Optical Grid Security Features for Lens-Free Data Media
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing security features in data carriers, such as passports and credit cards, are complicated to produce and limited in their applications due to the use of lenticular lenses, which depend on printing processes for image quality.
Innovation Solution
A security feature using an optical grid as a light-diffracting or light-refracting structure replaces lenses, with a grid pitch corresponding to an integer multiple or halving of the division, allowing for optical effects like tilting images or animations, and can be decoded using a separate decoder or a smartphone app, simplifying production and expanding applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If lenticular lenses are used in security features, then optical effects such as tilting images can be achieved, but the production process becomes complicated and image quality depends on printing processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical lenticular lens system with a digital encoded representation and decoder system. Instead of using physical lenses that require complex production processes, the invention uses computationally generated patterns that can be decoded optically, thereby substituting a mechanical/optical system with a digital one that simplifies manufacturing while maintaining optical effects
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates multiple individual representations within the encoded representation that correspond to different viewing angles or positions. These are calculated copies of the security feature information, allowing the same data to be presented in multiple forms without requiring multiple physical lenses or complex printing layers
2Reliability
If lenticular lenses are used in security features, then optical variable effects can be achieved, but the number of applications is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The encoded representation with individual representations can serve multiple functions: it can be decoded to verify authenticity, it can display different images from different angles, it can be integrated into various data carriers (passports, banknotes, cards), and it can work with different decoder types (optical decoders, smartphone cameras). This multi-functionality expands the versatility beyond what traditional lenticular lenses can achieve
3Ease of manufacture
If a grid decoder is used instead of lenses, then production is simplified and applications are expanded, but the structure requires precise grid pitch matching
Solution Approach 1:
The invention allows the grid pitch to be an integer multiple or a halving of the division, providing flexibility in the decoder design. This parameter adaptation means that exact 1:1 matching is not required, allowing for tolerance in manufacturing while still achieving proper decoding, thus reducing the stringency of precision requirements
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Simplifies production and enhances the number of possible applications by enabling optical effects without complex lenses, offering flexibility in production and construction, and allowing observation from both sides of the substrate.
Implementation Method 1
a grid which operates as a light-diffracting or light-refracting structure
Implementation Method 2
a grid which operates as a light-diffracting or light-refracting structure
Data Source
AI summary
A security feature for a data carrier, having a substrate, an encoded representation of the security feature arranged in or on the substrate, wherein a plurality of individual representations are contained in the encoded representation and wherein the plurality of individual representations are arranged in a division over a dimension of the security feature, and a decoder with a grid, wherein a grid pitch of the grid of the division corresponds to an integer multiple of the division or a halving of the division.