Authenticatable mark, systems for preparing and authenticating the mark

• US 8,330,122 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2007
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Smith, Karl J, Vahey, Paul G, Fraenkel, Howard A, Bray, Robert G, Lytle, Nelson W, Rapoport, William R, Smith, Gerald A
• Primary Examiner(s): Porta, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Malevic, Djura
• Application Number:
  US11/948,071
• Publication Number:
  US 20090141961A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,838 Days
• Field of Search: 250/458.1
• US Class Current: 250/458.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/2413 based on distances to training or reference patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/764 using classification, e.g. of video objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/80 Recognising image objects characterised by unique random patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/1205 Testing spectral properties
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/2083 Learning

Abstract

Systems for preparation of a mark and authentication of a mark vis-a-vis a counterfeit mark. Emission spectra comprising intensity versus wavelength distributions are collected from a series of taggants. One or more taggants is selected from the collected emission data such that the spectra of the selected taggants are distinguishable. The selection is also based on a consideration of the emitted radiation of a substrate and a dispersive medium. The authentication system uses multivariate statistical analysis to calculate at least one measurement statistic of a mark to be authenticated and at least one statistical limit based on a series of training marks prepared by the preparation system. Authenticity of the mark is determined based on a comparison of the measurement statistic and the statistical limit.

Claims

1. A system for authentication of a mark comprising a plurality of taggants, the system comprising:

at least one energy source providing energy at at least one wavelength that stimulates the taggants to emit radiation with an intensity versus wavelength distribution;

a detection apparatus configured to measure an emitted intensity versus wavelength distribution corresponding to the radiation emitted by the taggants using a device that separates the radiation into a plurality of pre-defined, different wavelengths, and provide at least one output signal corresponding to the emitted intensity versus wavelength distribution, wherein the at least one output signal conveys intensities of the radiation at the plurality of pre-defined, different wavelengths; and

a device including a program that performs a multivariate statistical analysis of the at least one output signal to enable a determination of authenticity of the mark based on a measurement statistic and a predetermined statistical confidence limit, wherein authenticity is designated to be within the limit, and an outlier outside the limit is designated as a counterfeit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined statistical confidence limit is derived by the multivariate statistical analysis of a set of reference taggants that are known to be authentic and correspond to the taggants, and wherein the predetermined statistical limit is selected from the group consisting of:

a Q-residual limit, a Mahalanobis distance limit, a Hotelling'"'"'s T² limit and any combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the taggants are carried by a substrate.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of taggants comprises two taggants.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising an output device that notifies a user of the authenticity of the mark.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the detection apparatus is selected from the group consisting of:

a detector that detects and filters the output signal, and a spectrometer that measures the emitted intensity versus wavelength distributions and provides the output signal.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the taggants comprise fluorescent materials.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the multivariate statistical analysis is selected from the group consisting of:

Principal Components Analysis, and other vector based statistical techniques, discriminate analysis, classical least squares, net analyte signal, principal components regression, partial least squares, soft independent modeling of class analogy, and multi-way statistical tools, including, but not limited to, tri-linear decomposition, parallel factor analysis, Tucker models and multi-way Principal Components Analysis.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the energy source stimulates the taggants with radiation in regions of the electromagnetic spectrum selected from the group consisting of:

X-ray, ultraviolet, visible, near infrared, infrared and Raman.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the device that separates the radiation comprises:

a wavelength scanning device configured to separate the captured radiation over a range of wavelengths that includes a plurality of different distinct wavelengths.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein the device that separates the radiation comprises:

a plurality of filters tuned to the plurality of pre-defined, different wavelengths, wherein the plurality of filters simultaneously filters the radiation emitted by the taggants, and produces a plurality of filtered signals, wherein each of the filtered signals conveys an emitted intensity at at least one of the plurality of pre-defined, different wavelengths.

