 ′ ″) shown in FIG. A carrier (1 '' '') was formed.

The shade of the first image (4 ′ ″) is expressed by gradation with four types of image lines having different image line widths with a constant pitch of 0.4 mm. In the first image (4 '' '), the line width of the line representing the lightest gradation that forms the snow and clouds of Mt. Fuji is 0.24 mm (area ratio 60%), and the sky The line width of the line that expresses a slightly light gradation is 0.28mm (area ratio 70%), and the line width of the line that expresses a slightly dark gradation that forms the mountain surface of Mt. Fuji is 0.30mm (area ratio 75%), and the line width of the line representing the darkest tones representing the contours of clouds, Mt. Fuji, and the foothills of Mt. Fuji is 0.32mm (area ratio 80%). Yes. FIG. 23 (b) is an enlarged view of the white square at the top of Mt. Fuji in FIG. 23 (a), and it can be seen that lines with various line widths are mixed.

The second image (5 ′ ″) shown in FIG. 24 is an image of “Kanagawa Prefecture Okinami” expressed as a multi-tone image with a dot area ratio of 0% to 100%. After forming the first image (4 ′ ″) on the entire surface of the substrate (2 ″ ″), the second image (5 ″ ″) shown in FIG. Using the transparent low-gloss offset ink (DIC OP varnish mat), the information carrier shown in FIG. 22 is overlaid so as to cover the entire area of the first image (4 ′ ″). 1 ″ ″) was produced.

In this embodiment, the visual effect of the formed information carrier will be described with reference to FIGS. 25 (a) and 25 (b). FIG. 25A and FIG. 25B are pictures of the back of the ocean off Kanagawa Prefecture, as well as the fine clear screen (Akafuji) of Katsushika Hokusai. FIG. 25A is an image visually observed when the information carrier of the present invention is observed in an observation angle region where diffuse reflected light is dominant, and the colored pigment of the colored pearl ink is blue. Therefore, the first image (4 ′ ″) is recognized as the “blue screen clear (red Fuji)” image. FIG. 25 (b) is a second image (5 ′ ″) visually observed when the information carrier of the present invention is observed in an observation angle region where specular reflection light is dominant. Since the colored pigment of the pearl ink is blue and the pearl pigment is gold, the dark image part in the figure is blue, and as the image becomes lighter, the blue color becomes lighter, instead of the interference color gold, and the plain part is Recognized by the gradation image of “Kanagawa Prefecture Okinami” expressed in gold.

  As described above, in the present invention, even when the first image (4 ′ ″) and the second image (5 ′ ″) are converted into a multi-tone image, two images with high designability are clearly displayed. Confirmed to switch. The first image in the third embodiment is an image expressed in multiple gradations within the range of the area ratio of 60% to 80%, but is not limited to this, and any area ratio range may be used. The same effect can be obtained as long as the difference between the image portion of the first image and the background portion is 5% or more and 40% or less, and more preferably, the area ratio is in the range of 35% to 80%. A clear two-image switching effect can be obtained by forming an image in which the difference between the image portion and the background portion is expressed in 5% to 40%.

The information carrier created in these examples is completely different from the original information carrier even when copied by a color copying machine, and does not show an image switch depending on the interference color and observation angle. The information carrier in the invention not only has high design properties, but also has an excellent effect of preventing counterfeiting by color copying.

  In this embodiment, the pearl pigments used are the same, and the interference color is gold. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and there is no problem with red, blue, green and other interference colors. Moreover, it is possible to select a hue according to a design also about a coloring pigment. However, as described above, it is desirable to use a dark color as the color of the color pigment. Further, although the interference effect of pearl itself is slightly lowered, it is desirable that the relationship between the interference color of the pearl pigment and the color of the color pigment is close to a complementary color in the sense of keeping the switchability high.

It is also possible to reproduce the color flip-flop properties of colored pearl inks by using a special pearl pigment that is already colored and sold, even if the pearl pigment itself is already sold. It goes without saying that an information carrier printed by superimposing this ink and a transparent material falls within the technical scope of the present invention. However, since there are few such special pearl inks at present and the selectivity of hue is extremely low, in order to faithfully reproduce the colors intended by customers and designers, the procedure for producing the colored pearl inks shown in the present invention As described above, a method of appropriately preparing an ink by mixing a pearl pigment and a color pigment has a higher degree of freedom.

