U.S. patent number 3,636,318 [Application Number 04/836,000] was granted by the patent office on 1972-01-18 for verifiable identification document.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Saab Aktiebolag. Invention is credited to Gunnar Lindstrom, Gunde Schullstrom.
United States Patent |
3,636,318 |
Lindstrom , et al. |
January 18, 1972 |
VERIFIABLE IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENT
Abstract
A document used to assert a personal right has a randomized
unique pattern of normally invisible but mechanically detectable
material (e.g., finely divided ferromagnetic material) in a zone
overlapping any visible indicia identifying the owner. The document
is presented to a mechanical reader which scans the pattern along
predetermined lines and records resultant output signals, along
with an identifying record. Upon subsequent presentation, it is
similarly scanned, for comparison with the recording to confirm its
authenticity. Methods of producing appropriate patterns are
disclosed.
Inventors: |
Lindstrom; Gunnar (Linkoping,
SW), Schullstrom; Gunde (Linkoping, SW) |
Assignee: |
Saab Aktiebolag (Linkoping,
SW)
|
Family
ID: |
20274219 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/836,000 |
Filed: |
June 24, 1969 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 24, 1968 [SW] |
|
|
8489/68 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
235/488; 235/493;
340/5.53 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B42D
25/00 (20141001); B42D 25/23 (20141001); G07F
7/1066 (20130101); B42D 25/309 (20141001); G07C
9/23 (20200101); G07F 7/086 (20130101); G07F
7/10 (20130101); B42D 25/369 (20141001); B42D
25/21 (20141001); G06K 19/10 (20130101); B42D
25/20 (20141001); B42D 25/318 (20141001); B42D
25/47 (20141001) |
Current International
Class: |
B42D
15/10 (20060101); G07F 7/10 (20060101); G07F
7/08 (20060101); G06K 19/10 (20060101); G07C
9/00 (20060101); G06k 007/08 () |
Field of
Search: |
;235/61.12,61.114
;283/7,8 ;194/4 ;340/149A |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
Parry, F. C., "Identification Card," IBM Technical Disclosure
Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 6, Nov. 1960, p. 8..
|
Primary Examiner: Wilbur; Maynard R.
Assistant Examiner: Cochran; William W.
Claims
What is claimed as our invention is:
1. A document of the type intended to be carried by an individual
and presented to verify or assert a right personal to him, said
document being characterized by:
finely divided ferromagnetic material in a scattered random pattern
of nonuniform density concealed in a predetermined zone of the
document, so that after the ferromagnetic material is magnetized by
subjecting it to a magnetic field which is of uniform intensity in
all portions of said zone, motion of a magnetic detector relative
to the document across said zone will produce a variable but
repeatable output which, when recorded, comprises a coded
representation of the pattern to which subsequent reference can be
made for verifying authenticity of the document.
2. A document of the type intended to be carried by an individual
and presented to verify or assert a right personal to him, said
document being of the type having finely divided magnetized
ferromagnetic material concealed in a predetermined zone thereof
that presents a distinctive pattern of magnetization to mechanical
detector means by which the document can be verified, said document
being characterized by:
the ferromagnetic material being distributed in said zone in a
scattered random pattern of nonuniformly varying densities of such
material.
3. The document of claim 2, further characterized by:
the ferromagnetic material being sandwiched between layers of other
material that define the surfaces of the document, so that the
presence of the ferromagnetic material is normally concealed by
such other material, and so that any attempt at alteration of the
pattern of distribution of the ferromagnetic material requires
defacement of the document.
4. The document of claim 2, further characterized by:
visible indicia identifying the authorized possessor of the
document in a zone overlapping said predetermined zone.
Description
This invention relates to personal identification documents, such
as drivers' licenses and credit cards, that are used by an
individual to assert or confirm a personal right that he possesses;
and the invention relates more particularly to a method of
verifying an individual's entitlement to a personal right, an
identification document that embodies means for verifying its
authenticity, and the method of manufacturing such a document and
verifying its authenticity.
Such documents as drivers' licenses, credit cards, bank account
cards and passes of various kinds are much relied upon to confirm
an individual's entitlement to a personal right that he has
established.
However, the use of such documents always poses certain problems.
