TRACK AND TRACE
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A magnified part of a package printed in offset that shows how the Cryptoglyph pattern can be camouflaged within the imperfections of the printed item.
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AlpVision SA (Vevey, Switzerland) has developed and patented Cryptoglyph technology for hiding dot patterns on packaging. Measuring 10 to 20 µm in size, the dots are “impossible to reproduce,” explains Roland Meylan, corporate communications manager. “As we print invisible-to-the-naked-eye dots or holes concurrently with the visible printed matter or varnish of the packaging, there is no effect on structural integrity,” he says. The Cryptoglyph can be integrated into any printed material used in folding boxes or blister packs, he adds.
The printing technique requires only ordinary inks and equipment such as offset, rotogravure, flexography, ink-jet, and laser. No special ink or taggant is added. “No modification of the original document or packaging design is necessary, and production flow rates remain unchanged,” Meylan explains. “Therefore, there is no extra production cost for a covert machine-readable security solution.”
AlpVision licenses the technology to users and helps them integrate its secured server software, Krypsos, into their product production management system. (For a workflow diagram, visit www.alpvision.com/krypsos-online-authentication.html.) The microholes or microdots are created automatically by the software; pattern generation is fully controlled by licensees. Packaging, information technology, and security teams collaborate together on implementation.
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Remote authentication of AlpVision-protected packaging can employ a standard camera phone.
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Meylan says that use of the Cryptoglyph technology meets requirements in 21 CFR Part 11 ERES. “Manufacturers can independently manage their global policies for protecting branded products, but they neither modify the production process nor diminish its flow rate,” he says.
Holes on packaging can be verified using commonly available scanners, digital cameras, and mobile phones. Digital analysis entails ignoring all visible text and images and concentrating on a signal that looks like noise or a random element, explains Meylan. “AlpVision has developed and patented digital imaging processes able to recognize the presence or the absence of a dedicated Cryptoglyph pattern, which looks like noise, within a random signal. The process also automatically compensates for any distortion induced by the image-capturing process.”
At the end of analysis, software provides a verdict: “genuine” if the presence of the expected Cryptoglyph is detected or “fake” if not detected. “It can be compared to analyzing the signal produced by radar scanning a part of the sky, which can detect the presence of an airplane in any position. After having detected that presence, it can then identify the model of airplane.”
Cryptoglyph is a covert security process, so Meylan says that current users are extremely reluctant to disclose anything about what they do with the technology. He says that the technology has been adopted by branded product manufacturers and is protecting more than one billion products today.
