Security document and method for producing such a security document

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a personalized security document (10) comprising a step of manufacturing a booklet having at least one paper page (12) and a paper page, a step of forming a lenticular array (22), the lenticular array (22) being adapted to be positioned opposite an area (20) of the paper page (12) when the booklet is in a determined open position, a step of covering the area (20) of the paper page (12) with a radiation-sensitive metallic foil (28), a step of applying radiation (28) to the metallic foil, through the lenticular array (22), capable of locally modifying the metallic area so as to produce positioning marks (30) defining at least the first longitudinal direction and the second direction of the lens array (24), a printing step,in a printing area (31) included in the area (20) of the paper page (12) of a colored pattern formed of at least two printed halftones (32) observable alternately through the lenticular grating (22), the position of each halftone being referenced on the positioning marks (30), so that the halftones (32) are parallel along the first direction of the lenticular grating (22).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to multi-page security documents such as passports. Traditionally, these security documents comprise a booklet consisting of several paper pages, two cover pages and a data page on which data of the holder of the document are entered. The data page is made of a rigid plastic, such as polycarbonate, and comprises at least one transparent area forming a window through which it is possible to view information entered on the page preceding or following the data page.

[0002] Generally, the booklet of paper pages, the data page and the covers are assembled together by means of a central seam, the data page possibly having a flexible hinge suitable for sewing without being damaged.

[0003] It follows from this constitution that the data page can be easily removed by detaching the seam and consequently replaced by another falsified data page. The present invention proposes a solution for detecting whether the data page is an authentic page, that is to say whether the data page is indeed the original data page of the security document, or on the contrary whether it is a falsified data page of a fraudulent document which can be used to give a false identity or which can be used to usurp the identity of a third party.

[0004] To this end, the present invention proposes to link the data page to the consecutive paper page by a security element consisting of a first part integrated into the data page and a second part integrated into the paper page. The two parts are intrinsically linked and their association forms a security element making it possible to generate information making it possible to authenticate the security document.

[0005] Document FR3112097 discloses a passport comprising a security element formed by a frame on a support page, the frame consisting of a series of alternating light and dark zones, the passport further comprising a lenticular network on a window of a data page, the lenticular network being superimposed on the frame to alternately display a first light image or a second dark image through the lenticular network.

[0006] Also known from document FR3084850 is a passport comprising two interlaced frames and a lenticular network adapted to be superimposed on the frames so that when the document passes from a first opening configuration to a second opening configuration, the lenticular network shifts to be superimposed from a first part of the frame to a second part of the frame to create a moiré effect.

[0007] Document EP2162295 discloses a security document comprising a page on which data is written and at least part of this data includes hidden information that cannot be seen with the naked eye. A means of revelation on an additional page allows, by placing it against the first page, to reveal hidden information.

[0008] The production of the security elements linking the plastic page to the paper page requires perfect alignment between the lenticular network located on the plastic page and the printed frames made on the paper page so that the lenses of the lenticular network can focus perfectly on the printed frames. However, this problem has not been resolved to date due to the successive stages of manufacturing such a security document. Indeed, the lenticular network is produced by embossing along an axis perpendicular to the short side of the plastic page, similarly the printing of the frames is carried out in a direction perpendicular to the short side of the paper page. Due to manufacturing tolerances, it is not certain that we obtain a printing of the frames which is perfectly parallel to the direction of the lenses of the lenticular network.

[0009] In case of misalignment, when the lens and the print are superimposed, a moiré effect appears since an angular offset is introduced between the lens array and the printed image. This produces an unwanted visual effect that depends on the offset angle between the lenticular array and the printed screen array.

[0010] The present invention aims to improve prior art solutions by proposing a security document that enhances the security features integrated therein, making the task of a potential counterfeiter more difficult while offering an alternative to prior art solutions and providing greater manufacturing simplicity and a high-quality visual result.

[0011] To this end, the invention relates to a method for manufacturing a personalized security document comprising a step of manufacturing a booklet comprising at least one paper page and one consecutive plastic page connected together by a seam, the plastic page 14 being delimited by two faces, A step of forming, on the face opposite the paper page, a lenticular network extending in a first longitudinal direction and a second direction, the lenticular network being adapted to be arranged opposite an area of ​​the paper page when the booklet is in a determined open position, a step of covering the area of ​​the paper page with a metal sheet sensitive to radiation so as to form a metal area, A step of applying radiation to the metal sheet, in the determined open position, through the lenticular network,able to locally modify the metal zone so as to produce positioning marks defining at least the first longitudinal direction and the second direction of the lens network, A step of printing, in a printing zone included in the area of ​​the paper page, outside the metal zone, a colored pattern formed of at least two printed screens observable alternately through the lenticular network, the position of each screen being referenced on the positioning marks, so that the screens are parallel along the first direction of the lenticular network.

