Method and apparatus for securely determining aspects of the history of a good
First Claim
1. A method of securely recording and storing information in an integrated monitor attached to an object about at least one of physical, chemical and environmental effects on said object, over time, comprising the steps of:
- sensing data regarding a change or lack of change of state of said object or an environment of said object, with at least one of a plurality of sensors, said change or lack-of change of state indicating tampering or lack of tampering with said object and/or change or lack of change in said environment of said object;
securely sending a signal of said sensed data from said sensor to a storage device embedded within the monitor; and
irreversibly recording using encryption of said signal in said storage device for later retrieval.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides methods and apparatus to detect and reliably record the physical history of a product including effects due to one or more of the following: 1) product use 2) handling 3) tampering and 4) environment of the product (as changes in the environment, such as excessive temperatures, humidity, or shocks, can result in degradation to a product). The apparatus includes a “smart card”, or, more generally, “smart token”, in combination with one or more sensors which record the external influences on the product and/or the environment and records those changes in an encrypted form. This information can then be verified by any individual who is equipped with a (possibly public) decryption key, but capability to modify this information, depending on the application, is restricted to those with access to the encrypting key. Furthermore, the apparatus contains authentication information which can be reliably verified, in particular to confirm that the apparatus is attached to the product it supposed to be attached to.
187 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of securely recording and storing information in an integrated monitor attached to an object about at least one of physical, chemical and environmental effects on said object, over time, comprising the steps of:
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sensing data regarding a change or lack of change of state of said object or an environment of said object, with at least one of a plurality of sensors, said change or lack-of change of state indicating tampering or lack of tampering with said object and/or change or lack of change in said environment of said object;
securely sending a signal of said sensed data from said sensor to a storage device embedded within the monitor; and
irreversibly recording using encryption of said signal in said storage device for later retrieval. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 23)
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7. A method of recording and storing information in an integrated monitor attached to an object about at least one of physical, chemical and environmental effects on said object over time comprising the steps of:
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sensing data regarding a change or lack of change of state of said object, with at least one of a plurality of sensors, said change or lack of change of state indicating tampering or lack of tampering with said object and/or change or lack of change in said environment of said object, processing said data to compute at least one of a plurality of functions of said data;
encrypting at least one of said data and said values of said functions; and
irreversibly storing a combination of said encrypted data and values of said functions in a storage device. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. A system for securely monitoring the history of a good comprising:
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a storage device on a monitor attached to said good;
a sensor securely sending a signal of a sensed change or lack of change of a state of said good or an environment of said good to said storage device, said change or lack of change of state indicating tampering or lack of tampering with said good and/or change or lack of change of said environment of said good, and an encryption module altering data from said signal being irreversibly recorded in said storage device, for later retrieval. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A monitoring system for recording and storing information in an integrated monitor attached to an object about at least one of physical, chemical and environmental effects on said object over time, said system comprising:
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a sensor for sensing data regarding a change or lack of change of state of said object or an environment of said object, said change or lack of change of state indicating tampering or lack of tampering with said object and/or change or lack of change in said environment of said object;
a processor for computing one of a plurality of functions of said data, a storage device for storing said data and values of said functions of said data in a storage device, and an encryption module altering said data so as to be irreversibly stored in said storage device, for later retrieval.
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Specification