Translucent Lottery Ticket Substrate with Opaque Sensor Patches
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current scratch-off and break-open lottery tickets face limitations in security and aesthetic variation due to the use of opaque substrates, which restrict prize value and design possibilities, and existing materials lack the necessary dimensional stability for efficient printing and handling.
Innovation Solution
A lottery ticket is constructed using a translucent polymer material with specific characteristics, including a removable opaque layer for game data exposure, and additional opaque patches for optical sensor compatibility, allowing for enhanced security and design flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If opaque substrates (cardstock or foil) are used for lottery tickets, then security characteristics are improved, but aesthetic variation and design flexibility are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by combining a translucent polymer substrate with opaque printed layers. The substrate itself is translucent to allow aesthetic variation and light transmission, while opaque ink layers (including white underbase and varnish) are printed on top to provide security characteristics and game data visibility. This composite structure resolves the contradiction by allowing both translucent aesthetics and opaque security features to coexist.
2Stability of the object's composition
If foil substrates are used, then dimensional stability for printing is improved, but security is reduced and prize value is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from traditional opaque foil or cardstock to a translucent polymer material. This polymer is specifically selected to maintain dimensional stability during printing processes while enabling new security approaches. The dimensional stability allows for precise printing registration, while the translucent nature enables enhanced security features through optical effects and sensor compatibility that were not possible with traditional materials.
3Adaptability or versatility
If translucent materials are used for the substrate, then aesthetic variation and design flexibility are improved, but security characteristics are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating different optical properties in different areas of the ticket. The substrate is translucent overall for aesthetic purposes, but specific regions have opaque printed layers (white lilypad, varnish, game data) to provide security and functionality. Additionally, the translucent areas can be configured to work with optical sensors for security verification, creating localized security zones that coexist with the overall translucent aesthetic.
4Ease of manufacture
If card stock is used, then printing process management is improved, but dimensional stability is reduced and additional opaque layers are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the substrate material parameters from card stock to a translucent polymer with superior dimensional stability. This polymer maintains stability during the printing process, eliminating the stretching and registration issues associated with card stock. The material parameters are specifically optimized to provide both dimensional stability for printing and translucency for aesthetic and security purposes, reducing the need for additional corrective layers.
Data Source
AI summary
A lottery ticket is printed on a substrate sheet material having a front surface with lottery game indicia printed thereon and a removable covering material, typically scratch-off material, covering the lottery game indicia which is removable by a player to expose the game indicia for playing the game and other game information printed on the substrate sheet material where at least part of the substrate sheet material is formed of a translucent synthetic material to enable viewing through the part by the player. In order to allow the ticket to be dispensed in a row of the tickets from a dispensing machine with an optical sensor, a patch of an opaque or semi-opaque material is applied onto the substrate at a location to cooperate with the sensor while it is operating to detect ticket location.