[0012] Thanks to these arrangements, it is possible to perfectly align the screens of a printed pattern on the paper page with the lenticular network of the plastic page. The invention therefore makes it possible to avoid any deviation in the positioning of the printed pattern and to guarantee correct observation of the screens through the lenses.

[0013] Advantageously, the lenticular array is a cylindrical lens array extending longitudinally in the first direction and having a array pitch, the modification of the metal area consists of a local ablation of the metal foil, the positioning marks have a dimension greater than the pitch of the lenticular array, the metal area forms a frame surrounding the printing area, the frame is rectangular and has four positioning marks located in each of the four corners, the lenticular array has a pitch, each frame having the same pitch as the lenticular array.

[0014] The invention also relates to a personalized security document comprising a booklet comprising at least one paper page and one consecutive plastic page connected together by a seam, the plastic page being delimited by two faces a lenticular network extending in a first longitudinal direction and a second direction, the lenticular network being adapted to be arranged opposite an area of ​​the paper page when the booklet is in a determined open position, a metal sheet, on the area of ​​the paper page, sensitive to radiation so as to form a metal area, the metal sheet being modified locally so as to produce positioning marks defining at least the first longitudinal direction and the second direction of the lens network, a print, in a print area included in the area of ​​the paper page, outside the metal area,of a colored pattern formed from at least two printed halftones observable alternately through the lenticular lens, the position of each halftone being referenced on the positioning marks, so that the halftones are parallel along the first direction of the lenticular lens.

[0015] Other embodiments and advantages of the invention are described below with reference to the figures, in which: There figure 1 illustrates an identity document according to the invention before the personalization stage. figure 2 describes an intermediate step in the production of the identity document. figure 3 illustrates a first step in personalizing the security document. figure 4 illustrates a second step in the security document.

[0016] The present invention provides a solution for ensuring the alignment of the printed frames with the lenticular network of a security document and in particular it provides a method for manufacturing a security document. The description of the manufacturing method will be made with reference to the schematic representations of the figures 1 à 4 .

[0017] A security document 10 according to the invention is for example a passport, but could correspond to any other type of security document 10 in the form of a booklet, such as a family record book.

[0018] First of all, the method consists of providing a notebook or booklet comprising several paper pages 12. Such a document 10 generally comprises a booklet of several paper pages 12 assembled with a front cover page and a back cover page. The cover pages are traditionally laminated or cardboard so as to make the document 10 or passport more robust to external stresses. Generally, the booklet of paper pages 12 comprises a first page, called the cover page, glued to the inside of the cover page and a last page, glued to the inside of the back cover page.

[0019] The process then involves providing a data page 14 made of a rigid plastic material, usually polycarbonate. The cover pages, the booklet's paper pages 12, and the data page, also called the plastic page, 14 are bound together by a central seam 16 that defines the folding axis of the document 10, such as a passport. A flexible hinge, for example made of PET or PVC, is attached to the data page 14, for example by local welding; this hinge is designed to be sewn to the other paper pages 12 of the booklet.

[0020] Thus the document 10 can be configured in several positions, around the folding axis formed by the seam 16, ranging from a fully open position in which the angle formed between two consecutive pages is approximately 180° and a closed position, in which the front cover page and the back cover page form an angle of 0°.

[0021] In addition, the document 10 can have a multitude of open positions, called intermediate, in which two consecutive pages form an angle greater than 0° and less than 180°, in practice: greater than 90°, so that a user can view the information entered on the page of said document 10. The figures 1 et 2 illustrate such an intermediate position.

[0022] As previously indicated, the document 10 according to the invention comprises a plastic data page 14 on which data relating to the bearer are written. This data page 14 is illustrated in the figure 1 [Fig. 1 Traditionally, this data page 14 is made of a rigid substrate, such as opaque polycarbonate.

[0023] Data page 14 has at least one transparent area forming a window 18, through which it is possible to observe an area 20 of a paper page 12 adjacent to the data page. Thus, the transparent window 18 of data page 14 allows information from one of the paper pages adjacent to it to be viewed through this window 18. This window 18 is represented by a rectangular white area on the figure 1 [Fig. 1 ], and area 20 of the consecutive paper page 12 that can be observed is delimited by a dotted rectangle on the same figure 1 [Fig. 1 ]. The window 18 may be formed by techniques known to those skilled in the art. For example, it may be formed by not printing locally at the area of ​​the window 18 or by inserting a transparent patch into a cutout of the substrate of the data page 14.

