Object verification system and method

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of verifying the authenticity of an object which has a plurality of spaced substantially identically shaped security regions of magnetic material thereon with the magnetic regions each having a measurable unique randomly variable characteristic and each including first and second non-parallel edges displaced from one another, the method comprising:

generating an electrical signal associated with respective ones of the first edges and indicative of the unique characteristic sensed from a first orientation of each of respective ones of the regions;

generating an electrical signal associated with respective of the second edges and indicative of the unique characteristic sensed from a second orientation of each of respective ones of the regions;

processing the electrical signals so as to form a representation of selected of the characteristics;

retrieving a prestored representation of a set of previously generated electrical signals associated with unique characteristics of at least some of the regions;

comparing the formed representation of the characteristics to the retrieved prestored representation; and

indicating the result of the comparison.

2. A method as in claim 1 including saturating the magnetic regions with a magnetic field of substantially constant intensity.

3. A method as in claim 1 including retrieving the prestored representation from a selected location on the object.

4. A method as in claim 1 including retrieving the prestored representation from a selected location off of the object.

5. A method as in claim 1 including processing the detected randomly variable characteristics and forming a present composite representation thereof based on detected characteristics from at least two different regions.

6. A method as in claim 5 including comparing the present representation with the prestored representation.

7. A method as in claim 6 including indicating that the object is authentic where the comparing step discloses a correspondence between the two representations.

8. A method as in claim 2 with the detecting step including forming the representation subsequent to the saturating step.

9. A method as in claim 2 with the first and second edges being substantially linear.

10. A method as in claim 2 with the processing step including detecting a plurality of generated peak values with each peak value associated with a respective edge of a respective magnetic region and with some of the peak values associated with different magnetic regions.

11. A method as in claim 10 including forming a composite representation from a selected plurality of peak detected values, at least some of which are associated with different magnetic regions.

12. A method as in claim 2 with each magnetic region being diamond shaped.

13. An apparatus for verifying the authenticity of an object which carries a plurality of spaced substantially identically shaped magnetic security regions thereon with each region having a measurable unique, randomly variable characteristic and with selected of the regions having at least first and second non-parallel edges selectively oriented with respect to one another, the apparatus comprising:

means for detecting and generating first and second electrical signals in response to first and second selectively oriented edges of at least some of the spaced magnetic security regions with each said pair of electrical signals corresponding to a representation of the unique characteristic of the respective region;

means for retrieving a prestored, composite representation of the unique magnetic characteristics of at least some of the regions associated with the object;

means for forming an object identifying characteristic from at least one of said electrical signals; and

means for comparing said formed characteristic of the magnetic regions to said retrieved prestored representation and for indicating a result of the comparison.

14. An apparatus as in claim 13 with said detecting means including:

means for sensing peak values of electrical signals generated from the detected magnetic security regions.

15. An apparatus as in claim 13 with said detecting means including means for processing the sensed characteristics and for selecting a plurality of peak values for forming a composite representation thereof.

16. An apparatus as in claim 13 wherein said retrieving means includes means for sensing said prestored representation at a selected location on the object.

17. An apparatus as in claim 13 wherein said retrieving means includes means for sensing said prestored representation at a selected location remote from the object.

18. An apparatus as in claim 13 including means for processing said detected characteristics and for forming a present composite representation thereof based on peak values of said detected characteristics from at least two different magnetic regions.

19. An apparatus as in claim 18 with said processing means including means for accumulating a plurality of digital values corresponding to peak values of said characteristics from at least two different regions.

20. An apparatus as in claim 13 with said comparing means including means for testing for a correspondence between said detected characteristics and said prestored representation.

21. An apparatus as in claim 20 including means for generating a selected indicium in response to said testing means finding said correspondence between said detected characteristics and said prestored representation.

22. An apparatus as in claim 13 including means for converting the detected magnetic characteristics to a time varying electrical signal in response to relative motion between the magnetic regions and said detecting means.

23. An apparatus as in claim 22 including means for collecting a sequence of peak values of said electrical signal from at least two different magnetic regions as well as means for forming an identifying profile for the object.

24. An apparatus as in claim 22 including means for saturating the magnetic regions and including means for collecting a sequence of saturation peak values from said spaced apart regions as well as means for forming an identifying profile for the object.

25. An apparatus as in claim 24 including means for comparing said profile to said prestored representation and means for indicating a correspondence therebetween.

