Transparent Pigmented Polymer Security Printing

1 . An authentication system comprising:

at least one electronic communication device; and

an authentication system server;

wherein said at least one electronic communication device and said authentication system server are configured to communicate bi-directionally with each other;

said at least one electronic communication device comprising a camera and a LED flash;

said at least one electronic communication device configured to run a user application;

said user application configured to authenticate a product unit via a variable code printed thereon with a transparent polymer comprising at least one pigment.

2 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one producer server storing an inventory data base;

wherein said authentication system server and said at least one producer server are configured to bi-directionally communicate with each other.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein said at least one electronic communication device is further configured to run a shop owner application;

said shop owner application configured to check the existence of said product unit in said inventory data base.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein said code is selected from the group consisting of: QR code, barcode, text, serial number and logo.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein said transparent polymer is selected from a group consisting of: UV cured polymer, UV acrylate and water based solvent.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one electronic communication device is selected from the group consisting of: smartphone and tablet.

7 . The system of claim 1 wherein said camera is configured for capturing said printed code, said capturing comprising a first capture without using the camera's LED flash and a second capture using light of said LED flash;

the system further comprising processing means for extracting a color by finding a difference between said two captured codes and comparing said color to a predefined color; and

user interface means for authenticating the product if said color equals said predefined color.

8 . A method of authenticating a product unit comprising:

capturing with a camera a first image of a code printed with a transparent polymer comprising at least one pigment on said product unit, without using the camera LED flash;

capturing a second image of said code with said camera using said camera LED flash;

extracting a color by finding a difference between said two captured images;

comparing said color to a predefined producer's color; and

providing an authentication message if said color equals said predefined color.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein said code is selected from the group consisting of: QR code, barcode, text, serial number and logo.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein said transparent polymer is selected from a group consisting of: UV cured polymer, UV acrylate and water based solvent.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein said pigment is selected from the group consisting of: fluorescent pigment and fluorescent dyes.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein said finding a difference comprises subtracting one of said images from the other.

13 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

extracting a value from said product unit code;

communicating with a server storing an inventory database of said producer;

if said value exists in the inventory database, marking said product unit as purchased; and

otherwise, providing an alert massage.