Security Print Method Uses Standard Xerox Systems

New security technology to authenticate tickets, coupons, certificates, licenses, identification papers and other high-value documents has been developed by Xerox.

The new Infraredmark Specialty Imaging Font is said to print variable text that can't be read under normal light but can be read when exposed to infrared light.

Infraredmark Specialty Imaging Font does not require special ink but is printed with ordinary toner, the 'dry ink' that forms xerographic images.

It can be produced on standard Xerox digital systems using standard papers and, in addition, if the document is copied or altered, the infrared text will become substantially distorted under infrared light and, therefore, illegible, claimed Xerox.

Xerox added that Infraredmark complements the company's existing speciality imaging effects, such as Microtext marks and Glossmark text, which are claimed to make documents more secure.

The system was developed by scientists in the Xerox Innovation Group.

According to Raja Bala, a principal scientist in the Xerox Research Centrer in Webster (New York, USA) and a co-inventor of the process, protecting sensitive documents from unauthorised duplication or alteration is a continuing challenge.

He believes that traditional security printing is costly and reserved for documents of very high value, such as passports and product with very long run lengths, such as currency.

However, digital printing and speciality imaging effects make security printing easy and affordable for run lengths of one to many, he added.

The new technology is said to take advantage of the way Xerox's xerographic colour systems work.

Every colour is made by mixing toner of four hues - cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK).

Bala explained: "There are multiple ways to mix these toners to create a single colour, like teal blue.

But since each of the individual toner colours reacts differently to infrared (IR) light, some combinations are detectable under infrared light and others are not.

Xerox uses that effect to create infrared text that is invisible to the human eye but visible to an infrared camera." And he continued: "Another way to describe the process is that we can develop a pair of cyan, magenta, yellow and black toner mixtures, one with very little infrared absorption and the other with a lot of infrared absorption.

They will appear very similar to the eye under normal light but very different under IR light.

If one CMYK mixture is used as the background and the other mixture as the text, then the result is a text message that is invisible or at least illegible under normal light and easily detectable under IR light." The new technology is incorporated in Xerox's Freeflow Variable Information Suite 6.0, which was announced in September.

The software is claimed to streamline the process of producing customised documents and its speciality fonts can be used to help thwart counterfeiting.

With variable printing, the security features can be personalised for each document, making it easier to authenticate and reducing the incentive for forgery, added the company.

Xerox added that its researchers have worked for a number of years to develop authentication technologies that help make documents more secure.

In addition to the Infraredmark technology, speciality imaging technologies include Microtext, which prints text smaller than one point size; Glossmark text, which prints text visible when the paper is tilted; Fluorescentmark, which prints text visible only under ultraviolet light and Correlation Mark text, that can print text visible only when a 'key' overlay is superimposed.

Deborah Cantabene, vice president of workflow marketing t Xerox, commented: "These speciality imaging technologies offer new, inexpensive ways for our customers to produce fraud-sensitive applications, such as security badges, tickets, coupons and invitations, for example, through multiple, individualised, linked and layered options.".

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