26. An apparatus as in claim 22 including means for selecting a plurality of peak values of said electrical signal from at least two spaced apart regions and for forming a composite representation based on said selected plurality of peak values.

27. An apparatus as in claim 26 wherein said means for retrieving includes means for optically sensing a representation carried on the

28. An apparatus as in claim 27 with said optically sensing means including a bar code reader.

29. A method of making a verifiable object comprising:

providing a base portion;

providing a plurality of spaced apart, substantially identically shaped regions of magnetic material on the base portion with each region having a measurable unique, randomly variable characteristic and with selected of the regions having at least first and second non-parallel edges selectively oriented with respect to one another;

detecting first and second magnetic characteristics from first and second different orientations with respect to each of at least two spaced apart regions;

forming a unique representation of the detected characteristics; and

storing the unique representation for later reference.

30. A method as in claim 29 including prior to the detecting step, saturating the spaced apart magnetic regions.

31. A method as in claim 29 including providing a flexible base portion.

32. A method as in claim 29 including providing a base portion transmissive of radiant

33. A method as in claim 29 including providing a base portion opaque to radiant energy.

34. A method as in claim 28 including depositing the regions of magnetic material on the base portion in the form of spaced apart diamonds.

35. A method as in claim 29 including printing the spaced apart magnetic regions in magnetic ink.

36. A method as in claim 35 including recording the unique representation in optically readable form on the object.

37. A method as in claim 36 including sensing selected peak values of said detected magnetic characteristics and forming the unique representation based on peak values from at least two different spaced apart regions.

38. A method of making a verifiable object comprising:

providing a base portion;

providing a plurality of spaced apart, substantially identically shaped regions of magnetic material on the base portion with each region having measurable unique, randomly variable characteristic;

detecting first and second magnetic characteristics from first and second non-parallel orientations of each of at least two selected, spaced apart regions;

forming a unique representation of the detected characteristics; and

storing the unique representation for later reference.

39. A verifiable object comprising:

a base portion; and

a plurality of spaced apart, substantially identically shaped regions of magnetic material on said base portion, said regions each including a unique, random magnetic characteristic detectable from, two non-parallel orientations with a preformed representation of said characteristics carried on said object.

40. An object as in claim 39 with said regions spaced equidistant from one another.

41. An object as in claim 39 with said regions formed of diamond shaped magnetic material.

42. An object as in claim 41 with said magnetic material deposited as magnetic ink.

43. An object as in claim 41 with said preformed representation formed of machine readable optical symbols carried by the object.

44. An object as in claim 43 with said machine readable symbols interposed, at least in part, between at least some of said magnetic regions.

45. An object as in claim 39 with said regions of magnetic material all having essentially the same coercivity.

46. An object as in claim 39 with said regions formed spaced-apart in a continuously extending magnetic region.

47. A verifiable object comprising:

a base portion; and

a plurality of spaced apart, diamond shaped regions of magnetic material on said base portion, said regions each including a magnetic characteristic detectable from two different orientations with a preformed representation of said characteristics carried on said object

with each said orientation corresponding to a respective selected first and second edge of one of said diamond shaped magnetic regions.

48. An object as in claim 47 with said first and said second characteristics being interrelated such that an alteration of one of said characteristics affects the other.

49. A method of verifying the authenticity of an object carrying a plurality of spaced apart, magnetic security regions with each region having a measurable unique, randomly variable characteristic comprising:

passing the magnetic regions through an essentially constant magnetic field;

sensing, from two non-parallel orientations, a magnetic characteristic of each member of the plurality;

selecting a predetermined set of values corresponding to sensed magnetic characteristics from various members of the plurality;

forming a representative profile based on the set of values; and

storing the representative profile for later use.

50. A method as in claim 49 including selecting a set of peak values.

51. A method as in claim 49 with the forming step including selecting a plurality of peak sensed values from said first and second orientations.

52. A validator apparatus, usable to verify the authenticity of a selected object, carrying a plurality of spaced apart magnetic security regions with each region having a measurable unique, randomly variable characteristic, the validator comprising:

means for generating electrical signals proportional to first and second non-parallel oriented magnetic characteristics of each of the spaced apart regions;

means for forming a composite profile based on at least part of one said electrical signals;

means for retrieving a prestored composite profile based on one or more previously generated electrical signals;

means for comparing the formed composite profile with the retrieved, prestored composite profile; and

means for indicating the results of said comparison.

