Patent ID: 7375888

Claim:
An optical component, comprising one single retarder layer having embedded therein an integral number of n images, wherein n>1, the n images each comprising a positive counterpart and a negative counterpart and being so arranged that, at any point in the plane of said layer, an element of not more than one image is present, each image being associated with a different interaction with polarized light such that by rotating an analyzer the n images embedded in the single retarder layer can be seen one after the other, wherein the respective images of the n images, including the positive counterpart and their negative counterpart of each image, are contained in alternate areas or stripes provided in one single plane of the single retarder layer, and wherein the alternate areas or stripes of each of the n images comprise for each image at least two complementary regions with different preferred alignments, one complementary region encoding the positive counterpart and the other complementary region encoding the negative counterpart.