Digitally printed anti-copy document and processes and products therefor

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and product resulting from application distortion security images in an anti-copy document, printed on demand, which may be variable and use laser printers or printer/copiers and/or ink-jet printers and/or digital presses.

1 . A digitally printed document comprising: 
 a first printed portion comprising amplitude modulated halftone elements; and    a second printed portion comprising frequency modulated halftone elements, adjacent to said first printed area, wherein copiers and scanners reproduce the amplitude modulated area substantially differently than the frequency modulated area.    
   
   
       2 . The document of  claim 1  wherein said document is printed using toner or ink based digital printing equipment.  
   
   
       3 . The document according to  claim 1  wherein said amplitude modulated area comprises first halftone elements selected form the group consisting of dots that are round, diamond, ellipse, square, cross, continuous lines, broken lines, dashes, wavy lines placed at specified and uniform line angles and line frequency and combinations thereof.  
   
   
       4 . The document of  claim 3  wherein said first half tone elements are fixed in number and vary in size.  
   
   
       5 . The document according to  claim 1  wherein said frequency modulated area comprises second halftone elements halftone elements wherein said second halftone elements are randomly placed according to an algorithm.  
   
   
       6 . The document of  claim 5  wherein said second halftone elements are fixed in size and vary in number.  
   
   
       7 . A digitally printed document having a printed surface printed by digital print equipment comprising: 
 a secure digitally produced electronic bitmap art file comprising a first halftone area, wherein said first halftone area comprises first halftone elements selected from the group consisting of dots, lines placed at specified and uniform line angles and combinations thereof and a second halftone area, wherein said second halftone area comprises second halftone elements placed randomly according to an algorithm, wherein said document is anti-copy to digital and analog copiers.    
   
   
       8 . The digitally printed document of  claim 7  wherein said secure electronic bitmap art file is set at the same resolution of said digital print equipment.  
   
   
       9 . The digitally printed document of  claim 7  wherein said secure electronic bitmap art file is set at a multiple of the resolution of said digital print equipment.  
   
   
       10 . The digitally printed document of  claim 7  wherein a second file, comprising text or artwork, is digitally printed directly on top of and/or beside the secure bitmap art file at the same print time as the secure bitmap art file.  
   
   
       11 . The digitally printed document of  claim 7  wherein a second file, comprising text or artwork, is digitally printed directly on top of and/or beside the secure bitmap art file or later after the secure bitmap art file has already been printed onto a document.  
   
   
       12 . The digitally printed document of  claim 7  wherein said document is a multiple page document and said secure bitmap art file is variable with each page.  
   
   
       13 . The digitally printed document of  claim 7  wherein said secure bitmap art file is printed by toner or ink based digital print equipment using toner and/or ink in a selected color.  
   
   
       14 . The digitally printed document of  claim 7  wherein said secure bitmap art file is printed by a toner or ink based digital print equipment using toner and/or ink in a combination of colors.  
   
   
       15 . The digitally printed document of  claim 7  wherein said resolution of said digital printing device is at or greater than 600 dpi (dots per inch).  
   
   
       16 . A digitally generated electronic distortion security feature for a document comprising: 
 a pattern comprising first halftone elements produced by an amplitude modulated halftone screening technique and second halftone elements produced by a frequency modulated halftone screening technique wherein said halftones are positioned at a predetermined relative density, and at a predetermined relative angular orientation, wherein said screening techniques are capable of being configured to the specific output device.    
   
   
       17 . The distortion security feature of  claim 16  wherein said document is printed using a printer selected from laser printers, ink jet printers, laser printer/copiers, digital presses and combinations thereof.  
   
   
       18 . The distortion security feature of  claim 16  wherein said electronic security feature reveals the distortion security feature after processing of the document by a photocopying machine.  
   
   
       19 . The distortion security feature of  claim 16  wherein said document comprises text or graphics and said electronic security feature disrupts the scanning and OCR interpretation of said text or graphics of said document rendering the scanned image inoperable.  
   
   
       20 . The distortion security feature of  claim 16  wherein said electronic security feature is incorporated into a template for use with software programs comprising a program selected from the group of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Adobe PDF, Corel WordPerfect.