DESC:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a product authentication system and method for manufacturing the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to concealing authentication information in an embossed surface and via a compatible device. The authentication system is useful as a copy-proof security feature for any value added products, and security document.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Counterfeiting articles of many kinds is a serious problem worldwide, causing great loss of revenues to legitimate businesses and to individuals. Counterfeiters have produced articles that are very difficult to distinguish from the genuine articles, taking sales revenues from the producers of genuine articles and impacting legitimate business reputations when the counterfeit articles have inferior quality and/or non-existent manufacturers support. Similarly, problems and losses occur due to counterfeiting of articles used for financial transactions or identification, such as postage stamps, banknotes, credit cards, driver’s licenses, passports, and immigration documents. Even when genuine articles have been marked with authentication markings such as watermarks, special papers, and holograms which are difficult to replicate, counterfeiters have managed to produce articles that appear genuine. The general availability of newer replication technology such as high-resolution image scanners, laser copiers and printers, and colour-accurate colour copiers and printers has enabled counterfeiters to produce more credible counterfeit articles.
These technological developments of replication hardware continue to progress rapidly, as does the development of computer hardware and software that support them. Thus it is useful to have additional ways to mark articles for authentication with greater security. Greater security may be achieved by making authentication markings more difficult for counterfeiters to detect and interpret, by incorporating greater complexity into the markings, and by making replication by counterfeiters more difficult. Combining multiple kinds of marking indicia can further increase the complexity of detection, interpretation, and replication, thus providing even better security. Considering the security issue from another point of view, it is not desirable to use the same means that generated the visible appearance of an article to authenticate it, as the visible appearance is becoming easier to replicate.
Barcodes have become a widely accepted method for storing information about objects such as identification information, parts, prices, serial numbers, and many other bits of data. A one-dimensional and/or two-dimensional barcode symbol is typically a machine-readable array of encoded elements that are printed directly on an object surface on labels affixed to an object surface. Barcode symbols are typically read by optical techniques, such as by readers implementing scanning laser beams, handheld wands, or mobile phone cameras. Barcode symbols typically comprise bars and spaces with bars of varying widths representing strings of binary ones and spaces of varying widths representing binary zeros.
A QR code is a type of two-dimensional or matrix barcode that may be readable by electronic devices having a camera, such as smart phones, computing devices, specialized scanners, and so on. The matrix barcode may include black blocks or modules arranged in a pattern against a white background. The information encoded within the matrix barcode may be the text, uniform resource locator (URL), alphanumeric, numeric, and other data.
Numerous approaches to detect and/or prevent the sale of counterfeit products have been attempted. These approaches are often expensive and complex. Examples include the use of RFID technology micro printing, holograms and photo-reactive inks. All of these systems can fail due to one or more of the reasons discussed below.
A general aim of existing verification systems is consistency. For example, in some systems, many identical labels are produced and attached to items to confirm their authenticity. The presence of a label or tag that has characteristics consistent with those of a genuine tag is taken as proof of the authenticity of an item to which the label is attached. These characteristics can include size, shape, colour, or the use of the same materials, artwork, ink, or watermarks. A key drawback of the system of this kind is that by copying the common characteristics of the genuine labels, counterfeiters can circumvent the security that the system provides, allowing fake goods to be presented as genuine.
Another reason for the failure of known systems is that systems that use an algorithm to produce apparently random numbers have to have an underlying equation in order that a calculation can be carried out to produce a verification code. Again, as all the labels or product applications have to follow the same algorithms, this gives the counterfeiters time to work out the algorithm and produce their own counterfeit codes.
A further problem with known systems is that they can be prohibitively expensive. This simple problem means that an otherwise successful authentication system may be out of reach for many manufacturers. For example, if protective artwork provided as part of an authentication system is expensive, then it may not be financially viable for many smaller companies to use the system to protect their products. Equally if the security mark costs are greater than the unit profit on the protected items, then these systems cannot be used.
US20080282322A1 discloses a an authentication medium capable of eliminating problems with the formation of an authentication portion with and embossed hologram, for instance, difficulty with which fabrication time is cut down, and difficulty with which an authentication pattern is changed due to an increased step counts at the time of embossing mold fabrication. A thin-film layer (2) made up of a material that changes in transmittance of reflectance upon heating, an orientation film (4) that is provided if necessary, and a color change layer (3) such a light selective reflecting layer comprising a cholesteric liquid crystal layer are stacked on a substrate (12). The main drawback of the invention is the use of color change layer made of special inks which make the process of authentication expensive.
Therefore, there is a requirement of a cost effective and concealed information involved in the embossed surface based product authentication system that cannot be reproduced by photo copier and also can provide improved security is described herein.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The main object of the invention is to provide a method and system of embossed surface detection to detect and authenticate the embossed information present on a secure document in order to ensure the genuine nature of the product which is copy-proof security feature, embossed in the form of barcode, QR code, proprietary barcode or any particular logo or pattern.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a system of embossed surface detection which involves two main process namely generation and authentication.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a system of embossed information via surface detection which involves process namely generation by fetching product related information, selecting the embossing pattern, generation of embossed surface by converting selected embossing pattern into monochrome image and embossed surface detection system which mainly comprises mimic layer, impression layer, and a surface detection device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the main embodiment is to provide a method and system of embossed surface detection to detect and authenticate the embossed information present on the secure document in order to ensure the genuineness of a product and provide a copy-proof security feature for any value added products like paper document, label, any kind of packaging substrate, or any reflective surface like hologram.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention is proposed a system of embossed surface detection which involves two main process namely generation and authentication of embossed surface.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention provides a method of generation of embossed surface for product authentication, the method comprising steps of fetching product related information; selecting an embossing pattern which is to be used; converting selected embossing pattern into monochrome image; preparing positive and negative dyes using the monochrome image; and passing the substrate in between positive and negative dyes at the same time by applying pressure in both upward & downward direction through which embossed surface is generated.
In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a system of embossed surface detection, comprising: an embossed surface; a mimic layer; an impression layer; a surface detection device. The surface detection device is placed above the impression layer over which the mimic layer is placed. Now the embossed pattern is pressed against the mimic layer that mimics the embossed pattern. The surface detection device comprises of an image sensing unit, a processing unit and a display unit. The region of the embossed pattern is pressed against the mimic layer, which is placed below the impression layer and transforms the three dimensional pattern into a two dimensional pattern. This pattern is captured by the image sensing unit and captured image is processed by the processing unit for authentication. The authentication result is displayed in the given display stating the genuineness of the product.
