Method of securing data on a data support

• US 4,705,938 A
• Filed: 06/18/1984
• Issued: 11/10/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/1979
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hans-Georg Winderlich, Hermann Stockburger
• Original Assignee: Hans-Georg Winderlich, Hermann Stockburger
• Inventors: Stockburger, Hermann, Winderlich, Hans-Georg
• Primary Examiner(s): YUSKO, DONALD
• Application Number:
  US06/621,808
• Time in Patent Office: 1,240 Days
• Field of Search: 235/435, 235/380, 235/469, 340/825.34, 356/71
• US Class Current: 235/435
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/10 at least one kind of marking being used for authentication, e.g. of credit or identity cards verification of coded identity or credit cards in mechanisms actuated by them G07F7/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/347 Passive cards
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/08 by coded identity card or credit card or other personal identification means without personal verification means G07F7/02
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0813 Specific details related to card security
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/086 by passive credit-cards adapted therefor, e.g. constructive particularities to avoid counterfeiting, e.g. by inclusion of a physical or chemical security-layer for security documents G07D7/00; for the reading of record-carriers in general G06K7/00; for the design of coded credit-cards G06K19/10
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/12 Card verification

Abstract

A method of securing data recorded on a data support and a device for performing the method are disclosed. In addition to the basic information contained in the data recorded on the data support, for generating an additional security code, selected individual properties of the recorded data are used which differ from each other as regards their physical and/or chemical properties. In one embodiment, individual characters imprinted on the data support are used which differ from each other with respect to contrast or half-tone density in a manner unperceivable to human sight, but easily detectable by a detector or an automatic reading apparatus. Authenticity of the data support or data is determined by a security code contained in the specific physical or chemical properties of the selected individual characters. The method prevents from duplication or falsifying of data supports.

Claims

1. A method of preventing the generation of a duplicate data support having characters which are the same in significance and physical properties as the characters of a data support comprising the steps of (a) recording a plurality of data information characters of a predetermined significance on said data support with at least some of said data information characters additionally having different physical properties, (b) measuring a physical property of selected ones of said data information characters having different physical properties and (c) recording checking characters representative of the measured physical property of at least some of said selected ones of said data information characters on said data support whereby duplicating the significance of the data characters of said data support would not result in the generation of a duplicate data support having identical characters both in significance and physical properties of the characters of the data support being duplicated.

2. The method of claim 1 in which step (a) comprises recording selected ones of said data information characters with different density or contrast with respect to the background of the data support.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the differences physical properties of the data information characters are not visible to the human eye.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the data information characters are numericals.

5. The method of claim 1 in which the data information characters are in the form of bars.