  In addition, after forming the first image with the normal colored pigment ink, the same first image is formed again with the colorless pearl ink at the same position on the first image, and finally with the transparent material. Even if the second image is formed, an information carrier having the same effect as the present invention can be produced. However, this method complicates the process and causes problems such as an increase in cost and management of printing accuracy, and thus is not suitable for mass production and is not a preferred form. When problems such as poor drying of ink or poor fastness due to colored pigment in colored pearl ink occur, it is possible to replace this method using colored pigment ink and colorless pearl ink separately. It is.

In the present invention, the first image has an area ratio difference formed by image elements such as lines, circular halftone dots, and checkered flag patterns, but the present invention is not limited to this, and is shown in FIG. A difference in area ratio may be formed by image elements of halftone dots other than circular lines such as wavy lines, broken lines shown in FIG. 27, and star-shaped halftone dots shown in FIG.

In constructing the present invention, the image element forming the first image needs to have color flip-flop properties. Color flip-flop is different from bright and dark flip-flops that change the brightness only when light is reflected, which is the property of general gloss ink, gold ink, silver ink, etc. It is an effect that the hue and saturation greatly change.

In the present invention, the “low-gloss transparency material” is a transparency material having a glossiness (60 ° glossiness Murakami Color Research Laboratory Digital Glossmeter GM-3D) of 10 or less, The “high gloss transparent material” means a transparent material having a glossiness of 50 or more. However, the measurement of glossiness is not limited to the above-mentioned values because it is affected by the substrate.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the second image is formed of the “low glossy transparent material”. However, even if the second image is formed of the “high glossy transparent material”, the information In observing the regular reflection light region of the carrier, the second image can be visually recognized. In that case, both the interference color of the background part in the second image and the gloss of the transparent material of the image part both increase in brightness, so that the brightness difference between the image part and the background part is reduced, resulting in visibility. For this reason, it is desirable to form the second image with a “low glossy transparent material”.

In addition, the second image is not limited to ink, but may be formed of a laminate film having transparency and thickness that allows the base to be visually recognized. However, the process becomes complicated and the cost increases. Since there is a problem that a multi-tone image cannot be formed by dots, it is not a preferable mode.

It is a figure which shows the information carrier (1) in the best form of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 1st image (4) in the best form of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 2nd image (5) in the best form of this invention. (B) is an enlarged view of the white frame portion (13) of the first image (4) shown in (a). It is a figure which shows the positional relationship of an information carrier (1), a light source (10), and an observer's viewpoint (11). It is a visual recognition when the information carrier which printed only the 1st image (4) is observed in a regular reflection light field. The visual recognition when the viewpoint which observes an information carrier (1) is changed is shown. (A) is a figure which shows the image element 1 formed only by the thick image line of the colored pearl in a printing area | region (3). (B) is a figure which shows the image element 2 formed only by the thin image line of the colored pearl in a printing area | region (3). (C) is a diagram showing an image element 3 formed by overlapping a transparent material on a thick image line of a colored pearl in the print region (3). (D) is a diagram showing an image element 4 formed by overlapping a transparent material on a thin line of colored pearls in the print region (3). (A) is a figure which shows the positional relationship of the drawing line of the image element 1, a light source (10), and an observer's viewpoint (11). (B) is a figure which shows the positional relationship of the image line of the image element 2, a light source (10), and an observer's viewpoint (11). (C) is a figure which shows the positional relationship of the drawing line of the image element 3, a light source (10), and an observer's viewpoint (11). (D) is a figure which shows the positional relationship of the drawing line of the image element 4, a light source (10), and an observer's viewpoint (11). 6 is a graph showing a color difference ΔE of each image element when the image element 1 in the best mode of the present invention and the printed material 2 is used as a reference value. It is a graph which shows color difference (DELTA) E of each image element when the image element 1 in the printed matter 1 is made into a reference value. It is a graph which shows color difference (DELTA) E of each image element when the image element 1 in the printed matter 3 is made into a reference value. 1 shows an information carrier (1 ′) in Example 1 of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the 1st image (4 ') in Example 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 2nd image (5 ') in Example 1 of this invention. The visual recognition when the viewpoint which observes an information carrier (1 ') is changed is shown. The information carrier (1 '') in Example 2 of the present invention is shown. (A) is a 1st image (4 '') in Example 2 of this invention, (b) is a black frame part (13 ") of the 1st image (4") shown to (a). It is an enlarged view. It is a figure which shows the 2nd image (5 '') in Example 2 of this invention. The visual recognition when the viewpoint which observes an information carrier (1 '') is changed is shown. The information carrier (1 '' '') in Example 3 of the present invention is shown. (A) is the first image (4 ″ ″) according to the third embodiment of the present invention, and (b) is the Mt. Fuji mountain top white frame portion of the first image (4 ″ ″) shown in (a) ( 13 ′ ″) is an enlarged view. It is a figure which shows the 2nd image (5 '' ') in Example 3 of the present invention. The visual recognition when the viewpoint which observes an information carrier (1 '') is changed is shown. (A) is a 1st image at the time of making an image element into a wavy line, (b) is an enlarged view of a white frame part. (A) is a 1st image when an image element is made into a broken line, (b) is an enlarged view of a white frame part. (A) is a first image when the image element is a star halftone dot, and (b) is an enlarged view of a black frame portion.

