METHOD AND DEVICES FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF PACKAGED OBJECTS

Abstract: The method for the identification of packaged objects, preferably cigarettes in cigarette packages, by means of authenticating marks including visual and/or electronic identification means distinguishes itself by the fact that at least two different authenticating marks are provided. For the end user of the cigarettes, this means that the packaging foil and/or the cigarette package comprises at least two visually recognizable marks which are published in order to be able to ascertain the authenticity of the package and of the content, one of the authenticating marks being a special embossing producing a shadow effect.

Description: Method and Devices for the Identification of Packaged Objects The present invention refers to a method for the identification of packaged objects according to the preamble of claim 1, more particularly to the authentication of cigarette packages, respective of cigarettes, as well as to devices implementing the method. For various reasons and due to the inexpensive possibilities of transporting goods over long distances, it has become increasingly interesting to imitate known products and to sell them under the corresponding known trademarks. This is particularly true for cigarettes, where it is increasingly attractive to sell falsifications due to high taxes and since the market is very large. The technical possibilities of the state of the art allow deceptive imitations of trademarks and other imprints and even of security elements such as tear-off strips on packages, more particularly on cigarette packages, so that the end user is unable to discern whether the cigarette package is genuine or false. Of course, this is also true for other goods. Different attempts to ensure the authenticity of cigarette packages are known. Thus, it is known from CN-A-108 67 84 to provide cigarette packages with holographic strips, or from CN-A-107 82 78, to wrap the cigarette packages in cellophane paper of changing colors. However, with the necessary efforts, similar holograms or cellophane papers can be produced which are not distinguishable from the genuine ones by the customer or, in the case of contraband, by the retailer. From US-A-5, 764, 874 it is known to use relatively complex image processing techniques for a quick detection of certain properties of passing cigarettes, e.g. the correct gluing of the cigarette paper, while US-A-5, 365, 596 discloses a method and devices for the automatic optical control of cigarette packages. However, the methods disclosed in the cited references are unsuitable for the authentication of cigarettes respective cigarette packages by retailers or- by the end user. This is also true for US-A-5, 190, 428, which describes a general coding of elongated objects but is directed to detecting whether the cigarettes comprise filters . US-A-5, 762, 377 discloses a method and device for ascertaining the authenticity of packages which distinguishes between a security element, e.g. a band or a magnet strip, which ensures the intactness of the goods, and an authenticating means, e.g. a hologram, and suggests always to unite the two elements on a label which is applied to the object. Ultimately, from US-A-5, 007, 271, US-A-5, 598 , 774 and EP-A-925 911 of the same applicant, methods and devices are known which allow a precise and clean embossing of packaging foils. Embossings of this kind are quite difficult to imitate and offer a certain protection from imitations. However, since the cigarettes with the packaging foil are contained in a box, it is only possible to ascertain whether the cigarettes respective the packaging foil is genuine when the box is open, i.e. after its purchase. Moreover, in this case, the end user has to know what the genuine embossed packaging foil, which guarantees the genuine content, should look like. On the background of this prior art, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a method and devices implementing the method which allow to verify the authenticity of the content of a packaged object very positively. This object is attained by the method according to claim 1. Devices implementing the methods are defined in claims 8 and 9. Further embodiments and advantages of the invention are defined in the dependent claims. The invention will be explained in more detail hereinafter with reference to exemplary embodiments. The examples relate to the authentication of cigarette packages, respective of cigarettes, but it is apparent that the described methods and devices can also be used for other objects, e.g. from the pharmaceutical industry, such as capsules or pills, as well as for objects like PC cards or other objects of any kind. Generally, between the manufacture of the objects concerned here and the ultimate consumer, four different commercial levels are involved: 1st level: the manufacturer, who applies the codes for subsequent verification; 2nd level: the distributor, who has a first possibility of authenticating the goods; 3rd level: the retailers, who have another possibility of authenticating the goods; and 4th level: the end user, who has to be able to determine the authenticity of the goods as well. According to the invention, at the first level, different codes or authenticating means are applied. In the manufacture of tobacco products, the individual cigarettes, wrapped in a packaging foil or not, are