Counterfeit and tamper resistant labels with randomly occurring features

• US 7,497,379 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2004
• Issued: 03/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Yuqun, Kirovski, Darko, Yuval, Gideon A., Yacobi, Yacov
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Michael G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Haupt; Kristy A
• Application Number:
  US10/789,904
• Publication Number:
  US 20050190914A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,831 Days
• Field of Search: 235/454, 713/179
• US Class Current: 235/454
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/08 using markings of different kinds or more than one marking of the same kind in the same record carrier, e.g. one marking being sensed by optical and the other by magnetic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/086 with markings consisting of randomly placed or oriented elements, the randomness of the elements being useable for generating a unique identifying signature of the record carrier, e.g. randomly placed magnetic fibers or magnetic particles in the body of a credit card
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 3/0292 tamper indicating labels
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 3/0297 including a machine-readable marking, e.g. a bar code digitally marked record carriers in general G06K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/47 using near field communication [NFC] or radio frequency identification [RFID] modules
• 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

Techniques are disclosed to enable utilization of randomly-occurring features of a label (whether embedded or naturally inherent) to provide counterfeit-resistant and/or tamper-resistant labels. More specifically, labels including randomly-occurring features are scanned to determine the labels'"'"' features. The information from the scan is utilized to provide identifying indicia which uniquely identifies each label and may be later verified against the label features that are present to determine whether the label is genuine. In a described implementation, the identifying indicia may be cryptographically signed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

encoding a plurality of features of a label with a private key to provide a medium certificate, wherein the plurality of features comprise coordinates of a plurality of optical fiber strands present on the label;

decoding the medium certificate with a public key; and

verifying the decoded medium certificate against the plurality of label features to determine whether the label is genuine, wherein the verifying comprises;

obtaining at least two shots of the label;

extracting data from the label shots;

determining a motion transformation function of the extracted data; and

forming a multi-dimensional map of the plurality of label features.

2. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the coordinates comprise coordinates of each end of the plurality of optical fiber strands present on the label.

3. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the medium certificate is provided with the label.

4. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the medium certificate is provided with the label and the medium certificate is represented as one or more items selected from a plurality comprising:

a bar code; and

an RFID.

5. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the medium certificate is provided remotely.

6. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the medium certificate is provided remotely through data stored in a database.

7. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the multi-dimensional map of the plurality of label features is formed as a function of the coordinates of each end of at least one of the plurality of optical fiber strands and has a dimension selected from a group comprising about two, three, and four wherein the dimension comprises a number determined based on a number of coordinate values mapped via a capture function.

8. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the extracted data comprises data selected from a group comprising guide pattern coordinates and lit fiber end coordinates.

9. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the multi-dimensional map of the plurality of label features is compressed.

10. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein data regarding the plurality of label features is compressed prior to the encoding.

11. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the plurality of label features comprise one or more features selected from a plurality of features, the plurality of features comprising optical fiber length, optical fiber curvature, optical fiber relative light intensity, optical fiber florescence, optical fiber color, and optical fiber thickness.

12. A method as recited by claim 1, further comprising binding an application certificate to the medium certificate, wherein the application certificate is generated based at least in part on application data comprising a vendor-specific private key.

13. A method as recited by claim 1, further comprising binding an application certificate to the medium certificate, wherein the application certificate is provided by using a private key.

14. A method as recited by claim 1, further comprising:

binding an application certificate to the medium certificate; and

verifying that the application certificate corresponds to the medium certificate to determine if the label is genuine.

15. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the verification of the application certificate is performed by using a public key.

16. One or more computer readable media storing computer executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method as recited in claim 1.

17. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the plurality of optical fiber strands present on the label comprise strands of at least lighting-grade optical fiber.

18. A method as recited by claim 1, further comprising binding an application certificate to the medium certificate, wherein the application certificate comprises application data.

19. A method comprising:

encoding a plurality of features of a label to provide a medium certificate;

providing an identifying indicia corresponding to the medium certificate; and

verifying the identifying indicia against the plurality of features of the label to determine whether the label is genuine, wherein the plurality of label features comprise coordinates of a plurality of optical fiber strands present on the label and wherein the verifying comprises;

obtaining at least two shots of the label;

extracting data from the label shots;

determining a motion transformation function of the extracted data; and

forming a multi-dimensional map of the plurality of label features.

