Substrateless Security Label with Destructible Conductive Tracks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current security labels with electronic chips, such as RFID labels, often lack sufficient protection against unauthorized detachment or manipulation, as their security features can be insufficient or easily circumvented.
Innovation Solution
A security label with a destructive, printed stack of layers that includes a brittle, easily destructible lacquer layer and structured conductor tracks, which are designed to be susceptible to damage upon attempted detachment, causing irreversible electrical interruptions detectable by the chip, thereby indicating unauthorized manipulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional security label with electronic chip is used, then the label provides basic identification and tracking functionality, but the protection against unauthorized detachment or manipulation is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple security functions into a single integrated label structure: the conductive tracks serve both as electrical connection paths for the chip and as tamper-detecting elements. The printed layer stack integrates mechanical bonding, electrical conduction, and tamper evidence in one unified structure, eliminating the need for separate components and achieving enhanced security without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The label employs a composite printed layer stack with distinct functional layers: conductive ink layers for electrical tracking, adhesive layers for bonding, and insulating layers for electrical isolation. This composite structure allows each layer to contribute its specific properties, creating a system that is both functionally sophisticated and structurally integrated.
2Reliability
If the label uses a substrate-free printed layer structure, then the label becomes more susceptible to damage and manipulation, but the detection of tampering becomes more reliable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the vulnerability of the printed layer stack into a security advantage: the very brittleness and susceptibility to damage that could be seen as weaknesses become the mechanism for tamper detection. When unauthorized manipulation occurs, the printed layers fracture in predictable ways that interrupt conductive tracks, transforming physical vulnerability into reliable security evidence.
Solution Approach 2:
The label exploits changes in physical parameters (electrical conductivity, structural integrity) as the printed layers respond to tampering. The conductive tracks transition from continuous to interrupted states, and the layer stack transitions from intact to fractured, providing detectable parameter changes that confirm tampering without requiring additional sensors or complex detection mechanisms.
3Reliability
If the conductive track is made highly conductive for reliable chip communication, then the track becomes more visible and potentially easier to trace or manipulate
Solution Approach 1:
The conductive ink is applied with precise localization, forming tracks only where electrical connection is required. The conductive material is concentrated in narrow pathways between the chip and antenna elements, providing sufficient conductivity for communication while minimizing overall visibility and reducing the target area for potential manipulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The conductive ink can be formulated to match the color of surrounding printed layers or the substrate, making it visually inconspicuous. This color matching allows the conductive tracks to blend into the overall label design, maintaining electrical functionality while reducing visual detectability and traceability.
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
The solution significantly enhances protection against unauthorized attempts to remove or manipulate the label by ensuring that any manipulation attempt results in detectable damage to the conductor tracks, effectively preventing relabeling or reuse.
Implementation Method 1
in order to be read and/or to perform an electrical measurement of conductivity, resistance, or capacitance
Implementation Method 2
stimulated, for example by a smartphone or other radio signal in the HF or UHF range (e.g., at 13.56 MHz or 868 MHz or at other frequencies or frequency ranges)
Data Source
Figure 1~2B
Figure 3~5
Figure 6~7A
AI summary
The invention relates to a security label (20) for detecting improper manipulation attempts, said security label comprising the following: a chip (8), in particular an RFID chip (9), and a destructible, printed layer stack (10), which has at least one first coating layer (1) consisting of a printed coating and has at least one structured, printed conducting track layer (2), by means of which at least one conducting track (2a), which electrically contacts the chip (8) and/or can be capacitively and/or inductively coupled to the chip (8), is formed, wherein the security label (20) is formed as a substrateless, filmless and paperless label or partial label (21) at least in most of the areal extent of the security label and wherein the destructible layer stack (10), in the event of at least partial removal from an underlying surface or object labeled therewith, causes irreversible, electrically detectable interruption of, damage to and/or destruction of the at least one conducting track (2a).