EP1268213B2 - Data carrier with a printed security element and gravure production method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a data carrier with a security printed image produced by intaglio printing. The security printed image consists of a plurality of contrasting structural elements disposed in exact register. A first part of the structural elements is designed to be relieflike and tactile and a second part of the structural elements flat and nontactile.

Description

The invention relates to a data carrier with a security printing image and a printing plate for producing such a printed image.

For the production of high-quality printed products, such as banknotes, stocks or the like, the intaglio is often used the intaglio printing, since the printing plate is very complex and expensive and can be generated with this method, a very characteristic print image that is not imitated by other printing methods ,

In intaglio printing, two-dimensional representations are produced by closely spaced engraving lines, the individual engraving lines generally being fractions of a mm wide and separated from one another by ungravelled webs.

For the printing process, the engraving lines of the printing plate are filled with paint. The excess ink is removed from the printing plate with the help of a wiping cylinder or a doctor blade so that only the engraving lines are filled with ink. By this wiping so all color components are removed on the printing plate surface.

During printing, finally, by means of a pressure cylinder with elastic surface of the disk to be printed, usually paper, pressed with high pressure on the printing plate. The data carrier is in this case pressed into the ink-filled engraving lines of the printing plate and thus comes into contact with the printing ink. When removing the disk, this pulls the ink out of the recesses of the engraving lines. The printed image produced in this way has printing lines which vary depending on the depth of the engraving in the ink layer thickness.

If lithographic printing inks are used in intaglio printing, a light color tone is obtained when printing on a white data medium with low ink layer thicknesses, while darker color tones are obtained when printing with thick layers of ink. In comparison with other common printing processes, the intaglio printing process can produce print images with very large ink layer thicknesses. The resulting printed images are even manually felt when using correspondingly deep engravings. By using correspondingly fine engravings, extremely fine, extremely sharp printing lines are possible.

In the WO 97/48555 describes a method by which intaglio printing plates can be produced in a reproducible, machine manner and in which line width and line depth can be set largely independent of each other. For this, the lines of a line template are captured and the area of each line is determined exactly. With an engraving tool, such as a rotating stylus or a laser beam, the outer contour of this surface is first engraved in order to surround the surface clean. Subsequently, the bordered area of the area is cleared by means of the same or another engraving tool, so that the entire line is exactly engraved according to the line template. In this way, even very narrow lines with a relatively large engraving depth, ie a high color order can be generated on the disk. This also makes very fine lines as a relief felt.

The invention is based on the object to propose a data carrier with a printed image produced in intaglio printing, which has a very high security against counterfeiting.

This object is solved by the independent claims. Further developments are the subject of the dependent claims.

The invention is based on composing the printing image provided on the data carrier from a plurality of contrasting structural elements, wherein these structural elements are arranged in exact register with each other, and at least a part of these structural elements can be felt in relief and tactile, and part of the structural elements can be felt flat and not tactile is performed. These structural elements are produced in a printing process in intaglio printing on the data carrier.

"Passer" referred to within the meaning of the invention, the exact connecting or abutting boundaries of large-scale and filigree or the relief-like and flat structural elements in the transition region in which large-scale and filigree or relief-like and flat structures abut each other.

By "relief-like" an elevation of the structural elements relative to the data carrier surface is referred to as the reference plane, which is more than about 30 microns, preferably about 40 microns to about 100 microns. In contrast to this, "flat" ideally denotes a structural element lying in the data carrier surface as a reference plane, but which may be at most about 25 μm to 30 μm over the reference plane, but preferably not more than 25 μm.

It should be noted that a relief on the data medium surface does not coincide identically with the engraving depth of the printing plate. This is due to the fact that the disk is not pressed during the printing process to the bottom of the printing plate engraving and also in the wells of the printing plate existing color is not completely transferred to the disk. Accordingly, the engraving depth of the pressure plate for relief-like structural elements is in the range of about 40 μm to 200 μm, preferably in the range of about 55 μm to 150 μm, and for flat structural elements in the range of about 5 μm to 50 μm, preferably in the range of approx. 10 μm to 25 μm. Whether an engraving depth lying in the border region on the surface of a data carrier leads to a more relief-like or rather flat printing depends in each case on the steepness of the engraving, the nature of the substrate to be printed (strength, plastic deformability) and the solids or solvent content the misprinted Color off.

