DYNAMIC IMAGING AND/OR IDENTIFICATION APPARATUS AND METHOD THEREOF
First Claim
1. A device for generating an image comprising:
- a substrate;
an array of image elements operatively connected to the substrate, each image element comprising first and second electrodes,the first and second electrodes adapted to be connected to a power source;
each of the image elements having an inactive state in which the image elements operate to reflect light in a first direction when no voltage potential is applied to the first and second electrodes; and
an active state where the image element reflects light other than the first direction when a voltage potential is applied to at least one of the first and second electrodes;
programming circuitry connected to each of the image elements to program whether or not the image element is in an active or inactive state;
activation circuitry interconnecting at least one of the first or second electrodes;
the activation circuitry adapted to be connected to a power source;
whereby when the activation circuitry receives power from a power source, the image elements in the array which are not in an active state will reflect light in predominately in a first direction; and
those image elements in an active state will reflect light predominately in a direction other than the first direction to thereby display an image.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A preferred embodiment comprises a dynamic display based on a program image element which will only generate a preprogrammed image. As an example, the image element may comprise electrically-driven MEMS mirrors. This example may be embedded in an ID card. At the time of issue of the ID card, pixels in the mirror array will be permanently programmed as either ‘alive’ or ‘dead’ in a pattern matching the photo of the person in question. When stimulated, only ‘alive’ pixels will actuate, creating an image for comparison to the adjacent printed photo. Due to its dynamic behavior, delicate mechanical structures, and single-time hard-wiring, duplication of, or tampering with, this secondary dynamic image will be nearly impossible. The ID car is but one exemplary application and other embodiments, applications, and methods are described in the specification and claims.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A device for generating an image comprising:
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a substrate; an array of image elements operatively connected to the substrate, each image element comprising first and second electrodes, the first and second electrodes adapted to be connected to a power source; each of the image elements having an inactive state in which the image elements operate to reflect light in a first direction when no voltage potential is applied to the first and second electrodes; and
an active state where the image element reflects light other than the first direction when a voltage potential is applied to at least one of the first and second electrodes;programming circuitry connected to each of the image elements to program whether or not the image element is in an active or inactive state; activation circuitry interconnecting at least one of the first or second electrodes;
the activation circuitry adapted to be connected to a power source;whereby when the activation circuitry receives power from a power source, the image elements in the array which are not in an active state will reflect light in predominately in a first direction; and
those image elements in an active state will reflect light predominately in a direction other than the first direction to thereby display an image.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A portable identification device comprising:
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a flexible plastic substrate; at least one image element embedded in the substrate, the at least one image element being connected to first and second electrodes, the first and second electrodes adapted to be connected to a power source; programming circuitry connected to the at least one image elements to program a predetermined image into the at least one image element; at least one transparent tamper-proof cover permanently mounted to the flexible plastic substrate completely covering the at least one image element;
such that the image displayed by the at least one image element cannot be changed without damaging the tamper-proof cover;activation circuitry interconnecting at least one of the first or second electrodes;
the activation circuitry adapted to be connected to a power source;whereby when the activation circuitry receives power from a power source, the at least one image element displays a predetermined image. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. An apparatus containing a tamperproof image comprising:
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a substrate; an array of image elements operatively connected to the substrate, each image element comprising first and second electrodes, the first and second electrodes adapted to be connected to a power source; activation circuitry interconnecting at least one of the first or second electrodes;
the activation circuitry adapted to be connected to a power source;each of the image elements having an inactive state in which the image elements operate to reflect light in a first direction when no voltage potential is applied to the first and second electrodes; programming circuitry connected to each of the image elements operating to program the array to display an image when a voltage is applied to the activation circuitry by selectively disconnecting certain of the image elements from at least one connection to the activation circuitry such current cannot flow from the activation circuitry to the selected image elements thereby rendering the associated image element permanently in the inactive state; the image elements which are not permanently in the inactive state being activated by the activation circuitry such that the image elements reflect light other than in the first direction when a voltage potential is applied to at least one of the first and second electrodes through the activation circuitry; whereby the combination the image elements which are disconnected and the image elements which are activated by the activation circuitry form an image which is displayed upon the application of a voltage to the activation circuitry.
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Specification