Authentication and Tracking System

• US 20070185788A1
• Filed: 03/21/2007
• Published: 08/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Optel Group USA Incorporated
• Original Assignee: The Meyers Printing Companies, Inc.
• Inventors: Dillon, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,615,470 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/64 Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A subset of unique codes is generated from a set of codes. The subset of codes are stored in a database on a secure server and each of the codes is marked on a corresponding instantiation of the product. The marked instantiations are distributed. During their distribution, the marked instantiations are verified for authenticity and for routing. This verification is performed by reading or scanning the codes on the instantiations, and transmitting that information to the secure server for comparison against the codes and other information located in the database contained of the secure server.

Claims

1. A method for enabling authentication of a product, the method comprising:

defining a set of unique codes strings;

selecting a subset of the set of unique code strings, wherein the size of the subset is determined based on a desired level of protection to be provided by use of the unique code strings for product authentication;

storing the selected subset of unique code strings in a remotely-accessible database; and

providing at least some of the stored unique code strings for association with instantiations of a product.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the desired level of protection corresponds to a measure of a likelihood of being able to guess one of the stored unique code strings.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling authentication of an instantiation of a product by determining whether a code string associated with the instantiation is one of the stored unique code strings.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

storing the selected subset of unique code strings in each of a first and second remotely-accessible database; and

providing at least some of the unique code strings stored in the first remotely-accessible database for association with instantiations of a first product, and providing at least some of the unique code strings stored in the second remotely-accessible database for association with instantiations of a second product.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first and second products are distinguishable by an attribute associated with each of the stored unique code strings, and wherein authentication of an instantiation of a product includes using the attribute to determine which of the first and second remotely-accessible databases to search for a code string associated with the instantiation of the product.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the set of unique code strings comprises deriving the unique code strings from a code string model having defined parameters.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting of the subset of unique code strings comprises randomly selecting a plurality of unique codes strings from the defined set of unique code strings.

8. A method for enabling authentication of a product, the method comprising:

defining a set of unique codes strings;

selecting a subset of the set of unique code strings;

depicting the selected subset of unique code strings on a physical medium;

identifying unique code strings depicted on the physical medium, and storing each identified unique code string in a remotely-accessible database; and

making the unique code strings stored in the remotely-accessible database available to be associated with instantiations of a product.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying unique code strings comprises capturing unique code strings using optical character recognition (OCR).

10. The method of claim 9, wherein depicting unique code strings on a physical medium comprises printing unique code strings on labels.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying unique code strings comprises receiving a signal from a device depicting a unique code string on the physical medium, said signal indicating the depicted unique code string.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying unique code strings comprises reading unique code strings from a physical medium after the physical medium is associated with an instantiation of a product.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying unique code strings comprises reading unique code strings from a physical medium before the physical medium is associated with an instantiation of a product.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising comparing the unique code strings stored in the remotely-accessible database to the selected subset of unique code strings to identify a discrepancy.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the identified discrepancy comprises at least one of a duplicate code string, an erroneous code string, or a missing code string.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein the size of the selected subset of unique code strings is determined based on a desired level of protection to be provided by use of the unique code strings for product authentication.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the desired level of protection corresponds to a measure of a likelihood of being able to guess one of the stored unique code strings.

18. The method of claim 8, further comprising enabling authentication of an instantiation of a product by determining whether a code string associated with the instantiation is one of the stored unique code strings.

19. The method of claim 8, wherein defining the set of unique code strings comprises deriving the unique code strings from a code string model having defined parameters.

20. The method of claim 8, wherein selection of the subset of unique code strings comprises randomly selecting a plurality of unique codes strings from the defined set of unique code strings.

