A method and apparatus for establishing product items unique identity for purpose of anti-counterfeiting or anti-theft is disclosed. It employs a fluorescent taggant embedded in product item, template, digitally based Encoder and Decoder. The taggant comprising plurality of fluorescent entities which in turn may comprise such distinct geometric and spectral optical characteristics-attributes as relative locations, emission/absorption spectra, polarization degrees and post luminanc delay and duration times. Such uniqueness is determined by the presence of a combination of a wide variety of fluorescent materials used during the application. The set of fluorescent entities are result of a random process and form a product item's fingerprint. The said template is a particular digitized representation of a taggant. The Encoder may comprise a camera, LED array based activator, configured to follow a particular illumination sequence and computation unit. The said camera further comprises at least two polarizing filters and template generator and the respective controllers. The Decoder may comprise at least one camera identical to the of the Encoder, at least one template/taggant readers and a computation unit, which may be shared with the said Encoder. Product item identity is based on the fluorescent taggant uniqueness, with the later embedded into the product in a non separable way. After the extracted attribute values assiciated with the taggant, are digitized. Digitazing comprises mixing with chaff (spurious) patterns of the same format, error correction, transformation in a non invertible and compression and encryption. This forms a template, embedded in the product in a readable form. The decoding comprises feature extraction of taggant, reading template and decrypting, its content, error correction, decompression. Then the extracted and the decoding results are cross-matched in order to identify the product item. Irreproducibility of a plurality of fluorescent entities and high degree of security of its digital representation due to encryption, high variability of LED patterns and non-invertible transformation is a basis of a chaosmetric anti-counterfeiting solution disclosed in the present invention.

An ink that is detectable using infrared (IR) light may be used to apply machine readable codes, such as a barcode. The indicia, once applied, may be either invisible or difficult to detect with visible light, such as with the human eye. The ink may include one or more materials such as titanium dioxide (TiO.sub.2), particles of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), metals, and so forth. These materials may be used to enhance one or more of the reflectivity to IR light or the fluorescence of the ink under IR light. The fluorescent ink may be deposited in a single pass, or as part of a two-pass process in which a reflective substrate, such as a resin with encapsulated TiO.sub.2, is applied and then the fluorescent ink is deposited atop the substrate. The markings are machine readable even when overprinting markings that are readable under visible light.

A digital printing press for printing security documents is provided. The digital printing press comprises: a first digital print head, the first digital printhead comprising a first array of print nozzles having a first nozzle diameter; a second digital print head, the second digital print head comprising a second array of print nozzles having a second nozzle diameter different from the first nozzle diameter; optionally, an offset printing unit, the offset printing unit comprising one or more offset printing surfaces, wherein the offset printing unit is adapted to transport a print area of the one or more offset printing surfaces sequentially past each of the first and second digital print heads, and subsequently to transfer print received from the first and second digital print heads to a security document substrate; a transport system adapted to transport a security document substrate along a transport path through the digital printing press, wherein either the transport path takes the security document sequentially past each of the first and second digital print heads in a feed direction, or the transport path takes the security document substrate past the offset printing unit, if provided, in a feed direction; a controller adapted to control both the first and second digital print heads to execute a set of printing instructions so as to print on a security document substrate transported past the first and second digital print heads by the transport system or to print on the print area of the one or more offset printing surfaces transported past the first and second digital print heads by the offset printing unit (and to transfer the print received on the print area of the offset printing to the security document substrate), the set of printing instructions including printing instructions at a first resolution for the first digital print head for printing a first print working and printing instructions at a second resolution different from the first resolution for the second digital print head for printing a second print working; wherein the first digital print head is configured to print at the first resolution and the second digital print head is configured to print at the second resolution, and wherein the first and second digital print heads are configured or controlled by the controller to remain static relative to the transport path or offset printing unit while the first and second digital print heads execute the respective printing instructions.

A method is provided for producing a luminescent security marking on a substrate of a predetermined substrate type. The security marking includes a layer sequence applied on top of the substrate in a part region and formed from a diffuse reflectance printing ink applied on top of the substrate and from a luminescent printing ink applied on top of the diffuse reflectance printing ink, or a mixture of a diffuse reflectance printing ink and a luminescent printing ink. The layer sequence or the mixture exhibit visible luminescence after excitation. The layer sequence or the mixture are printed with a chosen layer thickness onto a substrate of the predetermined substrate type, in order to obtain a luminescent security marking, the luminescent spectrum of which matches the calculated combination spectrum in the part region on illumination with the excitation light. The invention also relates to an associated luminescent security marking.

