JP7144212B2 - printed matter - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to printed matter.

Counterfeits of high-quality products trusted by the market have become a problem. In order to distinguish between these counterfeit products and genuine products, a special label may be affixed to certify that they are manufactured in a regular manner. Like the printed matter 100 shown in FIG. 5, a normal label only has visible information such as a barcode printed on a base material 101 (visible printed portion 102), but such a special label has , invisible information is printed on the visible printed portion 102 (invisible printed portion 103) in order to guarantee that the product is genuine. Here, the invisible information means information that cannot be read visually, but can be read by performing external processing such as irradiation with ultraviolet rays. However, when invisible information is directly printed, light is reflected differently in the minute step region between the base material 101 (or the visible printed portion 102) and the invisible printed portion 103 than in the other regions. There was a problem that the invisible information could be read with the naked eye depending on the adjustment.

In order to solve this problem, various approaches have been conventionally made. In Patent Document 1, a transparent overprint layer 104 is formed on a visible printed portion 102 printed with visible information and an invisible printed portion 103 printed with invisible information (transparent fluorescent ink), like a printed matter 200 shown in FIG. Techniques for providing are disclosed. Patent Literature 2 discloses a technique of printing a pattern with a pigment having a particle size larger than that of the fluorescent pigment contained in the transparent fluorescent ink, and printing the transparent fluorescent ink on the printed pattern.

JP-A-7-195819 JP-A-7-89283

However, the technique of Patent Literature 1 is still inadequate as a technique for preventing the reading of invisible information because it may still be possible to read invisible information by adjusting the amount of light. Similarly to the technique of Patent Document 1, the technique of Patent Document 2 also has the problem that the performance of preventing the reading of invisible information is insufficient, and that the pigments to be used and the printing area of the invisible information are limited.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a printed matter that has excellent performance in preventing visual reading of invisible information without restrictions on pigments, printing areas, and the like for printing visible information.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention proposes the following means.
(1) The printed matter according to the first invention includes a substrate , a visible printed portion printed on the substrate, and an invisible printed portion printed on the substrate and made visible by irradiating heat or light. A transparent layer disposed between a printed portion, a diffuse reflection layer covering the substrate, the visible printed portion and the invisible printed portion, and the substrate, the visible printed portion and the invisible printed portion, and the diffused reflection layer . a layer , wherein the height of the transparent layer smoothly decreases in a step region between the invisible print and the substrate or the visible print . Here, the diffuse reflection layer means a layer having a function of diffusely reflecting incident light.

According to the invention, the diffusely reflecting layer covers the substrate and the invisible print. Since the light incident on the irregular reflection layer is diffusely reflected, the difference in light reflection state between the stepped region of the base material and the invisible printed portion and the other region is reduced to make the stepped region inconspicuous. Therefore, it becomes difficult to visually confirm the invisible printed portion.
By providing the irregular reflection layer, the step region between the base material and the invisible printed portion is also covered with the irregular reflection layer. For example, in the irregular reflection layer, if the thickness of the part covering the substrate and the part covering the invisible printed part are different, the irregular reflection layer absorbs the step in the step area, and the part of the irregular reflection layer covering the step area The steps that appear can be made smaller. In this case, it becomes more difficult to confirm the step area.

According to the invention, the diffusely reflective layer covers the substrate, the visible print and the invisible print or the substrate and the visible print. Since the light incident on the diffuse reflection layer is diffusely reflected, the difference in the light reflection state between the base material and the invisible printed area (or the visible printed area and the invisible printed area) and other areas is reduced, and the uneven area is reduced. make it less noticeable. Therefore, it becomes difficult to visually confirm the invisible printed portion.
According to the present invention, since the transparent layer is arranged between the base material and the invisible printed portion and the irregular reflection layer, the step appearing in the portion of the irregular reflection layer covering the stepped region is made smaller, and the stepped region is reduced. make it less noticeable. Therefore, it becomes difficult to visually confirm the invisible printed portion.

