A method of manufacturing a document of a series identical documents in content except for a respective identifier which identifies each document within the series, each identifier having at least a first indicium, the or each indicium defining a boundary; the method having the steps of: providing a substrate; applying a first background print, defining part of the boundary of an indicium receiving area; applying the respective identifier on the substrate, such that the first indicium is provided in the indicium receiving area; the first background print and the respective identifier being applied such that when the document is viewed in at least one of transmission and reflection the juxtaposition of the first background print and the first indicium is such that a keyline extending around a portion of the boundary of the first indicium is defined between the first indicium and the boundary of the indicium receiving area.

A method of manufacturing a document of a series identical documents in content except for a respective identifier which identifies each document within the series, each identifier having at least a first indicium, the or each indicium defining a boundary; the method having the steps of: providing a substrate; applying a first background print, defining part of the boundary of an indicium receiving area; applying the respective identifier on the substrate, such that the first indicium is provided in the indicium receiving area; the first background print and the respective identifier being applied such that when the document is viewed in at least one of transmission and reflection the juxtaposition of the first background print and the first indicium is such that a keyline extending around a portion of the boundary of the first indicium is defined between the first indicium and the boundary of the indicium receiving area.

The present invention relates to the field of security inks suitable for printing machine readable security features on substrate, security documents or articles as well as machine readable security feature made from said security inks, and security documents comprising a machine readable security feature made from said security inks. In particular, the invention provides security inks comprising one or more IR absorbing materials wherein said security ink allows the production of a machine readable security feature having the following optical properties: a lightness L* equal to or higher than about 80, a chroma C* smaller than or equal to about 15 and a reflectance at 900 nm smaller than or equal to about 60%.

There is described a method of manufacturing a security article, said method comprising the steps of: introducing into an offset printing device a transparent film comprising a non-fibrous substrate layer of regenerated cellulose; and disposing printed information on at least a portion of said transparent film by an offset printing step, wherein said transparent film introduced into said offset printing device further comprises an ink-receptive layer on at least one surface of said substrate layer.

An optical structure surface including a plurality of display region groups including a first display region group and a second display region group. In each display region group, an azimuth angle is formed between a projection direction and a reference direction, and a plurality of reflective surfaces belonging to the display region produce an image. A plurality of display regions include a set of display regions whose azimuth angles are different from each other, and the plurality of display regions display an image unique to the display region group in a display direction by a plurality of reflective surfaces of each of the display regions. The display directions of the first display region group and the second display group are different to provide a different brightness to their respective images, in the respective display directions of the images.

A method is provided by the invention for making a security document comprising a thermoplastic substrate with a UV light cured printed image that is less likely to result in splitting of the ink of the UV light cured printed image during the lamination step of forming the thermoplastic substrate. The UV light cured image is applied to an interior thermoplastic layer surface of a stack of thermoplastic layers configured to form a thermoplastic substrate upon lamination of the stack and comprises numerous small sub-portions having small gaps between them sufficient to permit relative movement of individual sub-portions during lamination, the thermoplastic layer(s) from the ultraviolet light cured image to an exterior surface of the stack being sufficiently see-through that the image is visible upon viewing the security document. Alternatively, or additionally, the image is applied to an interior surface of an outermost thermoplastic layer of the stack adjacent an intermediate thermoplastic layer of the stack wherein the outermost thermoplastic layer has a higher melting point than the melting point of at least the adjacent intermediate thermoplastic layer.

A method is provided by the invention for making a security document comprising a thermoplastic substrate with a UV light cured printed image that is less likely to result in splitting of the ink of the UV light cured printed image during the lamination step of forming the thermoplastic substrate. The UV light cured image is applied to an interior thermoplastic layer surface of a stack of thermoplastic layers configured to form a thermoplastic substrate upon lamination of the stack and comprises numerous small sub-portions having small gaps between them sufficient to permit relative movement of individual sub-portions during lamination, the thermoplastic layer(s) from the ultraviolet light cured image to an exterior surface of the stack being sufficiently see-through that the image is visible upon viewing the security document. Alternatively, or additionally, the image is applied to an interior surface of an outermost thermoplastic layer of the stack adjacent an intermediate thermoplastic layer of the stack wherein the outermost thermoplastic layer has a higher melting point than the melting point of at least the adjacent intermediate thermoplastic layer.

A method of marking an article for authentication, the comprising the steps of applying an identification mark to an article, said mark comprising an array of varying sized markings, where the combination of the shape, the spatial distribution and the varying sizes of the markings imparts a distinctiveness to the identification mark recording the identification mark in a database and associating information relating to the article with the identification mark in the database, wherein comparison of the identification mark on the article and the database enables the identification mark to be associated with the information relating to the article on the database.

An authentication mark system and method are provided for authentication of an object having indicia associated therewith. The authentication mark system includes an inkjet printer configured to propel microscopic ink drops onto the object to form a pattern of ink on the object. A microscope camera has a lens directable at the pattern of ink on the object. The microscope camera records an enlarged image of the pattern of ink on the object. A processor is operatively connected to the microscope camera and is configured to transmit the enlarged image of the pattern of ink and the indicia associated with the object to a database for secure storage.

Some implementations provide a computer-assisted method for embedding information in an identification document. The method includes: modulating information by varying lengths of line segments; generating a line code that includes the line segments with corresponding lengths; and applying the line code on an identification document such that the information is used to authenticate the identification document as genuine when a person presents the identification document to verify an identify of the person.