The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 01, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 22, 1999
John W. Wu, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (US);
Mike C. Chen, Cerritos, CA (US);
Zhigang Fan, Webster, NY (US);
Kien A. Phong, Cerritos, CA (US);
Xerox Corporation, Stamford, CT (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for preventing or inhibiting effective reproduction of documents such as currency, checks, stock certificates, and any other printed document including a pre-defined security mark printed therein. The subject method and apparatus operate to effect a multi-step review of all digital image data acquired from a printed document to be reproduced for purposes of locating any potential security marks and further examining same for purposes of positively identifying a potential security mark as an actual security mark. If a mark is located and verified to be an authentic security mark, effective reproduction of the printed document will not be permitted and/or other security measures will be taken. A pretest of a mark consists of deleting the fine line patterns that may be printed on top of the mark by smoothing the data in an averaging process, and then determining the difference between the density of the darkest and lightest pixels in the area. A difference smaller than a predetermined value means that the mark is not valid.