Authenticating and Managing Item Ownership and Authenticity

• US 20160132704A1
• Filed: 01/05/2016
• Published: 05/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vattaca, Llc
• Original Assignee: Vattaca, Llc
• Inventors: ENGELS, Daniel W., Smith, Eric M., Mandel, Ross
• Granted Patent: US 10,387,695 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06037 multi-dimensional coding
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10366 the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/121 Timestamp cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements involving time stamps H04L9/3297
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3271 using challenge-response
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3297 involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/12 Detection or prevention of fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/47 using near field communication [NFC] or radio frequency identification [RFID] modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/77 Graphical identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A method for creating an authentication tag includes receiving, at an authentication server, tagging device data and item data from a tagging device, authenticating, by the authentication server, the tagging device using the tagging device data, generating an authentication tag, and sending, by the authentication server, the authentication tag to the electronic device. The tagging device is affixed to an item, and the authentication tag comprises a digital signature provided by the authentication server.

Claims

1. A method for creating an authentication tag, the method comprising:

communicating with a tagging device affixed to an item;

receiving tagging device data and item data from the tagging device, wherein the tagging device data comprises a first digital signature and a first time stamp;

sending the tagging device data and the item data to an authentication server;

receiving an authentication of the tagging device from the authentication server;

requesting an authentication tag based on the authentication of the tagging device; and

receiving the authentication tag, wherein the authentication tag comprises a second digital signature and a second time stamp.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tagging device comprises a linear bar code, QR code, an RFID device, an NFC compatible device, or a Bluetooth enabled device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the authentication tag comprises a linear bar code or a QR code.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first digital signature comprises at least one of a public key cipher, a hash function, or a keyed hash function.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the authentication tag verifies the authenticity of the item at a time identified by the second time stamp.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first digital signature or the second digital signature are generated by a signing authority.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time stamp is associated with a generation time of the first digital signature.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the authentication server authenticates the tagging device using the first digital signature and the first time stamp.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the authentication server further authenticates the tagging device using the item data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second digital signature covers the tagging device data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second digital signature comprises a cipher, hash function, or keyed hash function.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a certificate of authenticity, wherein the certificate of authenticity comprises the authentication tag.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the certificate of authenticity further comprises at least one of:

a product ID, a vendor ID, ownership data, the second time stamp, or a tagging device ID associated with the item.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

sending the certificate of authenticity to a remote device, and using the certificate of authenticity to authenticate the tagging device by a third party.

15. A method for creating an authentication tag, the method comprising:

receiving, at an authentication server, tagging device data and item data from a tagging device, wherein the tagging device is affixed to an item;

authenticating, by the authentication server, the tagging device using the tagging device data;

generating an authentication tag, wherein the authentication tag comprises a digital signature provided by the authentication server; and

sending, by the authentication server, the authentication tag to the electronic device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the tagging device data comprises a first digital signature and a first time stamp, and wherein the method further comprises:

sending, by the authentication server, an authentication confirmation to an electronic device after authenticating the tagging device;

receiving, at the authentication server, a request for the authentication tag;

generating a second digital signature and a second time stamp, wherein the authentication tag comprises the second digital signature and the second time stamp as part of the digital signature; and

sending, by the authentication server, the authentication tag to the electronic device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

verifying that the electronic device is registered with an owner of the item, wherein sending the authentication tag to the electronic device is in response to verifying that the electronic device is registered with the owner of the item.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

publishing the authentication tag.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the authentication tag comprises a QR code, and wherein data within the authentication tag is encoded in the QR code.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the second digital signature covers the tagging device data.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving, at the authentication server, authentication tag data comprising the second digital signature and the second time stamp from the authentication tag;

authenticating, by the authentication server, the authentication tag data using the authentication tag data; and

authenticating the tagging device data using the authentication tag data.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the authentication server retrieves ownership information from an ownership store, wherein the user credentials are for an owner of the item, and wherein communicating with a tagging device affixed to an item is based on the user verification.

24. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

sending the user credentials to the authentication server, the user credentials associated with an owner of the item, wherein the owner is a registered user of the authentication server, and wherein the authentication server authenticates the owner based on the user credentials;

sending an ownership change request to the authentication server, wherein the ownership change request comprises second data, the second data associated with a second registered user of the authentication server;

sending authentication tag data to the authentication server, wherein the authentication tag data comprises the second digital signature and the second time stamp, and wherein the authentication server authenticates the authentication tag data; and

changing the current owner of the item from the owner to the second registered user based on the authentication of the owner and the authentication of the authentication tag data.

22. A method for creating an authentication tag, the method comprising:

receiving, at an electronic device, user credentials;

sending, by the electronic device, the user credentials to an authentication server;

receiving, at the electronic device, user verification based on the sending the user credentials to the authentication server,

communicating with a tagging device affixed to an item;

receiving, at the electronic device, tagging device data from the tagging device, wherein the tagging device data comprises a first digital signature and a first time stamp;

sending, by the electronic device, the tagging device data and the item data to the authentication server;

receiving, at the electronic device, an authentication of the tagging device from the authentication server;

requesting, at the electronic device, an authentication tag based on the authentication of the tagging device; and

receiving the authentication tag, wherein the authentication tag comprises a second digital signature and a second time stamp.