inserted in cigarette packages which mostly consist of cardboard, and the packages are inserted in boxes and the latter packaged in containers which are the smallest unit shipped to the distributor. According to the invention, authenticating means or codes may be applied at all levels, i.e. to cigarettes, wrappers, packages, boxes, and containers, randomly combined with each other, and read and analyzed visually or by a machine. Generally, groups of cigarettes are wrapped in foils and inserted in a cigarette package in this form. One side of these foils may be coated with metal, more particularly with aluminum, their support consisting of paper or another fibrous material, or they may be made of synthetic materials, of metal, or of compound materials. In addition to the previously known embossing techniques as mentioned in the introduction, the packaging foil may be provided with a security embossing, e.g. one which produces a variable shadow effect depending on the viewing angle. A shadow embossing of this kind can be produced by means of the mentioned devices of the applicant, the individual embossing rolls being arranged and/or synchronized in such a manner as to produce a shadow effect embossing, whereby the teeth of the individual embossing rolls are formed such as to produce the shadow effects on the package material. However, a shadow effect embossing is also possible independently of the profile or the arrangement of the pyramids on the embossing rolls, for example by relief embossing. Furthermore, with special embossing methods, it is possible on the mentioned embossing machines to produce hologram effects or to provide the embossed patterns with microstructures which produce an interference and can be identified by suitable detectors. It is also possible to produce a second embossing or a plurality of relief embossings on the glazed paper, or to provide a partly or entirely colored embossing. For the verification of the authenticity of the package, respective of the packaging foil, the packaging foil comprises at least two of the mentioned marks. Furthermore, in addition to the known identification marks such as trademarks and/or other imprints, the identification by means of an embossing includes the mentioned relief embossing on the package or box, i.e. externally, combined with a shadow embossing which is also provided externally, and/or combined with one of the embossings on the packaging foil. Moreover, the special embossing on the box or on the packaging foil can serve as a bar code or another code which is readable by the eye or machine-readable. However, the special embossing code should not be confoundable with the conventional bar code. The special embossing code can be applied in such a manner that it is only recognized by a suitable automatic reading method. Also, visible or invisible codes may be provided individually or on different portions of the glazed foil. Furthermore, the cigarette package can be provided with windows which allow to read the authenticating marks on the packaging foil through the package. With special techniques using radiation of a suitable wavelength, it is even possible to read the code through the package without the need of providing it with special windows. Such codes may also be provided in the box itself, e.g. on the underside thereof. Some or possibly all of the authenticating marks may be periodically or sporadically changed, and the currently valid code(s) may be communicated to the retailers and possibly also to the end users, e.g. by a notice at the sales points. Of course, other coding means can be provided which are known per se, e.g. directly on the cigarette, on the tip covering, on the cigarette paper, or on the filter, where olfactory, color or acoustic marks can be used, as well as hologram techniques or other surface effects such as special inks. While a great number of authenticating marks can be visually verified by the vendor or the end user, other ones of the described marks can be controlled by machines which per se are known from the prior art. The reading of optical marks such as embossings and special embossings is possible with machines built according to the prior art and adapted to the purpose. According to the invention, in order to attain an increased security against falsifications, at least two of the described marks are provided on a cigarette package as it is purchased by the end user. In this manner, the end user can determine its authenticity in two different ways. Either the falsifications have no codes respective codes of lesser quality, or the currently valid code, possibly along with another code, is posted at the tobacco shop and/or published somewhere, e.g. on the internet or in newspapers. Furthermore, the authentication marks are preferably realized in such a manner that they take account of the general appearance and the esthetic of the packages, thereby serving not only for security, but also for sales promotion. Further possibilities for the identification of cigarettes result from the application of electronic means. Thus, recently, so-called transponders have been introduced, which serve e.g. for the identification of motor vehicles, of pieces of laundry, or of other objects. The transponder according to European Patent No. 762 535, which describes a thin and flexible antenna for a small transponder, shall be cited as an example. Other small transponders are known from the prior art. Thus, for