G&D combines OVD with laser-engraving

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has announced a new technology – the Laser Personalized Patch (LPP) – which it claims will significantly enhance protection against the counterfeiting of all kinds of ID documents.

The product is G&D’s response to the demand for increased security and meets the need for a simple but reliable means of verifying the authenticity of documents in real time. The LPP is claimed to be the first product to combine multiple security techniques in a single personalizable security device offering maximum protection against forgery and manipulation.

Hans Wolfgang Kunz, who heads the Government Solutions business unit at G&D, describes the advantages of the new technology: “This is the first time that multiple security elements for ID documents have been combined in this form. The new security device not only provides maximum protection against forgery, but also enables the authenticity of documents to be checked rapidly and simply with the naked eye.”

The LPP works by integrating three separate security features, each of which provides a high level of security in its own right. The solution is based on Kinegram optically variable device technology in which an image integrated in the document creates a different illusion of movement depending on the angle from which it is viewed. Optically variable devices (OVDs) are already being employed today as a security element in a variety of applications, including banknotes, passports, and other forms of ID document such as vehicle registration papers.

The second feature of G&D’s new LPP technology is that it also contains a “ghost image” integrated in the OVD. This is a laser image engraved in the transparent OVD film showing a miniaturized mirror image of the document-holder’s photograph.

The third personalized element of the new device is a laser-produced engraving in the OVD that stands slightly proud of the surface and can thus be detected with the fingertips. The document-holder’s birth date or eye color, for instance, can be recorded here. The laser process used to produce the ghost image and engrave the other personalized details results in a document in which the holder’s personal data are inseparable from the Kinegram image.

The LPP technology is designed to be suitable for use in all types of high-security ID documents, including identity cards, drivers’ licenses, healthcare cards, and passports containing a machine-readable PECSEC or polycarbonate data page.