In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a method of authentication of an embossed surface, the method comprising the steps of placing an embossed surface detection system on the embossed surface which is to be detected and authenticated; imitating embossed surface using mimic layer after placing the embossed surface detection system on the embossed surface; pressing the region of embossed surface against the mimic layer placed below the impression layer; transforming three dimensional embossed surface into two dimensional embossed surface; capturing transformed two dimensional embossed surface through camera sensor; processing the captured two dimensional embossed surface through processor; displaying the processed result in the given display stating the genuine nature of the product.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the authentication of the embossed secure document is achieved by manually verifying the sensing area of the embossed layer and/or another one is by detecting the concealed embossed information in the embossed surface using a surface detection device. Using the detected information, further more details on the product are retrievable from remote server to ensure the genuine nature of the product. The embossed raised pattern in the document is irreproducible by the photo-copier; thereby the photo copies are easily detected to be counterfeit when scanned through a surface detection device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A complete understanding of the system and method of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the following drawings:
Figure 1 elucidates the generation of embossed surface for product authentication.
Figure 2 shows the embossed surface detection system for product authentication.
Figure 3 explains the flow diagram of the product authentication through embossed surface detection system.
Figure 4 explains the flow diagram of product authentication using a handheld smart device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention will now be described in detail herein after 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 method and system of embossed surface detection to detect and authenticate the embossed information present on a secure document in order to ensure the genuineness of the product and at the same time it is useful as a copy-proof security feature for value added products like paper document, label, any kind of packaging substrate, or any reflective surface like hologram.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a system of embossed surface detection is provided which involves two main processes namely generation and authentication of embossed surface.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method of generation of embossed surface for product authentication is provided wherein, the method comprises the steps of fetching product related information; selecting an embossing pattern which is to be used; converting selected embossing pattern into monochrome image; preparing positive and negative dyes using the monochrome image; and passing the substrate in between positive and negative dye sat the same time by applying pressure in both upward & downward direction through which embossed surface is generated.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a system of embossed surface detection, comprising: an embossed surface having at least one embossed pattern; a mimic layer; an impression layer; and a surface detection device having at least one inbuilt or external image sensing unit, at least one processing unit and a display unit. The impression layer is made of a material including but not limited to glass. The mimic layer is a transparent layer coated with a special coating. The embossed pattern stores a product related information. The surface detection device is placed above the impression layer below which the mimic layer is placed. Now the embossed pattern is pressed against the mimic layer that mimics the embossed pattern. The region of the embossed pattern is pressed against the mimic layer, which is placed below the impression layer and transforms the three dimensional pattern into a two dimensional pattern. This pattern is captured by the camera sensor and captured image is processed by the processor. The processed result is displayed in the given display stating the genuineness of the product.
In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a method of authentication of an embossed surface, the method comprising the steps of placing a surface detection system on the embossed surface which is to be detected and authenticated; imitating embossed surface using a mimic layer after placing the embossed surface detection system on the embossed surface; pressing the region of embossed surface against the mimic layer placed below the impression layer; transforming the three dimensional embossed surface into two dimensional embossed surface; capturing transformed two dimensional embossed surface through camera sensor; processing the captured two dimensional embossed surface through processor; displaying the processed result in the given display stating the genuine nature of the product.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the authentication of the embossed secure document is achieved by manually verifying the sensing area of the embossed layer and/or another one is by detecting the concealed embossed information in the embossed surface using a surface detection device. Using the detected information, further more details on the product are retrievable from remote server to ensure the genuine nature of the product. The embossed raised pattern in the document is irreproducible by the photo-copier; thereby the photo copies are easily detected to be counterfeit when scanned through a surface detection device.
As shown in Figure 1, the method of generation of embossed surface for product authentication is explained by following steps: fetching a product related information; selecting an embossing pattern which is to be used corresponding to the product related information; converting selected embossing pattern into a monochrome image; preparing a positive dye 103 and a negative dye 104 using the monochrome image; and passing the substrate 101 in between positive dye 103 and negative dye 104 at the same time by applying pressure 105 in both upward & downward direction through which embossed surface 102 is generated.
As shown in Figure 2, the product authentication system through embossed surface is given which mainly comprises: an embossed surface 102; a mimic layer 106; an impression layer 107; and a surface detection device 108. The mimic layer 106 which is placed below the impression layer 107 is pressed against the embossed surface 102 it mimics the embossed pattern. The region of the embossed pattern gets pressed against the mimic layer 106 which is placed below the impression layer 107 and transforms the three dimensional pattern into a two dimensional pattern. This pattern is captured by the image sensing unit of surface detection device 108 and captured image is processed by its processing unit for authentication. The authentication result is displayed in the given display stating the genuine nature of the product.
As shown in Figure 3 is a flow diagram for the product authentication of an embossed surface 102 is explained using a surface detection system. The embossed surface is placed under a mimic layer 106 fixed on one side of an impression layer 107 that imitates the embossed surface 102 and the region of mimic layer 106 where the embossed surface gets pressed against the impression layer 107; the embossed surface 102 is a three dimensional pattern and is transformed into a two dimensional pattern; capturing an image of the transformed two dimensional pattern using an image sensing unit such as camera sensor; processing the captured image of two dimensional embossed surface through a processing unit for authentication; and displaying the authentication result in the given display stating the genuine nature of the product.
As shown in Figure 4 is a flow diagram of product authentication using a handheld smart device. The smart device is preferably a smart phone with inbuilt camera and a processor. The embossed document is placed under the mimic layer 106 fixed below the impression layer 107 to reproduce the embossed pattern and pressed against the impression layer such that the three dimension pattern of embossed surface is transformed into a two dimensional pattern. The transformed two dimensional pattern is detected and captured by the image sensing unit i.e. camera of smart phone. The captured image is processed by the processor with pre fed product information details and an authentication result is displayed on the display unit of the smart phone i.e. screen of the smart phone. The processing unit is either pre fed with product related information for authentication or is in connection with a remote server stored with product related information using internet.
The authenticity of the embossed secure document is achieved in two ways: one is by manually verifying the sensing area of the embossed layer and another one is by detecting the concealed embossed information in the embossed surface using the proposed surface detection device. Using the detected information, further more details on the product are retrieved from remote server to ensure the genuine nature of the product. The embossed raised pattern in the document cannot be reproduced by the photo-copier; thereby the photo copies are easily detected to be fake when scanned through surface detection device.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.
,CLAIMS:CLAIMS
We claim:
1. A product authentication system comprising:

