Patent Application
20140210998
This invention relates in general to authentication of objects and in particular to authentication of objects using a cell phone.
Invisible indicia printed with an optically active material on a reflective substrate can be used as a covert security feature on products and product packaging. The product is authenticated by revealing the invisible indicia with the use of a circular polarizing filter. The circular polarizing filter is held in close proximity to the printing. The person holding the filter can then authenticate the item by visually verifying the image or human-readable text or code that is revealed as expected. While this can be an effective security feature, the authentication process has limitations.
When authenticating product out in the field, it is often the case that many items need to be authenticated sequentially, and the results of the authentication audit need to be transmitted to another location. It is therefore useful to be able to automate the method for recording and storing the results and to have a convenient means of transmitting the results once collected.
It is sometimes desirable to have an immediate response to a positive or negative authentication audit. It is therefore useful to have a system that can not only transmit the results of an authentication audit, but also then receive a response back.
It is also often desirable to encode a large amount of data in invisible indicia, for example an item-level serialized number. To reduce the amount of space required to print the data or to speed up reading the printed information, it can be printed in the form of a machine readable code rather than a human-readable code, for example a linear or 2-dimensional bar code. It is therefore useful to be able to quickly and conveniently decode a revealed machine-readable code to be able to quickly authenticate the item.
Finally, at times, it is very desirable for investigators to perform their audits in a covert manner, often without handling the item to be authenticated. It is therefore useful to be able to authenticate an item from some distance away and not to require the revealing device be in close proximity.
Briefly, according to one aspect of the present invention a method for authenticating an object that includes providing a label with invisible indicia printed with optically active material on a reflective substrate; providing a device that has a digital camera having a light source, an image sensor, a first polarizing filter having a first orientation, and a second polarizing filter having a second orientation; illuminating the label with the light from the light source through the first polarizing filter; forming an image with the image sensor using reflected light from the label wherein the reflected light passes through the second polarizing filter prior to reaching the sensor; wherein the second polarizing filter makes the invisible indicia visible; and authenticating the object.
In one embodiment, a cellular telephone comprises the digital camera. The first and second polarizing filters are located externally to the cellular telephone, for example in or on a case, and are in front of the flash and the digital camera, respectively. Both filters are linear polarizing filters and are oriented orthogonally to each other. Light from the flash of the digital camera is polarized as it passes through the first linear polarizing filter. When the polarized light strikes a label with invisible indicia printed with optically active materials on a reflective substrate, it will reflect off the invisible indicia with a change in the direction of the polarization. The polarized light that reflects off the background of the label will have no change to its polarization. Thus, the invisible indicia are differentiated from the background.
The orthogonally oriented second linear polarizing filter located over the digital camera will block the unchanged polarized light reflecting from the background making it appear dark on the image sensor of the digital camera, but the polarized light reflecting from the invisible indicia will be only partially blocked and thus will appear bright on the image sensor of the camera. The resulting image can then be analyzed, for example, decoded if it is a linear or two-dimensional bar code, or stored in the memory of the cell phone, or transmitted via the cell phone. Once invisible indicia have been decoded and transmitted via the phone, a response can be received by the phone, for example, further information about the item being authenticated. Additionally, if the investigator is an end-user consumer, the information sent back to the investigator via the phone could be promotional information or a coupon that the investigator can use in connection to the item. If the investigator is associated with the supply chain of the item, the information transmitted could initiate restocking of items or other movement of material in the distribution chain.
In a second embodiment, a cellular telephone is the device with the digital camera. The first and second polarizing filters are located externally to the cellular telephone, for example in or on the case, and are in front of the flash and the digital camera, respectively. Both filters are circular polarizing filters and have identical orientation to each other. The first circular polarizing filter can be created by placing a quarter wave plate after a first linear polarizer. In one example, the axis of the linear polarized filter is positioned at a 45 degree angle from the fast axis of the quarter wave plate to achieve left hand circular polarization. Light from the flash of the digital camera is circularly polarized as it passes through the first circularly polarizing filter.
