DESC:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system and process for authentication of a hologram. More particularly, the invention relates to an anti-counterfeit layer induced on the hologram for the authentication of a hologram through the digital device like but not limited to smart phone, desktop computers or embedded device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Product value and consistency has gradually become more critical in the era of global explosion of goods exchanges and sales. With increased globalization, products are distributed worldwide, and manufacturing is also carried out globally due to resource variety. Additionally, advent of technology has encouraged and facilitated product counterfeiting.
Nowadays counterfeiting is a major problem in authenticating the products. It involves making of unauthorized replicas of real products to take the advantage of superior value of the imitated product. Therefore, product authentication through some security element is a necessary process for ensuring the origin and integrity of data and products. There are various techniques used for identification and authentication in an effort to reduce counterfeiting. Holograms are very popular at use as a security element in applications where there are chances of counterfeiting. The prior known holograms are available with additional features like protective layer constituting a diffractive element or a multiple covert layer arrangement for enhanced security.
US5742411A discloses a hologram wherein the layer closest to the observer, i.e. the top layer, is a lightly metallized layer on top of a holographic embossed clear plastic film. Approximately 60% of the ambient light is reflected back to the observer by the lightly metalized layer, revealing to the observer the holographic image. A layer within the structure and further from the observer is a heavily metallized layer on top of a retro reflective micro prism layer. Since the top metal layer is partially transparent, when a focused beam of bright light is directed to the hologram, a portion of the light will pass through the holographic layer and then be retro reflected back to the viewer by the highly reflective micro prisms which have the heavy layer of metal thereon. The heavy layer of metal may form a pattern conveying a message or image. When such a pattern of metal is deposed on the micro prisms they will selectively reflect the message or image of the pattern back to the viewer. A major drawback with these technologies is that there authentication is purely dependent on visual inspection and awareness. And a person with lack of awareness about authentication of such holograms will not recognize the original product.
As the technology is emerging, the holograms have also become susceptible to fraud and mere visual inspection of hologram to ensure the authenticity has become a limitation. Therefore, there is a need of development of technology to enhance the security of holograms from counterfeit. Further, there is a need of technology to overcome the limitation of authentication of holograms by way of visual inspection.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The main object of the present invention is to provide a system and a process for product authentication of holograms.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a digital device based authentication solution for authentication of holograms.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an anti-counterfeit layer induced on the hologram that is not visible to naked eye.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an anti-counterfeit layer induced on the hologram that is product specific art work merged with covert information like text, pattern, shape or any other format which is generated based on the product specific identifier.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new process for authentication of a hologram through digital device such as smart phone, desktop computers or embedded device.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide cost effective anti-counterfeit solution for the authentication of a hologram.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process for authentication of a hologram through digital device such as smart phone, desktop computers or embedded device. More specifically, the invention discloses an anti-counterfeit layer induced on the hologram for the authentication of a hologram.
In an embodiment of the present invention, an anti-counterfeit hologram for product authentication is provided comprising of at least one hologram and at least one anti-counterfeit layer. The hologram are secured by inducing an anti-counterfeit layer on the hologram. This anti-counterfeit layer is invisible to naked eye. The anti-counterfeit layer includes a product specific art-work merged with the covert information and a specific angle of decode and induced on the hologram. Covert information is any one of these formats like covert text, covert shape, security pattern or any other form which is generated based on the product identifier. Specific angle of decode is an angle stored in a remote database server with covert information. Authentication of a hologram is done through digital device such as smart phone, desktop computers or embedded device. The anti-counterfeit hologram is useful in authentication of products and used on a paper document, label or any kind of packaging substrate.
In another embodiment of the present invention, process of generation of anti-counterfeit hologram is disclosed. The anti-counterfeit layer is generated by combining an artwork with unique covert information for different products and then inducing it on the hologram by laser etching. The anti-counterfeit layer is invisible and resistant to any kind of copying technique.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a process of authentication of anti-counterfeit hologram is provided. The process of authentication involves auto capture of anti-counterfeit hologram by an inbuilt application and the image capturing unit of the digital device such as smart phone or desktop. When mobile camera is focused to anti-counterfeit hologram security feature region, then it will automatically capture the image and processes it. After scanning, the captured image is verified and processed for checking the anti-counterfeit proof layer for covert information. This process involves extracting the dots present in the anti-counterfeit hologram security feature region and checking the text or shape or dot pattern to verify whether the product is counterfeited or not. When the anti-counterfeit hologram is fetched, the authentication result is displayed on the visual display unit of digital device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A complete understanding of the system and process of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the following drawings:
Figure 1 shows a flow diagram of process of generation of anti-counterfeit layer in hologram according to the present invention;
Figure 2 shows a flow diagram of process of authentication of anti-counterfeit hologram according to the present invention; and
Figure 3 shows the block diagram of system for authentication of anti-counterfeit hologram.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention will now be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