When using glazing colors, the brightness impression of the hue depends on the printed layer thickness, the type, composition and concentration of the pigment. Layer thicknesses between about 2 microns and 5 microns produce a lighter, more transparent shade, with imprints with such layer thicknesses tactile are not felt. In the layer thickness range between about 5 microns and 10 microns, the hue is darker, the print image but still not felt. Only at layer thicknesses of about 10 .mu.m to 30 .mu.m, the print image, which now appears much darker, can be felt tactilely. A visually recognizable contrast between the structural elements according to the invention can thus be generated via the ink layer thickness. Since the tactile perception is a subjective sensation, a value from which a relief is perceived tactilely can only be determined within rough limits. The tactile perceptibility of a printed relief depends not only on the absolute relief height and the individual sensitivity, but also on the areal extent of the printed structure and on whether the printed structure to be touched is free-standing or integrated into a printed environment.

The security against forgery of the security element or security print image according to the invention can finally be further increased by a frequent change takes place between the various structural elements. The structural elements differ in terms of their areal extent and / or their light / dark contrast and / or their tactility. The exact registration between the various structural elements and the associated special visual impression of the security print image can only be achieved by intaglio printing, i. using a printing plate in which the security print image is engraved completely and with the required register.

The structural elements can additionally be combined with negative elements. "Negative element" here refers to a non-inked area of any shape in an inked environment. Such negative elements may be included within a structural element as unprinted pictorial or alphanumeric information, e.g. a logo, the denomination of a currency or a lettering, are present, so that a structural element is not completely covered with ink. Alternatively, the negative elements may also be formed as a dividing line between the individual structural elements, which is not the subject of the invention. In this case, the negative elements are preferably in the form of complicated line patterns, e.g. Guilloche on.

Since very sharp contours can be printed in intaglio printing, it is possible to produce visually recognizable negative signs with very small line widths of up to 10 μm. Such additional information can be considered in the engraving process according to the invention for the production of the printing plate in a very simple manner. For a potential counterfeiter, however, they represent an additional problem.

According to a preferred embodiment, a part of the structural elements according to the invention over a large area and a part of the structural elements made filigree.

"Large area" means that the structural elements are not generated in the raster print, but actually consist of sheet-like elements with a certain width> about 1 mm.

"Filigree", on the other hand, means that they are thin lines that may intersect and intertwine, such as guilloches. The line width of these filigree structures is <1 mm and is preferably less than 0.5 mm.

In accordance with a further preferred embodiment, the structural elements are selected and arranged in register with one another in such a way that at least two visually recognizable, preferably overlapping, information arise. Thus, for example, a first information composed of relief-like and tactile structural elements, while a second information consists at least for the most part of flat, non-tactile structural elements.

If a part of the structural elements additionally filigree and another part executed over a large area, the information can for example be composed as follows: All filigree structural elements and part of the large-scale structural elements of the security element according to the invention are carried out relief-like and tactile feel and form a first visually recognizable information. At the same time, part of these tactile structural elements belongs to a second piece of information which, in addition to the tactile feel, also has flat, non-tactile structural elements. Preferably, the flat structural elements of the second information occupy a larger area so that the visual impression of the second information is determined primarily by the flat structural elements. The tactile structural elements form only a kind of superimposed, preferably darker, pattern with regard to the second information. The remaining part of the structural elements of the first information, which preferably consists only of filigree structural elements, encloses passerhaltig to the second information. According to a particular embodiment, these filigree structural elements continue the contour lines of the relief-like structural elements common to both pieces of information.

This security element may according to a further preferred embodiment have negative elements. For example, the structural elements of the first and second information may be separated by a narrow non-printed contour line, which is not the subject of the invention. In this case, the structural elements belonging only to the first information can also continue this non-printed contour line.

The printing plate with which this printed image is produced, has the corresponding structural elements in the form of depressions, wherein these structural elements are arranged here in exact register to each other. The engraving depth of the individual structural elements is chosen so that a first part of these structural elements is felt like a relief and tactile after printing and the second part of the structural elements has a lower engraving depth, so that the structural elements are flat and not tactile felt after printing. The engraving depth of the first part of the structural elements is preferably about 40 μm to 200 μm, preferably about 55 μm to 150 μm, and that of the second part is about 5 μm to 50 μm, preferably about 15 μm to 40 μm.

