Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B42—BOOKBINDING; ALBUMS; FILES; SPECIAL PRINTED MATTER
  • B42D—BOOKS; BOOK COVERS; LOOSE LEAVES; PRINTED MATTER CHARACTERISED BY IDENTIFICATION OR SECURITY FEATURES; PRINTED MATTER OF SPECIAL FORMAT OR STYLE NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; DEVICES FOR USE THEREWITH AND NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; MOVABLE-STRIP WRITING OR READING APPARATUS
  • B42D25/00—Information-bearing cards or sheet-like structures characterised by identification or security features; Manufacture thereof
  • B42D25/30—Identification or security features, e.g. for preventing forgery
  • B42D25/351—Translucent or partly translucent parts, e.g. windows
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B42—BOOKBINDING; ALBUMS; FILES; SPECIAL PRINTED MATTER
  • B42D—BOOKS; BOOK COVERS; LOOSE LEAVES; PRINTED MATTER CHARACTERISED BY IDENTIFICATION OR SECURITY FEATURES; PRINTED MATTER OF SPECIAL FORMAT OR STYLE NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; DEVICES FOR USE THEREWITH AND NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; MOVABLE-STRIP WRITING OR READING APPARATUS
  • B42D25/00—Information-bearing cards or sheet-like structures characterised by identification or security features; Manufacture thereof
  • B42D25/30—Identification or security features, e.g. for preventing forgery
  • B42D25/36—Identification or security features, e.g. for preventing forgery comprising special materials

Definitions

• the present disclosure generally relates to identification documents.
• the present disclosure relates to identification documents with hidden personalized information.
• Identification documents are used worldwide. Identification documents include, for example, credit cards, bank cards, phone cards, passports, driver's licenses, network access cards, employee badges, debit cards, security cards, visas, immigration documentation, national ID cards, citizenship cards, social security cards, security badges, certificates, identification cards, voter registration cards, police ID cards, border crossing cards, legal instruments or documentation, security clearance badges and cards, gun permits, gift certificates or cards, labels or product packaging, membership cards or badges, etc. Identification documents may sometimes be interchangeably referred to as “security documents”, “ID documents”, “credential documents”, “security credentials”, “photo- IDs", and "photo ID documents”.
• Personalized information may be stolen from the original identification document, but may also be stolen from a digital copy of an identification document. Digital copies may be requested when an identification document's holder books a trip, rents a car, etc. The car rental agency may ask the holder of the identification document to send a digital copy of its identification document which may be stored on servers. These servers can be hacked and then the personalized information provided on the identification document may be stolen and misused.
• the identification document's holder may choose to manually hide personalized information by putting a finger or post-it on the portions of the identification document which holds the personalized information, when presenting the identification document to a third person or when scanning the identification document for a digital copy.
• Another method to prevent identity theft is to add a digital watermark as an anti-copy features which requires extensive computer skills.
• the present disclosure is directed, at least in part, to improving or overcoming one or more aspects of prior systems.
• an identification includes a substrate, a transparent window, a layer of color changing material and a portion with personalized information.
• the substrate has a front side and a back side opposite to the front side in a thickness direction of the substrate.
• the transparent window extends through the substrate in the thickness direction.
• the layer of color changing material is positioned at least partly in the transparent window and is configured to change its color from a first color to a second color depending on the color of the background against which it is viewed.
• the second color is different to the first color.
• the portion with personalized information may be a portrait or a QR-code.
• the portion with personalized information is positioned at least partly in the transparent window and has a third color. The third color is identical to the second color.
• the layer of color changing material and the portion with personalized information at least partly overlap each other when viewed in the thickness direction of the substrate.
• the portion with personalized information is visible when viewing through the transparent window against a first background, wherein the layer of color changing material has the first color.
• the portion with personalized information is not visible when viewing through the transparent window against a second background, wherein the second background has a different color to the first background and the layer of color changing material has the second color.
• a blank for an identification document includes a substrate, a transparent window, a first layer of color changing material and a second layer configured to be provided with a portion with personalized information.
• the substrate has a front side and a back side opposite to the front side in a thickness direction of the substrate.