The present invention relates to a system and process for authentication of a hologram. More specifically, the invention discloses an anti-counterfeit layer induced on the hologram for the authentication of a hologram through digital device such as smart phone, desktop computers or embedded device.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an anti-counterfeit hologram for product authentication is provided comprising of at least one hologram and at least one anti-counterfeit layer. The hologram are secured by inducing an anti-counterfeit layer on the hologram. This anti-counterfeit layer is invisible to naked eye. The anti-counterfeit layer is generated by fetching the product specific art-work and converting it to a dot matrix image and then merging with the covert information and a specific angle of decode and inducing it on the hologram using laser etching. Specific angle of decode is any angle stored in a remote database server with covert information. Covert information is any one of these formats like covert text, covert shape, security pattern or any other form which is generated based on the product identifier. Authentication of a hologram is done through digital device such as smart phone, desktop computers or embedded device. The anti-counterfeit hologram is useful in authentication of products and used on a paper document, label or any kind of packaging substrate.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, process of generation of hologram with anti-counterfeit layer is disclosed. The anti-counterfeit hologram is generated by combining an artwork with covert information. Covert information is any one of these formats like covert text, covert shape, security pattern or any other form which is generated based on the product identifier. Covert information is invisible and when combined with art-work becomes challenging for counterfeiting. Product specific art-work image is unique for every product and covert information is also unique information generated by using product specific data during generation. Hence anti-counterfeit hologram information differentiates different products. This is then used for authenticating the product by inducing the final art-work on the hologram and then used with any product for authentication. Anti-counterfeit hologram security feature is induced using laser etching.
In yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention, process of authentication is provided using a digital device such as smart phone, desktop computer or embedded device. The image capturing unit of the digital device i.e. camera is focused to anti-counterfeit hologram security feature region, then it will automatically capture the image of hologram and processes it. After scanning, the captured image is verified and processed for checking the anti-counterfeit proof layer for covert information by extracting the text or shape or dot pattern present in the anti-counterfeit hologram and checking the text or shape or dot pattern to verify whether the product is counterfeited or not. After verification, the authentication result is displayed on the screen.
Figure 1 shows the flow diagram of process of generation of anti-counterfeit hologram. Said process of generation comprises of fetching a background design and transferring the background design image to a dot matrix image. Covert information is now fetched from an input database. The same covert information is also stored in a remote database server. The fetched covert information, angle of decode is merged with the dot matrix image. Simultaneously, the background design is merged with covert information to generate an art work image. Covert information is any one of these formats like covert text, covert shape, security pattern or any other form which is generated based on a unique product identifier. The anti-counterfeited layer which is invisible to naked eye is induced on hologram using laser etching.
In another embodiment, the covert information formats are: (a) Dotted image with text format wherein the product specific art-work image is converted to dot matrix and then merged with a covert text at specific angle, for decode. When the text is embedded in the dot image then in the final art-work it is impossible to distinguish text and the product specific image; (b) Dotted image with shape format wherein the product specific art-work image is converted to dot matrix and then merged with the shape/pattern at specific angle, for decode. When the shape/pattern is embedded in the dot image then in the final art-work it is impossible to distinguish text and the product specific image; and (c) Micro dots format wherein a dot pattern is generated based on an algorithm by using product specific identifier as input. Then while merging a product specific art-work image with dot pattern image each dot is placed as set of minute dots. The merged image having dot pattern is induced on hologram. Dot pattern is unique for each product.
Figure 2 shows the flow diagram of process for product authentication using a digital device. The digital device is having an inbuilt software application. Said process for authentication comprises of accessing the inbuilt software application through which the anti-counterfeit hologram on a product is automatically captured by the image capturing unit of the digital device as soon as the device is directed towards the product. Now, the auto captured image is checked for the anti-counterfeit hologram. In case the anti-counterfeit hologram is not detected, then the device auto captures the image again until it is detected. Once the anti-counterfeit hologram is detected, the inbuilt software application tries to retrieve the covert information. Now the retrieved covert information is verified by comparing the covert image stored for the product at the remote database server.
The anti-counterfeit hologram is invisible to naked eye since covert information merged with art-work is of micro dot format and it is not visible when induced on hologram. As the anti-counterfeit layer is not visible, the anti-counterfeit hologram looks exactly as a normal hologram. Since, the art work is merged with covert information and induced as micro dot format, the information encoded in specific format is hard to replicate.
Figure 3 shows the block diagram of system for authentication of anti-counterfeit hologram. The system comprises of an input database stored with the covert information for different products. The covert information is sent to a generation system where the covert information is combined with a background design to generate the anti-counterfeit hologram. The anti-counterfeit hologram is then induced by laser etching. The covert information fed in each anti-counterfeit hologram is fed into the remote database server. When a consumer directs the digital device towards anti-counterfeit hologram on the product, the device auto captures the anti-counterfeit hologram and authenticates it for anti-counterfeiting by comparing with retrieved information with information stored in remote database server. The authentication result is then displayed in the digital device.
Therefore, the present invention provides a digital device based solution for authenticating holograms utilizing an invisible induced anti-counterfeit layer merged with unique covert information for each product. As the digital device in use for authentication includes smart phone or a desktop computer, therefore there is no requirement of any special device for authentication and hence the present invention is cost effective. The present invention is useful in differentiating in products and can be used on a paper document, label or any kind of packaging substrate.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention set forth herein will readily occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
,CLAIMS:CLAIMS

