Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
  • H04N1/00838—Preventing unauthorised reproduction
  • H04N1/00856—Preventive measures
  • H04N1/00875—Inhibiting reproduction, e.g. by disabling reading or reproduction apparatus
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
  • H04N1/00838—Preventing unauthorised reproduction
  • H04N1/00883—Auto-copy-preventive originals, i.e. originals that are designed not to allow faithful reproduction
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
  • H04N1/32—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device
  • H04N1/32101—Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
  • H04N1/32144—Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title embedded in the image data, i.e. enclosed or integrated in the image, e.g. watermark, super-imposed logo or stamp
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, and to details thereof
  • H04N2201/32—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device
  • H04N2201/3201—Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
  • H04N2201/3269—Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title of machine readable codes or marks, e.g. bar codes or glyphs
  • H04N2201/327—Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title of machine readable codes or marks, e.g. bar codes or glyphs which are undetectable to the naked eye, e.g. embedded codes
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, and to details thereof
  • H04N2201/32—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device
  • H04N2201/3201—Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
  • H04N2201/3271—Printing or stamping

Definitions

• This invention relates generally to color document protection methods and products, and more particularly to methods and products for printing and obtaining original documents that can be readily differentiated from copies made of those documents.
• the document protection methods and products also allow detection of an original document by a document reader.
• the images produced from the scan may be provided to a software program, such as PHOTOSHOP TM, and color separated to form separate images in each of the primary printing colors, e.g. cyan, yellow, magenta and black.
• a software program such as PHOTOSHOP TM
• color separated to form separate images in each of the primary printing colors, e.g. cyan, yellow, magenta and black.
• a document carrying an image may comprise: a first image portion formed at a first color, the first image portion having a plurality of lines at a frequency of about 80, 95, 105, 245 or 200 lpi or any combination of lines dots or spots or images when printed in colors by themselves or incorporated into artwork pictures or indicia that would create distortions, moire patterns, color shifts and density gain when said document is scanned by a scanning device.
• a document carrying an image may comprise: first lines having a first line frequency, a first angle and a first color; and second lines placed over the first lines and having a second line frequency, a second angle and a second color, wherein at least one of the first line frequency and the second line frequency are an interference scanning frequency.
• a document carrying an image the image may comprise: first lines having a first line frequency, a first angle and a first color; second lines placed over the first lines and having a second line frequency, a second angle and a second color; and third lines placed over the second lines and having a third line frequency, a third angle and a third color, wherein at least one of the first line frequency, the second line frequency and the third line frequency are an interference scanning frequency.
• a document carrying an image may comprise: first lines having a first line frequency, a first angle and a first color; second lines placed over the first lines and having a second line frequency, a second angle and a second color; third lines placed over the second lines and having a third line frequency, a third angle and a third color; and fourth lines placed over the third lines and having a fourth line frequency, a fourth angle and a fourth color, wherein at least one of the first line frequency, the second line frequency, the third line frequency and the fourth line frequency are an interference scanning frequency, or the combination of images create interference frequencies.
• a document carrying an image may comprise: first lines having a first line frequency, a first angle and a first color; and second lines placed over the first lines and having a second line frequency, a second angle and a second color, wherein white space is formed between the first lines and the second lines as a result of the intersection between the first lines and the second lines, the white space having at least one interference scanning frequency.
• a document carrying an image may comprise: first lines having a first line frequency, a first angle and a first color; second lines placed over the first lines and having a second line frequency, a second angle and a second color; and third lines placed over the second lines and having a third line frequency, a third angle and a third color, wherein white space is formed between the first lines, the second lines and the third lines as a result of the intersection between the first lines, the second lines and the third lines, the white space having at least one interference scanning frequency.
• a document carrying an image may comprise: first lines having a first line frequency, a first angle and a first color; second lines placed over the first lines and having a second line frequency, a second angle and a second color; third lines placed over the second lines and having a third line frequency, a third angle and a third color; and fourth lines placed over the third lines and having a fourth line frequency, a fourth angle and a fourth color, wherein white space is formed between the first lines, the second lines, the third lines, and the fourth lines as a result of the intersection between the first lines, the second lines, the third lines and the fourth lines, the white space having at least one interference scanning frequency.