( 2 ) In the printed matter according to the second invention, in addition to the features of the invention of (1), the irregular reflection layer includes a transparent base material and particles arranged in the transparent base material and reflecting light. Prepare.

According to the present invention, since a transparent base material that transmits light is used, for example, light travels through the irregular reflection layer and is reflected multiple times by a large number of particles. As a result, incident light is diffusely reflected, making it difficult to visually confirm the invisible printed portion.

( 3 ) In the printed matter according to the third invention, in addition to the feature of the invention of (1) or (2) , the irregular reflection layer comprises a polarizing pigment.

According to the present invention, since the polarizing pigment is provided, the color tone changes depending on the viewing angle of the printed matter. Therefore, the above-described step region is made inconspicuous. Therefore, it becomes difficult to visually confirm the invisible printed portion.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can provide a printed matter excellent in performance of preventing visual reading of invisible information without restrictions on pigments, printing areas, and the like for printing visible information.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a printed matter according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a printed matter according to another embodiment of the invention with visible printing on a substrate; FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a printed matter according to another embodiment of the present invention, including a transparent layer disposed between a substrate, a visible printed portion, an invisible printed portion, and a diffuse reflection layer; FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a printed matter according to another embodiment of the present invention with visible printing above invisible printing; 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a printed product with invisible printing directly on a substrate and visible printing; FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a printed matter with an overprint layer covering a base material and visible and invisible printed areas;

A printed matter according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a printed matter 11 according to one embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 1, a printed matter 11 includes a substrate 1, an invisible printed portion 2, and a diffuse reflection layer 3. FIG. The invisible printed portion 2 is printed and formed on the base material 1 . 2 or 4 further comprises a visible print 6 on the substrate 1. FIG. In this case, the visible printed portion 6 may be printed directly on the base material 1 as shown in FIG. 2, or the visible printed portion 6 may be printed on the invisible printed portion 2 as shown in FIG. be. In FIG. 1, an example in which the diffuse reflection layer 3 includes particles 4 is shown. Specific configuration will be described later). FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a printed product 12 according to another embodiment of the invention further comprising a visible print 6 . The visible printed portion 6 is formed by printing visible information on the substrate 1 . Visible information and invisible information (information), which will be described later, include not only characters, numbers, symbols, barcodes, two-dimensional codes, etc., but also pictures, patterns, and the like. The invisible printed portion 2 and the visible printed portion 6 may be provided only on one side of the substrate 1 or may be provided on both sides.
In the following, the printed matter 11 according to FIG. 1 will be described unless otherwise specified.

<1. Substrate>
The material of the base material 1 is not limited as long as it can include the invisible printed portion 2 (the invisible printed portion 2 and the visible printed portion 6 when the visible printed portion 6 is provided as shown in FIG. 2). For example, the substrate 1 can be made of resin film such as polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinyl chloride, etc., or paper materials such as woodfree paper, copy printing paper, rayon paper, coated paper, synthetic paper, laminated paper, and the like. Moreover, the base material 1 may be provided with an adhesive layer on the surface opposite to the surface provided with the invisible printed portion 2 . When providing an adhesive layer, the base material 1 may further be provided with release paper covering the adhesive layer. The base material 1 may be provided with a base layer for the purpose of preventing peeling of the invisible printed portion 2 and the visible printed portion 6 .

