Method and apparatus for marking articles

• US 20030121984A1
• Filed: 12/06/2002
• Published: 07/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Essentra Packaging & Security Limited (Essentra Plc)
• Original Assignee: Fracturecode Corporation
• Inventors: Pinchen, Stephen Paul, Rasmussen, Jens Jacob Juul
• Granted Patent: US 7,188,774 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/487
• CPC Class Codes: B41F 9/003 Web printing presses B41F9/023 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/00 Information-bearing cards or sheet-like structures characterised by identification or security features; Manufacture thereof printing processes to produce identification or security features B41M3/14
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/21 for multiple purposes
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/26 Entrance cards; Admission tickets
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/29 Securities; Bank notes
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/40 Manufacture
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/086 with markings consisting of randomly placed or oriented elements, the randomness of the elements being useable for generating a unique identifying signature of the record carrier, e.g. randomly placed magnetic fibers or magnetic particles in the body of a credit card
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/12 Visible light, infrared or ultraviolet radiation

Abstract

Method and apparatus for applying unique composite indicia or markings to a succession of articles, in which each unique composite indicium comprises two or more indicia. At least part of each of the indicia may be co-located at a predetermined location on the article with such co-location being unique or distinct for each composite indicium for each article. The indicium may be overprinted with one or more images, logos or color-schemes. A code (e.g. an alphanumeric string) that is stored in a database may be derived from the composite indicium from one or more mathematical properties. The code may be later accessed for identifying or verifying the article with the indicium.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing a composite indicium for marking an article, said composite indicium comprised of a combination of a first indicium and a second indicium, said apparatus comprising in combination:

a first generator stage that marks said first indicium onto a substrate at a predetermined location; and

a second generator stage that marks said second indicium onto said substrate at said predetermined location to form said composite indicium having a unique pattern at said location,

whereby the composite indicium is distinct for distinct articles.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said apparatus effects marking of said composite indicium on said article by printing.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said article is composed of material selected from the group consisting of glass, film, paper, plastic, metal, and wood.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said apparatus effects printing said composite indicium onto packaging of said article.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said apparatus includes a mechanism for printing said composite indicium with a barcode that is associated with said article.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one of said generator stages comprises means for marking a border in order to establish an orientation of said composite indicium.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said first generator stage includes means to vary a first characteristic of a first element of said first indicium for said different articles.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said first element is characterized by a first frequency spectrum.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said second generator stage includes means to vary a second characteristic of a second element of said second indicium.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said second element is characterized by a second frequency spectrum.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distinct articles are successive articles.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said first characteristic and said second:

characteristic are selected from the group consisting of a position, a direction, and an orientation.

13. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said first element is selected from the group consisting of a line, a dot, an ellipse, and a polygon.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said second generator stage includes means to vary an associated characteristic of another element of said second indicium for different articles.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said first indicium that is associated with said first generator stage and said second indicium that is associated with said second generator stage are periodically repeatable.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein a first period of said first indicium and a second period of said second indicium are not equal.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein a combination of the said first period and said second period approach infinite values.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said first generator stage comprises a first print cylinder and said second generator stage comprises a second print cylinder.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said first print cylinder and said second print cylinder are arranged to print out of phase.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said first print cylinder and said second print cylinder have different diameters.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein at least one diameter may be represented as a prime number.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said first print cylinder and said second print cylinder revolve at different speeds.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein at least one of said speeds varies with time.

24. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a third generator stage that overprints said article with a commercial graphic, wherein said commercial graphic is aligned with said composite indicium and wherein said composite indicium is not affected.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein said commercial graphic is selected from the group consisting of an image, a logo, and a color scheme.

26. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a first scanner that scans said composite indicium;

a first calculation module that calculates, from said scanned composite indicium, at least one mathematical property that is associated with said first element and assigns a code in accordance with said at least one mathematical property, said at least one mathematical property being associated with said pattern;

a storage device that obtains said code from said calculation module, obtains corresponding information about said article, and stores said code and said information for later retrieval.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein said at least one mathematical property is associated with at least one element of said composite indicium.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

a reader module comprising;

a second scanner that reads said composite indicium;

a second calculation module that calculates, from read information, said code from a mathematical characteristic of said composite indicium;

a retrieval module that accesses, from said storage device, said corresponding information about said article in accordance with said code.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said retrieval module provides said corresponding information to a user.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said retrieval module includes means to access said corresponding information about said article through a communications network selected from the group consisting of an Internet, an Intranet, a radio frequency identification (RFID)-capable system, and a wireless system that supports short message service (SMS).

31. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein said code is a unique code.

32. A reader that processes a composite indicium, said composite indicium marking an article, said reader comprising in combination:

a scanner that reads said composite indicium, wherein said composite indicium comprises a plurality of indicia to form a pattern that varies for different articles;

a calculation module that calculates, from read information, a code from a mathematical characteristic of said composite indicium; and

a retrieval module that accesses, from a storage device, corresponding information about said article in accordance with said code.

33. A method for providing an article with a composite indicium, the method comprising:

(a) marking a first indicium onto a substrate for said article at a predetermined location; and

(b) marking a second indicium onto said substrate at said predetermined location to form the composite indicium having a pattern, wherein said composite indicium is associated with said article and wherein at least one of said first indicium and said second indicium varies for different articles.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

(c) incorporating said composite indicium with a barcode that is associated with said article.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein step (a) comprises:

(i) varying a first characteristic of a first element of said first indicium for said different articles.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein step (b) comprises:

(i) varying a second characteristic of a second element of said second indicium for said different articles.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein step (a) comprises:

(i) printing a border in order to establish an orientation of said composite indicium.

38. The method of claim 33, wherein step (b) comprises:

(i) printing a border in order to establish an orientation of said composite indicium.

39. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

(c) overprinting said article with a commercial graphic so that said commercial graphic is aligned with said composite indicium and that said composite indicium is not affected.

40. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

(c) scanning said composite indicium;

(d) in response to (c), calculating at least one mathematical property that is associated with said first element;

(e) in response to (d), assigning a code in accordance with said at least one mathematical property;

(f) obtaining corresponding information about said article; and

(g) storing said code and said corresponding information for later retrieval.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

(h) scanning said composite indicium;

(i) in response to (h), calculating said code from a mathematical characteristic; and

(j) in response to (i), retrieving said corresponding information about said article.

44. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 33.

45. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 40.

46. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 41.

42. A method for communicating information, the method comprising:

(a) selecting a code, wherein the code is represented by a number;

(b) determining characteristics of a minutiae from the code;

(c) constructing a composite indicium from said characteristics of said minutiae; and

(d) at a transmitting location, transmitting a signal that conveys the composite indicium.

47. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 42.

43. The method of 42, further comprising:

(e) at a receiving location, receiving said signal;

(f) determining the composite indicium from said signal; and

(g) determining the minutiae from the composite indicium; and

(h) obtaining said selected code from said minutiae.

48. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 43.

49. A method for processing a composite indicium that marks an article, said method comprising:

(a) scanning said composite indicium, wherein said composite indicium comprises a plurality of indicia to form a pattern that varies for different articles;

(b) in response to (a), calculating a code from a mathematical characteristic that is associated with said composite indicium; and

(c) in response to (b), retrieving corresponding information about said article in accordance with said code.

50. A method for receiving information, said method comprising:

(a) receiving a signal, wherein said signal conveys a composite indicium;

(b) determining the composite indicium from said signal;

(c) determining minutiae that is associated with said composite indicium; and

(d) obtaining a code from said minutiae, wherein the code provides the information.

51. An apparatus for associating a unique composite indicium with an article, the apparatus comprising:

a first printing cylinder that prints a first indicium on said article at a predetermined location, said first indicium comprising a first pattern in two dimensions, where a period of variance is a function of a first diameter of said first printing cylinder; and

a second printing cylinder that prints a second indicium on said article at said predetermined location, said second indicium comprising a second pattern , said second printing cylinder having a different diameter than said first diameter in order that said first and second printing cylinders function out of phase, wherein said composite indicium comprises said first indicium and said second indicium, wherein the composite indicium is associated with said article and wherein a pattern of said composite indicium varies for different articles.