In the first place, the document must identify the person to whom
it properly belongs, so that it cannot be used by someone else who
has acquired it without authorization. As a rule, therefore, such
documents carry one or more readily visible items of personal
identification such as a photograph of the owner, his signature, a
description of him in terms of age, sex, height, coloration and the
like, or one or more of his fingerprints. But even the presence of
identification data on a document has heretofore afforded no real
assurance that the person presenting it was the one authorized to
use it, for such documents lent themselves more or less readily to
forgery or alteration.
With these considerations in mind, it is a general object of the
present invention to provide means for verifying the identity of an
individual asserting a personal right, and for verifying his
entitlement to that right, and more particularly to provide a
document of the character described which contains invisible means
for verifying its authenticity and which is therefore exceedingly
difficult to forge or alter.
Another object of this invention is to provide a simple and
inexpensive document of the character described that is readily
verifiable as to authenticity.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a document of the
character described which embodies invisible verification means of
a type which can be readily recorded but is extremely difficult to
duplicate, and which will be disturbed by any attempt at alteration
of the document so that the spurious character of the document can
be readily detected after any such attempt.
A further object of this invention is to provide means for
obtaining verification of a document of the character described
with both great rapidity and great accuracy, and without the need
for reliance upon a human agent's evaluation of the authenticity of
the document.
With these observations and objects in mind, the manner in which
the invention achieves its purpose will be appreciated from the
following description and the accompanying drawings. This
disclosure is intended merely to exemplify the invention. The
invention is not limited to the particular structure disclosed, and
changes can be made therein which lie within the scope of the
appended claims without departing from the invention.
The drawings illustrates several complete examples of physical
embodiments of the invention constructed according to the best
modes so far devised for the practical application of the
principles thereof, and in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates the visible features of a document embodying the
principles of this invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the document shown in
FIG. 1, showing the normally invisible random pattern of finely
divided mechanically detectable material that characterizes the
document of this invention;
FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through the document shown
in FIG. 1, with thickness greatly exaggerated;
FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional graph representing output signals
obtained from a mechanical reading device scanning across the
patten of FIG. 2 along the lines a--a and b--b;
FIG. 5 is a more or less diagrammatic perspective view of reading
and recording apparatus that s used in verifying the genuineness of
a document such as that shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view through the scanning head of
the reader shown in FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on the plane of the line 7--7 in
FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is a view generally similar to FIG. 2 but illustrating a
modified form of pattern of mechanically detectable material;
FIG. 9 illustrates another modified form of pattern of mechanically
detectable material;
FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view, greatly exaggerated in
thickness, of the document shown in FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 is a three dimensional graph representing output signals
obtained from a mechanical reading device moved across the pattern
of FIG. 9 along the lines c--c and d--d; and
FIG. 12 depicts another modified form of pattern of mechanically
detectable material incorporated in a document embodying the
principles of this invention.
Referring now the the accompanying drawings, the numeral 5
designates generally a document such as a driver's license which an
individual carries on his person and presents whenever he has
occasion to confirm or assert a right personal to him. The document
5 illustrated in FIG. 1 contains certain visible data that identify
its rightful possessor, such as his photograph 6 and his signature
7, and it contains other visible data appropriate to its nature and
purpose, such as a magnetically readable registration number 8.
A document having identifying indicia such as a photograph tends to
confirm the identity of the person presenting it but does not
confirm its own authenticity, since the document may be a forgery
or may have been altered, as by replacing the photograph of its
original owner with that of a person who has come into unauthorized
possession of it. Therefore, to provide for confirmation that it is
genuine, the document of the present invention has incorporated in
it a finely divided material which is normally invisible but which
is mechanically detectable (e.g., ferromagnetic material), arranged
in a distinctive pattern across a zone of the document that
includes its personal identification data.
The document illustrated in FIGS. 1--3 comprises a thin but
relatively stiff base 9 of cardboard, sheet plastic or the like, to
which is secured the photograph 6, which can be an ordinary print
on paper-base material. Before the photograph is bonded to the base
9, there is applied to the predetermined area of the base that will
include at least a substantial portion of the photograph a random
scattering or distribution of finely divided ferromagnetic material
11, which can be made to adhere to the base by first covering the
front surface of the base with a thin coating of a bonding agent.