<2. Invisible printing section>
The invisible printed portion 2 is a portion on which invisible information is printed. Since the invisible printed portion 2 has invisibility (transparency), it becomes difficult to visually confirm the invisible printed portion 2 . The higher the transparency, the more difficult it is to see the invisible printed portion 2, so the invisible printed portion 2 preferably has high transparency. The invisible printed portion 2 can be formed with ink that becomes visible by irradiating heat or light. In particular, the invisible printed portion 2 is preferably formed using fluorescent ink that becomes visible when irradiated with light having a wavelength outside the visible range, such as ultraviolet rays and infrared rays. Here, fluorescent ink refers to an ink obtained by dispersing a material that emits fluorescence in response to ultraviolet rays, infrared rays, or the like in a resin. By irradiating the invisible printed portion 2 formed of fluorescent ink with ultraviolet rays or infrared rays, the fluorescent material contained in the fluorescent ink is excited to emit light of a predetermined wavelength. Invisible information can be read by detecting this light using a predetermined device. As the fluorescent material, an organic material such as anthracene can be used in addition to an inorganic material such as zinc oxide. As the ink that becomes visible by heat, for example, HA Metamo manufactured by Pilot Ink Co., Ltd. or the ink described in JP-A-2001-105732 can be used. Since the invisible printed portion 2 formed with such ink develops color when heated, invisible information can be read.

<3. Diffuse reflection layer>
The irregular reflection layer 3 has a function of irregularly reflecting incident light. By providing the diffuse reflection layer 3 on the base material 1 and the invisible printed part 2 (the base material 1, the visible printed part 6 and the invisible printed part 2 in FIG. 2), the light incident on the printed matter 11 is diffusely reflected, and the base material 1 and the invisible printed portion 2, the difference in light reflection state between the stepped region and the other regions is reduced to make the stepped region inconspicuous. As a result, it becomes difficult to visually confirm the invisible printed portion 2 . The irregular reflection layer 3 preferably has transparency to the extent that the invisible printed portion 2 can be visually confirmed when the invisible printed portion 2 is visualized by an external treatment such as ultraviolet rays. The irregular reflection layer 3 may be formed by etching the outermost layer to form fine irregularities, or by printing ink in which particles are dispersed. However, the method is not particularly limited. The irregular reflection layer 3 may not completely cover the entire surface of the substrate 1 as long as the reading prevention performance of the invisible printed portion 2 does not deteriorate, and it is present in dots over the entire substrate and substantially may be covered.

The irregular reflection layer 3 preferably comprises a transparent base material 5 and particles 4 that reflect light. In the case of a diffuse reflection layer 3 comprising a transparent base material 5 and light-reflecting particles 4, the transparency and diffuse reflection performance of the diffuse reflection layer 3 are adjusted by changing the chemical composition, shape, and ratio of the light-reflecting particles 4. becomes possible. Therefore, by adjusting the properties of the irregular reflection layer 3 according to the color, thickness, etc. of the substrate 1 and the visible printed portion 6, it is possible to make the invisible printed portion 2 more difficult to see.

The transparent base material 5 is not particularly limited as long as it is a material having transparency, and for example, polystyrene, polycarbonate, acrylic resin, or the like can be used. In order to improve the weather resistance and abrasion resistance of the irregular reflection layer 3, the base material 5 can contain additives within a range that does not impede the anti-reading performance of the invisible printed portion 2.

As the particles 4 arranged in the transparent base material 5, it is sufficient that they have a function of reflecting light, and aluminum, mica, or the like can be used. The shape of the particles 4 may be spherical, or non-spherical such as scale-like or rod-like, and can be appropriately selected according to the material and color tone of the base material 1 and the visible print portion 6 . The surface of the particles 4 may be modified in order to improve dispersibility in resin.

The irregular reflection layer 3 preferably comprises a polarizing pigment. Here, the polarizing pigment (pearl pigment) refers to a pigment (particle) whose color tone changes depending on the angle of light, and refers to, for example, thin plate-like mica particles coated with titanium dioxide. By providing the diffuse reflection layer 3 with the polarizing pigment, the color tone of the printed matter 11 changes depending on the viewing angle of the printed matter 11 . Therefore, the step between the invisible printed portion 2 and the base material 1 (or the visible printed portion 6) becomes even less noticeable. In addition to the polarizing pigment, light-reflecting particles may also be used in the irregular reflection layer 3 for the purpose of improving irregular reflection performance. A plurality of types of polarizing pigments may be used in combination. The irregular reflection layer 3 containing the polarizing pigment may be formed by printing with ink containing the polarizing pigment, or by laminating a laminate film containing the polarizing pigment.

