System and method for authentication of transformed documents

• US 20080016358A1
• Filed: 11/13/2006
• Published: 01/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dialogic, Inc. (Enghouse Systems Limited)
• Original Assignee: Cantata Technology, Inc. (Enghouse Systems Limited)
• Inventors: Burger, Eric, Filreis, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,219,817 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

A document verification system and method verifies that a content of two documents match based on comparison of an authentication signature generated from each of the documents. The documents may be electronic text documents and may be transformed representations of each other through imaging, printing or image processing. Authentication signatures can be encrypted to enhance security and identify document sources. An authentication signature can be generated for an entirety or portions of the document. Multiple authentication signatures may be generated for each document for selected document regions. The authentication signature can be stored electronically or in hard copy and can be machine-readable to be automatically interpreted by a machine.

Claims

1. A method for verifying matching content between a plurality of text documents, comprising:

forming a first authentication signature from content of a first text document;

forming a second authentication signature from content of a second text document; and

comparing the first and second authentication signatures.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transforming an image document to form one or more of the text documents.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising computing a checksum from one or more of the text documents to form the first or second authentication signatures.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising indicating a failed verification when a result of comparing the first and second authentication signatures indicates no match.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising forming a plurality of authentication signatures for one or more of the text documents.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising forming one or more of the authentication signatures to be machine-readable.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising encrypting one or more of the authentication signatures.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein comparing is performed automatically by a machine.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transforming one or more of the text documents to an image document.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transforming one or more of the text documents to a paper document.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising transforming the image document to a paper document.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising transforming the paper document to an image document.

13. The method according to claim 9, further comprising transmitting the image document by facsimile.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising storing one or more of the authentication signatures.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising forming one or more of the authentication signatures with symbolic indicia.

16. The method according to claim 6, further comprising forming one or more of the authentication signatures with symbolic indicia.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the symbolic indicia includes alphanumeric characters.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the symbolic indicia includes alphanumeric characters.

19. A system for verifying matching content between a plurality of text documents, comprising:

a transformation mechanism for transforming an image document to a text document;

an authentication signature generator for generating an authentication signature from a text document; and

a comparator for comparing authentication signatures for a match.

20. The system according to claim 19, further comprising a checksum generator for generating a checksum from one or more of the text documents to contribute to forming an authentication signature.

21. The system according to claim 19, further comprising an authentication signature reader for reading an authentication signature in machine-readable format.

22. The system according to claim 19, further comprising an encryption mechanism for encrypting an authentication signature.

23. The system according to claim 19, further comprising a storage device for storing one or more of the authentication signatures.