The technology behind packaging with invisible digital information.

Innovation in the packaging industry has been trending and rapidly growing in recent years. Logistical, regulatory, and product innovation challenges have been key drivers in promoting innovation in product packaging.

The growing need to include more information on packaging aligns with increasingly strict requirements, as well as the rising demand for information from users. Within this regulatory and technological framework, Imprinto was born—a startup with roots at the Carlos III University of Madrid and the University of Massachusetts.

What is Imprinto?

Imprinto uses ink that is invisible to the naked eye, while humans can fully access the information using widely available smartphone cameras—although the inventors clarify that these cameras require a slight modification, which is technically feasible.

tinta invisible para packaging

What can invisible digital information technology be useful for?

While there is talk of transmitting information through product packaging in an invisible way, there are many other applications where this technology could add value. For example:

Public Document Security: The ability to embed invisible information in public and identification documents would allow for the issuance of driver's licenses, passports, and others with greater quality and data capacity. Moreover, the technology is fully compatible with security measures to prevent document forgery.

Marketing: In the design and printing of promotional materials, Imprinto could help solve one of the biggest challenges in the commercial world: delivering useful information precisely when the user needs it. For example, in flyers or business cards, it could carry not only basic contact information but also offer access to catalogs or other key commercial materials—without taking up more space than traditional formats.

Confidential Document Management: The invisible information management technology would make it possible to display different versions of a document depending on the reading system, without altering the physical appearance of the item. This application would be highly useful and applicable for handling confidential information through printed documents.

The truth is that this technology opens up a wide range of possibilities. According to public information about this innovation, the vision of its inventors is to create a highly powerful and ergonomic hardware reading device. This device would eliminate the need to use a smartphone as the information reader, while also creating a completely new dimension for accessing information.

How does Imprinto work?

Let’s Prototype has not been involved in the innovation and development process of this technology. However, after a superficial review of the public information available, we understand that Imprinto works as follows:

Modified Printing: We suspect that the process requires some level of innovation to adapt conventional printers. This would allow the use of special ink that adds invisibility to the human eye when printed on certain surfaces. We also believe that one of the main challenges in the field of technological research may involve increasing the range of compatible surfaces or materials, ensuring that the ink adheres properly and does not degrade over time under specific conditions.

Informational Codes: This is a type of language in which the medium of communication lies in the unique characteristics of the pixels used. With this kind of technology, it's possible to share formats, text-based information, links to specific sites, and other useful elements for transferring information with maximum quality.

Visualization of Encoded Information: The visualization of codes or shapes that are invisible to the human eye does not complete the cycle of accessing the transmitted information. This refers to the technology or system component that reveals those shapes. In this regard, public information suggests a certain simplicity in modifying widely accessible cameras found in current smartphones. If that proves to be true, the future of Imprinto could be very promising and closer than expected in several market applications.

Decoding or Accessing the Information: We suspect that in order to decode the information embedded in the invisible shapes projected onto surfaces, an app or some other software format integrated into the hardware devices used in the previous step may be required. In this sense, the software must include algorithms capable of interpreting the code combinations used in the layers to reveal the information while preserving the original format.

Is IMPRINTO a patentable invention?

We do not have enough information to thoroughly assess whether the invention can be patented. However, purely for educational purposes and to benefit our inventors’ community, we offer the following notes:

  1. Based on the operating system we deduce from the public information, the special ink might be composed of a formulation that meets international patent standards. However, patenting a chemical formula—as in this case—would require disclosing the secrets of its composition, which could bring competitors closer to finding alternatives. Many of our clients, who specialize in innovation within the field of chemistry, have taught us that in such scenarios, it is often more effective to protect inventions through trade secret strategies.
  2. The steps for applying invisible ink to certain surfaces may be based on known methods, so it would be very difficult to prove that this step is patent-worthy. 
  3. The encoding and decoding aspects of the innovation are based on algorithms embedded in software. As we’ve explained on other occasions, software patents in Europe cannot be registered, and the history of software patents in the United States shows that in nearly all cases, they are tied to hardware devices that are a fundamental part of the innovation.

Perhaps for reasons like these, at least in a very superficial search conducted by our team, we were unable to find any published patents related to this innovative invention.

From our humble point of view, and also based on public information, there are signs that the Imprinto inventors’ team is involved in a hardware product development process that will be a key element for using their technology efficiently. It is very likely that this component will be the basis for a forthcoming patent.

We will be closely following the developments of this remarkable technology and hope it becomes one of the most relevant inventions involving Spanish inventors in the field of packaging innovation.

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 San Juan Ingenieros, S. L, is the owner of the domain www.letsprototype.com, and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU 1679/2016), we will process your data exclusively to handle your information request. You have the right to rectify or request the deletion of your data at any time via hello@letsprototype.com.

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