Since, as already mentioned, the relief height achieved in the print result depends not only on the engraving depth of the printing plate, but also on the properties of the substrate and the ink, in extreme cases, an engraving depth of 40 microns already lead to a relief-like print image, while in other material and printing parameters an engraving depth of 50 microns can still lead to a flat print image. In any specific application, however, the engravings leading to relief-like print image areas are always deeper than those which produce so-called flat, tactile non-tactile image areas.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the structural elements are designed such that the area in which the two overlap information either remains unprinted or is rendered in a tone that is visually distinct from both the relief and tactile sensible and the flat and non-tactile Structural elements clearly different. The relief-like and the flat structural elements as well as the unprinted or in the hue contrasting overlapping area are in turn in exact register to each other.

Further embodiments and advantages of the invention are explained below with reference to the figures. It is pointed out in this connection that the figures are schematic diagrams which in particular do not reproduce either line widths or layer thickness ratios to scale.

Fig. 1

eine erste Ausführungsform des erfindungsgemäßen Sicherheitselements,

Fig. 2

eine zweite Ausführungsform des erfindungsgemäßen Sicherheitselements,

Fig. 3

Ausschnitt aus einer erfindungsgemäßen Druckplatte,

Fig. 4

Ausschnitt aus einem Datenträger im Querschnitt nach dem Bedrucken mit der Druckplatte gemäß Fig. 3,

Fig. 5a

vergrößerter Ausschnitt A aus dem Sicherheitselement gemäß Fig. 2,

Fig. 5b und 5c

vergrößerter Ausschnitt A gemäß Fig. 5a nach einem Fälschungsversuch,

Fig. 6 und 7

zwei weitere Ausführungsformen eines erfindungsgemäßen Sicherheitselements.

Show it:

Fig. 1

a first embodiment of the security element according to the invention,

Fig. 2

a second embodiment of the security element according to the invention,

Fig. 3

Section of a printing plate according to the invention,

Fig. 4

Section of a data carrier in cross section after printing with the printing plate according to Fig. 3 .

Fig. 5a

enlarged section A from the security element according to Fig. 2 .

Fig. 5b and 5c

enlarged section A according to Fig. 5a after a fake attempt,

6 and 7

two further embodiments of a security element according to the invention.

Fig. 1 shows a first embodiment of the security element according to the invention 1. The security element 1 is composed of a plurality of structural elements, which are arranged in exact register to each other. Some of these structural elements, shown in black in the figure, can be felt in a relief-like and tactile manner; the other part of the structural elements, shown gray in the figure, is flat and can not be tactilely felt. All these structural elements are produced in a printing process by intaglio printing on an arbitrary substrate. In the example shown, the individual structural elements are arranged relative to one another such that two visually recognizable information is produced. This is the number "2000", which is overlaid by the words "Banknote".

For reasons of clarity, the principle of the invention is explained only with reference to the number "2" and the letter "B" structural elements. The other information components are analogous.

The number "2" is composed of the large-area, flat and non-tactile structural elements 2, the likewise large-area, but relief-like and tactile felted structural elements 3 and the filigree and relief-like tactile structural elements 4, 7 together. The structural elements 4 in this case form the contour line of the number "2". All structural elements and in particular the structural elements 4 and 7 as well as 3 and 4 are arranged within the meaning of the invention passerhaltig each other. Furthermore, the different structural elements, e.g. the structural elements 2, 4 or 2, 3 directly to each other.

The structural elements 3, 7 are at the same time part of a second piece of information which, together with the filigree, relief-like and tactile structurally executed structural elements 5, form the letter "B". The structural elements 5 are formed in this case as filigree lines, which are arranged passerhaltig to the structural elements 3 and 7. They include the unprinted surfaces 6.

Fig. 2 shows another embodiment of the inventive security element 1. Again, two information overlapping each other are shown. In this case, the first information, the number "2000" also consists of flat, tactile not palpable Structural elements 2, filigree, relief-like and tactile felt structural elements 7 and large, tactile felt structural elements 3 together. Analogous to Fig.1 The flat, non-tactile structural elements are gray and the relief-like, tactile structural elements are highlighted in black.

Compared to Fig. 1 is missing in this case, the filigree, relief-like contour line 4. Therefore, here are all relief-like and tactile felt structural elements simultaneously part of the second information. Outside the overlapping area, the relief-like, tactilely perceptible structural elements 3 and 7 are supplemented by further relief-like, filigree structural elements 5. Only the overall view of the structural elements 3, 5, 7 makes the second information, here an eagle, visually recognizable.