• the transparent window extends through the substrate in the thickness direction.
• the first layer of color changing material is positioned at least partly in the transparent window and is configured to change its color from a first color to a second color depending on the color of the background against which it is viewed.
• the second color is different to the first color.
• the second layer may be a portrait or a QR-code.
• the second layer is positioned at least partly in the transparent window and overlaps the first layer of color changing material when viewed in the thickness direction of the substrate.
• the method further includes the step of applying, preferably printing, a portion with personalized information such as a portrait or a QR-code in a third color on the second layer such that the portion with personalized information at least partly overlaps with the layer of color changing material when viewed in the thickness direction of the substrate.
• the third color and the layer of color changing material are selected such that the portion with personalized information is visible when viewing through the transparent window against a first background, wherein the layer of color changing material has the first color, and such that the portion with personalized information is not visible when viewing through the transparent window against a second background, which is different to the first background, wherein the second background has a different color to the first background and the layer of color changing material has the second color.
• a color 1 and a color 2 are considered to be identical, if color 1 is not visible in front of color 2 or vice versa. Accordingly, the term “identical” includes such deviations between color 1 and color 2 which are not visible. If the deviations are not visible, the color 1 and color 2 still appear to be identical.
• the term “not visible” may mean “not identifiable with the human eye” or “hidden for the human eye” or “not perceptible with the human eye”.
• the term “not visible” may also refer to a detection with a reader machine such as a passport reader machine, a video camera, a scanning machine or the like. In this case, the visibility may rely on the reader machine and not on the human eye.
• the term “not visible” in this case may mean “not identifiable with the reader machine” or “hidden for the reader machine” or “not perceptible with the reader machine”.
• the portion with personalized information may for example be a portrait of the document's holder or a 2D-barcode such as QR-code.
• the QR-code may for example refer to a password to authenticate the document's holder.
• the QR code can be revealed by the document's holder only when the transparent window is placed in front of a surface area (which is the background for the view through the transparent window) with a specific color.
• the portion of personalized information may be a document number, a birth date, a fingerprint, an expiry date, or any secure number or image linked to any of the personalized information or image related to the document holder.
• the present disclosure provides a strong anti-copying feature that is easy to understand and widely prevent identity theft. Additionally, this anti-copying feature provides a dynamic visual effect with the reveal of personalized information when the document is moved from a first background (e.g., a white background) to a different second background (e.g., a black background).
• a first background e.g., a white background
• a different second background e.g., a black background
• the layer of color changing material may appear red (first color) when viewed on a black background and may appear blue (second color) when viewed on a white background.
• the color of the personalized information may be blue (third color).
• the portion of personalized information will be hidden when the document's holder (citizen) will place a white background behind his document as in this case, both the portion of personalized information and the layer of color changing material appear blue.
• the portion with personalized information will only be visible when the document's holder places a black background behind the document as in this case, the portion of personalized information will appear blue and the layer of color changing material will appear red.
• Color changing material changes its color depending on the background color against which it is viewed.
• the use of color changing material in identification documents is already known in several identification documents produced around the world.
• the color change of the color changing material is reversible and reproducible.
• a color changing material according to the present disclosure is available under the trading name O.V.M Fiduciary ink ("Optical Variable Material” Fiduciary ink).
• the substrate may be made of Polycarbonate (PC), PVC, Teslin or TPU and may be formed of multiple layers stacked on each other using standard techniques which are well known in the industry. If the substrate is formed by a stack of multiple layers, one of the multiple layers may be the layer of color changing material and another one of the multiple layers may be provided with the portion with personalized information.
• PC Polycarbonate
• PVC Polycarbonate
• Teslin Teslin
• TPU Teslin or TPU
• the portion with personalized information and the layer of color changing material are provided at least partly in a transparent window.
• the transparent window extends through the entire substrate or in other words extends from the front side of the substrate to the back side of the substrate.
• the portion with personalized information and the layer of color changing material may for example be positioned in the transparent window such that they are positioned between the front side of the substrate and the back side of the substrate.
