System of license plate production and management

• US 20040050936A1
• Filed: 06/10/2003
• Published: 03/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Original Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Inventors: Wei, Chen, Hong, Ji, Gundale, Jeremy P., Yubao, Liu, Jianyong, Mao, Schmidt, Craig A., Tian, Qui, Tien-Hsiagn, Huang, Krasa, Robert T., Wei, Zhang, Look, Thomas F.
• Application Number:
  US10/458,596
• Publication Number:
  US 20040050936A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/462.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 13/10 Registration, licensing, or like devices
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 3/0292 tamper indicating labels

Abstract

Techniques are described for distributed production of license plates, such as license plates for motor vehicles, in a secure manner. License plates may be printed at a local branch office subject to the control of a client computer. A server computer may regulate the operations of the client computers at the branch offices. The production system includes any of several security features to deter forgery and counterfeiting. For example, the security components that make up a finished license plate may be separately secured with unique security elements. The finished license plate may also have a unique security element.

Claims

1. A license plate comprising:

a first component comprising a first security element; and

a second component comprising a second security element bonded to the first component.

2. The article of claim 1 wherein at least one security element uniquely identifies the component.

3. The article of claim 2, wherein the security element that uniquely identifies the component uniquely identifies the controlled certificate.

4. The article of claim 2, wherein the security element that uniquely identified the component comprises encrypted information.

5. The article of claim 1 wherein the first security element uniquely identifies the first component and the second security element uniquely identifies the second security element.

6. The article of claim 5 wherein the first security element in combination with the second security element uniquely identify the license plate.

7. The article of claim 1, wherein the security element comprises at least one of a bar code, a dot code, a color-shifting mark, a watermark, a holographic mark, a visibility-shifting mark, a mark visible in ultraviolet light, a mark visible in infrared (IR) light, a mark that includes a specular reflection shift, a mark of a specific color, a foil mark and a radio frequency identification tag.

8. The article of claim 1, further comprising informational content printed to at least one of the components.

9. The article of claim 1, wherein the first component is bonded to the second component with an adhesive.

10. The article of claim 1, wherein the first component is selected from paper, a polymeric sheet and a metal.

11. The article of claim 1 wherein the second component is selected from a transparent film and a transparent coating.

12. A system comprising:

a client computer, associated with a branch office, that transmits a license plate request via a computer network;

a server computer that receives the license plate request from the client computer via the computer network, and transmits a response to the license plate request to the client computer via the computer network, the response including one of an authorization and a denial of the license plate request; and

a printer coupled to the client computer to generate at least a portion of a license plate when the client computer receives an authorization of the license plate request.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the transmitted license plate request is encrypted.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the transmitted response to the license plate request is encrypted.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the license plate comprises at least two security components.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the security components comprise a panel and a sheeting.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising a scanner coupled to the client computer to read at least one security element on at least one security component.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising a bonding apparatus coupled to the client computer that bonds at least one security component to another security component.

19. A method comprising:

receiving a license plate request;

transmitting the license plate request to a server computer;

receiving a response to the license plate request from the server computer, the response including one of an authorization and a denial of the license plate request; and

generating a license plate according to the license plate request when an authorization is received.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein generating a license plate comprises printing a panel with identifying information, the panel configured to be bonded to a sheeting.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the panel includes at least one first security element and the sheeting includes at least one second security element, the method further comprising scanning the first and second security elements.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the second security element comprises at least one of a bar code, a dot code, a color-shifting mark, a watermark, a holographic mark, a visibility-shifting mark, a mark visible in ultraviolet light, a mark visible in infrared (IR) light, a mark that includes a specular reflection shift, a mark of a specific color, a foil mark and a radio frequency identification tag.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein printing the panel comprises printing a security element unique to the license plate.

24. A method comprising:

receiving a receiving a license plate request from a branch office;

validating the license plate request; and

authorizing the branch office to generate a license plate according to the license plate request when the license plate request is valid.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

receiving encrypted information associated with the generated license plate; and

recording the information in a database.

26. A system comprising:

a computer that is authorized to generate a license plate comprising a first security component and a second security component; and

a digital printer coupled to the computer to print informational content and a first security element on at least one of the first and second security components,

wherein the first security component includes a second security element prior to printing, and

wherein the second security component includes a third security element prior to printing.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the first security component comprises a panel and the second security component comprises a substrate.

28. The system of claim 26, further comprising a scanner that reads at least one of the first, second and third security element.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein at least one security element comprises at least one of a bar code, a dot code, a color-shifting mark, a watermark, a holographic mark, a visibility-shifting mark, a mark visible in ultraviolet light, a mark visible in infrared (IR) light, a mark that includes a specular reflection shift, a mark of a specific color, a foil mark and a radio frequency identification tag.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein the computer is a client computer, and wherein the client computer receives the authorization to generate the license plate from a server computer.

31. The system of claim 26, further comprising a bonding apparatus that bonds the first security component to the second security component.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising a conveying apparatus that moves at least one of the first security component and second security component to the bonding apparatus.

33. The system of claim 26, wherein the system is automated.

34. The system of claim 26, wherein the system occupies a footprint smaller than approximately 8 feet by 3 feet.

35. The system of claim 26, further comprising a hopper to hold at least one of a first and second security component.

36. The system of claim 26, further comprising a finishing device.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the finishing device comprises at least one of an embosser and a debosser.

38. A method comprising:

receiving from a branch office a first tracking identifier that identifies a first security component used in making a license plate;

receiving from the branch office a second tracking identifier that identifies a second security component used in making the license plate; and

verifying that the first and second security components are in the inventory of the branch office.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising receiving from the branch office a license plate tracking identifier that identifies the license plate.

40. The method of claim 38, further comprising recording the first and second tracking identifiers in a database.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein the first security component comprises a panel and the second security component comprises a substrate.