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, cheques, 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.
The name "EURion constellation" was coined by security researcher Markus Kuhn, who uncovered the pattern on the 10-euro banknote in early 2002 while experimenting with a Xerox colour photocopier that refused to reproduce banknotes. [3] The pattern has never been mentioned officially; Kuhn named it the EURion constellation as it resembled the astronomical Orion constellation, and EUR is the ISO 4217 designation of the euro currency. [4]
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 [5] suggests that the pattern and detection algorithm were designed at Omron, 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. [6] In 2007, the term "Omron rings" was used in an award announcement by a banknote collectors society. [7]
The following table lists some banknotes on which the EURion constellation or Omron rings have been found. Current currencies for which all recent banknotes use the constellation are in bold and whose central banks are members of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group are italicised.
| Currency | Notes with Omron rings | Notes without Omron rings |
|---|---|---|
| Armenian dram | 1,000֏ (2001 and 2011), 5,000֏ (2003 and 2012), 10,000֏ (2003 and 2012), 20,000֏ (2007, 2009 and 2012), 100,000֏ (2009) | 20,000֏ and commemorative 50,000֏ |
| Aruban guilder | All (2003 and 2019) | |
| Austrian schilling [€] | S 500 and S 1,000 (1997) | S 20, S 50, S 100, and S 5,000 |
| Australian dollar | All (2016 onward), Centenary of Federation $5 (2001) [8] | |
| Belgian franc [€] | 500 fr. (1998), 1,000 fr. (1997), 10,000 fr. (1997) | 100 fr., 200 fr., and 2,000 fr. |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark | KM 200 (2002), All (2012) | 50 fenings, KM 1, KM 5, KM 10, KM 20, KM 50, KM 100 |
| Bulgarian lev | All (1999), 100 лв. (2018) | |
| 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), All (Central African, 2020) | |
| Chilean peso | $1,000 (2011) $2,000 (2010) $5,000 (2009), $10,000 (2010), $20,000 (2010) | $1,000 and $2,000 (old version) |
| Chinese yuan renminbi | ¥1 RMB (2004), 2005 revision of ¥5 RMB and above, ¥100 RMB (2015), ¥1 RMB, ¥10 RMB, ¥20 RMB and ¥50 RMB (2019), ¥5 RMB (2020) | |
| Comorian franc | All (2005–2006) | 2,500 FC |
| Croatian kuna [€] | 5 kn., 10 kn., 20 kn. (2001), 50 kn., 100 kn., and 200 kn. (2002) | 500 kn. and 1,000 kn. |
| Czech koruna | 2,000 Kč. (2007), 1,000 Kč. (2008), 500 Kč. (2009), 5,000 Kč. (2009), 100 Kč. and 200 Kč. (2018) | 100 Kč., 200 Kč. (issued until 2018) |
| Danish krone | All (1997, 2002 and 2009 series) | |
| Djiboutian franc | 1,000 Fdj (2005), 2,000 Fdj (2008), 10,000 Fdj (2009) | 2,000 Fdj, 5,000 Fdj, and 10,000 Fdj (National Bank of Djibouti issue) |
| Dutch guilder [€] | ƒ10 (1997) | ƒ25, ƒ50, ƒ100, ƒ250, ƒ1,000 |
| Egyptian pound | £E 5 (2002), £E 10 (2003), £E 20 (2001), £E 50 (2001), £E 100 (2000), £E 200 (2007) | 25 PT., 50 PT., £E 1 |
| Euro | All (2002 First series and the 2013 "Europa" series) | |
| Faroese króna | All (2001 and 2011) | |
| French franc [€] | 100 F (1997) | 50 F, 200 F, and 500 F |
| German mark [€] | DM 50, DM 100, DM 200 (1996–2002) | DM 5, DM 10, DM 20, DM 500, DM 1,000 |
| Guyanese dollar | G$1,000 (2019) | |
| Hungarian forint | All (2010 series), 10,000 Ft. (2014), 20,000 Ft. (2015), 2,000 Ft. (2016), 5,000 Ft. (2016), 1,000 Ft. (2017), 500 Ft. (2018) | |
| Indian rupee | ₹ 50 (2006 & 2017), ₹ 100 (2005 & 2018), ₹ 500 (2000 & 2016), ₹ 1,000 (2000 until demonetized in 2016), ₹ 2,000 (2016 until 2023, not being printed) | ₹ 5, ₹ 10, ₹20, ₹ 50 (Before 2006), 1st edition of ₹ 100 (1996) and ₹ 500 (1997) |
| Indonesian rupiah | Rp10,000 (2010), Rp20,000, Rp50,000, Rp100,000 (2011); all (19 December 2016 and 17 August 2022 series) | Rp1,000 (1952-2016), Rp2,000 (2009-2016), Rp5,000 (1958-2016), Rp10,000 (1964-2009), Rp20,000 (1992-2010), Rp50,000 (1993-2010), Rp100,000 (1999-2010) |