[0024] The transparent window 18 of the data page 14 further comprises, on part or all of its surface, a lenticular network 22 formed of cylindrical lenses 24 extending in a first longitudinal direction parallel to the axis of the seam 16 and in a second direction. According to a preferred embodiment, the second direction is perpendicular to the first longitudinal direction. By way of example, the parameters of this lens network 24 are as follows: pitch of approximately 400-450 µm, lens height between 40 and 60 µm and lens radius between 500 µm and 560 µm. The lenticular network 22 is formed on the face of the data page 14 by embossing or by local deformation by application of laser radiation 28. The formation of the lenticular network 22 is carried out prior to the assembly by sewing 16 of the data page 14 with the booklet.The lenticular network 22 is formed so that the longitudinal direction of the cylindrical lenses 24 extends perpendicular to the smallest edge of the data page 14. For this purpose the lenticular network will be produced on the face located on the side opposite the paper page 12 receiving the information to be observed through the lenticular network 22.

[0025] The lenticular network 22 of the window 18 is then arranged opposite the zone 20 of the paper page 12. In particular, when the booklet is in a determined opening position, the lenticular network 22 is arranged in a determined position relative to the zone 20 of the paper page 12. This position may vary depending on the opening angle of the identity document 10.

[0026] Then the data page 14 is positioned and assembled between two paper pages of the booklet, generally between the first paper page, called the cover page, and the second paper page and then assembled to these paper pages 12 by stitching 16. This assembly is carried out so that the smaller sides of the paper pages 12 and of the data page 14 are parallel to each other and aligned.

[0027] The manufacturing process for the identity document 10 further includes a step of covering area 20 of the paper page 12 with a very thin metallic foil, for example, between 10 and 50 nm. As an example, the metallic foil is an aluminum patch with a thickness between 10 and 40 nm. Other materials can be used to make the patch, such as silver, copper, zinc sulfide, or a metal oxide such as titanium oxide. The area covered with the metallic foil will be referred to hereafter as the metallic area 26. Preferably, the application of this thin metallic foil to the paper page 12 is carried out before the pages of the security document 10 are stitched together 16, but it could also be carried out after this stitching.

[0028] Preferably, the metal zone 26 forms a frame in the zone 20 of the paper page 12 and delimits an interior space which will be described in the remainder of the description.

[0029] The material of the metal foil is chosen to be sensitive to radiation 28 to be locally transformed under the action of such radiation 28. For example, the material is sensitive to radiation 28 from a YAG laser (1063nm)

[0030] The manufacturing process for safety document 10 then includes a step of applying laser radiation 28 to the metal sheet, in a predetermined open position, through the lenticular grating 22. This radiation 28 is capable of locally modifying the metal sheet so as to create positioning marks 30 defining at least the first longitudinal direction and the second direction of the lens grating 24. This step is schematically represented by the figure 2 [fig. 2 ] annexed.

[0031] The laser beam 28 locally modifies the metal sheet, for example, by ablation, to create positioning marks 30 on the frame formed by said metal sheet. The beam 28 is configured to remove the metal sheet without burning the paper sheet located beneath it. Preferably, three or even four positioning marks 30 are created to correct for possible transformations related to the printing process. The positioning marks 30 then define the first longitudinal direction and the second direction of the lens array 24. Furthermore, the positioning marks 30 can have various shapes such as a cross, a triangle, or a circle. The positioning mark must have a minimum size to be detected by the laser camera through the lens.For this purpose this dimension must be greater than the pitch of the lens.

[0032] The method according to the invention further comprises a step of printing, by a printing device 36, in a printing zone 31 included in the zone 20 of the paper page 12, outside the part covered with the metal sheet, a colored pattern formed of at least two printed screens 32 observable alternately through the lenticular network 22, each screen being referenced on the positioning marks 30, so that the screens 32 are parallel along the first direction of the lenticular network 22.

[0033] To this end, the method comprises a step of detecting the positioning marks 30 present on the metal sheet of the paper page 12 by means of a camera 34 connected to the printing device 36. This is schematically represented in the figure 3 [Fig. 3 ]. When the positioning marks 30 are detected, their coordinates are sent to a processing system of the printer which will then take said positioning marks 30 as a reference to carry out the printing of the frames 32. This printing step is illustrated schematically by the figure 4 [Fig. 4 ].

