TITLE OF THE INVENTION: An integrated method of making secure & variable data printed, scratchable product with online packing and a device thereof.

PREAMBLE TO DESCRIPTION: The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

PRIOR ART DETAILS (SOME REFERENCES):

1. Publication no. WO/2008/048781. Publication Date:24.04.2008, International Application No.:PCT/US2007/080306. IN-LINE GIFT CARD PERSONALIZATION AND PACKAGING PROCESS

Jist of Invention: A machine that processes gift cards in an in-line process where the gift cards travel along a generally straight transport path from a card feed mechanism to a delivery end where the cards and carrier combinations are discharged. During the in-line processing, cards can be encoded with account information, a serial number printing then transported to a gluing system, then transported to a feeding mechanism that applies a carrier to one or more cards. Some of the Differences from our Invention: It seems that the integration of Complete production process is missing like cards printing, protective scratchcoating, wrapping & sealing may not covered in this invention.

2. _. WO/2006/070447, METHOD FOR PRODUCING SCRATCH CARD. Pub-

Date: 06.07.2006, International Application No.: PCT/JP2004/019590. Jist of Invention: Method for producing a scratch card in which visual observation of concealed information is disabled during and after production.. A varnish layer is formed on a thermal layer applied onto a card substrate, a scratch layer, is formed directly on the varnish layer and concealed information is printed on the thermal layer by laser light

Some bf the Differences from our Invention: It seems that the integration of Complete production process is missing especially cards printing, packing etc may not be covered in this invention. . .

3. Security card and method for making same United States Patent 6110864.

Jist of Invention: A security card comprising a backing, a cover film, and a security image, the security image being located between the backing and the cover film, the backing and the cover film being laminated together without an intermediate adhesive layer. Also, a method for making such security cards. Some of the Differences from our Invention: It seems that the integration of Complete production process is missing especially card packing may not be covered in this invention.

4. Scratch-off cards United States Patent Application 20040140616.

Jist of Invention: Cards and tickets with scratch-off or other removable material present on both faces, as well as methods of making such cards and tickets, are detailed.

Some of the Differences from our Invention: It seems that the integration of Complete production process is missing especially card packing may not be covered in this invention.

5. Integrated transaction card and packaging United States Patent 6299530.

Jist of Invention: Described is an integrated transaction card and packaging assembly, such as for telephone cards. The packaging may be a co-op type packaging in that it includes promotional material, such as coupons, in addition to the transaction card

Some of the Differences from our Invention: It seems that the integration of Complete production process is missing especially card printing, personalization, scratch protection etc may not be covered in this invention. PRIOR ART (for example where product is scratch cards)

1. The substrate is unspooled from Unwinder and passes through guide, deflector and tension rollers onwards though the machine.

2. Substrate first goes to the 1 ^st Printing station which consists of Centre Impression Drum with many printing units which print in multiple colours the customer desired art design on one side of the substrate.

3. The printed matter is then cured in a U. V unit.

4. Then, the other side of the substrate the variable confidential data e.g bar code, sequence, pin number etc is printed using a security data printer.

5. The substrate then, travels to 2 ^nd printing station where the printed confidential data is covered with scratchable protective layer(s) having security feature and further printing is done of customer given logo, instructions and colour design; etc. _{. .}

6. The printed substrate then passes onto a Die cutting station where the cards are cut online into individual units of desired shape and size.

7. The punched out substrate frame / matrix is continuously reeled away onto a rewinder roller via guide rolls.

8. The die cut cards are moved onwards on a conveyor mechanism.

9. The die cut cards are then stacked using a collector device.

10. The stacked cards are manually moved from the collector and stored in trays

11. The unpacked cards in trays are then moved to a second packing line.

12. In the packing line, the cards are fed into a feeder from where they are individually fed onto the conveyor using vaccum assisted mechanism. 13. Then top and bottom covering/overwrapping film unspooling from top & bottom covering/overwrapping film rolls passes through deflector rollers and eventually go onto the top and bottom side of the cards.

14. Cards covered on top & bottom with overwrapping material passes through a sealing station where a sealing device then seals the top & bottom covering/overwrapping filmlayers thereby pouching the individual cards sealed on all 4 sides.

15. The continuous reel of pouched cards is perforated along the sealed boundaries using perforation device(s).

16. The continuous perforated reel of top & bottom covered cards moves ahead on a conveyor. . . ^' . . . . . _.

17. The continuous perforated reel of pouched cards then are cut. into convenient stack size and dropped into card board boxes for box packing. ; . ^:

DEFECTS / SHORTCOMINGS IN EXISTING CONVENTIONAL SYSTEM

1. When collected by a conventional collector mechanism, the printed and die cut security variable data printed product sometimes gets damaged or there are mixups i.e collection is not sequential.

2. The security variable data printed product collected in a collector has to be removed manually from the collector to trays but it is generally difficult to separate cleanly the batches coming out of a high speed printing line. This may result in missing items or mixups.