| Japanese yen | ¥2,000 (series D, 2000), series E (2004), series F (2024); ¥1,000 (series F, 2011–present) | |
| Kyrgyzstani som | All (2009–2010) | |
| Kuwaiti dinar | All (2014) | |
| Macanese pataca | Banco Da China: All (8.12.2003) | |
| Malagasyariary | All (2017) | |
| Mexican peso | Series D Mex$1,000 (2002), All (Series F banknotes; 2006–2010) | Mex$20 (2002–2007), Mex$50 (1996–2006), Mex$100 (1996–2010), Mex$200 (1996–2008), Mex$500 (1996–2010) |
| Moroccan dirham | All (2002 and 2013) | |
| Myanmar kyat | Ks.1,000/- (2020), [9] Ks.500/- (2020) [10] | K.-/50, K.1/-, Ks.5/-, Ks.10/-, Ks.20/-, Ks.50/-, Ks.100/-, Ks.200/-, Ks.500/-, Ks.1,000/- (1998 and 2004 issue), Ks.5,000/-, Ks.10,000/- |
| Namibian dollar | All (2012) | |
| Netherlands Antillean guilder | NAƒ10, NAƒ25, NAƒ50, NAƒ100 (1998) | NAƒ250 (1985) |
| Norwegian krone | All (1999 and 2017) | |
| Polish złoty | 10 zł., 20 zł., 50 zł., 100 zł. (2014), 200 zł. (2015), 500 zł. (2017) | All (1994) |
| Romanian leu | All (1996–2001 paper issue), Commemorative 2000 Lei (1999), All (2000–2004 polymer issue), All (2005-2021 revaluation polymer 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, 2017, 2020, 2021) | |
| 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", 2018 "Mandela Centenary" and the 2023 series) | All (2012 "Nelson Mandela" series) |
| South Korean won | All (2006, 2007, 2009 and 2017) | |
| Slovak koruna [€] | 200 Sk., 500 Sk., 1,000 Sk., 5,000 Sk. | 100 Sk., 50 Sk., 20 Sk. |
| Sterling | Bank of England £5 (since 2002), £10 (since 2000), £20 (since 1999), £50 | |
| Sudanese pound | £S.50 (2018), £S.100 (2019), £S.200 (2019), £S.500 (2019), £S.1,000 (2022) | £S.1, £S.2, £S.5, £S.10, £S.20 and £S.50 (2007 and 2011 issues) |
| Surinamese dollar | Sur$50 and Sur$100 (2010) | Sur$5, Sur$10, Sur$20 |
| Swazi lilangeni | All (2010), E 100 and E 200 (2017) | |
| Swedish krona | All (2015–) | 20 kr. (−2015), 50 kr. (−2006), 100 kr. (−2001), 500 kr. (−2001), 1,000 kr. (−2006) |
| Swiss franc | All (2016–) [11] | |
| Thai baht | ฿20 (2013), ฿50 (2012), ฿70 (2016), ฿100 (2005, 2010, 2012 and 2015), ฿500 (2014 and 2016), ฿1,000 (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), ฿1,000 (1999) |
| Tunisian dinar | DT 10 (2005), DT 5 (2008), DT 50 (2008), DT 10 (2013), DT 5 (2014), DT 20 (2017), DT 10 (2020), DT 5 (2022), DT 50 (2022) | DT 5, DT 20, and commemorative DT 30 |
| Turkish lira | TL 20,000,000 (2001), 2005 and 2009 series | |
| Ugandan shilling | All (2010) | |
| United Arab Emirates dirham | Dhs.500 (2011), Dhs.50 (2012) | Dhs.5, Dhs.10, Dhs.20, Dhs.50, Dhs.100, Dhs.200, Dhs.1,000 |
| United Kingdom sterling | All current [2] | |
| United States dollar | $5 (Series 2006), $10 (Series 2004A), $20 (Series 2004), $50 (Series 2004), $100 (Series 2009 & 2009A) | $1 (Series 1963), $2 (Series 1976), $5 (Series 1928 to 2006), $10 (Series 1928 to 2003), $20 (Series 1928 to 2001), $50 (Series 1928 to 2001), $100 (Series 1928 to 2006A) |
| Zimbabwean bond notes | $2 (2016), $5 (2017) | |
| Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) dollar | $2 (2019), $5 (2019), $10 (2020), $20 (2020), $50 (2020), $100 (2020) | |
Since 2003, image editors such as Adobe Photoshop CS or PaintShop 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. [12] Experiments by Steven J. Murdoch and others showed that this banknote detection code does not rely on the EURion pattern. [13] It instead detects a digital watermark embedded in the images, developed by Digimarc. [14]
The South African rand, or simply the rand, is the official currency of South Africa. It is subdivided into 100 cents, and a comma separates the rand and cents.