• a document carrying an image may comprise: first lines having a first line frequency, a first angle and a first color; second lines placed over the first lines and having a second line frequency, a second angle and a second color; third lines placed over the second lines and having a third line frequency, a third angle and a third color; and fourth lines placed over the third lines and having a fourth line frequency, a fourth angle and a fourth color, wherein white space is formed between the first lines, the second lines, the third lines, and the fourth lines as a result of the intersection between the first lines, the second lines, the third lines and the fourth lines, the white space having at least one interference scanning frequency.
• a document for determining interference scanning frequencies of a scanning device may comprise: a plurality of rows of images having a line frequency, each row having a line frequency which is different from line frequencies in other rows.
• the line frequencies range from 50 lpi to 400 lpi.
• each row contains a plurality of blocks having lines printed at different densities.
• An apparatus for determining interference frequencies of a scanning device may comprise: a processor configured to receive an image from a scanning device, and configured to compare the image from the scanning device with an original copy of the image, wherein the image has a plurality of image portions, each image portion having a different line frequency from other image portions, at least one line frequency being an interference frequency.
• a method of determining interference frequencies in a scanning device may comprise: scanning a plurality of images and generating a plurality of scanned images, each image having a unique line frequency; comparing the scanned images to the images and determining if the scanned images contain distortions, moire patterns, color shifts and density gain, wherein at least one image contains a line frequency which produces distortions, moire patterns, color shifts and density gain.
• a computer readable medium may carry instructions to cause a microprocessor to perform a method of determining interference frequencies in a scanning device comprising: scanning a plurality of images and generating a plurality of scanned images, each image having a unique line frequency; comparing the scanned images to the images and determining if the scanned images contain distortions, moire patterns, color shifts and density gain, wherein at least one image contains a line frequency which produces distortions, moire patterns, color shifts and density gain.
• Figure 1 illustrates a document having an image which was produced in accordance with the principles of the present invention
• Figure 2 illustrates a magnification of the image of Figure 1
• Figure 3 illustrates another embodiment of a document which was produced in accordance with the principles of the present invention
• Figure 4 illustrates a magnification of the image of Figure 3
• Figure 5 illustrates a further magnification of the image of Figure 3
• Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary test pattern 600 that may be used to determine interference frequencies of scanning and copying devices
• Figure 7 illustrates an exemplary apparatus for determining interference scanning frequencies
• Figure 8 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram for a method of determining interference scanning frequencies.
• scanning device is used hereafter to refer to any device which performs an optical scan to obtain an image of a document, including photocopying and scanning equipment.
• These devices have various interference scanning frequencies, i.e. line frequencies which do not scan accurately.
• These interference frequencies also may have one or more orders, fn, which also do not scan accurately.
• typical scanning devices have interference frequencies of more than one first order moire at 80, 95, 105, 245 and 200 lpi.
• Figure 1 illustrates a document 1 having an image 2 which was produced in accordance with the principals of this invention.
• Document 1 may be any type of printed document, including security notes, trading cards, etc.
• Image 2 is preferably formed by printing a plurality of lines having a color.
• lines as used in this application means solid lines, dots or spots or any other printing technique to form a line in an image.
• Figure 2 illustrates a magnification of image 2 to illustrate an exemplary layer of lines of image 2.
• a layer 21 having a first line density and a first angle of printing.
• First layer 21 is preferably printed at an interference frequency which produces a moire effect when it is scanned by a conventional scanner or photocopier, such as a line frequency of about 80, 95, 105, 245 and 200 lpi (lines per inch).
• an interference frequency such as a line frequency of about 80, 95, 105, 245 and 200 lpi (lines per inch).
• the density of each scanned color lines is substantially increased in the copy, e.g. by about 200% or up to about 400% or more, creating a distorted image.
• FigF ⁇ 3 illustrates a document 11 having a color image 12 which was produced in accordance with the principals of this invention.
• Document 14 may be any type of printed document, including security notes, trading cards, etc.
• Color image 12 is preferably formed by printing a plurality of lines having a color over each other at predetermined angles from each other.
• the composite image from the colored lines forms color image 12.
• Figure 4 illustrates a magnification of image 12 to illustrate four exemplary layers of lines of image 12.
• a first layer of lines 4 has a first line density and a first angle of printing.
• a second layer of lines 6 is placed over lines 4, the second layer has a second line density and a second angle of printing.
• the second angle of printing is preferably 5-25 degrees apart from the first angle of lines 4.
• a third layer of lines 8 is placed over lines 6 at a third line density and a third angle of printing.
• a fourth color may be printed with lines 10 at a fourth angle and fourth line density.
• the four base colors which are typically used for printing are cyan, yellow, magenta and black.
• the first to fourth line densities may be the same line density or different line densities depending on the desired color.
• image 12 is illustrated as using all four colors for purposes of illustrating the operation of the invention, the desired color of the image will dictate the relative proportions of the base colors to be used, which may result in as few as one color being used up to as many as all four colors being used with various densities.
