Protecting printed items intended for public exchange with glossmarks

• US 7,126,721 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2002
• Issued: 10/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Xu, Beilei, Wang, Shen-ge, Liu, Chu-heng
• Primary Examiner(s): Rogers, Scott A.
• Application Number:
  US10/184,219
• Publication Number:
  US 20040001233A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,580 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.9, 358/3.06, 358 313- 32, 358/3.09, 358 326- 328, 358533-536, 382/237, 382/270, 235/494, 283/113
• US Class Current: 358/3.06
• CPC Class Codes: B41M 3/14 Security printing securities B42D25/29
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 8/00 Layers covering the final reproduction, e.g. for protecting, for writing thereon
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3211 of a company logo or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3214 of a date
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3215 of a time or duration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3271 Printing or stamping

Abstract

The present invention relates to protecting printed items intended for public exchange having important informational indicia provided therein. The print items are protected from tampering by providing an informational indicia image as a glossmark. By selectively applying halftones with anisotropic structure characteristics which are significantly different in orientation while remaining identical in density to render information indicia, a glossmark image is produced of the information indicia. Such an information indicia glossmark image when provided in print item image helps protect that print item image from tampering.

Claims

1. A method for protecting a printed item comprising:

printing a glossmark information indicia image upon the printed item, the glossmark information indicia image being realized by a methodology comprising;

selecting a first halftone having a first anisotropic structure orientation;

selecting a second halftone having a second anisotropic structure orientation different from that of the first halftone;

applying the first halftone for at least some portion of the glossmark information indicia image; and

applying the second halftone for the remaining portion of the glossmark information indicia image.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first anisotropic structure orientation and the second anisotropic structure orientation are 90 degrees apart.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the first anisotropic structure has a 45 degree orientation to the right and the second anisotropic structure has a 45 degree orientation to the left.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first anisotropic structure orientation and the second anisotropic structure orientation are less than 90 degrees apart.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the printing is with an ink jet printer.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the printing is with an electrostaticgraphic printer.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the printing is intended as printing upon paper.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the printing is intended as printing upon a transparency.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the printing is intended as printing upon an object other than paper.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the glossmark information indicia image depicts a monetary value.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the glossmark information indicia image depicts a serial number.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the glossmark information indicia image depicts a tracking number.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the glossmark information indicia image depicts a bar-code.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the glossmark information indicia image depicts a trademark.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the glossmark information indicia image depicts a logo.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the glossmark information indicia image depicts a time/date stamp.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the glossmark information indicia image depicts a program code.

18. The method of claim 7 wherein the print item is a coupon.

19. The method of claim 7 wherein the print item is a ticket.

20. The method of claim 7 wherein the print item is a certificate.

21. The method of claim 7 wherein the print item is a diploma.

22. The method of claim 7 wherein the print item is currency.

23. The method of claim 7 wherein the print item is a passport.

24. The method of claim 7 wherein the print item is an award.

25. The method of claim 7 wherein the print item is a document.

26. A print item comprising:

a substrate;

an information indicia glossmark image printed on the substrate, the information indicia glossmark image further comprising;

an information indicia;

a first halftone having a first anisotropic structure orientation; and

a second halftone having a second anisotropic structure orientation different from the first halftone, where the first halftone is applied as to a portion of the information indicia glossmark image and the second halftone is applied as to the remainder of the information indicia glossmark image so as to depict the information indicia as a glossmark.

27. The print item of claim 26 wherein the anisotropic structure orientation of the first halftone and the anisotropic structure orientation of the second halftone are 90 degrees apart.

28. The print item of claim 26 wherein the anisotropic structure orientation of the first halftone and the anisotropic structure orientation of the second halftone are less than 90 degrees apart.

29. The print item of claim 26 wherein the print item is produced by an electrostaticgraphic printer.

30. The print item of claim 26 wherein the print item is produced by an ink jet printer.

31. The print item of claim 26 wherein the substrate is paper.

32. The print item of claim 26 wherein the substrate is a transparency.

33. The print item of claim 26 wherein the substrate is an object other than paper.

34. The print item of claim 26 wherein the print item is a coupon.

35. The print item of claim 26 wherein the print item is a ticket.

36. The print item of claim 26 wherein the print item is a certificate.

37. The print item of claim 26 wherein the print item is a diploma.

38. The print item of claim 26 wherein the print item is currency.

39. The print item of claim 26 wherein the print item is a passport.

40. The print item of claim 26 wherein the print item is an award.

41. The print item of claim 26 wherein the print item is a document.

42. The print item of claim 26 wherein the information indicia glossmark image depicts a monetary value.

43. The print item of claim 26 wherein the information indicia glossmark image depicts a serial number.

44. The print item of claim 26 wherein the information indicia glossmark image depicts a tracking number.

45. The print item of claim 26 wherein the information indicia glossmark image depicts a bar-code.

46. The print item of claim 26 wherein the information indicia glossmark image depicts a trademark.

47. The print item of claim 26 wherein the information indicia glossmark image depicts a logo.

48. The print item of claim 26 wherein the information indicia glossmark image depicts a time/date stamp.

49. The print item of claim 26 wherein the information indicia glossmark image depicts a program code.

50. A print item image comprising:

an information indicia;

a background data image;

a first halftone having a first anisotropic structure orientation; and

a second halftone having a second anisotropic structure orientation different from the first halftone where the first halftone is selectively applied as to a portion of the background data image and the second halftone is selectively applied as to a remainder of the background data image and where the information indicia is used to select when to toggle between the first and second halftones such that the resulting print item image when printed will depict the information indicia as a glossmark.

51. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the background data image is for a coupon.

52. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the background data image is for a ticket.

53. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the background data image is for a certificate.

54. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the background data image is for a diploma.

55. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the background data image is for currency.

56. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the background data image is for a passport.

57. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the background data image is for an award.

58. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the background data image is for a document.

59. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the information indicia is a monetary value.

60. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the information indicia is a serial number.

61. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the information indicia is a tracking number.

62. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the information indicia is a bar-code.

63. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the information indicia is a trademark.

64. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the information indicia is a logo.

65. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the information indicia is a time/date stamp.

66. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the background data image contains hash-marks.

67. The print item image of claim 50 wherein the background data image contains a pattern.

68. The print item image of claim 67 wherein the background data image contains a repeating pattern.