If the photograph is removed from the base and replaced with
another, that portion of the pattern defining material that was
beneath the original photograph will be removed at least in part,
thus altering the pattern so that the spurious character of the
document will appear when it is presented for verification, as
explained hereinafter.
As an alternative to coating the pattern over the base and beneath
the photograph, the pattern can be formed on a thin, transparent
cover film 12 that is bonded flatwise across the front face of the
base and over the photograph. Because the finely divided
ferromagnetic material on the cover film 12 comprises only a thin,
invisible layer, it does not interfere with examination of the
photograph. Any attempt to remove the photograph with require that
the film 12 be first removed, thus destroying or altering the
pattern.
It will be apparent that the pattern of ferromagnetic material
could be a composite one, provided by a coating on the front
surface of the base, extending beneath the photograph, and another
on a cover film overlying the base and the photograph.
Since the finely divided material that defines the pattern is
randomly distributed, the pattern on each document will be unique
in that it will differ from the patterns on all other documents
issued by the same authority; for it will become apparent as the
description proceeds that an almost infinite variety of patterns is
available.
When the document has been prepared, the ferromagnetic material is
magnetized in a reader 14 to which the document is presented and
which comprises a magnetic reading head 15 and means for taking
readings at predetermined stepwise intervals along parallel scan
lines extending in one or more directions across the surface of the
document. The reader detects different magnetic intensities in
different parts of the pattern, in accordance with the density and
distribution of the ferromagnetic material in the pattern, and it
produces electrical output signals corresponding to these different
magnetic densities, which output signals are transferred to a
recorder 16 that can comprise the memory bank of a data processing
computer 17. In the memory bank the output signals produce a record
which is a coded representation of the pattern and which is readily
accessible for future reference.
Into the memory bank or other record storage means there is also
fed other information relating to the owner of the document, such
as a registration number or the owner's name. For this purpose the
magnetically readable registration number 8 on the document 5 is
outside the zone of the pattern, so that it can be automatically
read substantially simultaneously with scanning of the pattern,
without interference from the ferromagnetic material defining the
pattern, and can be recorded in association with the pattern
record.
After recording, the document is demagnetized and is delivered to
the person for whom it was prepared. When he subsequently presents
the document to assert the right that it establishes, his identity
will be confirmed by the photograph and other identification
material on it, and the authenticity of the document can be
verified by presenting it to a reader similar to the reader 14,
connected with the memory bank 16 or otherwise associated with the
record or a copy of the record to enable the pattern on the
document to be compared with the record of it.
The reading head 15 of the reader 14 can comprise a bank of head
elements arranged in groups of three, each group comprising (as
illustrated in FIG. 6) a magnetizing head 19, a detecting head 20
and an erasing head 21; and the groups can be arranged in a row (as
illustrated in FIG. 7) for taking readings along predetermined
lines across the document. As shown in FIG. 5, the reading head 15
is carried on an arm 24 that is mounted the swing in an arc across
the document, about the axis 25. As the arm swings, it carries the
groups of heads across the surface of the document in concentric
arcs, with any point on one of said arms being successively passes
over by a magnetizing head, a detecting head and an erasing
head.
The output signals from the several detecting heads are fed into
the memory bank 16 through an amplifier 23.
In the event that a document embodying the principles of this
invention is lost, the owner can promptly notify the issuing
authority. The recording corresponding to it can then be
immediately erased or destroyed, and a new and different document
and record can be readily produced.
Certain types of documents preferably carry no identification of
the person authorized to use them, as for example a bank account
card that could be misused if it became lost and were found by an
unscrupulous person who might use it if he knew the identity of its
rightful owner. A document of that type, which is represented by
FIGS. 9 and 12, can advantageously embody the principles of this
invention, but the visible data on it would be such as would merely
signify its nature or purpose for the owner's convenience, without
disclosing his identity. The significant information on such a
document would be that contained in a unique pattern of
mechanically detectable but invisible material, in accordance with
this invention.
In presenting such a document, its owner would not have to show it
to any agent of the bank or other issuing authority, since the
visible indicia on it would not be especially significant, but,
instead, he would present it to a detecting device like the reader
14, and would establish his identity as the person entitled to use
it by supplying to the reading machine or an associated device a
coded symbol (name, word or number) known only to him and recorded
along with the pattern record. The proper association of the
pattern output from the reading device with the coded symbol
supplied by the document holder would thus confirm both his
identity and the authenticity of the document.
