Security element for document of value

1. A security element for a document of value, the security element comprising an array of apertures through at least a portion of the document of value, the arrangement of apertures relative to one another forming an observable data item comprising at least one letter or numerical digit, wherein at least two of the apertures in the array and forming part of the at least one letter or numerical digit by virtue of their positions are of different shapes or orientations from one another, the occurrence of the different shapes or orientations within the array representing an encoded data item, wherein the encoded data item is derived from the observable data item.

2. A security element according to claim 1 , wherein the encoded data item is represented by at least one of the apertures designated as a multi-level bit, the shape and/or orientation of the designated aperture representing its bit-level.

3. A security element according to claim 1 , wherein the encoded data item is represented by at least one of the apertures designated as a multi-level bit, the shape and/or orientation of the designated aperture in combination with the location of the designated aperture within the array representing its bit-value.

4. A security element according to claim 1 , wherein the encoded data item comprises at least one bit of data, each of the at least one bit being represented by a selected aperture within the array, and each bit having a value selected from at least two bit-values, represented by the shape, orientation and/or location of each of the at least one selected aperture.

5. A security element according to claim 4 , wherein the encoded data item comprises a plurality of bits of data, each bit being represented by a separate selected aperture within the array.

6. A security element according to claim 1 , comprising multiple arrays of apertures, each of the arrays of apertures forming a discrete observable data item and each including an encoded data item represented by the occurrence of different shapes and/or orientations of apertures within the array.

7. A security element according to claim 1 , wherein the encoded data item comprises verification data enabling verification of the observable data item.

8. A security element assembly, comprising a security element according to claim 1 and a machine readable element, both the security element and the machine readable element being arranged on a document of value, the machine readable element having stored therein validation data against which the encoded data item can be checked.

9. A security element assembly according to claim 8 , wherein the machine readable element comprises a RFID chip, a barcode, a two-dimensional barcode, a digital watermark or an optical character recognition code.

10. A security element assembly according to claim 8 , wherein the validation data comprises the encoded data item.

11. A document of value comprising a security element according to claim 1 .

12. A document of value according to claim 11 , wherein the document of value is a passport, identification card, licence, banknote, cheque or certificate.

13. An authentication system for checking the authenticity of a document of value according to claim 11 , the system comprising:

an image capture device adapted to obtain an image of at least a portion of the security element;

an image processor adapted to identify the shape and/or orientation of at least one selected aperture in the image;

an authentication processor adapted to determine whether the identified shape(s) and/or orientation(s) meet predetermined authentication criteria, wherein the image processor or a further reader is adapted to read the observable data item of the security element or other information provided on the document, and the authentication processor is adapted to determine whether the identified shape(s) and/or orientation(s) meet predetermined authentication criteria based on the observable data item, by determining whether the identified shape(s) and/or orientations are derived from the observable data item.

14. An authentication system according to claim 13 , wherein the authentication processor is adapted to determine whether the identified shape(s) and/or orientations meet predetermined authentication criteria by determining whether the relationship between the observable data item read from the security element and the identified shape(s) and/or orientation(s) conforms to a predefined algorithm.

15. An authentication system according to claim 13 , adapted for checking the authenticity of a document of value comprising a security element assembly, comprising a security element including an array of apertures through at least a portion of the document of value, the arrangement of apertures relative to one another forming an observable data item, wherein the array of apertures comprises apertures of at least two different shapes or orientations, the occurrence of the different shapes or orientations within the array representing an encoded data item, and a machine readable element, both the security element and the machine readable element being arranged on the document of value, the machine readable element having stored therein validation data against which the encoded data item can be checked, the system further comprising a device for reading the machine readable element of the security element assembly and wherein the authentication processor is adapted to determine whether the identified shape(s) or orientation(s) meet predetermined authentication criteria based on the validation data stored in the machine readable element.

16. A security element according to claim 1 , wherein the observable data item is a serial number.

17. A method of manufacturing a security element on a document of value, comprising:

obtaining a first data item and generating an aperture array template, the apertures in the array template being arranged such that the first data item is observable from the arrangement of apertures, the first data item comprising at least one letter or numerical digit;

obtaining a second data item and encoding the second data item within the aperture array template by assigning one of at least two different shapes and/or orientations to at least one of the apertures in the array template according to a predefined algorithm, whereby at least two of the apertures in the encoded aperture array template and forming part of the at least one letter or numerical digit by virtue of their positions are of different shapes or orientations from one another, the occurrence of the different shapes or orientations representing the second data item; and

perforating at least a portion of the security document according to the encoded aperture array template,

wherein the encoded data item is derived from the observable data item or from other information provided on the security document.

18. A method according to claim 17 , further comprising designating at least one of the apertures in the aperture array template as a multi-level bit and assigning each of the at least one designated aperture a shape and/or orientation representing a bit-level in accordance with the second data item.

19. A method according to claim 18 , wherein the assigned shape and/or orientation of each of the at least one designated aperture in combination with its location within the array represents a bit-value in accordance with the second data item.

20. A method according to claim 17 , wherein the second data item comprises at least one bit of data, and the step of assigning one of at least two different shapes and/or orientations to each of the apertures in the array template comprises selecting an aperture within the aperture array template to represent each of the at least one bit of data, and assigning a shape and/or orientation, based on the bit-value of the respective bit of data, to each of the at least one selected aperture.

21. A method according to claim 17 , wherein obtaining the second data item comprises performing an algorithm on the first data item to generate the second data item.

22. A method of manufacturing a security element assembly on a document of value, comprising:

manufacturing a security element in accordance with claim 17 ;

providing a machine readable element on the document of value; and

storing, in the machine readable element, validation data against which the encoded data item can be checked.

23. A method according to claim 22 , wherein the machine readable element comprises a RFID chip, a barcode, a two-dimensional barcode, a digital watermark or an optical character recognition code.

24. A method according to claim 22 , wherein the validation data comprises the second data item.

25. A method according to claim 17 , wherein the observable data item is a serial number.