• each of the portion with personalized information and the layer of color changing material may for example be arranged on one of the layers of the stack.
• the feature that the portion with personalized information and the layer of color changing material are positioned at least partly in the transparent window may include the case that the portion with personalized information and/or the layer of color changing material are positioned outside of the transparent window, e.g., on the front side or the back side of the substrate, but are arranged in relation to the transparent window such that they are visible through the transparent window.
• the transparent window allows light to pass through.
• the light is then reflected by the surface area positioned behind the transparent window and (again) passes through the layer of color changing material and the portion with personalized information.
• the user observes the layer of color changing material and the portion with personalized information with light reflected on the surface area positioned behind the transparent window.
• the color of the color changing material changes from the first color to the second color.
• the portion with personalized information and the layer of color changing material may be viewed from the frontside and/or the backside of the substrate.
• the tolerance t may be expressed by a colorimetric metric such as ⁇ E*ab, CIE 1994 DeltaE or CIE DE2000 if the two colors are shown in a uniform colorimetric space, such as the CIE 1976 L*a*b* color space.
• CIE 1976 has been extended to correct non-uniformities of perception by the human eye by introducing weighting factors.
• the 1994 and 2000 formulas have succeeded that of 1976.
• the tolerance t may be expressed by a maximum difference between the values in each of the channels: ⁇ R 1 ⁇ R 2 ⁇ t G 1 ⁇ G 2 ⁇ t B 1 ⁇ B 2 ⁇ t with R 1 G 1 and B 1 corresponding to the values of color 1 and R 2 , G 2 and B 2 corresponding to the values of color 2.
• a light source with the same spectrum of light and with the same polarization is used when viewing through the transparent window against the first background respectively the second background.
• the identification document further has a first page, a second page, and a third page.
• the first page On the first page, the substrate, the transparent window, the portion with personalized information and the layer of color changing material is provided.
• the second page includes a first surface area.
• the third page includes a second surface area.
• the first page, the second page, and the third page are arranged such that the first page is foldable into a first position and into a second position. In the first position, the first page is positioned adjacent to the second page. In the first position the first surface area of the second page faces the substrate and forms the first background when viewing through the transparent window. In the second position, the first page is positioned adjacent to the third page. In the second position the second surface area of the third page faces the substrate and forms the second background when viewing through the transparent window.
• the identification document may for example be a passport with multiple pages and a first and second surface area which are provided on a second page respectively on a third page of that passport.
• the layer of color changing material and the portion with personalized information is positioned on a first page.
• the first surface area on the second page corresponds to the first background and the personalized information is visible.
• the second surface area on the third page corresponds to the second background and the personalized information is not visible. If in the first position the viewing direction is from the front side to the back side of the substrate, then in the second position the viewing direction is from the back side to the front side of the substrate, i.e., from the opposite side of the substrate compared to the first position.
• the first page is positioned adjacent to the second page (third page), when the first page is folded on top of the second page (third page). In this case, the first page is in contact with the second page (third page).
• the first page is also considered to be positioned adjacent to the second page (third page), when it is not in contact with the second page (third page), but is positioned so close to the second page (third page) that the first surface area of the second page (the second surface area of the third page) is visible through the transparent window of the first page. In this case, the first surface area (second surface area) forms the first background (second background) when viewing through the transparent window.
• Fig. 1-9 different fillings (hatchings) are used to illustrate and improve the description of the present disclosure.
• a black filling of the first surface 30 represent the color black.
• no filling of the second surface 31 represent the color white.
• a filling with cross-hatching of the portrait 10 or of the layer of color changing material 20 represent the color blue and that a filling with dot-hatching of the portrait 10 or of the layer of color changing material 20 represent the color red.
• the above-mentioned assignment of color to the fillings (hatchings) are only given as an example and the fillings (hatchings) may represent any other color as well.
• Fig. 1 is a schematic sectional view on an exemplary embodiment of an identification document such as an identity card 90 according to the present disclosure.
• the identity card 90 includes a substrate 1.
• the substrate 1 has a front side FS and a backside BS opposite to the front side FS in a thickness direction d of the substrate 1.
