PRODUCT AUTHENTICATION SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A system for authenticating articles comprising:
- an authentication manager for managing authentication information associated with the articles;
a plurality of secure taggant reader instruments for reading machine readable taggants associated with the articles, the taggants including the authentication or related information, and an instrument configuration manager for secure on-line configuration of the instruments, wherein the taggant reader instruments are operable to securely process and send authentication information derived from a taggant to the authentication manager and the authentication manager is operable to use the received authentication information to identify suspicious events.
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Abstract
A system for authenticating articles comprising: an authentication manager for managing authentication information associated with the articles; a plurality of secure taggant reader instruments for reading machine readable taggants associated with the articles, the taggants including the authentication or related information, and an instrument configuration manager for secure on-line configuration of the instruments. Each taggant reader instrument is operable to securely process and send authentication information derived from a taggant to the authentication manager. The authentication manager uses the received authentication information to identify suspicious events. When suspicious events are detected, the instrument configuration manager is able to reconfigure at least some of the taggant reader instruments. Reconfiguration may also happen in the event of a product recall and/or taggant security compromise.
34 Citations
57 Claims
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1. A system for authenticating articles comprising:
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an authentication manager for managing authentication information associated with the articles; a plurality of secure taggant reader instruments for reading machine readable taggants associated with the articles, the taggants including the authentication or related information, and an instrument configuration manager for secure on-line configuration of the instruments, wherein the taggant reader instruments are operable to securely process and send authentication information derived from a taggant to the authentication manager and the authentication manager is operable to use the received authentication information to identify suspicious events. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method of authenticating articles comprising the steps of:
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storing authentication information relating to the articles; reading machine readable taggants physically associated with said articles; extracting generic authentication information from taggant technology specific data read from said machine readable taggants; and comparing said extracted generic authentication information with said stored authentication information, so as to determine whether said articles are authentic or not, whereby a multiplicity of different taggant reader means utilising different taggant technologies may be used for reading respective different types of taggants.
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38. A system for authenticating articles that bear one or more machine readable taggants comprising:
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management means for managing authentication information relating to the articles; and means for receiving data from a plurality of different taggant readers operable to read different taggants or types of taggants and means for providing the data from the multiple reader devices to the management means in a generic or common format. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. A taggant reader for reading taggant specific information from one or more different machine readable taggants, the reader being operable to process the read information to provide authentication information, wherein the reader is reconfigurable to read one or more different taggants and/or to use one or more different processes for processing the read information.
- 53. An authentication system for authenticating articles that bear one or more machine readable taggants, the system comprising management means for managing the operational state or configuration of a plurality of machine readable taggant instruments, for example a taggant reader and/or taggant writer, wherein the management means is operable to send to one or more of the instruments configuration or control instructions for implementing an on-board process, for example a taggant authentication process.
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57. A system for authenticating articles using information received from a plurality of taggant reader instruments, the taggant reader instruments being operable to read machine readable taggants associated with the articles, the taggants including the authentication or related information, the system comprising:
- an authentication manager for managing authentication information associated with the articles, and an instrument configuration manager for secure on-line configuration of the instruments, wherein the authentication manager is operable to use the authentication information received from the taggant reader instruments to identify suspicious events and the instrument configuration manager is operable to reconfigure on-line at least some of the taggant reader instruments when such suspicious events are identified.
Specification