EURion constellation
The EURion constellation (also known as Omron rings[1] or doughnuts[2]) is a pattern of symbols incorporated into a number of secure documents such as banknotes and ownership title certificates designs worldwide since about 1996. It is added to help imaging software detect the presence of such a document in a digital image. Such software can then block the user from reproducing banknotes to prevent counterfeiting using colour photocopiers. According to research from 2004, the EURion constellation is used for colour photocopiers but probably not used in computer software.[3] It has been reported that Adobe Photoshop will not allow editing of an image of a banknote, but in some versions this is believed to be due to a different, unknown digital watermark rather than the EURion constellation.[4][3]
Description
The name "EURion constellation" was coined by security researcher Markus Kuhn, who uncovered the pattern on the 10 Euro (€10) banknote in early 2002 while experimenting with a Xerox colour photocopier that refused to reproduce banknotes.[5] The word is a portmanteau of EUR, the euro's ISO 4217 designation, and Orion, a stellar constellation. The pattern bears a resemblance to the European Commission Berlaymont building in Brussels .
The EURion constellation first described by Kuhn consists of a pattern of five small yellow, green or orange circles, which is repeated across areas of the banknote at different orientations. The mere presence of five of these circles on a page is sufficient for some colour photocopiers to refuse processing.
Some banks integrate the constellation tightly with the remaining design of the note. On 50 DM German banknotes, the EURion circles formed the innermost circles in a background pattern of fine concentric circles. On the front of former Bank of England Elgar £20 notes, they appear as green heads of musical notes; however, on the Smith £20 notes of 2007 the circles merely cluster around the "£20" text. On some U.S. bills, they appear as the digit zero in small, yellow numbers matching the value of the note. On Japanese yen, these circles sometimes appear as flowers.
Technical details regarding the EURion constellation are kept secret by its inventors and users.[2] A 1995 patent application[6] suggests that the pattern and detection algorithm were designed at Omron Corporation, a Japanese electronics company. It is also not clear whether the feature has any official name. The term "Omron anti-photocopying feature" appeared in an August 2005 press release by the Reserve Bank of India.[7] In 2007 the term "Omron rings" was used in an award announcement by a banknote collectors society.[8]
Usage
The following table lists the banknotes on which the EURion constellation has been found so far. Current currencies whose all recent banknotes use the constellation are in bold.
| Currency | Notes with EURion constellation | Notes without EURion constellation |
|---|---|---|
| Armenian dram | 1000 ֏ (2001 and 2011), 5000 ֏ (2003 and 2012), 10,000 ֏ (2003 and 2012), 20,000 ֏ (2007, 2009 and 2012), 100,000 ֏ (2009) | 20,000 ֏ and commemorative 50,000 ֏ |
| Aruban florin | All (2003 and 2019) | |
| Austrian schilling[€] | 500 and 1000 schilling (1997) | 20, 50, 100, and 5000 schilling |
| Australian dollar | Centenary of Federation $5 (2001), "Next-Generation" $5 (2016), $10 (2017), $50 (2018), $20 (2019)[9] | All other notes |
| Belgian franc[€] | 500 francs (1998), 1000 francs (1997), 10,000 francs (1997) | 100, 200, and 2000 francs |
| British pound (sterling) | Bank of England £5 (2002) £5 (2016), £10 (2000) £10 (2017), £20 (1999 & 2007), £50 (2011) | £50 (old issue) |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark | 200 convertible marka (2002), All (2012) | 50 feninga, 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 convertible marka |
| Bulgarian lev | All (1999), 100 leva (2018) | |
| Burmese kyat | K1,000 (2020),[10] K500 (2020)[11] | 50 pyas, K1, K5, K10, K20, K50, K100, K200, K500, K1000 (1998 and 2004 issue), K5000, K10,000 |
| Canadian dollar | Banknotes in the Canadian Journey (2001–2006) and Frontier Series (2011–2015), "Canada 150" $10 (2017) $10 ("2018 series") | |