10. A system for authenticating a mark comprising a plurality of taggants, the system comprising:

at least one energy source providing energy at at least one wavelength that stimulates the taggants to emit radiation with an intensity versus wavelength distribution;

a plurality of filters tuned to a plurality of pre-defined, different wavelengths, wherein the plurality of filters simultaneously filters the radiation emitted by the taggants, and produces a plurality of filtered signals, wherein each of the filtered signals conveys an emitted intensity at one of the plurality of pre-defined, different wavelengths;

a plurality of detectors configured to receive the plurality of filtered signals, and to produce at least one output signal that conveys intensities of the radiation at the plurality of pre-defined, different wavelengths;

a device including a program that performs a multivariate statistical analysis of the at least one output signal to provide a measurement statistic that enables a determination of authenticity of the mark based on the measurement statistic and at least one predetermined statistical confidence limit, wherein authenticity is designated to be within the limit, and an outlier outside the limit is designated as a counterfeit; and

an output device that notifies a user of the authenticity.

11. A method for authentication of a mark comprising a plurality of taggants, the method comprising:

providing energy at at least one wavelength to stimulate the taggants to emit radiation with an intensity versus wavelength distribution;

measuring an emitted intensity versus wavelength distribution corresponding to the radiation emitted by the taggants using a device that separates the radiation into a plurality of pre-defined, different wavelengths;

providing at least one output signal corresponding to the emitted intensity versus wavelength distribution, wherein the at least one output signal conveys intensities of the radiation at the plurality of pre-defined, different wavelengths; and

executing a program on a device that performs a multivariate statistical analysis of the at least one output signal to provide a measurement statistic that enables a determination of authenticity of the mark based on the measurement statistic and at least one predetermined statistical confidence limit, wherein authenticity is designated to be within the limit, and an outlier outside the limit is designated as a counterfeit.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the predetermined statistical confidence limit is derived by the multivariate statistical analysis of a set of reference taggants that are known to be authentic and correspond to the taggants, and wherein the predetermined statistical limit is selected from the group consisting of:

a Q-residual limit, a Mahalanobis distance limit, a Hotelling'"'"'s T² limit and any combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the reference taggants have been subjected to natural or artificially induced aging.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the taggants are carried by a substrate.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the taggants comprise two taggants.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the taggants comprise a structure selected from the group consisting of:

blend, layered, interspersed and patterned regions.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising notifying a user of the authenticity.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the taggants comprise fluorescent materials.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the multivariate statistical analysis is selected from the group consisting of:

Principal Components Analysis, and other vector based statistical techniques, discriminate analysis, classical least squares, net analyte signal, principal components regression, partial least squares, soft independent modeling of class analogy, and multi-way statistical tools, including, but not limited to, tri-linear decomposition, parallel factor analysis, Tucker models and multi-way Principal Components Analysis.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the taggants are stimulated with radiation in regions of the electromagnetic spectrum selected from the group consisting of:

X-Ray, ultraviolet, visible, near infrared, infrared and Raman.

21. The method of claim 11, further comprising preprocessing the at least one output signal by normalizing the intensity versus wavelength distribution to unit area to compensate for signal variation due to distance of the taggants from a detector that detects the emitted radiation.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein the stimulating step provides an excitation that is selected from the group consisting of:

(a) shorter wavelength (λ

), higher energy, than the emission of the taggants and (b) longer wavelength (λ

), lower energy, than the emission of the taggants.

23. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

irradiating a series of taggants to emit radiation with intensity versus wavelength distributions;

measuring the emitted radiation of each of the taggants and recording in a taggant file of a memory of a computer a radiation intensity versus wavelength distribution for each of the taggants;

selecting a plurality of the taggants from the taggant file that have emitted radiation intensity versus wavelength distributions which are distinguishable by the method; and

applying the selected taggants to a substrate to form the mark.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of taggants is selected additionally based on an emission elicited by the radiation from the group consisting of:

the substrate and a dispersive medium.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising irradiating a series of substrates and a series of dispersive media, measuring for each of the substrates and each of the dispersive media an emitted radiation intensity distribution over a wavelength range at which the emission occurs for each of the taggants, recording the emitted radiation intensity distribution for each of the substrates and for each of the dispersive media in a substrate file and a dispersive medium file, respectively, and selecting the substrate and the dispersive medium from the substrate file and the dispersive medium file, respectively, so that the radiation intensity versus wavelength distributions of the selected taggants are distinguishable in the presence of the emitted radiation of the selected substrate and the selected dispersive medium.