Security Barcode Modules with Light Disrupters
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for authenticating goods and documents are costly, complex, and difficult to implement on consumer goods and printed documents, and lack a reliable way to verify the authenticity of personal cards without the original, especially in online transactions, due to the need for specialized equipment and the risk of code appropriation.
Innovation Solution
An authentication method using a coded entity with light-disrupting elements, referred to as disrupters, which are grouped into modules that reflect light differently based on viewpoint and lighting conditions, allowing for a subsequent description to be compared with an original description using acquisition means and positioning relative to a recognizable graphics structure, enabling verification without specialized equipment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If complex technologies are used to create authentication devices that are difficult to reproduce, then security and reliability are improved, but cost and device complexity increase, making them unsuitable for consumer goods and printed documents
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of light interaction by using disrupters that alter light propagation paths in three-dimensional space. This creates authentication features that are reliable and difficult to reproduce, yet can be implemented with conventional printing technologies, avoiding the need for complex authentication devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a third dimension (depth) to authentication features by embedding disrupters at different depths within the printed material. This dimensional addition creates complex optical effects that are difficult to counterfeit, while the disrupters themselves can be applied using standard printing processes, thus improving security without increasing device complexity.
2Measurement precision
If specialized equipment is used to verify authentication devices, then measurement precision and reliability are improved, but ease of operation deteriorates, requiring specialized training and equipment that ordinary verifiers do not possess
Solution Approach 1:
The authentication device performs self-verification through its optical properties. The disrupters create light patterns that can be directly observed with the naked eye or simple cameras, eliminating the need for specialized verification equipment. The device essentially verifies itself through its inherent optical characteristics, making the process simple for ordinary users.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical or electronic verification systems with optical observation. Instead of requiring specialized scanners or analytical instruments, the authentication features are designed to be readable through simple optical means such as human vision or standard camera sensors, thereby improving ease of operation while maintaining verification accuracy.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional printing methods are used to reduce cost, then ease of manufacture and cost are improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates, making it difficult to create authentication features that are difficult to reproduce
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of disrupter size to a scale that is difficult to reproduce with conventional printing methods. By making disrupters smaller than the resolution limit of standard printing, the system achieves high manufacturing precision for authentication features while still using conventional printing processes, thus maintaining both low cost and high security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite structures combining disrupters with the printed material matrix. This composite approach allows the authentication features to leverage both the conventional printing process (for cost-effectiveness) and the unique optical properties of the disrupter-composite structure (for precision and security against reproduction).
4Ease of operation
If codes are used for personal card authentication, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates, as codes can be appropriated by third parties and there is no way to verify if the original card is present
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the authentication parameter from static codes to dynamic optical patterns created by disrupters. These patterns are difficult to reproduce and require the presence of the original card, providing reliable authentication while maintaining ease of operation through simple optical verification processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a third dimension (depth) to personal card authentication features by embedding disrupters at various depths within the card structure. This creates optical patterns that are unique to the original card and difficult to replicate, ensuring that authentication verifies the presence of the genuine card while remaining simple to perform.
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
This method provides a cost-effective, reliable, and user-friendly means to authenticate goods and documents, preventing counterfeiting by ensuring that the authentication device's appearance changes with viewpoint and lighting, making it difficult to reproduce and allowing verification using ordinary equipment, such as mobile phones, while ensuring the originality of personal cards.
Implementation Method 1
said disrupters being grouped together in sub-entities referred to as modules, a module returning light in perceptibly different ways depending on the point of view from which it is observed
Implementation Method 2
an operation referred to below as acquisition that consists in using acquisition means for measuring the brightness of a plurality of said modules, at one or more wavelengths or sets of wavelengths
Data Source
AI summary
A security barcode is made up of modules that include optical disrupters that are too small to be deliberately placed in precise positions. The barcode is authenticated by a simple webcam including three-dimensional positioning means co-operating with a recognizable graphic structure referred to as a “marker”. In order to establish the authenticity of an article protected by the code, a description of the code is made after the code has been printed and is stored in a database, and that description is compared with a new description that results from at least two acquisitions, one made under the same conditions, and the other made while changing the three-dimensionally defined viewpoint and/or the lighting. In its preferred variant, the barcode cannot be printed in order to represent a predetermined number. It is also impossible to reproduce the barcode.