3. The filled trays are then stacked for packing which requires moving them to separate space and the movement and storage space has to be secure. This increases cost and manpower requirement and can result in missing, mixups, security lapses etc.

4. The conventional packing machines work at speed much less than the normal printing line speed hence there is a requirement to use many packing machines over a large area. This means multiplicity of machines increasing cost & maintenance hassles, increased manpower and space, management problems, mixups etc.

5. Many packing machines for each printing machine also means a defect detection and defect marking system for each packing line which increases cost.

6. Trays sent to individual packing machines and the packed products collected back all have to be again brought back at boxing/cartoning stage into original sequence. This may result in mixups. The speed of production also slowing down due to this. Slowdown in one packing line could mean slowing down of dispatch i.e more the packing lines, more the possibility of slowing down of the dispatch operation.

STEP BY STEP PROCESS (PRESENT IMPROVED PROCESS)

1. The substrate made up of paper, board, plastic, metallic foil or any combination thereof is unsppoled from Unwinder and passes through guide, deflector and _. tension rollers onwards though the machine; .

2. The substrate travels to 1 ^st Printing station which consists of many printing units, each printing in specific colours and combining to print in multiple colours the customer desired art design on one side of the substrate.

3. On one side of the substrate the security variable data e.g bar code, sequence, pin number etc given by customer or generated inhouse is then printed using a security variable data printer.

4. A scan camera scans the security variable data printed and checks for defects and identifies the defective pieces on the monitor and marks the defective piece using a printer. Once identified, the defective pieces can be removed & replaced manually at a suitable stage.

5. The printed matter is then cured in a U. V unit.

6. The substrate then travels to 2 ^nd printing station where the printed security variable data is covered with scfatchable protective layer(s) having security feature and further printing is done of customer given logo, instructions and colour design etc. 7. The printed substrate then passes onto a Die cutting station where the printed substrate is die cut online into individual units of product in desired shape and size.

8. The overwrapping or covering material rolls are unspooled from bottom and top unwinders rollers and passes through deflector .rollers and pinch rollers. The overwrapping material pouching the security variable data printed product is sealable film, coated or laminated paper, metallic foil or a combination thereof.

9. The bottom overwrapping or covering material covers the punched out product from bottom.

10. The conveyor moves the die cut and printed product piece with bottom overwrapping or covering material onwards. .

11. The excess punched out substrate frame / matrix is continuously reeled away onto a rewinder roller via guide rolls from where it is periodically removed. . '

12. The top overwrapping or covering materia! then covers the die cut product from top also.

13. The continuous reel of top & bottom covered product moves ahead to the sealing station.

14. The printed and die cut material covered on top & bottom with overwrapping material passes through a sealing station where the top and bottom overwrapping material is sealed in desired shape & size around the product via heat sealing or other appropriate methods thereby encapsulating or pouching the individual product piece with customized embossing on the sealed surface area.

15. A camera device scans and checks the quality of the scratchable protective layer(s) covering the printed security variable data & other visible printed matter on the product and marks the defective product pieces on the monitor and also on the defective product pieces using a printer. Once identified, the defective product pieces can be removed & replaced at a suitable stage. - 16._The continuous reel of pouched product is perforated along the middle of sealed boundary around the product using perforation device.

17. The continuous perforated reel of pouched product then passes through exit guide rolls and forms a loop with a drive assisted pinch roll at the exit of loop after which the reel goes onto an inclined stack conveyor.

18. A loop detector assists in the synchronization of speed of operations of stacking on stack conveyor and that of the rest of the machine.

19. The stack conveyor has an adjustable end stop apron to catch the finished reel which is folded in situ. .

20. The overwrapped and stacked product pieces are cut into convenient stack size and dropped into card board boxes for box packing. . _.

INVENTIVE FEATURES ,.

1. Basic processes of packing like overwraping, sealing of overwrapping film and perforation which required separate packing machines have been innovatively made to happen on the printing machine itself

2. Integration of all processes, components, complements & supplements of the total process of production of secure & variable data printed product giving an output product which is already printed, personalized, customized, die punched into desired shape & size and packed in perforated strip of pouches.

3. The complete integration of packing line with the printing machine i.e the packing happening online means the total process from raw material to printing to packing is a single line and achieve greater operational efficiency.