example, each container may be provided with a transponder which is continuously reprogrammed with a new code according to the time of production or the location, etc., and placed in the container at some point. According to a method of the invention, the signals of the transponders and their evaluation are multiply encoded by encrypting both the information of the transponder and the readout algorithm in the reader. The encryption of the transponder information is limited by the storage capacity of the transponder. The encryption is preferably performed with the latest known methods, e.g. with continuously changing authenticating marks which are only known to their owner. Furthermore, so-called hardware locks, dongles or dongle keys, as well as so-called software locks or softkeys may be used, which are more difficult to break. The maximum security is ensured if two different keys are used, e.g. including a remotely reprogrammable key. The keys can be used purely locally with the reader respective PC and/or in combination with keys which are e.g. only available on the server of the device. The readout requires a modem connection to the manufacturer, and the code is only deciphered when the decoder, which must be recognized by the manufacturer as well, is booted by the employee in charge. The code is only deciphered when the decoding algorithm is established in a random access memory. The latter may subsequently be deleted or is cleared e.g. when the device is turned off. Other cryptographic methods requiring an additional identification of the user are also possible . Basically, this procedure may be performed at all levels, i.e. at the level of the cigarette, of the packaging foil, of the cigarette package, and/or of the cigarette container, and the control station may be operated by the distributor and/or the retailer. This represents an additional control possibility, and the electronic control by means of transponders may be combined with the other previously described optical or other methods. Readers for the identification of signals transmitted by transponders are known per se from the prior art. The preceding description shows that combined authenticity marks and control instances can be used at all levels and in all stages and combined with each other or with other marks and control instances. Thus, the authenticity can be ascertained at all commercial levels in an automated manner. This can be effected without the need of opening the packages or of analyzing the goods, and independently of the type of package. At the upper level, i.e. at the level of the distributor respective wholesaler, at least two verifications can be effected, which is also possible at- the retail level. At the level of the end user, the verification can be effected optically by at least two marks, and the authenticity can be ascertained through the publication of the corresponding code at the store or in other media.

Claims: Claims 1. Method for the identification of a packaged object by means of authenticating marks including visual and/or electronic identification means, characterized in that in addition to possibly existing security elements for the purpose of ascertaining the intactness and for the surveillance of the goods, at least one of the authenticating marks is applied to the packaged object in the form of a special embossing producing a shadow effect and whose brightness seems to vary according to the viewing angle. 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the objects to be identified are cigarettes which are disposed without a wrapper of packaging foil in a package, at least two authenticating marks being provided or incorporated on the cigarette package and/or on each individual cigarette, and the marks being identified visually or by machines. 3. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the objects to be identified are cigarettes which are wrapped in a foil and disposed in a package, the foil and the package comprising at least one embossing each, or the foil or the package comprising at least two different embossings which are identified visually or by a machine. 4. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the authenticating marks is a special embossing which is invisible to the naked eye and recognizable by corresponding optical apparatus. 01/43111 - 11 - 5. Method according to claim 3, characterized in that at least one authenticating mark on the packaging foil is machine-detectable through the cigarette package. 6. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that the cigarette package comprises corresponding windows. 7. Method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in " that each individual cigarette comprises at least one authenticating mark which is provided or incorporated on the cigarette paper, and/or on the tip covering, and/or on the filter. 8. Device implementing the method according to claims 1, characterized in that it comprises an optical reader which is apt to identify and display embossed authenticating marks . 9. Device according to claim 8 for implementing the method according to claim 5, characterized in that the reader comprises means allowing to identify and display embossed authenticating marks through a package.

Inventors: BOEGLI CHARLES, BOEGLI, CHARLES
Applicants: BOEGLI CHARLES, BOEGLI GRAVURES SA, BOEGLI, CHARLES, BOEGLI-GRAVURES S.A.
Application year: 2000
Main classification: G09F3
IPC codes: G06K17, G09F3