Both the in Fig. 1 as well as in Fig. 2 shown security element 1 is generated in a printing operation. Preferably, a translucent printing ink is used for this, so that the flat structural elements 2 appear in a lighter shade, while the relief-like structural elements 3, 4, 5, 7 are reproduced in a dark hue. The color differences arise due to different color layer thicknesses. Accordingly, the printing forme used for printing on different depth engravings.

Fig. 3 shows the detail of a printing plate according to the invention in cross section. The intaglio printing plate 8 has recessed engraving areas 9, 10 relative to the printing plate surface 11. The first engraving area 9 is engraved with an engraving depth a, the second engraving area 10 with an engraving depth b. The two engraving areas 9, 10 directly adjoin one another at the level of the printing plate surface 11 and are separated from one another by a separating edge 12, the upper edge 13 of which tapers to a point at the level of the printing plate surface 11. The intaglio printing plate 8 can also be designed so that the upper edge 13 is slightly, ie a few microns below the level of the printing plate surface 11. This separating edge ensures that contiguous color surfaces have sharp contours. The production and design variants of such printing plates with separating edges are described in the German patent application P 198 45 436.8 explained in detail, to which explicit reference is made here.

The engraving area 9 generates a brighter hue during the printing process than the deeper engraving area 10. If non-tactile structural elements are produced with the engraving area 9, the engraving depth a is between 10 μm and 40 μm. For light shades which have a translucent effect, engraving depths of 10 μm to 25 μm are preferably used. The relief-like, tactile-feeling structural elements can be produced, for example, with the engraving area 10. The engraving depth b is in this case between 40 microns and 200 microns.

Fig. 4 schematically shows the section of a substrate 14, such as paper, with a gravure printing plate 8 according to Fig. 3 was printed by intaglio printing. During the printing process, the substrate 14 is pressed into the engraving areas 9, 10, wherein corresponding depressions 16, 17 may remain on the underside of the substrate 15, depending on how much pressure is exerted on the substrate during the printing process. The substrate top 18 has corresponding elevations in the areas in which lie on the bottom of the recesses 16,17. These elevations are covered by ink layers 19, 20, which were taken during the printing process from the substrate surface 18 of the engraving areas 9, 10. In this case, the level difference between the non-printed substrate surface and the surfaces of the respective color surfaces 19, 20 is defined as the height of the printed image relief x, y. In the transition region between the color surfaces 19, 20, the ink layer thicknesses x, y decrease continuously up to a borderline, which is defined by the upper edge 13 of the separating edge 12 of the intaglio printing plate 8. Depending on the configuration of the separating edge 12 results in a more or less wide boundary area, which ensures a clean separation between the pressure areas of different hues.

Fig. 5a shows the enlarged section A from Fig. 2 , from which it is clear that the individual structural elements are arranged exactly passerhaltig each other. Thus, the structural elements 7 are flush with the structural elements 2. Passerhaltig this, the structural elements 5 are arranged. They border passerhaltig to the structural elements 2 and go virtually seamlessly into the contour line of the structural elements 7.

This exact alignment can not be created with conventional printing plates and printing processes. Because when using conventional printing plates would have to be worked with at least two printing operations, for example, in the first printing the structural elements 2 and the first information, such as the number "2000" are printed, and in the second printing on the first information, the second information, for example the in Fig. 2 shown eagles. However, such counterfeiting attempts are easy to recognize, since the desired register can not be achieved with conventional printing methods.

The Fig. 5b and 5c show the critical border areas after such a counterfeiting attempt. In Fig. 5b For example, the structural elements 2 protrude beyond the structural elements 7, so that a part of the areas 6 bordered by the structural elements 5 is also filled with color. At the in Fig. 5c shown embodiment, the structural elements 7 terminate outside the structural elements 2. Since such offsets greatly affect the overall impression of the printed image, counterfeiting attempts of the security element according to the invention are very obvious.

A further embodiment of the security element 1 according to the invention is in the Fig. 6 and 7 shown. As the first information, the letter "B" is reproduced, which has relief-like, tactile feelable structural elements 3, 7 in the areas shown in black. The second information in the present example is the number "2", which is reproduced essentially by gray, large-area and flat, non-tactile structural elements 2. The area 21 in which overlap the two information, according to the embodiment of the Fig. 6 unprinted, but is enclosed by printed areas and is therefore visually clearly visible in their extent. In particular, the corners of the relief-like structural elements 3 and the flat structural elements 2 abut each other with exact register, which is not attainable in this way with conventional methods.