21. A method for remote authentication of a product, the method comprising:

receiving a signal from a remote requester at a first network address, the signal corresponding to a product authentication request and indicating a code string associated with an instantiation of a product to be authenticated;

selecting one of a plurality of possible second network addresses based on information associated with the code string indicated by the received signal;

checking the authenticity of the instantiation of the product by determining whether the indicated code string is contained within a stored subset of unique code strings associated with the selected second network address, the stored subset of unique code strings having been selected from a substantially larger set of unique code strings; and

transmitting a signal to the remote requester indicating whether or not the instantiation of the product is authentic.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first network address corresponds to a first Internet website accessed by the remote requester.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the selected second network address corresponds to a second Internet website to which the remote requester is redirected.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the size of the stored subset of unique code strings is determined based on a desired level of protection to be provided by use of the unique code strings for product authentication.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the desired level of protection corresponds to a measure of a likelihood of being able to guess one of the stored unique code strings.

26. A method for remote authentication of a product, the method comprising:

receiving a signal from a remote requester at a network address, the signal corresponding to a product authentication request and indicating a code string associated with an instantiation of a product to be authenticated, the signal being routed to the network address based on information provided by the remote requester;

checking the authenticity of the instantiation of the product by determining whether the indicated code string is contained within a stored subset of unique code strings associated with the network address, the stored subset of unique code strings having been selected from a substantially larger set of unique code strings; and

transmitting a signal to the remote requester indicating whether or not the instantiation of the product is authentic.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the network address corresponds to an Internet Uniform Resource Locator (URL) communicated to the remote requester.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the URL is indicated by the unique code string associated with the product to be authenticated.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the URL is displayed on the product to be authenticated.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the size of the stored subset of unique code strings is determined based on a desired level of protection to be provided by use of the unique code strings for product authentication.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the desired level of protection corresponds to a measure of a likelihood of being able to guess one of the stored unique code strings.

32. A method for remote authentication of a product, the method comprising:

receiving a signal from a remote requester, the signal corresponding to a product authentication request and indicating a code string associated with an instantiation of a product to be authenticated;

selecting one of a plurality of data stores based on a product attribute value associated with the code string indicated by the received signal, wherein each of the plurality of data stores contains a copy of a subset of unique code strings selected from a substantially larger set of unique code strings, each of the plurality of data stores being characterized by a particular value of the product attribute;

checking the authenticity of the instantiation of the product by determining whether the code string indicated by the received signal is contained within the subset of unique code strings in the selected data store; and

transmitting a signal to the remote requester indicating whether or not the instantiation of the product is authentic.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the product attribute corresponds to at least one of a product name, a product type, a manufacturer, a supplier, a distributor, a customer, a destination, or a geographic location.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the size of the stored subsets of unique code strings is determined based on a desired level of protection to be provided by use of the unique code strings for product authentication.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the desired level of protection corresponds to a measure of a likelihood of being able to guess one of the stored unique code strings.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein each unique code string in the stored subsets of unique code strings is derived from a code string model having defined parameters.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein selection of the subset of unique code strings comprises randomly selecting a plurality of unique code strings using the code string model.

38. A computer-based system for enabling authentication of a product, the system comprising a set of executable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, the set of executable instructions configured to enable the computer-based system to:

define a set of unique codes strings;

select a subset of the set of unique code strings, wherein the size of the subset is determined based on a desired level of protection to be provided by use of the unique code strings for product authentication;

store the selected subset of unique code strings in a remotely-accessible database; and

provide at least some of the stored unique code strings for association with instantiations of a product.

39. The computer-based system of claim 38, wherein the desired level of protection corresponds to a measure of a likelihood of being able to guess one of the stored unique code strings.

40. The computer-based system of claim 38, wherein the set of executable instructions is further configured to enable the computer-based system to authenticate an instantiation of a product by determining whether a code string associated with the instantiation is one of the stored unique code strings.

41. The computer-based system of claim 40, wherein the set of executable instructions is further configured to enable the computer-based system to:

store the selected subset of unique code strings in each of a first and second remotely-accessible database; and

provide at least some of the unique code strings stored in the first remotely-accessible database for association with instantiations of a first product, and provide at least some of the unique code strings stored in the second remotely-accessible database for association with instantiations of a second product.

42. The computer-based system of claim 41, wherein the first and second products are distinguishable by an attribute associated with each of the stored unique code strings, and wherein authentication of an instantiation of a product includes using the attribute to determine which of the first and second remotely-accessible databases to search for a code string associated with the instantiation of the product.

