EURion Constellation

EURion constellation

The EURion constellation is made up of five rings.

The EURion constellation (also known as Omronrings[1] or doughnuts[2]) is a pattern of symbols incorpo-rated into a number of banknote designs worldwide sinceabout 1996. It is added to help imaging software detectthe presence of a banknote in a digital image. Such soft-ware can then block the user from reproducing banknotesto prevent counterfeiting using color photocopiers. Re-search shows that the EURion constellation is used forcolor photocopiers but probably not used in computersoftware.[3] However, there have been reported incidentswhere Adobe Photoshop doesn't allow the editing of ban-knotes upon detection of the EURion constellation.[4]

1 Description

The name “EURion constellation” was coined by MarkusKuhn, who uncovered the pattern in early 2002 while ex-perimenting with a Xerox colour photocopier that refusedto reproduce banknotes.[5] The word is a portmanteauof EUR, the euro's ISO 4217 designation, and Orion, aconstellation of similar shape.The EURion constellation first described by Kuhn con-sists of a pattern of five small yellow, green or orangecircles, which is repeated across areas of the banknoteat different orientations. The mere presence of five ofthese circles on a page is sufficient for some colour pho-tocopiers to refuse processing.

The EURion constellation is most prominent, and wastherefore first recognised, on the 10 Euro (€10) ban-knote.Some banks integrate the constellation tightly with theremaining design of the note. On 50 DM German ban-knotes, the EURion circles formed the innermost circlesin a background pattern of fine concentric circles. On thefront of former Bank of England Elgar £20 notes, theyappear as green heads of musical notes, however on theSmith £20 notes of 2007 the circles merely cluster aroundthe '£20' text. On some U.S. bills, they appear as the digitzero in small, yellow numbers matching the value of thenote. On Japanese Yen, these circles sometimes appearas flowers.Technical details regarding the EURion constellationare kept secret by its inventors and users.[2] A patentapplication[6] suggests that the pattern and detection algo-rithm were designed at Omron Corporation, a Japaneseelectronics company. It is also not clear whether thefeature has any official name. The term “Omron anti-photocopying feature” appeared in an August 2005 pressrelease by the Reserve Bank of India.[7] In 2007 it waspicked up in an award announcement by a banknote col-lectors society.[8]

2 Usage

The following table lists the banknotes on which the EU-Rion constellation has been found so far. Countries whereall recent banknotes use the constellation are in bold.

3 Other banknote detection mech-anisms

3.1 Counterfeit Deterrence System

Recent versions of image editors such as Adobe Photo-shop or Paint Shop Pro refuse to print banknotes. Ac-cording to Wired.com, the banknote detection code inthese applications, called the Counterfeit Deterrence Sys-tem (CDS), was designed by the Central Bank Counter-feit Deterrence Group and supplied to companies such asAdobe as a binary module.[9] However, experiments bySteven J. Murdoch and others showed that this banknotedetection code does not rely on the EURion pattern.[10]

1

2 7 EXTERNAL LINKS

EURion constellations made by circular zeroes on a US $20 bill(marked in blue).

Example of CDS anti-counterfeit measures operating on imageediting software.

It instead detects a digital watermark embedded in theimages, developed by Digimarc.[11]

4 See also• Printer steganography, used by colour laser printersto add hidden encoded information to printouts

• Coded Anti-Piracy, an anti-copyright infringementtechnology which marks each film print of a motionpicture with a distinguishing patterns of dots, used

as a forensic identifier to identify the source of illegalcopies

5 References[1] “Glossary of banknotes”. www.regulaforensics.com.

2009-01-01. Retrieved 2014-12-22.

[2] Baraniuk, Chris (2015-06-25). “The secret codes ofBritish banknotes”. BBC future. Retrieved 2015-06-30.

[3] “Software Detection of Currency :: Projects :: Steven J.Murdoch”. Cl.cam.ac.uk. 2009-10-12. Retrieved 2014-05-20.

[4] “Here’s What Happens When You Try to Edit Photos ofMoney in Photoshop”. PetaPixel. Retrieved 2015-10-30.

[5] Markus Kuhn: The EURion constellation. SecurityGroup presentation, Computer Laboratory, University ofCambridge, 8 February 2002.

[6] Mitsutaka Katoh, et al.: Image processing device andmethod for identifying an input image, and copier scan-ner and printer including same. Omron Corporation, U.S.Patent 5,845,008.