In the embodiment according to Fig. 7 is the area 22 in which the two characters "B" and "2" overlap, printed. Unlike the variants of Fig. 1 and 2 However, the overlap region 22 is reproduced here in such a way that its contrast or tone value differs visually clearly from that of the immediately adjacent, relief-like structural elements 3 and that of the flat structural elements 2. In Fig. 7 the overlapping area 22 is lighter than the relief-like areas 3, 7 and the flat areas 2 of the printed image. That is, the color layer is the thinnest in the region 22 and the surface 22 therefore flat and tactile not felt. However, it is also possible to design the ink layer thickness in the overlapping region 22 via a corresponding engraving of the associated printing plate so that it appears darker than the adjacent flat structural elements 2, which represent the number "2", and brighter than the tactile structural elements 3, 7, which represent the letter "B". The register between the individual structural elements can be excellently checked, especially at the corners and edges where they adjoin one another.

The security element according to the invention can be printed on any substrates. Preferably, these are data carriers made of paper. But also foil substrates can be provided with the security element according to the invention. The security element can be installed anywhere where high demands are made on the protection against counterfeiting, such as securities, banknotes, identity cards, passports but also for documents or higher-value tickets.

Claims (28)

1. A data carrier (14) with a security printed image (1) produced by intaglio printing in one printing operation, having at least two visually detectable information items and being formed of a plurality of contrasting structural elements (2, 3, 4, 5, 7) disposed in exact register, wherein a first part of the structural elements (3, 4, 5, 7) is adapted to be relieflike and tactile and a second part of the structural elements (2) to be flat and nontactile, wherein a portion of the first information item partly overlaps the second information item and the structural elements (5) of the first information item that do not form part of the second information item are filigree structural elements in the form of lines with a line width < 1 mm and are disposed in exact register to the structural elements (2, 4) of the second information item, wherein "register" means that the structural elements are exactly adjacent or exactly adjoin each other in a transition region in which they adjoin.
2. The data carrier (14) according to claim 1, characterized in that the relieflike and tactile structural elements (3, 4, 5, 7) have a darker color tone than the flat, nontactile structural elements (2).
3. The data carrier (14) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that one part of the structural elements (2, 3) is adapted to be large-area and one part of the structural elements (4, 5, 7) to be filigree.
4. The data carrier (14) according to claim 3, characterized in that one part of the filigree structural elements (4, 5, 7) is adapted to be relieflike and tactile.
5. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that one part of the large-area structural elements (3) is adapted to be relieflike and tactile.
6. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the two information items are delimited from each other in contrasting manner and by light-dark contrasts and/or large-area and filigree structural elements (2, 3, 4, 5, 7) and have a tactile relief at least in partial regions.
7. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the first information item is formed at least partly of relieflike, tactile structural elements (3, 5, 7).
8. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the second information item is formed at least for the most part of flat, nontactile structural elements (2).
9. The data carrier (14) according to claim 8, characterized in that the flat structural elements (2) are limited by filigree, tactile structural elements (4).
10. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that one part of the relieflike structural elements (3, 7) of the first information item is simultaneously part of the second information item.
11. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the structural elements have negative elements in the form of alphanumeric characters and/or patterns.
12. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 1 to 11 with claim 3, characterized in that the filigree structural elements (4, 5, 7) are lines with a line width < 0.5 mm.
13. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 1 to 12 with claim 3, characterized in that the large-area structural elements (2, 3) have a line width > 1 mm.
14. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 1 to 13 with claim 6, characterized in that the contrasting information items are alphanumeric information items and/or pictorial information items.
15. A data carrier (14) with a security printed image (1) produced by intaglio printing in one printing operation, having at least two visually detectable information items and being formed of a plurality of contrasting structural elements (2, 3, 7, 22) disposed in exact register, wherein a first part of the structural elements (3, 7) is adapted to be relieflike and tactile and a second part of the structural elements (2, 22) to be flat and nontactile, wherein a portion of the first information item partly overlaps the second information item, wherein the region (21, 22) in which the information items overlap has a tone value that differs visually from that of the relieflike and the flat structural elements (3, 7, 2) outside the overlap region.
16. The data carrier (14) according to claim 15, characterized in that the relieflike and tactile structural elements (3, 7) have a darker color tone than the flat, nontactile structural elements (2, 22).
17. The data carrier (14) according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that one part of the structural elements (2, 3) is adapted to be large-area and one part of the structural elements (7) to be filigree.
