Method, apparatus, and article to facilitate distributed evaluation of objects using electromagnetic energy

• US 8,583,394 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2012
• Issued: 11/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visualant, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Visualant, Inc.
• Inventors: Schowengerdt, Brian T., Furness, Thomas A. III, Walker, Nicholas E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kundu, Sujoy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Desta, Elias
• Application Number:
  US13/610,655
• Publication Number:
  US 20130024151A1
• Time in Patent Office: 427 Days
• Field of Search: 702/106, 702/108, 702/189, 702/193, 356/450, 356/337, 250/252.1, 250/339.09
• US Class Current: 702/108
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/02 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/021 using plane or convex mirrors, parallel phase plates, or particular reflectors
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0264 Electrical interface; User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/027 Control of working procedures of a spectrometer; Failure detection; Bandwidth calculation
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0278 Control or determination of height or angle information for sensors or receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/2803 using photoelectric array detector
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/31 Investigating relative effect of material at wavelengths characteristic of specific elements or molecules, e.g. atomic absorption spectrometry G01N21/72 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

Objects such as manufactured goods or articles, works of art, media such as identity documents, legal documents, financial instruments, transaction cards, other documents, and/or biological tissue are sampled via sequential illumination in various bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, a test response to the illumination is analyzed with respect to reference responses of reference objects. The sequence may be varied. The sequence may define an activation order, a drive level and/or temperature for operating one or more sources. Illumination may be in visible, infrared, ultraviolet, or other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Elements of the evaluation system may be remote from one another, for example coupled by a network.

Claims

1. A system to calibrate an object authentication system that uses at least a portion of an electromagnetic energy spectrum reflected by an object to authenticate the object, the system comprising:

a test device including;

a sensor to receive an electromagnetic response from at least a portion of at least one evaluation object being evaluated;

a communications port to communicably link the test device to a remote host authentication system; and

a microprocessor communicably coupled to the sensor and the communications port, the microprocessor to selectively generate at least one output signal including data representative of a number of test device parameters used to calibrate the test device, at least a portion of the test device parametric data originated in the test device and communicated by the microprocessor via the at least one output signal to the remote host authentication system in order to calibrate the object authentication system using at least a portion of the electromagnetic energy spectrum reflected by the object to authenticate the object.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the test device further comprises:

at least one physical source to emit electromagnetic energy in the direction of the object being evaluated; and

driver electronics communicably coupled to the at least one physical source and to the microprocessor to drive the physical source with an electromagnetic forcing function.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the test device further comprises at least one user operable input element to cause the microprocessor to selectively generate the at least one output signal including the data representative of a number of test device parameters upon operation of the at least one user operable input element by a user.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein at least a portion of the data representative of a number of test device parameters includes data originated in the test device and representative of the at least one physical source.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the data representative of the at least one physical source includes identification data unique to a specific physical source.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the data representative of the at least one physical source includes data originated in the test device and indicative of at least one of:

a physical source manufacturer, a physical source batch number, or a physical source lot number.

7. The system of claim 2 wherein the test device further comprises a temperature sensor communicably coupled to the microprocessor, the temperature sensor to provide data indicative of a physical temperature of the at least one physical source.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the data representative of a number of test device parameters includes the data representative of the physical temperature of the at least one physical source.

9. The system of claim 2 wherein the at least one physical source includes a number of physical sources, each of the number of physical sources to emit electromagnetic energy having an spectral content that at least partially differs from the remaining number of physical sources.

10. The system of claim 2 wherein the at least one physical source includes a single physical source to emit electromagnetic energy having a spectral content at least partially within the visible spectrum of 380 nm to 780 nm.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one signal further includes data representative of the electromagnetic response received by the sensor from the portion of the at least one evaluation object being evaluated.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a database communicably coupled to the test device via the remote host authentication system, the database to store a number of calibration factors that when used with the data representative of a number of test device parameters originated by the test device provides a test device calibration.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the test device further comprises a nontransitory storage medium to store at least a portion of the data representative of a number of test device parameters.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the at least one signal is encrypted at the test device using a public/private key encryption.

15. A method of calibrating an object authentication system using a test device to receive at least a portion of an electromagnetic energy spectrum reflected by an object to authenticate the object, the method comprising:

generating by a sensor disposed at least partially within a test device a sensor signal including data representative of an electromagnetic response received by the sensor from at least a portion of at least one evaluation object being evaluated;

receiving the sensor signal by a microprocessor disposed at least partially within the test device and communicably coupled to the sensor;

receiving by the microprocessor data representative of a number of test device parameters used to calibrate the test device, at least a portion of the test device parametric data originated in the test device; and

communicating to a remote host authentication system via a communications port communicably coupled to the microprocessor, an output signal including at least the data representative of the electromagnetic response received by the sensor from at least a portion of the at least one evaluation object being evaluated and the data representative of a number of test device parameters used to calibrate the test device in order to calibrate the object authentication system using the test device to receive at least a portion of the electromagnetic energy spectrum reflected by the object to authenticate the object.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

encrypting at least a portion of the output signal prior to communicating the output signal to the remote host authentication system.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

emitting electromagnetic energy towards at least a portion of at least one evaluation object being evaluated using at least one physical source of electromagnetic energy disposed at least partially within the test device.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein receiving by the microprocessor, data representative of a number of test device parameters used to calibrate a test device includes:

receiving by the microprocessor data indicative of a physical temperature of the at least one physical source of electromagnetic energy.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein emitting electromagnetic energy towards at least a portion of at least one evaluation object being evaluated using at least one physical source of electromagnetic energy includes:

emitting, in a defined pattern, electromagnetic energy towards at least a portion of at least one evaluation object being evaluated by each of a plurality of physical sources.