4. The packing operation now happens at a much higher speed at the rate of printing without using many separate packing machines to achieve this output rate. MAIN ADVANTAGES/ ACHIEVEMENTS OF INVENTION:

1. One can get integrated packing with printing & personalization line ( the security for such a product i.e secure & variable data printed products necessarily demands packing)

2. One can eliminate security lapses by avoiding loss of pieces of secure & variable data printed product pieces or packing mixups possible in stagewise storage & processing of the same

3. One can eliminate security lapses by avoiding storage of unpacked secure & variable data printed products

4. One can avoid the step of collection of individual unpacked secure & variable data printed products into a collector hence avoiding damage or mixups in the process

5. Overall there is a judicious integration to increase speed of output phenominally

6. There is a major reduction in power consumption and manpower, space & " spare inventory requirements . .

7. Requirement of separate packing machines and in multiples is done away with

DETAILS OF APPARATUS & EXPLANATION OF NUMERALS/ALPHABETS OF THE APPARATUS

Unwinder (Al) unspools the substrate made up of paper, plastic, metallic foil or any combination thereof and passes it onwards on the machine. The guide, deflector and tension rollers (G) guide and pass the substrate or reel onwards though the machine assisting in tension management of the substrate or reel as well. The 1 ^st Printing station (PSl) which consists of impression drum/stack rollers with many printing units each printing in specific colours prints in multiple colours the customer desired art design on one side of the substrate. The U. V. Unit (U) cures the printed matter. The security data printer (PD) then prints the variable confidential data e.g bar code, sequence, pin number etc on the other side of the substrate. However, a line scan camera (Cl) scans the variable data printed and checks for defects and marks the defective pieces. The 2 ^nd printing station (PS2) covers the printed confidential data with scratchable protective layer(s) having security feature(s) and does further printing of customer given logo, instructions and colour design etc. After printing is complete, the Die cutting Station (D) does online cutting of the printed substrate into individual product pieces of desired shape and size. Meanwhile, Unwinder(A2) unspools from bottom the bottom overwrapping or covering material layer. The guide or deflector rollers (G) and Pinch roller direct and assist the bottom overwrapping or covering material to pass under the bottom of the die cut individual pieces. Meanwhile, a conveyor (CV) helps move the continuous reel of bottom overwrapping or covering material layers and punched material ahead. Guide rollers (G) help continuously reel away the punched out substrate frame / matrix onto a Matrix Winder (M) for periodic removal of unwanted/excess punched frame. Similarly Unwinder(A3) unspools from top the top overwrapping or covering material layer while guide or deflector rollers (G) direct and assist the top overwrapping or covering material to pass onto the topside of the die cut substrate. The continuous reel of top & bottom overwrapping or covering material layers and the covered product pieces move to the Sealing station (S) where the reel of top & bottom overwrapping or coating material layers covering the printed product pieces in between is sealed along boundaries via heat sealing or other appropriate methods thus encapsulating or pouching the individual product pieces and doing customized embossing on the sealed surface area. However,. another scan camera with printer device (C2) scans the protective layer covering the _: confidential data printed and other printed matter and marks the defective pieces _. both on the individual defective piece and also identifying it on the monitor. Perforation device (PR) using Die and or rollers perforates the continuous reel of pouched product pieces along the middle of sealed boundary. Moving ahead and passing through the exit guide rollers(G), the continuous perforated reel of pouched product pieces then forms a loop. A drive assisted pinch roll(P) at the exit of loop takes perforated reel of pouched product pieces onto an inclined stack conveyor(SC). A loop detector (L) assists in the synchronization of speed of operations of stacking on stack conveyor and that of the rest of the machine. The inclined stack conveyor(SC) has a adjustable end stop apron (SA) to catch the finished reel which is folded in situ. The stacked product pieces are cut into convenient stack size and dropped into card board boxes for box packing. DESCRIPTION:

STATEMENT OF INVENTION:

A method of making secure & variable data printed products comprising unwinding the raw material & overwrapping material, printing the desired art design on one side of the substrate, printing the security variable data on the other side of the substrate, scanning the printed security variable data for defects and marking the defective pieces, covering the printed security variable data with scratchable protective layer(s) having security feature, further printing customer given logo, instructions and colour design etc on the product, die cutting the security variable data printed product into desired shapes and sizes, removal of excess substrate, sealing around the product thereby encapsulating it, again scanning the scratchable protective later(s) & other printed matter for quality check and marking the defective printed piece, providing perforations along the sealed surface and finally collecting and stacking the products with the help of loop detector and inclined stack conveyor. .

A device to make security variable data printed products comprising an Un- winder, to unwind the raw material, printing station to print customer desired artwork on one side of the unwound substrate material, security variable data printer to print the desired bar code, sequence, pin number and the like on the other side of the substrate material, line scan camera device to check the printed security variable data and mark the defective pieces on the monitor and a printer to mark on the defective product, 2nd printing station which covers the printed security variable data with scratchable protective layer(s) and also prints customer logo, instructions and coloured design given by customer, scan camera device which checks the quality of protective layer and marks the defective product on the monitor and also on the defective product using a printer, punching station with die to cut the product into desired shape & size, conveyor to move the covered product reel to sealing and encapsulation device for overwrapping the product pieces and sealing it along the boundaries of each product, detection device & printer to detect the defective scratchable layer(s) and also the defective visible data printed on the product and mark the defective product on the monitor and on the product, perforation device to make perforations along centre of sealed area, loop detector and pinch roller device with inclined stack conveyor to collect and stack the packed secure & variable data printed products.