Structure of safety elements on documents, apparatus for checking the documents with such safety elements as well as method of use of these safety elements and apparatus

摘要

The invention concerns the security element structure for documents, devices for controlling documents comprising such security elements, and a method for using said security elements and devices as per the patent application DE 197 34 855.6. The invention aims at completing the security element structure for documents, and at proposing devices for controlling such security elements, an a novel method for using these security elements and devices, making it very difficult, if not impossible, for forgers to discover how the methods and devices work, as far as the security elements are concerned, and subsequently produce forged documents so identical to the original documents as to make them undetectable by the control devices. The security element structure for documents to be controlled corresponds to the new design which is not based primarily on visual observation but on control methods. Said design referred to below as functional design, results from the combination of electrically conducting and insulating structures of identical or different sizes, in identical or different planes, with identical or different conductivity, and it is materialised by metal-coated structures and/or writing or printing electrically conductive inks.