| CFA franc | All (both West African and Central African, 2003) | |
| Chilean peso | 1000 (2011) 2000 (2010) 5000 (2009), 10,000 (2010), 20,000 pesos (2010) | 1000 and 2000 pesos (old version) |
| Chinese yuan | ¥1 (2004), 2005 revision of ¥5 and above, ¥100 (2015), ¥1, ¥10, ¥20 and ¥50 (2019) | |
| Comorian franc | All (2005–2006) | 2500 francs |
| Croatian kuna | 5, 10, 20 kuna (2001), 50, 100, and 200 kuna (2002) | 500 and 1000 kuna |
| Czech koruna | 2000 (2007), 1000 (2008), 500 (2009), 5000 (2009), 100 and 200 (2018) | 100, 500, 1000, 5000 |
| Danish krone | All (1997, 2002 and 2009 series) | |
| Djiboutian franc | 1000 francs (2005), 2000 francs (2008), 10,000 francs (2009) | 2000, 5000, and 10,000 francs (National Bank of Djibouti issue) |
| Dutch guilder[€] | 10 gulden (1997) | 25, 50, 100, 250, 1000 gulden |
| Egyptian pound | LE 5 (2002), LE 10 (2003), LE 20 (2001), LE 50 (2001), LE 100 (2000), LE 200 (2007) | 25 piastres, 50 piastres, LE 1 |
| Euro | All (2002 First series and the 2013 Europa series) | |
| Faroese króna | All (2001 and 2011) | |
| French franc[€] | 100 francs (1997) | 50, 200, and 500 francs |
| German mark[€] | 50, 100, 200 Deutsche Mark (1996–2002) | 5, 10, 20, 500, 1000 Deutsche Mark |
| Guyanese dollar | $1,000 (2019) | |
| Hungarian forint | All (2010 series), 10,000 forint (2014), 20,000 forint (2015), 2,000 forint (2016), 5,000 forint (2016), 1,000 forint (2017), 500 forint (2018) | |
| Indian rupee | ₹50 (2006), ₹100 (2005) and ₹500 (2000) (both 2nd edition), ₹500 (2016), ₹1000 (2000), ₹2000 (2016), ₹50 (2017), ₹200 (2017), ₹100 (2018) | ₹5, ₹10, ₹20, ₹50 (Before 2006), 1st edition of ₹100 (1996) and ₹500 (1997) |
| Indonesian rupiah | Rp 20,000, Rp 100,000 (revision of 2004 series), Rp 10,000, Rp 50,000 (revision of 2005 series), All (2016 "National Heroes" series) | |
| Japanese yen | ¥2000 (series D, 2000), series E (2004), series F (2024); ¥1000 (series F, 2011-present) | |
| Kyrgyzstani som | All (2009–2010) | |
| Kuwaiti dinar | All (2014) | |
| Macanese pataca | Banco Da China: All (8.12.2003) | |
| Malagasy ariary | 100, 200, 500, 1000 (2004), 2000, 5000, 10,000 ariary (2008), All (2017) | 2000, 5000, 10,000 ariary |
| Mexican peso | Series D $1,000 (2002), All (Series F banknotes; 2006–2010) | $20 (2002–2007), $50 (1996–2006), $100 (1996–2010), $200 (1996–2008), $500 (1996–2010) |
| Moroccan dirham | All (2002 and 2013) | |
| Namibian dollar | All (2012) | |
| Netherlands Antillean gulden | 10, 25, 50, 100 gulden (1998) | 250 gulden (1985) |
| Norwegian krone | All (1999 and 2017) | |
| Polish złoty | 10, 20, 50, 100 złotych (2014), 200 złotych (2015), 500 złotych (2017) | All (1994) |
| Romanian leu | All (1996–2001 paper issue), Commemorative 2000 lei (1999), All (2000–2004 polymer issue), All (2005 revaluation issue), 100 lei ("100th Anniversary of the Great Union" commemorative note) (2018), 100 lei ("100th Anniversary of the Completion of the Great Union" commemorative note) (2019) | |
| Saudi riyal | All (2007 and 2016) | |
| Singapore dollar | All (1999), S$10 and S$50 (2015 50th Anniversary of Independence commemorative issues) | |
| South African rand | All (2005 "Big Five", 2013 "Nelson Mandela" and 2018 "Mandela Centenary" series) | All (2012 "Nelson Mandela" series) |
| South Korean won | All (2006, 2007, 2009 and 2017) | |
| Slovak koruna | SKK 200, SKK 500, SKK 1000, SKK 5000 | SKK 100, SKK 50, SKK 20 |
| Sudanese pound | 50 Sudanese pounds (2018), 100 Sudanese pounds (2019), 500 Sudanese pounds (2019) | 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 Sudanese pounds (2007 and 2011 issues) |
| Surinamese dollar | 50 and 100 (2010) | 5, 10, 20 |
| Swazi lilangeni | All (2010), 100 and 200 emalangeni (2017) | |
| Swedish krona | All (2015-) | 20 kr (-2015), 50 kr (-2006), 100 kr (-2001), 500 kr (-2001), 1000 kr (-2006) |
| Swiss franc | All (2016-)[12] | |
| Thai baht | ฿20 (2013), ฿50 (2012), ฿70 (2016), ฿100 (2005, 2010, 2012 and 2015), ฿500 (2014 and 2016), ฿1000 (2005 and 2015), All (Series 16 "King Bhumibol Adulyadej 2017 memorial banknote series"), All (Series 17 banknotes) (2018) | ฿20 (2003), ฿50 (1997 and 2004), ฿100 (2004), ฿500 (2001), ฿1000 (1999) |
