Document certification and authentication system
First Claim
1. A method for using the grain structure of a paper and user-specified information to safeguard the integrity of machine-printed paper documents, comprising:
- imaging said paper to extract a paper grain image;
determining a characteristic signature for said paper from said paper grain image;
entangling said characteristic signature with said user-specified information using a predetermined sequence of private and public key encryption steps into a machine readable image to form a signet;
printing said signet on said paper;
locating and extracting said signet within said paper;
decrypting and disentangling said user-specified information and said characteristic signature of said paper for which said extracted signet was originally created;
imaging said paper for authentication;
determining a characteristic signature for said paper;
comparing said characteristic signature for said paper with said disentangled characteristic signature from said signet;
determining the originality of said paper.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention safeguards the integrity of a machine-printed paper document by entangling a characteristic signature derived from the document'"'"'s paper grain structure with the identities of the printing device and the person or organization which issued the document. This protection is achieved using a certification phase performed by an augmented document printer and an authentication phase performed by an augmented document scanner. In the certification phase, the grain structure of a specific area of the original paper is imaged and processed to generate a unique signature for the paper. This signature is doubly encrypted using the private keys of the augmented printer and the certifier. These encryption steps entangle the signature of the paper with its source information in a way that thwarts counterfeiting attacks which either copy the document or falsely attribute its source to a specific printer and/or certifier.
33 Citations
9 Claims
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1. A method for using the grain structure of a paper and user-specified information to safeguard the integrity of machine-printed paper documents, comprising:
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imaging said paper to extract a paper grain image; determining a characteristic signature for said paper from said paper grain image; entangling said characteristic signature with said user-specified information using a predetermined sequence of private and public key encryption steps into a machine readable image to form a signet; printing said signet on said paper; locating and extracting said signet within said paper; decrypting and disentangling said user-specified information and said characteristic signature of said paper for which said extracted signet was originally created; imaging said paper for authentication; determining a characteristic signature for said paper; comparing said characteristic signature for said paper with said disentangled characteristic signature from said signet; determining the originality of said paper. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for safeguarding the integrity of a ballot cast on a voting machine, comprising
imaging said ballot for identification; -
determining a characteristic signature for said ballot; encrypting said characteristic signature for said ballot using said voting machine'"'"'s secret key to generate message 1; concatenating said message 1 with said voting machine'"'"'s public key to generate message 2; converting said message 2 into a machine readable image to form a signet; printing said signet on said ballot; said ballot containing said signet, locating and extracting said signet; converting said extracted machine readable image into message 3; separating said voting machine'"'"'s public key from said message 3 to generate message 4; decrypting said message 4 using said voting machine'"'"'s public key to extract said characteristic signature of said ballot; imaging said ballot for certification; determining a characteristic signature for said ballot; comparing said characteristic signature for said ballot with said extracted characteristic signature; determining the integrity of said ballot.
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7. A paper document certification and authentication apparatus, comprising
means for imaging a paper for identification; -
means for determining a characteristic signature of said paper based on paper grains for identification; means for entangling said characteristic signature with some user-specified information using a predetermined sequence of private and public key encryption steps into a machine readable image to form a signet; means for printing said signet on said paper; means for locating and extracting said signet from said paper; means for decrypting and disentangling said user-specified information and said characteristic signature of said paper for which said extracted signet was originally created from said extracted signet; means for imaging said paper for authentication; means for determining said characteristic signature of said paper based on paper grains for authentication; means for comparing said characteristic signature for said paper with said disentangled characteristic signature from said signet; whereby the originality of said paper can be established. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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Specification