[7] Issue of Rs.50 denomination banknotes in MahatmaGandhi Series with additional/new security features with-out inset letter in numbering panel bearing the signatureof Dr. Y. V. Reddy, Governor, Press Release: 2005–2006/245, G. Raghuraj, Deputy General Manager, Re-serve Bank of India, 24 August 2005

[8] 2007 BankNote of theYear award: 1,000-franc note fromComoros. International Bank Note Society, 15 October2007.

[9] Ulbrich, Chris, "Currency Detector Easy to Defeat, 14January 2004.

[10] Steven J. Murdoch: Software Detection of Currency,2004.

[11] Digimarc: SEC Filing, Form S-1/A, Exhibit 10.9,Counterfeit Deterrence System Development and LicenseAgreement, 24 November 1999.

6 Further reading• “Photoshop and CDS” (Press release). Adobe Sys-tems Incorporated.

7 External links• The rules for currency image use

• Nieves, J.; Ruiz-Agundez, I. & Bringas, P. (2010),'Recognizing Banknote Patterns for Protecting Eco-nomic TransactionsDatabase and Expert SystemsApplications (DEXA), 2010 Workshop on', IEEE,247-−249.

3

• Data Genetics, Anti Counterfeit Measures

4 8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

8 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1 Text• EURion constellation Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation?oldid=694314451 Contributors: The Anome, Pnm,Ixfd64, Arwel Parry, Ventura, Timwi, Colin Marquardt, Ed g2s, Radagast, Akersmc, Centrx, Seabhcan, Markus Kuhn, Rick Block,T0pem0, Zoney, Chowbok, Gdr, Evertype, Kusunose, Kubieziel, Ropers, Niffux, Richie, FT2, Dewet, NeilTarrant, Tgies, Swid, Torind-kflt, Kalleboo, Mlessard, Gpvos, De Guerre, Nightstallion, SJMurdoch, TSP, Mindmatrix, Mu301, Jonathan de Boyne Pollard, Joey-connick, Pol098, Chochopk, Astanhope, SDC, Coemgenus, PHenry, Feco, SLi, Thecurran, Jobin~enwiki, Hairy Dude, John QuincyAdding Machine, Taejo, Erielhonan, Retired username, VinceBowdren, Ospalh, Morcheeba, CapitalLetterBeginning, SmackBot, EstoyAquí, McGeddon, Deon Steyn, D'n, Kintetsubuffalo, Aij, Quadratic, Nbarth, Euim, Zazpot, Mnw2000, Kenohori, JzG, Fuzzy510, STLDilettante, Tan90deg, Alexzr88, ES Vic, Jynus, Alexthe5th, Equendil, Mattisse, Thijs!bot, Intsokzen, Onur, Escarbot, Livefastdieold, Yun-feng, Owenink, Singh.gurjeet, A3nm, Wshallwshall, STBot, DandanxD, Zack Holly Venturi, Aldoman, Bewareofdog, Sigmundur, Dun-nce, Ajfweb, Funandtrvl, Mrh30, George Adam Horváth, Martinevans123, Pimemorizer, Király-Seth, GiZiBoNG, Peu, Eli81993, Egrian,Snigbrook, Trivialist, HMBot~enwiki, Jomsborg, Alexbot, Howdoesitflee, SoxBot, Ost316, Addbot, Ghettoblaster, Lightbot, Luckas-bot,AnomieBOT, Mitrandir77, Illioplius, Cyfraw, TerraHikaru, Santa Neto, FrescoBot, SteepEars, Ughhhg, Sumsum2010, ZéroBot, Δ, Zaba-cad, Phoenixkin, Tonusamuel, Gautamh, Ï¿½, Anton56789, MikeSynnott, NewHikaru07 and Anonymous: 105

8.2 Images• File:Ambox_important.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg License: Public do-main Contributors: Own work, based off of Image:Ambox scales.svg Original artist: Dsmurat (talk · contribs)

• File:CDSError.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/17/CDSError.PNG License: Fair use Contributors:Paint Shop Pro 8.0Original artist: ?

• File:EURion.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/EURion.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Ownwork derived from w:en:File:EURion.png Original artist: Ed g2s, simplified by Metrónomo

• File:EURion_twenty.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/EURion_twenty.jpg License: Public domainContributors: w:en:Image:EURion_twenty.jpg Original artist: w:en:user:Dunnce

8.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0