| Tunisian dinar | 10 dinars (2005), 5 dinars (2008), 50 dinars (2008), 10 dinars (2013), 5 dinars (2014), 20 dinars (2017) | 5, 20, and commemorative 30 dinars |
| Turkish lira | 20,000,000 TL (2001), 2005 and 2009 series | |
| Ugandan shilling | All (2010) | |
| United Arab Emirates dirham | 500 dirhams (2011), 50 dirhams (2012) | 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 1000 dirhams |
| United States dollar | $5 (Series 2006), $10 (Series 2004A), $20 (Series 2004), $50 (Series 2004), $100 (Series 2009, 2009A, Now circulated) | $1, $2, $100 (Series 2006A) |
| Zimbabwean bond notes | $2 (2016), $5 (2017) |
Other banknote detection mechanisms
Counterfeit Deterrence System
Since 2003, image editors such as Adobe Photoshop CS or Paint Shop Pro 8 refuse to print banknotes. According to Wired.com, the banknote detection code in these applications, called the Counterfeit Deterrence System (CDS), was designed by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group and supplied to companies such as Adobe as a binary module.[13] Experiments by Steven J. Murdoch and others showed that this banknote detection code does not rely on the EURion pattern.[3] It instead detects a digital watermark embedded in the images, developed by Digimarc.[14]
See also
- Printer steganography, used by some colour laser printers to add hidden encoded information to printouts
- Coded anti-piracy, an anti–copyright-infringement technology which marks each film print of a motion picture with distinguishing patterns of dots, used as a forensic identifier to identify the source of illegal copies
Notes
- ^ Some currencies ceased to exist due to entry into the Eurozone before the complete use of EURion.
References
- "Glossary of banknotes". www.regulaforensics.com. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2014-12-22.
- Baraniuk, Chris (25 June 2015). "The secret codes of British banknotes". BBC future. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
- Steven J. Murdoch (13 June 2004). "Software Detection of Currency". Cl.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
- "Here's What Happens When You Try to Edit Photos of Money in Photoshop". PetaPixel. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
- Markus Kuhn: The EURion constellation. Security Group presentation, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 8 February 2002.
- Mitsutaka Katoh, et al.: Image processing device and method for identifying an input image, and copier scanner and printer including same. Omron Corporation, U.S. Patent 5,845,008.
- "Issue of Rs.50 denomination banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi Series with additional/new security features without inset letter in numbering panel bearing the signature of Dr. Y. V. Reddy, Governor" Archived 2011-06-22 at the Wayback Machine, Press Release: 2005–2006/245, G. Raghuraj, Deputy General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, 24 August 2005
- "2007 Bank Note of the Year award: 1,000-franc note from Comoros". International Bank Note Society, 15 October 2007.
- "RBA Banknotes: Next Generation Banknote Program". banknotes.rba.gov.au. Retrieved 2016-04-12.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. "Central Bank of Myanmar issuing new 1,000-kyat bank note". CoinWorld. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
- Myanmar new 500-kyat note (B118.5a) reported for introduction on 19.07.2020 BanknoteNews (https://banknotenews.com). June 21, 2020. Retrieved on 2020-06-22.
- https://www.srf.ch/sendungen/kassensturz-espresso/weshalb-kann-man-banknoten-nicht-kopieren
- Ulbrich, Chris (14 January 2004). "Currency Detector Easy to Defeat". WIRED.
- Digimarc: SEC Filing, Form S-1/A, Exhibit 10.9, Counterfeit Deterrence System Development and License Agreement, 24 November 1999.
Further reading
- "Photoshop and CDS" (Press release). Adobe Systems Incorporated.
External links
- The rules for currency image use- website of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group (CBCDG)
- Nieves, J.; Ruiz-Agundez, I. & Bringas, P. (2010), 'Recognizing Banknote Patterns for Protecting Economic TransactionsDatabase and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA), 2010 Workshop on', IEEE, 247--249.
- Data Genetics, Anti Counterfeit Measures