Security printing is the field of the printing industry that deals with the printing of items such as banknotes, cheques, passports, tamper-evident labels, security tapes, product authentication, stock certificates, postage stamps, and identity cards. The main goal of security printing is to prevent forgery, tampering, or counterfeiting. More recently many of the techniques used to protect these high-value documents have become more available to commercial printers, whether they are using the more traditional offset and flexographic presses or the newer digital platforms. Businesses are protecting their lesser-value documents such as transcripts, coupons and prescription pads by incorporating some of the features listed below to ensure that they cannot be forged or that alteration of the data cannot occur undetected.
The mission of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group (CBCDG) is to investigate emerging threats to the security of banknotes and to propose solutions for implementation by issuing authorities. The CBCDG is a working group of 30 central banks and note printing authorities, and is chaired by Thomas Jordan, the chairman of the Swiss National Bank.
The kyat is the currency of Myanmar (Burma). The typical notation for the kyat is "K" (singular) and "Ks." (plural), placed before the numerals followed by "/-". Amounts less than K. 1/- are typically denoted with the number of pyas following "-/".
Counterfeit money is currency produced outside of the legal sanction of a state or government, usually in a deliberate attempt to imitate that currency and so as to deceive its recipient. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud or forgery, and is illegal in all jurisdictions of the world. The business of counterfeiting money is nearly as old as money itself: plated copies have been found of Lydian coins, which are thought to be among the first Western coins. Before the introduction of paper money, the most prevalent method of counterfeiting involved mixing base metals with pure gold or silver. Another form of counterfeiting is the production of documents by legitimate printers in response to fraudulent instructions. During World War II, the Nazis forged British pounds and American dollars. Today, some of the finest counterfeit banknotes are called Superdollars because of their high quality and imitation of the real US dollar. There has been significant counterfeiting of Euro banknotes and coins since the launch of the currency in 2002, but considerably less than that of the US dollar.
A currency detector or currency validator is a device that determines whether notes or coins are genuine or counterfeit. These devices are used in a wide range of automated machines, such as retail kiosks, supermarket self checkout machines, arcade gaming machines, payphones, launderette washing machines, car park ticket machines, automatic fare collection machines, public transport ticket machines, and vending machines.
The Australian twenty-dollar note was issued when the currency was changed from the Australian pound to the Australian dollar on 14 February 1966. It replaced the £10 note which had similar orange colouration. There have been only three different issues of this denomination: a paper note which had a gradient of yellow and red, with a distinct orange background, and two designs of polymer note which can be recognised for their distinct red-orange colouration, and so it was nicknamed a "lobster". The first polymer note was issued on 31 October 1994 and the Next Generation polymer banknote was issued on 9 October 2019.
The Australian five-dollar note was first issued on 29 May 1967, fifteen months after the currency was changed from the pound to the dollar on 14 February 1966. It was a new denomination with mauve colouration – the pre-decimal system had no denomination with a value of £21⁄2. The first polymer version of the note was introduced on 7 July 1992. A major design update was issued on 1 September 2016, with a minor update to the signatures in 2019.
