Direct Thermal Variable Printing Substrate

Abstract

The invention is an article and method of discretely recording confidential information especially for lottery applications and comprises: providing a substrate assembly comprising a) a substrate, b) a first layer of an acid developer material coated on the substrate, c) a meltable barrier layer applied over the acidic developer material, the meltable barrier layer being meltable in response to the applied heat of a thermal printhead or laser, d) a scratch-off layer coated over the meltable barrier layer, and e) pressure-sensitive microcapsules containing a dye precursor and solvent dispersed in any of the layers and, recording non-visible information by selective application of heat to the substrate assembly using a thermal printhead or laser, the barrier layer being “activated” by melting in discrete areas where heat is selectively applied from the thermal printhead or laser. The recorded non-visible information is revealed by removing the scratch-off layer using applied pressure thereby rupturing the microcapsules enabling the dye precursor to contact the acidic developer material and form a visible color in the discrete area where the barrier layer was melted by application of heat using a thermal printhead or laser.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.