Method and system for producing certified documents and the like
AssigneeThe Ergonomic Group
InventorsGene F Gaffney, William R O'Brien
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for generating secure documents includes a station for generating a plain document and a security image generator that generates a security image. The security image is then incorporated into the plain document. Each security image consists of a plurality of secure elements, each secure element being defined by two sets of parallel lines. Each secure element defines an alphanumeric character or other unique image that is visible under certain conditions, i.e., when inspected through a viewer. The technique can also be used to provide security images on a web page as a means of indicating that the web page is genuine.
Claims26
A system for generating documents electronically comprising:
- a document generator generating electronically a plain document including a sequence of adjacent graphic elements;
- and
- a security image generator generating a security image including a plurality of discrete security elements arranged adjacent to each other, each security element being formed of at least two sets of parallel lines and corresponding to a respective graphic element of said sequence, wherein said sets of lines are not parallel to each other;
- and
- a modified document generator generating a modified document by merging said security image with said plain document by replacing said sequence of adjacent graphic elements with said security image.
A method of generating a security image electronically comprising:
- receiving a request for a security image corresponding to a sequence of adjacent graphic elements;
- and
- generating automatically said security image by assembling a plurality of security elements, each security element being formed of a first set and a second set of lines, each security element corresponding to one of said graphic elements, wherein each set of lines consists of a set of parallel ones disposed adjacent to each other and wherein the lines of the first set are not parallel to the lines of the second set.
A method of generating a plurality of security elements comprising:
- defining a canvas of predetermined size;
- filling said canvas with a first set of adjacent parallel lines;
- forming a graphic image using a second set of adjacent parallel lines that are not parallel to said first set and joining said first and second set of parallel lines to form a predetermined security image;
- wherein said first and second parallel lines have a first set of physical characteristics selected to render said security image visible only when viewed through a special viewer having a plurality of viewer lines having a second set of physical characteristics related to said first set of physical set of physical characteristics.
A system for generating a secure webpage comprising:
- generating a plain webpage;
- and
- incorporating in said plain webpage a security image including a plurality of security elements, each security element being formed of two sets of parallel lines, each set of parallel lines consisting of adjacent lines, with the lines of said sets not being parallel with the lines of the other set, each element corresponding to an alphanumeric character to form a modified webpage, wherein said security image defines customer-selected data.
An apparatus for generating security images electronically comprising:
- an input receiving a request for a security image based on a plurality of graphic elements arranged in a row;
- a security image generator coupled to said input, said security image generator being adapted to obtain from a library and assemble a plurality of security images arranged adjacent to each other, each security image being formed of at least two sets of parallel lines and corresponding to a respective graphic element of said request, each set of parallel lines consisting of adjacent parallel lines, the lines of one of said sets not being parallel with the lines of the other of said sets;
- and
- an output providing said security image to a user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.