• Figure 5 illustrates a further magnification of image 2 to illustrate an exemplary interaction between the lines 4, 6, 8 and 10. As illustrated in Figure 5 lines 4, 6, 8 and 10 are preferably printed at different angles and "white" spaces 16 are formed between the intersection of the lines.
• the combination of lines 4, 6, 8 and 10 and white spaces 16 form a frequency and are preferably produce an interference frequency of the scanning device.
• the angle and frequency of lines 4, 6, 8 and 10 produce white space 16 which have a frequency which corresponds with an interference frequency of a scanning device.
• White spaces 16 may have any number of frequencies at various scan angles, including 0, 45 and 90 degrees, and may include more than one interference frequency and/or several orders of an interference frequency.
• interference frequencies may be introduced by printing one or more of lines 4, 6, 8 and 10 at an interfering frequency, or by placing one or more of lines 4, 6, 8 and 10 at an appropriate angle with respect to the other lines so that the white space formed has one or more interference frequencies.
• the former technique may be achieved by printing one or more of lines 4, 6, 8 and 10 at about 80, 95, 105, 245 and 200 lpi.
• the latter technique may be achieved by selecting angles for lines 4, 6, 8 and 10 which produce white space 16 at an interference frequency.
• the image corruption preferably works at any scanning angle, including 0, 45, and 90 degree scans by having interfering frequencies at various scanning angles.
• the corruption also preferably increases, gets worse, with higher line frequencies since more interference frequencies may be utilized.
• the interfering frequencies cause the scanner to increase or multiply the intensity of each of the colors in color separation (yellow, cyan, magenta and black) to have a density 300 to 700% their density on the original image 2.
• the resulting copy preferably contains significant distortions which may even appear as a muddy blend of colors.
• a typical scanning device also will not be able to provide an accurate image to a computer, effectively making it impossible to use a computer to perform a counterfeiting operation.
• lines 4 may be cyan at a density of 80 lpi and an angle of 0 degrees
• lines 6 may be yellow at a density of 245 lpi and an angle of 105 degrees
• lines 8 may be magenta at a density of 105 lpi and an angle of 105 degrees
• lines 10 may be black at a density of 95 lpi and an angle of 90 degrees.
• lines 4 may be black at a frequency of 245 lpi and an angle of 0 degrees
• lines 6 may be magenta at a frequency of 95 lpi and an angle of 15 degrees
• lines 8 may be cyan at a frequency of 105 lpi and an angle of 90 degrees
• lines 10 may be yellow at a frequency of 80 lpi and an angle of 105 degrees.
• only two colors may be used.
• lines 4 may be black at a frequency of 245 lpi and an angle of 0 degrees and lines 6 may be cyan at a frequency of 80 lpi and an angle of 15 degrees.
• one or more of the colors may be printed in dots in between the lines.
• lines 4 may be printed in cyan at a frequency of 105 lpi at 0 degrees and a dot may be printed in between line 4 in magenta with a frequency of 285 lpi at 0 degrees as well.
• White space is formed between lines 4 and the dots and also between the dots.
• the density of lines 6 and 7 are controlled by controlling the pitch (distance between lines), thickness of the lines 6 and 7, or by controlling the density of the medium, such as ink, used to print lines 6 and 7.
• the density of lines 6 and 7 may range from 5% to 95% depending on the colors selected for lines 6 and 7, the density of the medium, the thickness of the lines, and the desired appearance of image 2. In an exemplary embodiment, a density of 50% for each of lines 6 and 7 may be used, with a red color for line 6 and a green color for line 7. Also in an exemplary embodiment, lines 6 and 7 may be printed at a different angle than used to print background 3.
• lines 24 in background area 21 may have a frequency of at least 175 lines per inch and preferably of 300 lines per inch, and a line width of 0.0025 inches at a 45 degree angle
• lines 23 in image 14 may have a frequency between 100-133 lines per inch and preferably a frequency of 95 lines per inch at a 30 degree angle.
• Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary test pattern 600 that may be used to determine interference frequencies of scanning and copying devices.
• Test pattern 600 preferably has a plurality of rows 602 of different line frequencies ranging from about 50 lpi to about 400 lpi. Each row 602 preferably has a separate line frequency.
• Each row 602 preferably has a series of blocks 604 ranging in densities from about 20% to 80%.
• the scanner operator can view the scanned copy to determine which line frequencies provide the greatest distortion.
• the line frequencies which provide the greatest distortion may be used as the interference frequencies in a printing operation in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Accordingly, even if conventional scanning devices are modified in a manner which alters their current interference frequencies, newly created interference scanning frequencies may be readily identified.
• Figure 7 illustrates an exemplary apparatus for determining interference scanning frequencies. As illustrated in Figure 7, scanning device 700 preferably receives a document bearing test pattern 600, or any other suitable test pattern, and scans the document.
• the scanning device 700 may be any conventional type of scanning or photocopying unit, including scanning units capable of providing a digital image of a photograph or of providing an electronic word processor document from a text scan.
• Scanner 700 may be of the type suitable for use with photographic and text scanners, photocopiers, facsimiles.
• Scanner 700 preferably generates a scanned representation of a scan of document 600, such as a digital representation, and provides this information to a processor 702.
• Scanner 700 may contain one or more storage devices (not shown), such as a RAM, floppy disk drive, writeable CD drive, or the like, which may be used to store the scanned representation prior to being sent to the microprocessor.