Explanation of symbols

1 Information carrier 2, 2 ′, 2 ″, 2 ″ ″ Base material 3 Print image 4, 4 ′, 4 ″, 4 ″ ″ First image 5, 5 ′, 5 ″, 5 ′ ″ ″ Second image 6 Image portion 7 of the first image 7 Background portion 8 of the first image 9 Image portion 9 of the second image 10 Background portion 10 of the second image Light source 11 Viewpoints 12-2 and 12-2 ′ 12-2 ″ Polygonal lines 12-3, 12-3 ′, 12-3 ″ indicating the color difference ΔE of the image element 2 when the image element 1 is used as a reference Image element 3 when the image element 1 is used as a reference Polygonal lines 12-4, 12-4 ′, 12-4 ″ indicating the color difference ΔE of the pixel line 13, 13 ″, 13 ″ ″ indicating the color difference ΔE of the image element 4 when the image element 1 is used as a reference. Frame portion A of image of Fig. 1 Diffuse light region B Regular reflection light region

Claims (9)

A printing ink containing a base material and a material having a color different from that of the base material and having color flip-flop properties on the entire surface of the printed image region on one surface of the base material, and an image portion and a background A first image formed with a difference in area ratio between 5% and 40%, and a second print formed from a low-gloss transparent material on at least part of the surface of the first image Overlapping images to form
In the diffuse reflected light region, only the first image having a color different from that of the base material formed by the difference in the area ratio is visually recognized, and in the regular reflected light region, the first image disappears and the second image is lost. An image appears, the background portion of the second image that appears is an interference color due to the color flip-flop material, and the image portion of the second image is visible in a color different from the base material Information carrier 2. The information according to claim 1, wherein the second image is a solid image with an area ratio of 100% or a multi-tone image expressed with gradation within an area ratio of 0% to an area ratio of 100%. Carrier. The material having the color flip-flop property includes at least one of a dichroic pearl pigment, an iris pearl pigment, a scaly pigment, a scaly mica pigment, a scaly metal pigment, a glass flake pigment, or a cholesteric liquid crystal pigment. The information carrier according to claim 1 or 2. The surface treatment for imparting water repellency and oil repellency to a pigment surface is performed in order to improve the orientation of the material having the color flip-flop property contained in the printing ink. The information carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The information carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the printing ink for forming the first image contains a color pigment. 6. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein the first image is formed in an area ratio of 35% to 80% over the entire print image region. The first image is formed of a raised image element, and the height of the raised image element is in a range of 10 μm to 150 μm. Information carrier according to item. The information carrier according to claim 1, wherein the transparent material forming the second printed image is any one of a transparent varnish, an ink varnish, a transparent ink, and a medium ink. 2. The first image is formed by a difference in area ratio depending on an image element of any one of a line, a wavy line, a broken line, a circular halftone dot, a star halftone dot, or a checkered flag pattern. The information carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

Images