We claim:
1. An anti-counterfeit hologram comprising:

at least one hologram; and

at least one anti-counterfeit layer;

wherein,
said anti-counterfeit hologram is used for authenticating a product;

the anti-counterfeit layer comprises of a unique product specific art-work and a covert information;

the anti-counterfeit layer is invisible to naked eye;

the anti-counterfeit layer is generated by fetching the product specific art-work and converting it to a dot matrix image and then merging with the covert information and a specific angle of decode and inducing it on the hologram using laser etching.

2. The hologram as claimed in claim 1, wherein the covert information includes but is not limited covert text, covert shape, security pattern or any other form which is generated based on a unique product identifier.

3. The hologram as claimed in claim 1, wherein the product specific art-work and the covert information is unique for each product.

4. The hologram as claimed in claim 1, wherein the covert information is authenticated using a digital device including but not limited to smart phone, desktop computer, an embedded device and alike.

5. The hologram as claimed in claim 1, wherein the covert information is in a format including but not limited to a dotted image with text format; dotted image with shape format; and microdot format.

6. The hologram as claimed in claim 1, wherein the specific angle of decode is any angle.

7. A process for authenticating an anti-counterfeit hologram comprising the steps of:

(a) focusing an image capturing unit of a digital device on the anti-counterfeit hologram;

(b) capturing image of the anti-counterfeit hologram and processing the image to obtain said anti-counterfeit hologram using an inbuilt application for authentication on a product;

(c) repeating step (a) and (b) till said anti-counterfeit hologram is obtained;

(d) verifying the anti-counterfeit hologram obtained in step (c) to obtain an authentication result; and

(e) displaying authentication result on the digital device;
wherein,
the anti-counterfeit hologram comprises of a hologram and an anti-counterfeit layer induced on the hologram by laser etching;

the anti-counterfeit layer is invisible to naked eye and comprises of a unique product specific art-work, a covert information and a specific angle of decode; and

the anti-counterfeit hologram verification in step (d) comprises retrieving covert information from the anti-counterfeit hologram obtained in step (c) and comparing it with covert information stored in a remote database server to authenticate.

8. The process as claimed in claim 7, wherein the covert information includes but is not limited covert text, covert shape, security pattern or any other form which is generated based on a unique product identifier.

9. The process as claimed in claim 7, wherein the product specific art-work and the covert information is unique for every product.

10. The process as claimed in claim 7, wherein the digital device includes but is not limited to smart phone, desktop computer and embedded device.