FIG. 4 represents the output signals that would issue from a reader
as it scanned the pattern shown in FIG. 2 along the lines a--a and
b--b. For accurate reading of such a diffuse pattern, which
produces relatively small and gradual variations in the output
signal, the reader and recorder must both be of good quality.
Furthermore, the recorded codification of the pattern must be of
such character that deviations within certain prescribed tolerance
limits will be accepted, in order to allow for tolerance and
deviations in the various reading devices to which the document may
be presented from time to time. The amplifier 23 for each reading
device can be adjusted to compensate to some extent for individual
differences in the reader.
However, various expedients can be employed to produce a pattern
having more sharply defined contrasts, so that the reading device
is not called upon to discriminate closely and can therefore have
larger tolerances. For example, the pattern can be interrupted by
well-defined lines of discontinuity 27, as illustrated in FIG. 8.
These lines can be formed by scoring or scraping the coatings of
ferromagnetic material and binder on the base 5 or cover film 12,
or by scattering the ferromagnetic film onto the coating of binder
through a screen of appropriate mesh that closely overlies the
binder. With this type of pattern the output signal from the reader
will have sharp, stepwise changes whenever a line is crossed in the
course of scanning, thus affording a recording that has well
defined characteristics corresponding to the lines and varying
values for the areas of material between the lines.
A pattern which lends itself to very definite discrimination is
illustrated in FIG. 9 and consists of more or less jagged lines of
ferromagnetic material. Preferably such a pattern is formed on each
of two pattern carriers 27 that are flatwise fastened together with
their lines extending generally transversely to one another.
One of the pattern carriers 27 can comprise the base 9 and the
other can be a cover film 12 overlying the base. However, the
preferred method of forming such a pattern is to apply a coating of
crackle lacquer or the like to a very thin sheet of aluminum of an
aluminum alloy having a nonuniform grain structure, and then
tension the sheet in one direction to cause cracks to develop in
the lacquer, which cracks extend generally parallel to one another
but are irregular and nonuniform and thus define a unique random
pattern. The finely divided ferromagnetic material, mixed in a
fluid binding agent, is applied to the lacquered surface, and a
magnet is placed below the sheet to draw the material down into the
cracks. The excess material is then wiped off the sheet and the
binder is allowed to harden, after which a pair of card-size
pattern carriers are cut from the sheet and bonded together with
their lines transverse to one another to form a card which can be
embedded in plastic.
In the document made by the method just described, wherein the
magnetic material occupies only the cracks near the surface of each
pattern carrier, the jagged lines of magnetic material are at two
different levels, and therefore the finished document produces
output signals at three different levels, as indicated by FIG. 11,
which depicts and signals produced in scanning along the lines c--c
and d--d in FIG. 9. The lowest signal level A.sub.o will occur in
the zones where neither of the pattern carriers directly beneath a
reading head has a crack; intermediate level signals A.sub.1 will
occur when there is only one thickness of ferromagnetic material
beneath the head; and signals of a high level A.sub.2 will be
produced where lines of ferromagnetic material cross one another
beneath the head to afford a double thickness of material.
In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 12, a unique
pattern has been produced by feeding a sheet of pattern carrier
material, having a more or less uniform coating of ferromagnetic
material mixed in a binder, beneath a group of spaced-apart styli
that are individually and randomly actuated by a data processing
computer, to produce a pattern of parallel scratches 28 that are
interrupted at irregular random intervals. As with the FIG. 9
embodiment of the invention, individual pattern carriers can be cut
from the sheet thus processed, superimposed upon one another, and
embedded in plastic to form documents.
It will be appreciated that finely divided ferromagnetic material
is only one example of an invisible but mechanically detectable
material suitable for employment in connection with the present
invention. It is possible to use, instead, materials having
electrical resistance or capacitance characteristics, or a
fluorescent or other photoresponsive material; and in such cases
the reader will of course be adapted to respond to the particular
type of material used.
From the foregoing description taken with the accompanying drawings
it will be apparent that this invention provides a method of
identifying an individual and confirming his entitlement to a
personal right, a readily verified personal document for confirming
an individual's entitlement to a personal right, and a simple and
inexpensive method of manufacturing such a document.
* * * * *