Digital fingerprinting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11790377-B2
Application number	US-202017116527-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2020
Priority date	Dec 9, 2019
Publication date	Oct 17, 2023
Grant date	Oct 17, 2023

Abstract

A method includes providing a machine-readable identifier attached to an article of clothing, each of the plurality of identifying ciphers is disposed in a predetermined discrete area; receiving a scanned image of the machine-readable identifier to detect the identifying ciphers of each of the predetermined discrete areas; retrieving a predetermined stored cipher for each of the predetermined discrete areas; comparing the identifying ciphers of each of the predetermined discrete areas with the predetermined stored ciphers for each of the predetermined discrete areas to determine if each identifying cipher in each predetermined discrete area matches a corresponding stored cipher for each of the respective predetermined discrete areas; and determining that the article of clothing is authentic in response to determining that each identifying cipher in each of the predetermined discrete areas matches the corresponding stored cipher for each of the respective predetermined discrete areas.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method of authenticating an article of clothing, comprising:
providing a machine-readable identifier on an exterior surface of an article of clothing, the machine-readable identifier comprising a digitally printed image having a plurality of predefined discrete areas, and wherein the image includes a cipher at each of the plurality of predefined discrete areas, the cipher comprising at least one of a symbol, a color, or a geometric shape, and wherein the ciphers from the plurality of predefined discrete areas are representative of an authenticity of the article of clothing attached thereto, the machine-readable identifier includes a plurality of identifying ciphers, each of the plurality of identifying ciphers is disposed in a respective predetermined discrete area of a plurality of predetermined discrete areas of the machine-readable identifier;
receiving a scanned image of the machine-readable identifier to detect the identifying ciphers of each of the predetermined discrete areas;
retrieving a predetermined stored cipher for each of the predetermined discrete areas each corresponding to one of the plurality of predetermined discrete areas;
comparing the identifying ciphers of each of the predetermined discrete areas with the predetermined stored ciphers for each of the predetermined discrete areas to determine if each identifying cipher in each of the predetermined discrete areas matches a corresponding stored cipher for each of the respective predetermined discrete areas; and
determining that the article of clothing is authentic in response to determining that each identifying cipher in each of the predetermined discrete areas matches the corresponding stored cipher for each of the respective predetermined discrete areas; and
wherein the plurality of identifying ciphers encode bits of data, that together comprise a cryptographic private key or digital address operative to access a token uniquely registered on a blockchain, and wherein determining that the article of clothing is authentic comprises accessing the token via the cryptographic private key or digital address.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying ciphers of each of the predetermined discrete areas has a greyscale color, and the greyscale color represents a binary number.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving a scanned image of the machine-readable identifier includes continuously receiving image data from the machine-readable identifier using a camera, and the article of clothing is at least one chosen from an article of apparel and an article of footwear.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the article of clothing includes a location feature to locate each of the predetermined discrete areas in the article of clothing, and the location feature is at least one chosen from a near field communication (NFC)-enabled device and a digitally printed image.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising unlocking a digital collectible from the scanned image of the machine-readable identifier.

6. A method of authenticating an article of clothing, comprising:
providing a machine-readable identifier, wherein the machine-readable identifier is attached to the article of clothing, the machine-readable identifier is representative of an authenticity of the article of clothing attached thereto, the machine-readable identifier includes a plurality of identifying ciphers, each of the plurality of identifying ciphers is disposed in a respective predetermined discrete area of a plurality of predetermined discrete areas of the machine-readable identifier;
receiving a scanned image of the machine-readable identifier to detect the identifying ciphers of each of the predetermined discrete areas;
retrieving a predetermined stored cipher for each of the predetermined discrete areas each corresponding to one of the plurality of predetermined discrete areas;
comparing the identifying ciphers of each of the predetermined discrete areas with the predetermined stored ciphers for each of the predetermined discrete areas to determine if each identifying cipher in each of the predetermined discrete areas matches a corresponding stored cipher for each of the respective predetermined discrete areas; and
determining that the article of clothing is authentic in response to determining that each identifying cipher in each of the predetermined discrete areas matches the corresponding stored cipher for each of the respective predetermined discrete areas; and
wherein the article of clothing is an article of footwear, the article of footwear including an upper and a sole structure attached to the upper, the predetermined discrete areas are a plurality of magnetic zones of the sole structure, the magnetic zones include at least one chosen from a plurality of naturally magnetic particles and a plurality of magnetized particles, the identifying ciphers of each of the predetermined discrete areas is a magnetic flux density value of each of the predetermined discrete areas, the predetermined stored cipher for each of the predetermined discrete areas is a stored value, and the stored value for each of the predetermined discrete areas is compared with the magnetic flux density value of each of the predetermined discrete areas to determine if each magnetic flux density value in each of the predetermined discrete areas matches a corresponding stored value for each of the respective predetermined discrete areas.

7. An article of clothing, comprising:
a machine-readable identifier;
wherein the machine-readable identifier comprises a digitally printed image that includes a plurality of predetermined discrete areas;
wherein the machine-readable identifier includes a plurality of identifying ciphers;
wherein each of the plurality of identifying ciphers is disposed in a respective predetermined discrete area of a plurality of predetermined discrete areas of the machine-readable identifier; and
wherein each of the plurality of identifying ciphers in each of the predetermined discrete areas matches a remotely-stored cipher for each of the respective predetermined discrete areas; and
wherein the article of clothing is an article of footwear, the article of footwear includes an upper and a sole structure attached to the upper, at least one of the predetermined discrete areas is a magnetic zone on the sole structure having a magnetic density flux that is representative of at least one of the plurality of identifying ciphers.

8. The article of clothing of claim 7 , wherein the machine-readable identifier further comprises a logo on the upper.

9. The article of clothing of claim 8 , wherein the logo includes digitally-printed image on the upper, the logo includes conductive ink, and the plurality of identifying ciphers includes a plurality of colors, each color having color values, the color values are grouped in a plurality of predetermined value ranges, and an encoding bit is associated with a respective predetermined value range of the predetermined value ranges.

10. The article of clothing of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the plurality of identifying ciphers is an encoding symbol.

11. The article of clothing of claim 7 , wherein the sole structure includes an insole that is entirely magnetized to prevent bacteria growth in the sole structure.

12. The article of clothing of claim 11 , wherein each of the at least one magnetic zones includes a plurality of randomly-dispersed magnetic particles.

13. The article of clothing of claim 12 , wherein the sole structure comprises a plurality of magnetic zones, each having magnetic density flux values that are different from one another.

14. T

Assignees

• Nike Inc

Inventors

• Rahimizad Nader
• Andon Christopher
• Pham Hien Tommy

Classifications

• A43B3/34

  with electrical or electronic arrangements · CPC title

• G06Q30/0185 Primary

  Product, service or business identity fraud · CPC title

• G06K7/10861

  sensing of data fields affixed to objects or articles, e.g. coded labels (postal sorting B07C3/14, conveying articles B65G47/48) · CPC title

• G06K7/1417

  2D bar codes · CPC title

• G06K7/1443

  locating of the code in an image · CPC title