An easily producible security feature according to the invention contains at least one luminescence device on and/or in a product carrier. Additionally, the security feature contains, in and/or on the product carrier, at least one absorptive spectral filter for luminescence radiation exiting from the at least one luminescence device, such that a color impression results both under illumination with visible radiation and under luminescence illumination conditions.

The present invention provides methods, reagents, and apparatus for authenticating and identifying products. Methods of the invention are easy to implement but difficult to replicate, simulate, alter, transpose, or tamper with. In some embodiments, the present invention relates to a product authentication code defined by a frequency array of a population of entities, and an item identifier defined by the specific manifestation of the product authentication code.

A method of printing authentication indicia by applying an at least amplitude-modulated halftone print in a detection zone to an object uses adjoining halftone cells, in each of which a halftone dot is printed from a matrix of printable halftone elements, individual tone values of the halftone print corresponding in each case to a halftone plane of a halftone mountain for a halftone dot. In this process, the assigned screen plane of the screen mountain is modified in the detection zone in a predetermined manner for a plurality of tone values of screen dots to be printed, so that a predetermined matrix image of the screen elements to be printed is assigned to it while the tone value of the print remains constant.

A method for providing scratch-off lottery tickets for sale remote from a POS location in a retail establishment includes configuring the tickets with a game play area having play characters covered by a scratch-off coating. A print characteristic is provided in the game play area that is optically scannable but not reproducible when photocopying the game play area. In a database, identification of the printed characteristic is linked to a computer file associated with the lottery ticket at a central lottery computer. An optically scannable random identifier is also provided in the game play area and is linked to the computer file. Upon presentation of the lottery ticket for purchase, the ticket or a scanned image of the ticket is analyzed to verify that the print characteristic is present in the game play area. The scanned image of the ticket is analyzed to verify that the random identifier assigned to the lottery ticket is present in the game play area of the scanned image.

In a banknote inspection device, a storage unit stores a first learning model generated using an image of a character with a hole as training data, and a second learning model generated using an image of a character without a hole as training data, and a recognition unit recognizes a serial number character that is a character forming a serial number of a banknote by using the first learning model when a character image, which is as image of the serial number character, has a hole, and recognize the serial number character by using the second learning model when the character image does not have a hole.

The invention refers to a computer-implemented method of analyzing security documents having visible information and at least one of infrared and ultraviolet detectable information, the method comprising the steps of: receiving visible-color data of a first set of pixels of a first region of the security document in a first image of the security document and feeding the visible-color data to a convolutional neural network, CNN; receiving infrared, IR, and/or ultraviolet, UV, data of a second and/or third set of pixels of a respective second and/or third region in a respective second and/or third image of the security document and feeding the IR and/or UV data to the CNN; analyzing the visible-color data of the first set of pixels using the CNN to extract characteristics of the security document from the visible information; and analyzing the IR and/or UV data of the second and/or third set of pixels using the CNN to extract characteristics of the security document from the IR and/or UV information. Further, a corresponding system is provided.

In a banknote inspection device, a storage unit stores a first learning model generated using an image of a character with a hole as training data, and a second learning model generated using an image of a character without a hole as training data, and a recognition unit recognizes a serial number character that is a character forming a serial number of a banknote by using the first learning model when a character image, which is as image of the serial number character, has a hole, and recognize the serial number character by using the second learning model when the character image does not have a hole.

In one implementation, a processor: (1) receives an image of a candidate mark from an image acquisition device, (2) uses the image to measure one or more characteristics at a plurality of locations on the candidate mark, resulting in a first set of metrics, (3) removes, from the first set of metrics, a metric having a dominant amplitude, resulting in a trimmed first set of metrics, (4) retrieves, from a computer-readable memory, a second set of metrics that represents one or more characteristics measured at a plurality of locations on an original mark, (5) removes, from the second set of metrics, a metric corresponding to the metric removed from the first set of metrics, resulting in a trimmed second set of metrics, (6) compares the trimmed first set of metrics with the trimmed second set of metrics, and (7) determines whether the candidate mark is genuine based on the comparison.

A method is disclosed for manufacturing a structured polymeric material. In the method, a body is provided comprising a substantially homogenous precursor polymeric material. An interference pattern of electromagnetic radiation is set up within the body to form a partially cross-linked polymeric material, the interference pattern comprising maxima and minima of intensity of the electromagnetic radiation, the interference pattern thereby causing spatially differential cross linking of the precursor polymeric material to form crosslinked regions having relatively high cross linking density and non-crosslinked regions having relatively low cross linking density, the crosslinked regions and non-crosslinked regions corresponding to the maxima and minima of intensity of the electromagnetic radiation, respectively. The partially cross-linked polymeric material is then contacted with a solvent to cause expansion and crazing of at least some of the non-crosslinked regions to form a structured polymeric material containing pores.

In one implementation, a processor: (1) receives an image of a candidate mark from an image acquisition device, (2) uses the image to measure one or more characteristics at a plurality of locations on the candidate mark, resulting in a first set of metrics, (3) removes, from the first set of metrics, a metric having a dominant amplitude, resulting in a trimmed first set of metrics, (4) retrieves, from a computer-readable memory, a second set of metrics that represents one or more characteristics measured at a plurality of locations on an original mark, (5) removes, from the second set of metrics, a metric corresponding to the metric removed from the first set of metrics, resulting in a trimmed second set of metrics, (6) compares the trimmed first set of metrics with the trimmed second set of metrics, and (7) determines whether the candidate mark is genuine based on the comparison.