[0034] Each frame comprises a series of printed parallel bands which, when viewed selectively through the lenticular network 22, form an overall image visible to the naked eye. For example, if two frames 32 are printed, each of the two frames 32 will generate, in association with the lenticular network 22, two distinct images (one image per frame). Indeed, when said lenticular network 22 is arranged opposite the set of two frames 32 and in particular when each lens focuses the incident light through the lens onto a band of one frame, it will be possible to observe the image associated with this frame and when each lens focuses the incident light through the lens onto a band of the other frame, it will be possible to observe the other image.

[0035] The security document 10 thus obtained is remarkable in that it allows one or more images to be observed through the lenticular network 22 clearly and without any blurring effect on the observed image thanks to the perfect alignment of the lenticular network 22 and the printed frames 32.

[0036] It is thus possible to observe one or the other image alternately by moving the point of convergence (or focus) of the lenticular network 22 relative to the overall frame.

[0037] According to a first variant, this movement can be a translation movement perpendicular to the direction of the bands of the overall frame obtained by modifying the opening angle between the data page 14 and the paper page 12.

[0038] According to a second variant, this relative displacement is obtained by modifying the viewing angle of document 10 in a specific opening position. The lenticular lens 22 and the two frames 32 are arranged to allow, in a given opening position of document 10, the generation of the first image from a first viewing direction. By changing this viewing direction, while maintaining the opening position of document 10, the lenticular lens 22, in conjunction with the two frames 32, will generate the second image, viewable from a second viewing direction. The user can therefore alternately view the first and second images by tilting document 10 at different viewing angles.

[0039] Thanks to the method according to the invention, it is made possible to align the frame strips 32 very precisely with the lenses 24 of the network. Thus each image will be seen clearly and distinctly. This avoids a “ghost” image effect seen through the lenticular network 22 when the latter mistakenly focuses on two different frames 32 due to poor alignment of the frames 32 and the present invention also makes it possible to avoid a blurring effect in the transition of the images.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a personalized security document (10) comprising a step of manufacturing a booklet comprising at least one paper page (12) and one consecutive plastic page connected together by a seam (16), the plastic page (14) being delimited by two faces, A step of forming, on the face opposite the paper page (12), a lenticular network (22) extending in a first longitudinal direction and a second direction, the lenticular network (22) being adapted to be arranged opposite an area (20) of the paper page (12) when the booklet is in a determined open position, a step of covering the area (20) of the paper page (12) with a metal sheet sensitive to radiation (28) so as to form a metal area (26), A step of applying radiation (28) to the metal sheet, in the determined open position, through the lenticular network (22),able to locally modify the metal zone so as to produce positioning marks (30) defining at least the first longitudinal direction and the second direction of the lens array (24), A step of printing, in a printing zone (31) included in the zone (20) of the paper page (12), outside the metal zone (26), a colored pattern formed of at least two printed frames (32) observable alternately through the lenticular array (22), the position of each frame being referenced on the positioning marks (30), so that the frames (32) are parallel along the first direction of the lenticular array (22)., 2. Manufacturing method according to the preceding claim, in which the lenticular network (22) is a network of cylindrical lenses (24) extending longitudinally in the first direction and having a network pitch.

3. Manufacturing method according to one of the preceding claims, in which the modification of the metal zone (26) consists of a local ablation of the metal sheet.

4. Manufacturing method according to claim 2, in which the positioning marks (30) have a dimension greater than the pitch of the lenticular network (22).

5. Manufacturing method according to one of the preceding claims, in which the metal zone (26) forms a frame surrounding the printing zone (31).

6. Manufacturing method according to the preceding claim, in which the frame is rectangular and comprises four positioning marks (30) located in each of the four corners.

7. Manufacturing method according to one of the preceding claims, in which the lenticular network (22) has a pitch, each frame having the same pitch as the lenticular network (22).

8. Personalized security document (10) comprising a booklet comprising at least one paper page (12) and one consecutive plastic page connected together by a seam (16), the plastic page (14) being delimited by two faces a lenticular network (22) extending in a first longitudinal direction and a second direction, the lenticular network (22) being adapted to be arranged opposite an area (20) of the paper page (12) when the booklet is in a determined open position, a metal foil, on the area (20) of the paper page (12), sensitive to radiation (28) so as to form a metal area (26), the metal foil being modified locally so as to produce positioning marks (30) defining at least the first longitudinal direction and the second direction of the lens network (24), A print, in a print area (31) included in the area (20) of the paper page (12),outside the metallic zone (26), a colored pattern formed of at least two printed frames (32) observable alternately through the lenticular network (22), the position of each frame being referenced on the positioning marks (30), so that the frames (32) are parallel along the first direction of the lenticular network (22).,

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