Patent ID: 8298753

Claim:
A method of generating a laser marking in a security document by means of at least one laser beam, the security document having at least one laser-markable layer and also at least one reflecting layer which overlaps at least partly with the at least one laser-markable layer, the reflecting layer having at least one transparent region separated by opaque regions, wherein the at least one reflecting layer is formed, at least in an overlapping region in which the at least one reflecting layer and the laser-markable layer overlap, seen perpendicularly to the plane of the reflecting layer, with at least one transparent region surrounded on at least two sides by an opaque region of the at least one reflecting layer, and wherein the at least one reflecting layer is arranged between at least one laser radiation source for the at least one laser beam and the at least one laser-markable layer, and wherein the laser marking is generated in the at least one laser-markable layer such that the laser marking forms visually recognizable alphanumeric characters, or strings of characters, symbols, logos, images, photos, captions, lines, biometric data, or fingerprints through the at least one transparent region, the at least one reflecting layer being retained at least visually largely unaltered, and wherein the at least one transparent region is formed by an opening provided in the reflecting layer, the opening having no material of the reflecting layer present therein.