When the polarized light strikes a label with invisible indicia printed with optically active materials on a reflective substrate, it will reflect off the invisible indicia differently than it will reflect off the background. The polarized light that reflects off the background of the label will be changed to right hand circular polarization. This right hand circular polarized light will be blocked by the second circular polarizing filter, which is oriented identically to the first filter, and will appear dark to the image sensor of the digital camera. The light reflected off the optically active invisible indicia will have its polarization direction changed, but not to right hand circular polarization. Thus, the invisible hidden indicia are differentiated from the background. The identically oriented second circular polarizing filter will only partially block the light reflected off the optically active hidden indicia and thus will appear bright on the image sensor.
The resulting image can then be analyzed, for example, decoded if it is a linear or two-dimensional bar code, or stored in the memory of the cell phone, or transmitted via the cell phone. Once hidden indicia have been decoded and transmitted via the phone, a response can be received by the phone, for example further information about the item being authenticated. Additionally, if the investigator is an end-user consumer, the information sent back to the investigator via the phone could be promotional information or a coupon that the investigator can use in connection to the item. If the investigator is associated with the supply chain of the item, the information transmitted could initiate restocking of items or other movement of material in the distribution chain.
The invention and its objects and advantages will become more apparent in the detailed description of the preferred embodiment presented below.
The present invention will be directed in particular to elements forming part of, or in cooperation more directly with the apparatus in accordance with the present invention. It is to be understood that elements not specifically shown or described may take various forms well known to those skilled in the art.
Referring now to
Referring now to
Light source 20 and imager 22 are components of a digital camera 18. The digital camera may be a component of a smart phone or other device. The invisible indicia 14 are deposited onto label 12 in a plurality of regions and are comprised of optically active materials that alter the polarization of light passing through them. Examples of such materials are birefringent polymer layers or chiral molecules.
Either of the above described methods will result in a differentiation of the invisible indicia from the background thus allowing visualization of the hidden indicia by the imager 22. Optimal differentiation of the invisible indicia from the background will occur when the linear polarized filters are oriented orthogonal to each other or in parallel with each other; however, differentiation does also occur at other relative orientations of the first and second linear polarizing filters.
Once detected by the imager 22 of the camera 18, the image can be displayed and viewed by an investigator for authentication purposes; a static image can be verified visually, an alpha-numeric code can read and compared to predefined acceptable codes.
Additionally, the visualized invisible indicia can be further processed if the digital camera has additional features, for example bar code decoding software; is a component of another device, for example a cell phone; or interacts with another device, for example a printer. The invisible indicia can be decoded, if it is a machine-readable code, and displayed in a human-readable form. It can be transmitted via cell phone or other mobile device. It can be printed.
Transmission of the invisible indicia can allow authentication to be done at a remote location. For example, if the invisible indicia are an item-level serial number, the serial number can be transmitted to a remote server containing a database and then cross referenced in the database to either verify the serial number is valid or ascertain additional information associated with that specific item, for example its expected location in the distribution chain. The outcome of the remote authentication step can be transmitted back to the original transmitting device.
Referring now to
Upon remote authentication of an object, additional information about the object, such as information related to the sale of the object, can be transmitted to the remote location. Such information could initiate a response in an inventory management system, for example restocking could occur or reordering could occur.
In addition to transmitting the invisible indicia, a Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinate of the transmitting device can also be transmitted to a remote location allowing for the identification of the location of the object to be authenticated. This also allows for the identification of the location to which reply information, such as a coupon or restocking information, would be transmitted.
Referring again to
Certain light sources such as lasers emit polarized light and may replace light source 20 and first polarizer 24 in an alternate embodiment.
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the scope of the invention.
Reference is made to commonly-assigned copending U.S. Patent Application No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. K001435US01NAB), filed herewith, entitled CELL PHONE AUTHENTICATION DEVICE, by Pawlik et al.; the disclosure of which is incorporated herein.
