Patent ID: 8282015

Claim:
A document authentication system comprising a server having access to a plurality of predefined templates corresponding to particular types of documents and authentication viewers arranged for use with the documents, the server being arranged for receiving orders for documents, each specifying both the type of document and information for populating fields within the document, a document of the specified document type being populated with the information from one of the orders and being stored as a document file along with an associated viewer file, the document file being linked with the viewer file for transmission to a different site for reproducing the transmitted document and viewer files in fulfillment of the one order, at least one of the populated fields of the document being embedded in the document as a latent image at least partially surrounded by a visually integrated setting of the document so as to be at least partially indistinguishable in the reproduced document from the integrated setting to the naked eye, the latent image being formed by a first line screen pattern having a first orientation, the visually integrated setting being form by a second line screen pattern having a second orientation that is different from the first orientation, and the document viewer incorporating a line screen pattern that complements the line screen pattern of one or the other of the latent image and the visually integrated setting to create sufficient contrast to render the latent image visible in the reproduced document.