METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MAKING, TRACKING AND AUTHENTICATION OF PRODUCTS

• US 20110093113A1
• Filed: 07/19/2010
• Published: 04/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Philip Morris USA Incorporated (Altria Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Philip Morris USA Incorporated (Altria Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fradet, Erwan, Sager, Alain, Chatelain, Philippe, Chemla, Marc, Weiss, Jacques
• Granted Patent: US 8,671,062 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/00 Methods or arrangements for effecting co-operative working between equipments covered by two or more of main groups G06K1/00 - G06K15/00, e.g. automatic card files incorporating conveying and reading operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisious for transferring data to distant stations, e.g. from a sensing device "transfer between computer elements G06F13/00 "; data-transmission H04L
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/32 including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials

Abstract

Manufactured goods are marked or labeled with a secure unique identifier. A central checking centre allows users to verify the authenticity of a particular good such as a cigarette pack or carton via any convenient interface such as the internet or a cell phone. A system of secret sharing allows secure authentication of each item and prevents code breaking or misuse.

Claims

1-40. -40. (canceled)

41. A method of marking items produced on a production line, comprising:

acquiring a salt matrix comprising a collection of secret codes at the production line;

generating a unique product identifier (UPI) at the production line for each item manufactured on the production line;

generating a secret for each manufactured item at the production line using the salt matrix;

generating a noise code for each manufactured item at the production line based on a respective UPI and a respective secret;

combining the respective UPI with the noise code to generate a digitally signed UPI (SUPI); and

marking a respective manufactured item with indicia representative of the SUPI.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

generating the collection of secret codes of the salt matrix in a salt generator, wherein the salt matrix is unique for the production line.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the collection of secret codes of the salt matrix includes a large number of precalculated random or pseudorandom data.

44. The method of claim 41, wherein the salt matrix is stored in a database with an identifier of the production line.

45. The method of claim 41, wherein the salt matrix includes a long string of random or pseudorandom digits or characters.

46. The method of claim 41, wherein the production line includes a code generator that generates the UPI, the secret, and the noise code, and wherein the noise code authenticates the code generator.

47. The method of claim 41, wherein the indicia is printed on the manufactured item or packaging of the manufactured item.

48. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

associating a progressive number (TI), which corresponds to a chronological production sequence in a production batch or in a given production period, with each unique product identifier generated and printed at the production line.

49. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

generating a product information code (PIC) for each manufactured item, the product information code including at least an identification of a manufacturing center (MC) and the production line (PL), and a year (YR), a day (DY), and an hour (HR) of manufacturing.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the PIC includes an identification of the code generator.

51. The method of claim 49, wherein generating the UPI comprises:

combining the PIC with the TL of each item.

52. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

at a code generator, communicating with a checking center via a secure internet connection.

53. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

generating a salt index alpha for each production batch at the production line, wherein the index alpha is a random and dynamic secret code.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein generating the secret comprises:

combining the salt index alpha and the salt matrix.

55. The method of claim 41, wherein acquiring the salt matrix at the production line comprises:

at the production line;

registering a code generator of the production line with a checking center;

loading a salt file into the registered code generator;

verifying an integrity of the salt file by checking an electronic signature of the salt file; and

transmitting a unique identifier of the salt file to the checking center; and

at the checking center;

retrieving a copy of the salt file based on the unique identifier, and

provided the salt file has not been previously used and the ID of the code generator is authenticated, decrypting a secret key of the salt file with a private key and transmitting the decrypted secret key to the code generator over a secure internet connection, wherein the code generator at the production line decrypts the salt matrix using the secret key.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein acquiring the salt matrix comprises:

receiving the salt matrix at the code generator via a non-electronic medium; and

receiving a one-use decryption key at the code generator to make the salt matrix available to the code generator.

57. The method of claim 55, further comprising:

deleting the salt matrix when the code generator is out of service.

58. The method of claim 53, further comprising:

transmitting the UPI of the first item in a production batch and the index alpha to a checking center.

59. The method of claim 53, further comprising:

storing the index alpha in a database.

60. The method of claim 53, further comprising:

generating the UPI after a value of the index alpha is generated.

61. The method of claim 53, wherein generating the noise code comprises:

combining the index alpha, the salt matrix, and the UPI, wherein the noise code is a digital signature of the UPI.

62. The method of claim 54, wherein the index alpha and the salt matrix are combined differently for each manufactured item.

63. The method of claim 41, wherein generating the digitally signed code comprising:

obfuscating a result of the combination of the UPI and the noise code.

64. The method of claim 63, further comprising:

marking a respective manufactured item with indicia representative of the obfuscated result.

65. The method of claim 53, further comprising:

associating data identifying a brand, an intended market of destination, and packaging with the index alpha.

66. A method of authenticating a manufactured item marked with an encrypted ID code (SUPI), comprising:

receiving a query containing the SUPI of the manufactured item;

extracting a unique product identifier (UPI) and a noise code from the SUPI;

retrieving a salt matrix and a random index alpha associated with the UPI of the manufactured item;

reconstructing the noise code using the retrieved salt matrix, index alpha, and the UPI; and

if the extracted noise code and the reconstructed noise code do not match or if no data corresponding to the UPI is retrievable, issuing a response indicating that the SUPI is invalid and the item is counterfeit.

67. The method of claim 66, further comprising:

de-obfuscating the SUPI contained in the query to extract the UPI and the noise code;

extracting a product information code (PIC) from the UPI;

verifying correspondence between a manufacturing center (MC) and a production line (PL) code in the PIC at which the item was manufactured wherein the MC and the PL are provided in the PIC; and

issuing a response to the query that the SUPI is invalid and the item is counterfeit if the PL does not correspond to the MC.

68. The method of claim 67, further comprising:

determining if a query for the SUPI has been submitted more than a predetermined number of times; and

issuing a response to the query that the SUPI is counterfeit if a query has been submitted more than the predetermined number of times.