18. The data carrier (14) according to claim 17, characterized in that one part of the filigree structural elements (7) is adapted to be relieflike and tactile.
19. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 17 or 18, characterized in that one part of the large-area structural elements (3) is adapted to be relieflike and tactile.
20. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 15 to 19, characterized in that the two information items are delimited from each other in contrasting manner and by light-dark contrasts and/or large-area and filigree structural elements (2, 3, 7, 22) and have a tactile relief at least in partial regions.
21. The data carrier (14) according to any of claims 15 to 20, characterized in that the region (21) in which information items overlap is not printed by intaglio printing.
22. The data carrier (14) according to at least one of claims 1 to 21, characterized in that the data carrier is a value paper, preferably a banknote.
23. An intaglio printing plate (8) for producing a security printed image (1) having at least two visually detectable information items and being formed of a plurality of contrasting structural elements (2, 3, 7, 22) disposed in exact register, wherein the structural elements (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 22) are present in the form of depressions (9, 10) in the printing plate (8) and the depressions of one first part of these structural elements (3, 7) has such a great engraving depth (b) that the structural elements (3, 7) are relieflike and tactile after the printing operation, and the depression of the second part of the structural elements (2, 22) has a smaller engraving depth (a) so that the structural elements (2, 22) are flat and nontactile after the printing operation, wherein a portion of the first information item partly overlaps the second information item, wherein the region (21, 22) in which the information items overlap does not have an engraving depth.
24. The printing plate according to claim 23, characterized in that the engraving depth (d) of the first part of the structural elements is 40 µm to 200 µm and that of the second part 10 µm to 40 µm.
25. A method for producing a data carrier (14) with a security printed image (1) having at least two visually detectable information items and being produced by intaglio printing in one printing operation and being composed of a plurality of contrasting structural elements (2, 3, 4, 5, 7), wherein said structural elements are disposed in exact register and a first part of said structural elements (3, 4, 5, 7) is adapted to be relieflike and tactile and a second part of the structural elements (2) to be flat and nontactile, wherein a portion of the first information item partly overlaps the second information item and the structural elements (5) of the first information item that do not form part of the second information item are filigree structural elements in the form of lines with a line width < 1 mm and are disposed in exact register to the structural elements (2, 4) of the second information item, wherein "register" means that the structural elements are exactly adjacent or exactly adjoin each other in a transition region in which they adjoin.
26. A method for producing a data carrier (14) with a security printed image (1) having at least two visually detectable information items and being produced by intaglio printing in one printing operation and being composed of a plurality of contrasting structural elements (2, 3, 7, 22), wherein said structural elements are disposed in exact register and a first part of said structural elements (3, 7) is adapted to be relieflike and tactile and a second part of the structural elements (2, 22) to be flat and nontactile, wherein a portion of the first information item partly overlaps the second information item, wherein the region (21, 22) in which the information items overlap has a tone value that differs visually from that of the relieflike and the flat structural elements (3, 7, 2) outside the overlap region.
27. A method for producing a security element, formed of a security printed image (1) having at least two visually detectable information items and being produced by intaglio printing in one printing operation and being composed of a plurality of contrasting structural elements (2, 3, 4, 5, 7), wherein said structural elements are disposed in exact register, wherein a first part of said structural elements (3, 4, 5, 7) is adapted to be relieflike and tactile and a second part of the structural elements (2) to be flat and nontactile, wherein a portion of the first information item partly overlaps the second information item and the structural elements (5) of the first information item that do not form part of the second information item are filigree structural elements in the form of lines with a line width < 1 mm and are disposed in exact register to the structural elements (2, 4) of the second information item, wherein "register" means that the structural elements are exactly adjacent or exactly adjoin each other in a transition region in which they adjoin.
28. A method for producing a security element, formed of a security printed image (1) having at least two visually detectable information items and being produced by intaglio printing in one printing operation and being composed of a plurality of contrasting structural elements (2, 3, 7, 22), wherein said structural elements are disposed in exact register and a first part of said structural elements (3, 7) is adapted to be relieflike and tactile and a second part of the structural elements (2, 22) to be flat and nontactile, wherein a portion of the first information item partly overlaps the second information item, wherein the region (21, 22) in which the information items overlap has a tone value that differs visually from that of the relieflike and the flat structural elements (3, 7, 2) outside the overlap region.

Images