A printing ink having a first fluorescent dye acting as donor and a second fluorescent dye acting as acceptor. The first fluorescent dye, upon excitation by electromagnetic radiation falling within an excitation wavelength range λ.sub.1a of the first fluorescent dye, is capable of emitting electromagnetic radiation in at least one first emission wavelength range λ.sub.1e, said first emission wavelength range λ.sub.1e of the first fluorescent dye overlapping with at least one excitation wavelength range λ.sub.2a of the second fluorescent dye, to thereby excite the second fluorescent dye to emit electromagnetic radiation in a second emission wavelength range λ.sub.2e.

Methods and distributed computer devices for automatically determining whether a document is genuine. The method involves generating an image of the document, pre-processing of the image to obtain at least one segment of the image with an area of interest and dividing the at least one segment into portions containing single characters and/or combinations of characters. A validation of at least two single characters and/or at least two combinations of characters is performed for each of the single character and/or character combinations for at least two different categories. Score values are created for each category for each validated single character and/or character combination. Feature vectors are created for each single character and/or character combination, with the respective score values for each category as components. The method involves classifying the feature vectors to determine whether the single character or character combination to which the feature vector is associated is genuine.

A fraud confirmation assisting apparatus includes a light source, a reading sensor, and processing circuitry. The light source irradiates an object to be read with light in at least an invisible wavelength range. The reading sensor has sensitivity at least in the invisible wavelength range. The processing circuitry performs a reading operation on the object to be read by a combination of the light source and the reading sensor, and outputs a plurality of pieces of fraud confirmation information based on read information output from the reading sensor by the reading operation.

A shopping cart system that includes an image that can be applied to the packaging of an item. The image may be invisible in a visible light spectrum but only visible in radiations of a specific spectrum or within a range of wavelengths that are outside the visible light spectrum. An optical scanner unit that can scan the image on the package. The optical scanner unit can include a lamp that can generate the radiations in the specific spectrum in which the image can be scanned. The optical scanner unit can be mounted to a shopping cart such as to track items being placed or removed from the shopping cart.

Disclosed herein is a novel invention of Digitalized High Value Paper Currency (DHVPC) and its overall processes for the printing, registration, distribution, recording and monitoring of transactions through a specially designed Online Portal. During the DHVPC registration, opening of additional ledger window with simultaneous automatic generation of a window in the Online Portal of Reserve Bank/Central bank of each nation takes place with automatic updating of transactions of DHVPC. This Invention provides 100% protection from counterfeiting of Paper Currency, monitoring, tracking of currency, blocking of illegal transactions, value protection in unforeseen situations, easiness to carry and handle, faster scanning of currency and improved security. The DHVPC transactions can be done through Commercial and Scheduled Banks or ATM/CDM or Net Banking. Counterfeiting is 100% impossible because, the registration of DHVPC is possible only through Reserve bank/Central bank of each nation, parallel entry of currency into the circulation is not possible.

Disclosed herein is a novel invention of Digitalized High Value Paper Currency (DHVPC) and its overall processes for the printing, registration, distribution, recording and monitoring of transactions through a specially designed Online Portal. During the DHVPC registration, opening of additional ledger window with simultaneous automatic generation of a window in the Online Portal of Reserve Bank/Central bank of each nation takes place with automatic updating of transactions of DHVPC. This Invention provides 100% protection from counterfeiting of Paper Currency, monitoring, tracking of currency, blocking of illegal transactions, value protection in unforeseen situations, easiness to carry and handle, faster scanning of currency and improved security. The DHVPC transactions can be done through Commercial and Scheduled Banks or ATM/CDM or Net Banking. Counterfeiting is 100% impossible because, the registration of DHVPC is possible only through Reserve bank/Central bank of each nation, parallel entry of currency into the circulation is not possible.

A method for authenticating an object, comprising determining a physical dispersion pattern of a set of elements, determining a physical characteristic of the set of elements which is distinct from a physical characteristic producible by a transfer printing technology, determining a digital code associated with the object defining the physical dispersion pattern, and authenticating the object by verifying a correspondence of the digital code with the physical dispersion pattern, and verifying the physical characteristic.

A method for authenticating an object, comprising determining a physical dispersion pattern of a set of elements, determining a physical characteristic of the set of elements which is distinct from a physical characteristic producible by a transfer printing technology, determining a digital code associated with the object defining the physical dispersion pattern, and authenticating the object by verifying a correspondence of the digital code with the physical dispersion pattern, and verifying the physical characteristic.

An object marking including a first security element and at least a second security element, wherein each security element is associated with a set of data segments and each security element exhibits depending on the capturing conditions, in particular the viewing angle and/or the direction of illumination, a code segment which is an optoelectronically readable representation of one of the data segments of the set associated with the respective security element, wherein different distinct data segments are represented by different code segments and that the set associated with the first security element and the set associated with the second security element differ in at least one data segment; method for producing and method for authenticating the same.

A method includes providing an image; analyzing the image to determine one or more encodable areas; determining a plurality of distinct serial numbers; adding the plurality of distinct serial numbers to a database; and producing a first plurality of first tags based on the image, each of the first tags including encoded information in at least one encodable area thereon, the encoded information for each particular first tag including a corresponding particular unique serial number of the distinct serial numbers, wherein at least some of the encoded information is encoded using steganography. Information in the image is used to authenticate a product.