52. An apparatus for providing a succession of composite indicia for marking articles, said apparatus comprising:

a first generator stage for applying a first component indicium to a substrate for an article at a predetermined location; and

a second generator stage for applying a second component indicium to a substrate at said predetermined location, to form one of said composite indicia, wherein at least one of said generator stages applies to the substrate a component indicium which includes one or more elements the appearance, position, direction or orientation of which varies for successive composite indicia, such that said composite indicia are different.

53. A method of providing a succession of composite indicia for marking articles, the method comprising:

generating a first component indicium, and applying the first component indicium to a substrate for an article, at a predetermined location; and

generating a second component indicium and applying the second component indicium to the substrate at the predetermined location, wherein at least one of the first or second component indicia includes one or more elements the appearance, position, direction or orientation of which varies for successive indicia, such that said composite indicia are different.

54. A method for providing an article with a machine readable composite indicium, the method comprising:

applying a first component indicium to a substrate for the article at a predetermined location;

applying a second component indicium to a substrate at a predetermined location to form said composite indicium; and

providing a reference characteristic as a reading reference for a reading device.

55. Apparatus for providing an article with a machine readable composite indicium, the apparatus comprising:

a first generator stage for applying a first component indicium to a substrate for an article at a predetermined location; and

a second generator stage for applying a second component indicium to the substrate at said predetermined location to form said composite indicium, wherein the apparatus further provides the composite indicium with a reference characteristic as a reading reference for a reading device.

56. A method of associating data with an article, the method including:

generating and applying to a substrate a unique composite indicium;

scanning the composite indicium;

applying an algorithm to convert the scanned composite indicium in to a unique character string;

attributing selected data to the unique character string; and

storing the unique character string and attributed data in a storage device.

57. A method of determining data associated with an article, the method comprising:

scanning a unique composite indicium on a substrate of the article;

applying an algorithm to convert the scanned composite indicium to a unique character string; and

looking up the unique character string in a storage means to obtain data attributed to the unique character string.

58. Apparatus for associating data with an article, the apparatus including:

generator means arranged to generate and apply to the article a unique composite indicium;

scanning means arranged to scan the unique composite indicium to acquire an image of it;

processing means arranged to apply an algorithm to the acquired image to derive a unique character string associated with the composite indicium, and to attribute selected data to the unique character string; and

storage means arranged to store the unique character string and attributed data.

59. Apparatus for determining data associated with an article, the apparatus comprising:

scanning means arranged to scan a unique composite indicium on a substrate of the article to acquire an image of the indicium; and

processing means arranged to apply an algorithm to the acquired image to derive a unique character string associated with the composite indicium, and to look up the unique character string in a storage means to obtain data attributed to the unique character string in the storage means.

60. A machine readable composite indicium for application to an article, for associating data with the article, the composite indicium comprising:

at least two co-located component indicia; and

a reference characteristic for providing a reading reference to a reading device.

61. A method of monitoring the distribution of stock, the method comprising:

selecting articles of distributed stock and, for each selected article;

scanning a unique composite indicium on the article;

using an algorithm to derive a unique character string corresponding to the unique composite indicium; and

looking up the character string in a storage means to obtain data associated with the article.

62. A method of verifying the authenticity of an article, the method comprising the steps of:

scanning a unique composite indicium of an article;

using an algorithm to derive a unique character string corresponding to the unique composite indicium; and

looking up the character string in a storage means to obtain data associated with the article.

63. A method of providing a succession of composite indicia for marking articles, the method comprising:

providing a substrate of an article having thereon a first component indicium; and

generating and applying to said substrate at a predetermined location thereof, a second component indicium, to form said composite indicium, wherein at least one of the first or second component indicia includes one or more elements the appearance, position, direction or orientation of which varies for successive indicia, such that said composite indicia are different.

64. A method of providing a succession of discrete composite indicia for marking articles, the method comprising:

providing a substrate of an article having thereon at least one composite indicium; and

providing a reference characteristic which comprises a border or frame for the composite indicium, or at least partly covering the composite indicium, as a reading reference for a reading device.