20. A method as recited by claim 19, wherein the medium certificate is provided by using a private key.

21. A method as recited by claim 19, wherein the verifying is performed by using a public key.

22. A method as recited by claim 19, wherein the identifying indicia is provided with the label.

23. A method as recited by claim 19, wherein the plurality of label features further comprise one or more features selected from a group comprising optical fiber length, optical fiber curvature, optical fiber relative light intensity, optical fiber florescence, optical fiber color, and optical fiber thickness.

24. A method as recited by claim 19, wherein the identifying indicia is provided with the label and the identifying indicia is one or more items selected from a group comprising a bar code and an RFID.

25. A method as recited by claim 19, wherein the identifying indicia is provided remotely.

26. A method as recited by claim 19, wherein the identifying indicia is provided remotely through data stored in a database.

27. A method as recited by claim 19, wherein the multi-dimensional map of the plurality of label features has a dimension selected from a group comprising about two, three, and four.

28. A method as recited by claim 19, wherein the extracted data comprises data selected from a group comprising guide pattern coordinates and lit fiber end coordinates.

29. A method as recited by claim 19, wherein the multi-dimensional map of the plurality of label features is compressed.

30. A method as recited by claim 19, wherein data regarding the plurality of label features is compressed prior to the encoding.

31. A method as recited by claim 19, further comprising binding an application certificate to the medium certificate.

32. A method as recited by claim 19, further comprising binding an application certificate to the medium certificate, wherein the application certificate comprises application data.

33. A method as recited by claim 19, further comprising binding an application certificate to the medium certificate, wherein the application certificate is provided by using a private key.

34. A method as recited by claim 19, further comprising binding an application certificate to the medium certificate, wherein the application certificate is provided by a hash value of the medium certificate.

35. A method as recited by claim 19, further comprising binding an application certificate to the medium certificate, wherein the application certificate is provided by appending a hash value of the medium certificate to application data to form extended application data.

36. A method as recited by claim 19, further comprising:

binding an application certificate to the medium certificate; and

verifying that the application certificate corresponds to the medium certificate to determine if the label is genuine.

37. A method as recited by claim 36, wherein the verification of the application certificate is performed by using a public key.

38. One or more computer readable media storing computer executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method as recited in claim 19.

39. The method of claim 19 further comprising

scanning the label to determine identifying indicia which corresponds to the medium certificate, the scanning comprising a method selected from a group consisting of:

fixed partition scanning and sweep-line scanning,

wherein providing an identifying indicia corresponding to the medium certificate comprises providing the identifying indicia which corresponds to the medium certificate.

40. A system comprising:

a processor;

a system memory coupled to the processor;

a medium scanner operatively coupled to the processor to scan a plurality of features of a label;

a label encoder to encode the plurality of label features as a medium certificate, wherein the plurality of label features comprise;

a multi-dimensional map of the plurality of label features formed by a process comprising;

obtaining at least two shots of the label;

extracting data from the label shots, wherein the extracted data comprises coordinates of a plurality of optical fiber strands present on the label;

determining a motion transformation function of the extracted data; and

a label printer to print the medium certificate on the label.

41. A system as recited by claim 40, wherein data regarding the scanned plurality of label features is compressed prior to encoding.

42. A system as recited by claim 40, wherein the label printer further prints an application certificate on the label.

43. A system as recited by claim 40, wherein the plurality of label features further comprise one or more features selected from a group comprising optical fiber length, optical fiber curvature, optical fiber relative light intensity, optical fiber florescence, optical fiber color, and optical fiber thickness.

44. A system as recited by claim 40, further comprising a label scanner to verify the medium certificate against the plurality of label features.

45. A system as recited by claim 40, further comprising an application label encoder to encode application data bound to the medium certificate as an application certificate.

46. A system as recited by claim 40, further comprising a verification system comprising:

a label scanner to scan the medium certificate off of the label; and

a verification medium scanner to scan the plurality of label features,

wherein if the medium certificate is decoded using a public key and the decoded medium certificate matches the scanned plurality of the label features by the verification medium scanner, the label is declared as genuine.

47. A system as recited by claim 46, wherein the matching is determined based on a threshold value.

48. A system as recited by claim 40, further comprising a verification system comprising:

a label scanner to scan the medium certificate off of the label; and

a verification medium scanner to scan the plurality of label features,

wherein if the medium certificate is decoded using a public key and the decoded medium certificate does not match the scanned plurality of the label features by the verification medium scanner, the label is declared as counterfeit.

49. A system as recited by claim 48, wherein the matching is determined based on a threshold value.

50. A system as recited by claim 40, wherein the medium scanner facilitates scanning via a method selected from a group consisting of:

fixed partition scanning and sweep-line scanning.