The notes of the Australian dollar were first issued by the Reserve Bank of Australia on 14 February 1966, when Australia changed to decimal currency and replaced the pound with the dollar. This currency was a lot easier for calculating compared to the previous Australian pound worth 20 shillings or 240 pence.
The fifth series of the renminbi is the current coin and banknote series of the Chinese currency, the renminbi. They were progressively introduced since 1999 and consist of ¥0.1, ¥0.5, and ¥1 coins, and ¥1, ¥5, ¥10, ¥20, ¥50, ¥100 notes. The ¥20 banknote is a new denomination, and was added in this series. All banknotes in this series feature a portrait of Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong by artist Liu Wenxi. Therefore, this series of banknotes is also known as "Grandpa Mao" among the people.
The South African rand, or simply the rand, is the official currency of South Africa. It is subdivided into 100 cents, and a comma separates the rand and cents.
Canadian Journey is the sixth series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar designed and circulated by the Bank of Canada. It succeeded the 1986 Birds of Canada banknote series. The first banknote of the Canadian Journey series issued into circulation was the $10 bill on 17 January 2001, and the last to be issued was the $50 bill on 17 November 2004. The series was succeeded by the 2011 Frontier series, the banknotes of which were first issued into circulation from 2011 to 2013.
A photocopier is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers use a technology called xerography, a dry process that uses electrostatic charges on a light-sensitive photoreceptor to first attract and then transfer toner particles onto paper in the form of an image. The toner is then fused onto the paper using heat, pressure, or a combination of both. Copiers can also use other technologies, such as inkjet, but xerography is standard for office copying.
Birds of Canada is the fifth series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar issued by the Bank of Canada and was first circulated in 1986 to replace the 1969 Scenes of Canada series. Each note features a bird indigenous to Canada in its design. The banknotes weigh 1 gram with dimensions of 152.40 by 69.85 millimetres. It was succeeded by the 2001 Canadian Journey series.
Banknotes of the euro, the common currency of the eurozone, have been in circulation since the first series was issued in 2002. They are issued by the national central banks of the Eurosystem or the European Central Bank. The euro was established in 1999, but "for the first three years it was an invisible currency, used for accounting purposes only, e.g. in electronic payments". In 2002, notes and coins began to circulate. The euro rapidly took over from the former national currencies and slowly expanded around the European Union.
The fifty euro note (€50) is one of the middle value euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002. The note is used in the 25 countries that have it as their sole currency, which countries have a total population of about 350 million currently. In July 2024, there were about 14,712,000,000 fifty euro banknotes in circulation in the eurozone. It is by far the most widely circulated denomination, accounting for almost half (49.0%) of the total banknotes. Estimates suggest that the average life of a fifty euro banknote is about four years before it is replaced due to wear.
The one hundred euro note (€100) is one of the higher value euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002. The note is used in the 25 countries that have it as their sole currency, which countries have a total population of about 350 million currently. In July 2024, there were approximately 3 987 000 000 hundred euro banknotes in circulation in the eurozone. It is the third most widely circulated denomination, accounting for 13.3% of the total banknotes.
The Gandhi Series of banknotes are issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the legal tender of Indian rupee. The series is so called because the obverse of the banknotes prominently display the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. Since its introduction in 1996, this series replaced all Lion Capital Series banknotes issued before 1996. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced the series in 1996 with ₹10 and ₹500 banknotes.
Printer tracking dots, also known as printer steganography, DocuColor tracking dots, yellow dots, secret dots, or a machine identification code (MIC), is a digital watermark which many color laser printers and photocopiers produce on every printed page that identifies the specific device that was used to print the document. Developed by Xerox and Canon in the mid-1980s, the existence of these tracking codes became public only in 2004.
A copy detection pattern (CDP) or graphical code is a small random or pseudo-random digital image which is printed on documents, labels or products for counterfeit detection. Authentication is made by scanning the printed CDP using an image scanner or mobile phone camera. It is possible to store additional product-specific data into the CDP that will be decoded during the scanning process. A CDP can also be inserted into a 2D barcode to facilitate smartphone authentication and to connect with traceability data.