• the identification document further includes a transparent window 5 extending through the substrate 1 in the thickness direction d, a layer of color changing material 20 and a portion of personalized information 10.
• the personalized information may for example be a portrait of the document's holder or a QR-code storing personalized information of the document's holder.
• the portion with personalized information 10 and the layer of color changing material 20 are positioned in the transparent window 5 and overlap with each other when viewed in thickness direction d.
• the first surface area 30 is positioned behind the transparent window 5 such that part of it forms a first background 36 of that view through the transparent window 5. Accordingly, the layer of color changing material 20 and the portion with personalized information 10 are viewed against the first background 36.
• the first surface area 30 respectively the first background 36 has the color black (displayed in black).
• the third color 11 of the portion with personalized information 10 is blue (displayed with cross-hatching).
• the first color 26 of the layer of color changing material 20 is red (displayed with dot-hatching).
• the second surface area 31 is positioned behind the transparent window 5 such that part of it forms a second background 37 of that view through the transparent window 5. Accordingly, the layer of color changing material 20 and the portion with personalized information 10 are viewed against the second background 37.
• the second surface area 31 respectively the second background 37 has the color white (displayed with no filling).
• the third color 11 of the portion with personalized information 10 is blue (displayed with cross-hatching).
• the second color 27 of the layer of color changing material 20 is blue (displayed with cross-hatching).
• Fig. 5 illustrates the same identification document 90 as shown in Fig. 4 but differs in the surface area, in front of which the identification document 90 is positioned.
• the transparent window 5 is positioned in front of a second surface area 31 such that the second surface area 31 forms a second background 37 when viewing through the transparent window 5.
• the second surface area 31 respectively the second background 37 is white (displayed with no filling).
• the layer of color changing material 20 which is positioned in the transparent window 5 is blue (displayed with cross-hatching).
• the third color 11 of the portion with personalized information 10 is blue and the second color 27 of the layer of color changing material 20 is blue, the portion with personalized information 10 (portrait) is not identifiable.
• Fig. 6 illustrates the same identification document as shown in Fig. 4 but differs in the surface area, in front of which the identification document is positioned.
• the transparent window 5 is positioned in front of a surface which partly corresponds to the first background 30 and partly correspond to the second background 31.
• the background first background 36 and second background 37
• the layer of color changing material 20 which is positioned in the transparent window 5 is partly blue (displayed with cross-hatching) and partly red (displayed with dot-hatching).
• Fig. 7 is a sectional view on a further exemplary embodiment of an identification document such as a passport 100 according to the present disclosure.
• the passport 100 includes a first page 40, a second page 50 and a third page 60.
• the substrate 1, the transparent window 5, the portion with personalized information 10 and the layer of color changing material 20 are provided on the first page 40.
• the portion with personalized information 10 and the layer of color changing material 20 are illustrated without any indication of their color.
• the passport 100 may be folded such that the transparent window 5 is positioned adjacent to the second page 50 or adjacent to the third page 60.
• the travel path of the transparent window 5 when folding the first page 40 towards the second page 50 or towards the third page 60 is shown in a dashed line.
• the second page 50 is an end page of the passport 100 and includes a first surface area 30.
• Fig. 9 illustrates the passport 100 as shown in Fig. 7 in a state in which the first page 40 is adjacent to the third page 60.
• the first page 40 is not in contact with the third page 60, but is positioned so close to the third page 60 such that the second surface area 31 of the third page 60 is visible through the transparent window 5 and, when viewed through the transparent window 5 in viewing direction V, forms the second background 37 of the view through the transparent window 5.
• the color of the layer of color changing material 20 has the second color 27 as it is viewed against the second background 37.
• the portion with personalized information 10 and the layer of color changing material 20 are illustrated in a simplified view and their colors are not indicated with any filling.

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Citations (3)

• 2024
  • 2024-06-17 EP EP24315296.4A patent/EP4667232A1/de active Pending
• 2025
  • 2025-06-05 WO PCT/EP2025/065719 patent/WO2025261800A1/en active Pending

Patent Citations (3)

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