• Data of the scanned image is preferably provided to processor 702 through I/O ports 706, which may be connected to scanner 700 by a cable or a wireless connection or may be remotely located and connected through a suitable communication architecture, such as the internet, or telephone network.
• Processor 702 preferably contains the test pattern in a memory 708, which may be any type of memory such as a RAM, a ROM, a hard disk etc.
• Processor 702 also preferably contains a microprocessor 710 which is programmed to compare each line frequency and corresponding density in the original test pattern 600 recalled from memory 708 with the scanned image provided by scanner 700.
• I/O ports 706 and memory 708 are illustrated as being in separate units from microprocessor 710 for purposes of illustrating the invention, those of skill in the art will appreciate that I/O ports 706 and/or memory 708 may be integrally contained in microprocessor 710.
• the microprocessor determines if any moire patterns are produced by determining if there are distortions in the lines such as by determining if the direction(s) or orientation(s) of the lines are different in the copy than the test pattern 600 or if the lines in the copy are wavy or have a greater density than in the original. Line frequencies in the original which produce the greatest distortions in the scan copy, e.g.
• FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram for a method of determining interference scanning frequencies.
• data indicative of a scanned image which is preferably ari image of a block 606 or a row 602, is received by processor 702 (step Sl) which attempts to identify or discriminate lines in the scanned image (step S2). If lines cannot be discriminated in the scanned image, e.g.
• processor 702 preferably determines the line frequency in the original image is an interference scanning frequency. If lines can be discriminated, YES in step S2, processor 702 preferably retrieves data indicative of the original image (step S3) and compares attributes of the original image to the scanned image (step S4).
• the compared attributes may include comparing the line frequency in the scanned image with the original, distortions of the lines in the scanned image (e.g. a straight line in the original being a wavy line in the scanned image), density gain of the lines, and/or convergence or divergences of the lines in the scanned image which are parallel in the original.
• step S4 IF the compared attributes are greater than a predetermined amount, e.g. if the density gain is about 200% or more, Yes in step S4, then the line frequency of the original image is identified as an interference scanning frequency. Otherwise, No in step S 5, the line frequency is not identified as an interference scanning frequency.
• a predetermined amount e.g. if the density gain is about 200% or more
• the line frequency is identified as an interference scanning frequency. Otherwise, No in step S 5, the line frequency is not identified as an interference scanning frequency.
• the architecture illustrated in each of Figure 7, may be entirely contained in a single device or multiple devices, and the functions associated with the architecture in Figure 7 may be performed by programmable software. Moreover, the operations illustrated in Figure 8 may be performed by programmable software on an internal or external memory (not shown) associated with microprocessor 710, such as a ROM or a RAM or any other memory.
• a computer readable medium within the scope of this disclosure includes any medium, physical or metaphysical, which is capable of carrying information in a form which can be read by an appropriately configured computer or mobile communication device and associated peripheral devices of the computer or station, including, but not limited to: an optical readable/writeable disc, a magnetic disk, a readable/writeable card, a magnetic tape, an electrical transmission signal for wireline or wireless transmission or optical transmission of data using electrical and/or electromagnetic signals.
• the data associated with the programmable software may be in the form of packetized digital data and may configured for transmission over the internet.
• images may be printed in accordance with the principles of the present invention to prevent unauthorized copying of those images.
• the present invention may be used to print currency so that the currency could not be scanned and color separated to thwart counterfeiting efforts.
• Artwork such as prints and posters, may also be printed in accordance with the principles of the present invention to thwart unauthorized copying, duplication or use of the artwork.
• the principles of the present invention may also be used to print security images, including latent security images, which may be used on a variety of documents, including identification cards, drivers licenses, currency, etc.
• the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof.
• the present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
• Cleaning In Electrography (AREA)
• Editing Of Facsimile Originals (AREA)
• Color Image Communication Systems (AREA)
• Facsimile Image Signal Circuits (AREA)
• Facsimile Scanning Arrangements (AREA)

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Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Related Child Applications (2)

Publications (2)

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ID=34957908

Family Applications (1)

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Cited By (8)

Citations (5)

• 2004
  • 2004-06-14 BR BRPI0418853-5A patent/BRPI0418853A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2004-06-14 JP JP2007516446A patent/JP2008503155A/ja active Pending
  • 2004-06-14 AU AU2004321079A patent/AU2004321079A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2004-06-14 CA CA002570983A patent/CA2570983A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2004-06-14 MX MXPA06014645A patent/MXPA06014645A/es not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2004-06-14 EP EP04754986A patent/EP1772006A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2004-06-14 WO PCT/US2004/018580 patent/WO2006001793A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (5)

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