Latent images comprising phase shifted micro printing
AssigneeCanadian Bank Note Company, Limited
InventorsTrevor Merry, Alan R. Boate
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Abstract
A security device comprising a substrate having applied thereto an array of characters, the characters being of a sufficiently small size as to appear uniform when ordinarily viewed but individually identifiable when viewed with the aid of appropriate magnification means, whereby group(s) of the characters are phase-shifted relative to the others in such a manner as to collectively define an image, the image being relatively indiscernible when the device is ordinarily viewed but discernible when viewed with the aid of a finding screen.
Claims13
A security device comprising both microscope and macroscopic hidden images, said device comprising a substrate having applied thereto an array of alphanumeric characters, said characters being of a sufficiently small size as to appear uniform when ordinarily viewed by collectively forming a microscopic image capable of conveying meaningful information when viewed with the aid of appropriate magnification means, whereby group(s) of said characters are phase-shifted relative to other said characters in such a manner as to collectively define a macroscopic image, said macroscopic image being relatively indiscernible when said device is ordinarily viewed but discernible when viewed with the aid of a finding screen.
A method of making a security device comprising both macroscopic and microscopic hidden images, comprising the steps of applying to a substrate an array of alphanumeric characters, said characters being of a sufficiently small size as to appear uniform when ordinarily viewed but collectively forming a microscopic image capable of conveying meaningful information when viewed with the aid of appropriate magnification means, and positioning group(s) of said characters in phase-shifted relation relative to other said characters so as to collectively form a macroscopic image, said macroscopic image being relatively indiscernible when said device is ordinarily viewed but discernible when viewed with the aid of a finding screen.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.