The present invention relates to the use of non-deactivatable security compositions comprising the combination of at least two types of particles of oxide materials, where said particles have a different size and/or morphology, and where the inorganic oxide materials have at least one transition metal or one lanthanide element, and radiofrequency wave absorption properties. The invention also relates to security articles, documents or elements incorporating these compositions, as well as to a method and to a system for detection thereof.

A document (15) includes at least: one first image (5) including at least one photoluminescent pigment which is invisible under illumination in visible light and is visible under illumination by at least one first source (20) of non-visible light emitting in the short ultraviolet domain, one second image including at least one photoluminescent pigment which is invisible under illumination in visible light and is visible under illumination by at least one second source of non-visible light emitting in the long ultraviolet domain, one layer, named a filtering layer, arranged facing the second image and including at least one material, named a filtering material, suitable for allowing the wavelengths emitted by the first source of non-visible light to be filtered without preventing the first image from being seen under illumination by the first light source.

According to one example, there is provided a visual security feature. The visual security feature comprises a security feature printed on a media. The security feature includes a security code printed on the media, and a holographic image is embossed on the printed security feature.

Security element comprising a first material MAT1 and a second material MAT2 formed in or on a substrate, in such a manner that areas occupied by MAT1 and MAT2 overlap partially or fully,

the first material MAT1 comprising a phosphorescent pigment (donor), the second material MAT2 comprising a fluorescent dye or pigment (acceptor),

wherein the phosphorescent pigment present in MAT1 is capable of emitting phosphorescence radiation in at least one first phosphorescence emission wavelength range 1e upon excitation by electromagnetic radiation falling within a phosphorescence excitation wavelength range 1a, and

the fluorescent dye or pigment present in MAT2 is capable of emitting fluorescence radiation in at least one second fluorescence emission wavelength range 2e upon excitation by electromagnetic radiation falling within an fluorescence excitation wavelength range 2a of the fluorescent dye or pigment, and

said first phosphorescence emission wavelength range 1e of the phosphorescent pigment present in MAT1 overlaps with the excitation wavelength range 2a of the fluorescent dye or pigment present in MAT2, so that after irradiation of the security element with electromagnetic radiation within the phosphorescence excitation wavelength range 1a the emission of fluorescence radiation in the emission wavelength range 2e is observable.

A security element comprising a first and a second pattern PAT1 and PAT2 formed in or on a substrate, the first pattern PAT1 being formed by a first material INK1 applied to a first region of the substrate, the second pattern PAT2 being formed by a second material INK2 applied to a second region of the substrate, said first and second regions of the substrate overlapping,

wherein a part of the first pattern PAT1 overlaps with a part of said second pattern PAT2, the first material INK1 comprises a first luminescent dye or pigment DYE1, which upon excitation by electromagnetic radiation falling within an excitation wavelength range 1a of the first luminescent dye or pigment DYE1 is capable of emitting electromagnetic radiation in at least one first emission wavelength range 1e, and the second material INK2 comprises a second luminescent dye or pigment DYE2, which upon excitation by electromagnetic radiation falling within an excitation wavelength range 2a of the second luminescent dye or pigment DYE2 is capable of emitting electromagnetic radiation in at least one second emission wavelength range 2e, and said first emission wavelength range 1e of the first luminescent dye or pigment DYE1 overlaps with the excitation wavelength range 2a of the second luminescent dye or pigment DYE2, so that upon irradiation with electromagnetic radiation within the excitation wavelength range 1a of the first luminescent dye or pigment DYE1 the second luminescent dye or pigment DYE2 is excited, in the area of overlap of the patterns, to emit electromagnetic radiation in the emission wavelength range 2e.

A method of illuminating an item is disclosed. The method includes applying adhesive to the item, interspersing a taggant in the adhesive, illuminating the item with an excitation signal, sensing luminescence emitted by the taggant in response to illumination by the excitation signal, and determining the authenticity of the item based on the sensed emitted luminescence. The item can include any item benefited by authentication, and can include a postage stamp. A method of customizing an item is disclosed. This can include the steps of preparing a substrate, applying a security feature to the substrate, printing non-customized information on the substrate, receiving image information, and printing the image information on the substrate.