an embossed surface (102) having at least one embossed pattern;

a mimic layer (106); and

an impression layer (107);

wherein,
the at least one embossed pattern stores a product related information;

the mimic layer (106) is placed below the impression layer (107); and

the mimic layer (106) with the impression layer (107) is pressed over the embossed surface (102) to mimic the embossed pattern and to transform the three dimensional embossed pattern into a two dimensional image pattern.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mimic layer (106) is a transparent layer coated with a special coating.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the impression layer is made of a material including but not limited to glass.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a surface detection device (108) having at least one inbuilt or external image sensing unit, at least one processing unit and a display unit.

5. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the surface detection device (108) is positioned over the impression layer (107) to capture the two dimensional image pattern using the image sensing unit and authenticate the embossed surface using the processing unit.

6. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the surface detection device (108) is an electronic device with at least one image sensing unit and processing unit such as smartphone and alike.

7. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the processing unit authenticates the embossed pattern and displays it on the display unit.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing unit is either pre fed with product related information for authentication or is in connection with a remote server stored with product related information using internet.

9. A method of preparing an embossed surface (102) comprising the step of:

a) fetching a product related information;
b) selecting an embossing pattern corresponding to the product related information fetched in step a);
c) converting the embossing pattern selected in step b) into a monochrome image;
d) preparing a positive dye (103) and negative dye (104) using the monochrome image prepared in step c); and
e) passing a substrate (101) in between positive dye (104) and negative dye (103) simultaneously by applying pressure in both upward & downward direction generating an embossed surface (102).

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the substrate (101) is made of a material including but not limited to paper, cloth, leather and alike.