Micro-optic viewing arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10046585-B2
Application number	US-201113996980-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2011
Priority date	Dec 22, 2010
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

A micro-optical inspection arrangement comprises micro-focusing elements which are composite bodies consisting of a main part and an additional part and which have a reference focal length. The main parts are provided as micro-focusing element preforms, and the additional parts are formed from one or more functional coatings. The invention also relates to a method for producing such a micro-optical inspection arrangement and to a micro-optical displaying arrangement comprising the micro-optical inspection arrangement according to the invention and a microstructure arrangement, in particular a moiré magnification arrangement and a modulo magnification arrangement. The invention also relates to security elements and data carriers that have the micro-optical inspection arrangement according to the invention.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing a micro-optic viewing arrangement having a plurality of microfocusing elements that each comprise a base body and a supplementary body, have a specified target focal length and are arranged in a viewing grid, comprising the following steps:
manufacturing a base-body grid comprising a grid-shaped arrangement of base bodies in the form of microfocusing-element preforms and interstices between neighboring base bodies, and
forming supplementary bodies on the base-body grid, or at least on a partial region of the base-body grid, which partial region extends over several base bodies, by coating the base-body grid or the partial region of the base-body grid with at least one coating, wherein the supplementary bodies supplement the base bodies into the microfocusing elements having the specified target focal length,
wherein the supplementary bodies cover the base-body grid or the partial region of the base-body grid completely or substantially completely,
wherein each of the base bodies has a curved surface with a vertex on a top and a basis at a bottom, wherein all points on the curved surface are assigned local radii of curvature that can be identical or different, and the at least one coating supplements the base bodies such that the microfocusing elements have, at least in a region of the vertex, larger local radii of curvature than the base bodies,
wherein the at least one coating is an adhesive coating and/or a protective coating, and wherein the formation of the supplementary bodies is effected by applying at least two coatings, which can be identical or different, wherein the at least two coatings are applied onto identical or different regions of the base-body grid.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the base bodies have a focusing effect and are present with a focal length that differs from the specified target focal length.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein for the formation of the supplementary bodies, at least one of the at least one coating is deformed, thereby the microfocusing elements obtaining the specified target focal length.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the manufacturing of the base-body grid further comprises
embossing the base bodies into a thermoplastic foil or into a foil coated with a radiation-curing lacquer with following irradiation, or
producing cylindrical base-body preforms of a photoresist material and subsequently melting the cylindrical base-body preforms into spherical base bodies.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one coating is a dirt repellent coating.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one coating is a heat-sealable coating.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one coating includes fluorescent substances.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one coating is both a dirt repellent coating and a heat-sealable coating.

9. A micro-optic viewing arrangement comprising a plurality of microfocusing elements that have a specified target focal length and form a viewing grid, wherein the plurality of microfocusing elements have base bodies and supplementary bodies, wherein
the base bodies are microfocusing-element preforms, which are arranged in a base-body grid, and
the supplementary bodies comprise at least one coating of the base-body grid or of at least a partial region of the base-body grid, which partial region extends over several base bodies and interstices between neighboring base bodies, which supplementary bodies supplement the base bodies into the plurality of microfocusing elements having the specified target focal length, and
wherein the supplementary bodies cover the base-body grid or the partial region of the base-body grid completely or substantially completely,
wherein each base body has a curved surface with a vertex on a top and a basis at a bottom, wherein all points on the curved surface are assigned local radii of curvature that can be identical or different, wherein the base bodies are arranged in the base-body grid with the interstices between neighboring base bodies, and the at least one coating supplements the base bodies such that the plurality of microfocusing elements have, at least in a region of the vertex, larger local radii of curvature than the base bodies,
wherein the at least one coating is an adhesive coating and/or a protective coating, and wherein the formation of the supplementary bodies is effected by applying at least two coatings, which can be identical or different, wherein the at least two coatings are applied onto identical or different regions of the base-body grid.

10. The micro-optic viewing arrangement according to claim 9 , wherein the base bodies have a focusing effect and are present with a focal length that differs from the specified target focal length.

11. The micro-optic viewing arrangement according to claim 9 , wherein the at least one coating is a functional coating.

12. The micro-optic viewing arrangement according to claim 9 , wherein the micro-optic viewing arrangement has at least two different microfocusing elements, which differ in that they have different base bodies and/or different supplementary bodies.

13. A micro-optic representation arrangement comprising the micro-optic viewing arrangement of claim 9 , a microstructure arrangement having a plurality of microstructure elements that form a microstructure grid, wherein the microstructure arrangement can be viewed through the micro-optic viewing arrangement.

14. The micro-optic representation arrangement according to claim 13 , wherein the micro-optic representation arrangement comprises a moire magnification arrangement or a modulo magnification arrangement.

15. A security element for securing the authenticity of a data carrier, comprising the micro-optic viewing arrangement according to claim 9 .

16. A method for manufacturing a data carrier, wherein the data carrier comprises the security element according to claim 15 , and the supplementary bodies are completed by application of at least one coating onto the data carrier, or the supplementary bodies are deformed in order to produce the specified target focal length of the plurality of microfocusing elements.

17. A data carrier, comprising the micro-optic viewing arrangement according to claim 9 .

18. A micro-optic viewing arrangement comprising a plurality of microfocusing elements that have a specified target focal length and form a viewing grid, wherein the plurality of microfocusing elements have base bodies and supplementary bodies, wherein the base bodies are microfocusing-element preforms, which are arranged in a base-body grid, and the supplementary bodies comprise at least one coating of the base-body grid or of at least a partial region of the base-body grid, which partial region extends over several base bodies and interstices between neighboring base bodies, which supplementary bodies supplement the base bodies into the plurality of microfocusing elements having the specified target focal length, and wherein the supplementary bodies cover the base-body grid or the partial region of the base-body grid completely or substantially completely, and wherein the supplementary bodies are constructed of at least two coatings, wherein the at least two coatings can be identical or different and are distributed on the base-body grid in similar or different fashion.

Assignees

• Hoffmuller Winfried
• Rahm Michael
• Burchard Theodor
• Rauch Andreas
• Seidler Rudolf
• Bucker Anne
• Weingartner Armin
• Wiedner Bernhard
• Fuhse Christian
• Giesecke & Devrient Currency Technology Gmbh

Inventors

• Hoffmuller Winfried
• Rahm Michael
• Burchard Theodor
• Rauch Andreas
• Seidler Rudolf
• Bucker Anne
• Weingartner Armin
• Wiedner Bernhard
• Fuhse Christian

Classifications

• B42D25/00

  Information-bearing cards or sheet-like structures characterised by identification or security features; Manufacture thereof (printing processes to produce identification or security features B41M3/14) · CPC title

• B29D11/00365

  Production of microlenses (lenticular sheets B29D11/00278) · CPC title

• B42D25/40

  Manufacture · CPC title

• B42D25/342

  Moiré effects · CPC title

• B41M3/148

  Transitory images, i.e. images only visible from certain viewing angles · CPC title