43. The computer-based system of claim 38, wherein defining the set of unique code strings comprises deriving the unique code strings from a code string model having defined parameters.

44. The computer-based system of claim 38, wherein selecting the subset of unique code strings comprises randomly selecting a plurality of unique codes strings from the defined set of unique code strings.

45. A computer-based system for enabling remote authentication of a product, the system comprising a set of executable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, the set of executable instructions configured to enable the computer-based system to:

receive a signal from a remote requester at a first network address, the signal corresponding to a product authentication request and indicating a code string associated with an instantiation of a product to be authenticated;

select one of a plurality of possible second network addresses based on information associated with the code string indicated by the received signal;

check the authenticity of the instantiation of the product by determining whether the indicated code string is contained within a stored subset of unique code strings associated with the selected second network address, the stored subset of unique code strings having been selected from a substantially larger set of unique code strings; and

transmit a signal to the remote requester indicating whether or not the instantiation of the product is authentic.

46. The computer-based system of claim 45, wherein the first network address corresponds to a first Internet website accessed by the remote requester.

47. The computer-based system of claim 45, wherein the selected second network address corresponds to a second Internet website to which the remote requester is redirected.

48. The computer-based system of claim 45, wherein the size of the stored subset of unique code strings is determined based on a desired level of protection to be provided by use of the unique code strings for product authentication.

49. The computer-based system of claim 48, wherein the desired level of protection corresponds to a measure of a likelihood of being able to guess one of the stored unique code strings.

50. A computer-based system for enabling remote authentication of a product, the system comprising a set of executable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, the set of executable instructions configured to enable the computer-based system to:

receive a signal from a remote requester, the signal corresponding to a product authentication request and indicating a code string associated with an instantiation of a product to be authenticated;

select one of a plurality of data stores based on a product attribute value associated with the code string indicated by the received signal, wherein each of the plurality of data stores contains a copy of a subset of unique code strings selected from a substantially larger set of unique code strings, each of the plurality of data stores being characterized by a particular value of the product attribute;

check the authenticity of the instantiation of the product by determining whether the code string indicated by the received signal is contained within the subset of unique code strings in the selected data store; and

transmit a signal to the remote requester indicating whether or not the instantiation of the product is authentic.

51. The computer-based system of claim 50, wherein the product attribute corresponds to at least one of a product name, a product type, a manufacturer, a supplier, a distributor, a customer, a destination, or a geographic location.

52. The computer-based system of claim 50, wherein the size of the stored subsets of unique code strings is determined based on a desired level of protection to be provided by use of the unique code strings for product authentication.

53. The computer-based system of claim 52, wherein the desired level of protection corresponds to a measure of a likelihood of being able to guess one of the stored unique code strings.

54. The computer-based system of claim 50, wherein each unique code string in the stored subsets of unique code strings is derived from a code string model having defined parameters.

55. The computer-based system of claim 54, wherein selection of the subset of unique code strings comprises randomly selecting a plurality of unique code strings using the code string model.

56. A computer-based system enabling remote authentication of a product, the system comprising a set of executable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, the set of executable instructions configured to enable the computer-based system to:

receive a signal from a remote requester at a network address, the signal corresponding to a product authentication request and indicating a code string associated with an instantiation of a product to be authenticated, the signal being routed to the network address based on information provided by the remote requester;

check the authenticity of the instantiation of the product by determining whether the indicated code string is contained within a stored subset of unique code strings associated with the network address, the stored subset of unique code strings having been selected from a substantially larger set of unique code strings; and

transmitting a signal to the remote requester indicating whether or not the instantiation of the product is authentic.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein the network address corresponds to an Internet Uniform Resource Locator (URL) communicated to the remote requester.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein the URL is indicated by the code string associated with the product to be authenticated.

59. The method of claim 56, wherein the URL is displayed on the product to be authenticated.

60. The method of claim 56, wherein the size of the stored subset of unique code strings is determined based on a desired level of protection to be provided by use of the unique code strings for product authentication.

61. The method of claim 60, wherein the desired level of protection corresponds to a measure of a likelihood of being able to guess one of the stored unique code strings.