Preserving authentication under item change

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11100517-B2
Application number	US-201916431131-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 4, 2019
Priority date	Feb 19, 2016
Publication date	Aug 24, 2021
Grant date	Aug 24, 2021

Abstract

Apparatuses and methods associated with preserving authentication under item change are disclosed herein. In embodiments, acquiring digital image data of an image of at least a portion of a target physical object; extracting features from the image data to form a digital fingerprint; querying the database system to seek a matching record based on the digital fingerprint; based on an amount of difference between the digital fingerprint and a stored digital fingerprint of the database, update the database system to output a new indication of a new match to the physical object for any new samples that are not matchable to the stored digital fingerprint within a first predetermined similarity threshold provided the new samples are matchable to the digital fingerprint within a second predetermined similarity threshold. Other embodiments may be disclosed or claimed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
providing a database system to store a first digital fingerprint based on first digital image data of an image of at least a portion of a physical object, wherein the first digital fingerprint is responsive to a natural structure of the physical object and uniquely identifies the physical object from other physical objects of a same type of physical object as the physical object;
wherein the database system is configured to output an indication of a match to the physical object for any samples that are matchable to the first digital fingerprint within a first predetermined similarity threshold;
acquiring second digital image data of an image of at least a portion of a target physical object;
extracting features from the second image data to form a second digital fingerprint;
querying the database system to seek a matching record based on the second digital fingerprint;
based on an amount of difference between the first and second digital fingerprints, updating the database system to, for any new samples that are not matchable to the first digital fingerprint within said first predetermined similarity threshold but are matchable to the second digital fingerprint within a second predetermined similarity threshold, output a new indication of a match to the physical object.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said updating comprises:
adding the second digital fingerprint to a database record for the physical object responsive to matching the second digital fingerprint to the first digital fingerprint.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the database system is arranged to, in response to identifying a third digital fingerprint, query the database system to seek a matching record based on the third digital fingerprint; and wherein query the database system to seek the matching record based on the third digital fingerprint comprises comparing the third digital fingerprint to at least one of the first or second digital fingerprints.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein comparing the third digital fingerprint to at least one of the first or second digital fingerprints comprises comparing the third digital fingerprint to the second digital fingerprint before comparing the third digital fingerprint to the first digital fingerprint or conditionally comparing the third digital fingerprint to the first digital fingerprint based on the comparison of the second and third digital fingerprints.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein comparing the third digital fingerprint to at least one of the first or second digital fingerprints comprises comparing the third digital fingerprint to selected digital fingerprints of all digital fingerprints of the database record.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said updating comprises:
adding the second digital fingerprint to a database record for the physical object responsive to matching the second digital fingerprint to the first digital fingerprint, wherein responsive to the adding the database record comprises a sequence of digital fingerprints, wherein a most recent digital fingerprint of the stored sequence comprises the second digital fingerprint and a least recent digital fingerprint of the stored sequence comprises the first digital fingerprint or a less recent digital fingerprint; and
performing a selection from the set based on an amount of difference between the first and second digital fingerprints; and
retaining in the database system control information based on the selection, wherein said control information is to constrain next one or more comparisons of a third digital fingerprint of a next query to a subset of the digital fingerprints of the sequence or is to constrain a temporal order for performing a plurality of next comparisons of the third digital fingerprint to digital fingerprints of the sequence.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second predetermined similarity threshold is a maximum distance between n-dimensional feature vectors of the digital fingerprints.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a third digital fingerprint, the third digital fingerprint similar to the second digital fingerprint within the second predetermined similarity threshold, and the third digital fingerprint not similar to the first digital fingerprint within the first predetermined similarity threshold;
identifying in the database system a sequence of digital fingerprints associated with the physical object, the sequence including at least the first, second, and third digital fingerprints;
based on the sequence of digital fingerprints, recognizing incremental changes over time to the natural structure of the physical object;

generating history data to characterize the incremental changes responsive to said recognition; and
storing the history data in the datastore in or linked to the first digital fingerprint.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
identifying a sequence of metadata, wherein each metadata of the sequence of metadata is associated with a respective one of the digital fingerprints of the sequence of digital fingerprints;
based on the sequence of metadata, recognizing incremental changes in the metadata over generating metadata history data to characterize the incremental changes in the metadata responsive to said recognition; and
storing the metadata history data in the database system.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the metadata specifies values of sensor data provided by sensors associated with the physical object.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
correlating the at least one of the changes to the natural structure to transport along a supply chain based on location data of the sequence of metadata; and
displaying information about the correlation.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
correlating the at least one of the changes to a time period based on time data of the sequence of metadata;
wherein the correlation to at least one of wear from use over time, addition of markings to the physical object over time, corrosion over time, or wear from transport based on incremental changes is based on the correlation to the time period.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the corrosion comprises oxidative damage.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the wear over time comprises abrasion of a security region of the physical object.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the physical object comprises a credit card.

16. The method of claim 8 , wherein said recognition comprises detecting the addition of material to the physical object to mark the physical object based on comparing different digital fingerprints of the sequence of digital fingerprints.

17. The method of claim 8 , wherein said recognition comprises detecting the removal of material from the physical object to mark the physical object based on comparing different digital fingerprints of the sequence of digital fingerprints.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the second digital fingerprint in the database record.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising retaining the first digital fingerprint responsive to updating the database system to provide a stored sequence of digital fingerprints associated with the digital object.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the database record of the database system based on the result of the determination further comprising replacing the first digital fingerprint with the second digital fingerprint in the database record.

Assignees

• Alitheon Inc

Inventors

• Ross David Justin
• Withrow Justin Lynn
• Land Scot E
• Kim David Keesu
• Tocci Mark
• Ross Robert Saxon

Classifications

• G06F18/22

  Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures · CPC title

• G06V20/95

  Pattern authentication; Markers therefor; Forgery detection · CPC title

• G06V20/80

  Recognising image objects characterised by unique random patterns · CPC title

• G06F21/73

  by creating or determining hardware identification, e.g. serial numbers · CPC title

• G06F21/44

  Program or device authentication · CPC title