Digital fingerprinting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12499456-B2
Application number	US-202318481009-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2023
Priority date	Dec 9, 2019
Publication date	Dec 16, 2025
Grant date	Dec 16, 2025

Abstract

A method of authenticating an article of clothing includes providing a machine-readable identifier on an exterior surface of an article of clothing, the machine-readable identifier includes a digitally printed image having a plurality of predefined discrete areas with one or more ciphers. The ciphers include at least one of a symbol, a color, or a geometric shape, and are representative of an authenticity of the article of clothing. The method further includes receiving a scan of the machine-readable identifier to detect the ciphers, processing the scan of the machine-readable identifier to extract the encryption key, accessing a digital token associated with the article of clothing using the extracted encryption key, and authenticating the article of clothing based on authentication of the digital token.

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; receiving a scan of the machine-readable identifier to detect the ciphers at each of the predetermined discrete areas, and wherein a plurality of the ciphers encode an encryption key that is uniquely associated with the article of clothing; processing the scan of the machine-readable identifier to extract the encryption key encoded in the plurality of ciphers; accessing a digital token associated with the article of clothing using the extracted encryption key; and authenticating the article of clothing based on authentication of the digital token.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the machine-readable identifier is a digitally printed image on the article of clothing.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the digitally printed image includes the plurality of predefined discrete areas.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the scan includes continuously capturing image data from the machine-readable identifier using a camera of an interface device.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of identifying ciphers includes a plurality of encoding symbols.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the plurality of encoding symbols comprises a graphical shape.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the graphical shape comprises at least one of a circle, a square, or a triangle.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of identifying ciphers comprise a plurality of colors, each color having color values.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the color values are grouped into a plurality of predefined value ranges, and wherein an encoding bit is associated with each predefined value range.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the scan comprises converting the scan to a grayscale image.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the article of clothing is an article of footwear comprising an upper and a sole structure attached to the upper, and wherein the machine-readable identifier is located on the upper.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the machine-readable identifier comprises a barcode printed on the article of clothing.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital token is a non-fungible token stored on a blockchain.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the blockchain is a private blockchain.

15 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to authenticating the article of clothing, providing access to a database including manufacturing data associated with the article of clothing.

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to authenticating the article of clothing, enabling the use of a software functionality associated with the article of clothing.

17 . A system for authenticating an article of clothing, comprising:
a computer system comprising one or more processors and a memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to: receive a scan of a machine-readable identifier on an exterior surface of the article of clothing, the machine-readable identifier comprising a digitally printed image having a plurality of predefined discrete areas, 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 a plurality of the ciphers encode an encryption key that is uniquely associated with the article of clothing; process the scan of the machine-readable identifier to extract the encryption key encoded in the plurality of ciphers; access a digital token associated with the article of clothing using the extracted encryption key; and authenticate the article of clothing based on authentication of the digital token.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the instructions are further executable to continuously capture image data from the machine-readable identifier using a camera of an interface device.

19 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the digital token is a non-fungible token stored on a private blockchain.

20 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the instructions are further executable to, in response to authenticating the article of clothing, provide access to a database including manufacturing data associated with the article of clothing.

Assignees

• Nike Inc

Inventors

• Rahimizad Nader
• Andon Christopher
• Pham Hien Tommy

Classifications

• A43B3/34

  with electrical or electronic arrangements · CPC title

• H04L9/088

  Usage controlling of secret information, e.g. techniques for restricting cryptographic keys to pre-authorized uses, different access levels, validity of crypto-period, different key- or password length, or different strong and weak cryptographic algorithms (network architectures or network communication protocols for using time-dependent keys in a packet data network H04L63/068) · CPC title

• G06Q10/087

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G06K2007/10504

  Data fields affixed to objects or articles · CPC title

• G06K19/145

  at least one of the further markings being adapted for galvanic or wireless sensing, e.g. an RFID tag with both a wireless and an optical interface or memory, or a contact type smart card with ISO 7816 contacts and an optical interface or memory · CPC title