In around two decades back the arrival of colour
copiers into the market sent panic waves into the minds of the issuing
authorities of Currencies and Bank Notes as the scope of counterfeiting of currencies
not only increased but also made simpler the task of counterfeiters to forge the
Currencies and Bank notes. Therefore in order to counter the menace,Interpol and banking authorities of Currencies and Bank notes in a joint
appeal requested the manufacturers of colour copiers to incorporate some
measures that would deter colour copying of the Bank Notes and Currencies.
Thanks to the intervention of one of the software
companies originally established for electronics, namely Omron from Japan, who
came out with a effective solution to counter the menace expected out of Colour photo copiers. The firm created a unique design
in the form of some circles with outlines for use as design element and when they were
merged with the the main design element and printed in Dry Offset base printing, photocopying on the colour copier
could be checkmated as the resultant colour print will leave a void in that area. Since
the feature will be same in appearance in any of the Currencies
that incorporated this mark the colour copying of those currencies would remain difficult.
The name OMRON feature could have
been given as the pattern resembled that of group of stars akin to its design which were known as Omron
rings or called EURion constellation. Also the possibilities of the name
Omron deriving from the name of Omron Corporation cannot be ruled out as it was Omron who invented it. Omron originated in an area of Kyoto called Omuro as established by
Kazuma Tateisi in the year 1933, and incorporated as registered company in the
year 1948. However the firm itself who invented this mark as
anti copying feature did not give the feature any official name.
The marks in Omron pattern will be of specific size,thickness and will have specific no of circles, and placement prefixed in
the marked area besides having specific colour density range. Beyond this, the technical details
on the pattern and detection algorithm which have been carefully designed by Omron Corporation have not been revealed and held back as closely guarded
secret. The design and size of the Omron mark shall be as per the master film
provided by the SSG-2, the film supplied by the firm itself and should not be altered in
any manner,lest the anti copying feature will fail to work.
The colour
copiers are incorporated with a mechanism to recognize those marks, and leave a
void while copying to classify them as security documents. The Omron feature as
an anti copying security feature has been incorporated since 1996 in some
of the world Currencies and Bank Notes issued by the Central Banking
authorities. This feature is also incorporated in the Bank Notes issued by Reserve bank of India.