<4. Transparent layer>
FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a printed matter 13 according to the present invention, further comprising a transparent layer 7 disposed between the substrate 1, the visible printed portion 6, the invisible printed portion 2, and the irregular reflection layer 3. As shown in FIG. 3, since the transparent layer 7 covers the substrate 1 (or the visible printed portion 6) and the invisible printed portion 2, the height of the transparent layer 7 smoothly changes in the step region 7a. Therefore, the level difference that appears in the outermost layer of the printed material 13 due to the level difference between the base material 1 and the invisible printed part 2 (or the level difference between the visible printed part 6 and the invisible printed part 2) is reduced. As a result, it becomes difficult to visually confirm the invisible printed portion 2 . The transparent layer 7 can be formed by printing, lamination, or the like, and its material is not particularly limited as long as it is a transparent material such as polycarbonate or acrylic.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a printed product 14 according to another embodiment comprising visible printing 6 above invisible printing 2 . In the case of this embodiment, the visible printed portion 6 is printed and formed on the invisible printed portion 2 . In the printed matter 14 of the present invention, it is preferable that the substrate 1, the irregular reflection layer 3 and the visible printed portion 6 transmit infrared rays or ultraviolet rays, and the invisible printed portion 2 does not transmit infrared rays or ultraviolet rays. When the printed matter 14 of the present invention is irradiated with infrared rays or ultraviolet rays, the invisible printed portion 2 does not transmit the infrared rays or ultraviolet rays, but the other portions transmit the infrared rays or ultraviolet rays. By doing so, invisible information becomes visible. In the printed matter 14 of the present invention, since the irregular reflection layer 3 is provided on the base material 1 and the visible printed portion 6, the light incident on the printed matter 14 is irregularly reflected, The difference in the reflection state of the other areas is reduced to make the stepped area 6a inconspicuous. As a result, it becomes difficult to visually check the invisible information printed on the invisible printing unit 2 .

As described above, when the printed matter 11 to 14 according to the present embodiment is used, the light incident on the irregular reflection layer 3 is irregularly reflected, so that the light in the stepped area between the base material 1 and the invisible printed part 2 and other areas It is possible to reduce the difference in the reflection state between the two and make the stepped area inconspicuous. Therefore, it is possible to make it difficult to visually confirm the invisible printed portion 2 .

The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
For example, an abrasion-resistant layer may be formed on the irregular reflection layer 3 to improve abrasion resistance.
In addition, it is possible to appropriately replace the constituent elements in the above-described embodiment with well-known constituent elements without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and the modifications described above may be combined as appropriate.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The printed matter of the present invention can be used in industries that handle printed matter for identifying authenticity of products.

1: Substrate 2: Invisible printed part 3: Diffuse reflection layer 4: Particles 5: Transparent base material 6: Visible printed part 7: Transparent layer 11: Printed matter 12: Printed matter 13: Printed matter 14: Printed matter

Claims (3)

a substrate;
a visible print printed on the substrate;
An invisible printed portion that is printed on the base material and becomes visible by irradiating heat or light;
a diffuse reflection layer covering the substrate , the visible printed portion, and the invisible printed portion;
a transparent layer disposed between the substrate, the visible printed portion and the invisible printed portion, and the irregular reflection layer;
with
The printed matter , wherein the height of the transparent layer is smoothly reduced in a step region between the invisible printed portion and the substrate or the visible printed portion . 2. The printed matter according to claim 1 , wherein the irregular reflection layer comprises a transparent base material and particles arranged in the base material and reflecting light. 3. The printed matter according to claim 1, wherein the irregular reflection layer comprises a polarizing pigment.

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