53. A method of forming a representative profile of an object carrying a plurality of spaced apart, substantially identically shaped magnetic security regions each having a unique, random magnetic characteristic detectable from first and second orientations, the method comprising:

providing the magnetic regions;

detecting the characteristics of each of the magnetic regions from two non-parallel orientations st least once; and

collecting at least a first plurality of spaced apart peak values of selected of said detected magnetic characteristics.

54. An authenticated object comprising:

a substrate;

a plurality of spaced apart, substantially identically shaped magnetic regions on said substrate, each said region having first and second delineating portions with said first portion having a selected non-parallel orientation with respect to a respective said second portion, elated first and second electrical signals being generatable in response to detection thereof such that modification of said region will effect at least one of said signals; and

a representation of at least part of one of said signals carried by said substrate.

55. An authenticatable object comprising:

a substrate; and

a plurality of spaced apart, substantially identically shaped magnetic security regions on said substrate, each said region having at least first and second delineating edges with said edges intersecting at an angle selected from a range between 35 degrees and 45 degrees with related first and second electrical signals being generatable in response to detection thereof such that modification of said region will effect at least one of said signals.

56. An authenticatable object as in claim 55 with said edges being substantially linear.

57. An authenticable object as in claim 55 with each said region being diamond shaped.

58. An authenticatable object as in claim 55 with said regions defined in a continuously extending, recordable magnetic region.

59. An apparatus for verifying the authenticity of an object with a base portion that carries a plurality of spaced-apart magnetic regions, each of the regions includes a unique, randomly variable magnetic characteristic detectable from two non-parallel orientations with a preformed magnetic characteristic identifier carried on the base portion, the apparatus comprising:

first means for detecting the magnetic characteristic of each member of a selected group of regions carried on the same base portion from a first orientation and for generating a first electrical signal corresponding thereto;

second means for detecting the magnetic characteristic of each member of a selected group of regions carried on the same base portion from a second orientation and for generating a second electrical signal corresponding thereto with said first and said second electrical signals each indicative of the same magnetic characteristic of the sample region;

means for processing said first and said second electrical signals to generate a magnetic characteristic identifier based on relative peak values of said signals;

means for sensing the preformed magnetic characteristic identifier carried on the base portion; and

means for comparing said sensed, preformed characteristic identifier to said generated characteristic identifier.

60. An apparatus as in claim 59 with said first orientation of said first detecting means and said second orientation of said second detecting means oriented at a selected angle with respect to one another.

61. A method of verifying the authenticity of an object which has a plurality of spaced apart security regions of magnetic material formed of randomly dispersed and randomly oriented magnetic particles thereon with each region having a unique, detectable magnetic characteristic resulting therefrom and with each region containing at least two substantially similar surfaces of incidence displaced from one another at a predetermined angle, the method comprising:

generating an electrical signal associated with the magnetic characteristic as detected at the first surface of incidence of each of at least some of the regions;

generating an electrical signal associated with the magnetic characteristic as detected at the second surface of incidence of each of at least some of the regions;

processing relative peak values of the electrical signals so as to form a representation of the detected magnetic characteristic based on selected slope directions.

62. An apparatus for verifying the authenicity of an object which has a plurality of spaced apart substantially identically shaped security regions thereon, each security region formed of a plurality of randomly oriented magnetic particles and with each security region having a unique, detectable magnetic characteristic resulting therefrom, each region having first and second substantially similar detection edges oriented at a selected angle with respect to one another, the apparatus comprising:

means for generating a first electrical signal representative of the magnetic characteristic of one or more of the regions sensed with respect to the first detection edge of each respective region;

means for generating a second electrical signal representative of the magnetic characteristic of the one or more regions sensed with respect to the second detection edge of each region; and

means for processing relative peak amplitudes of said first and said second electrical signals.

63. An apparatus as in claim 62 with said processing means including means for forming a representation of the magnetic characteristics of the one or more regions based on relative slopes between selected peak signal values.

64. An apparatus as in claim 63 with the object carrying a representation of the magnetic security characteristic recorded thereon, the apparatus further including means for sensing said recorded representation.

65. An apparatus as in claim 64 including means for comparing said sensed representation to said formed representation.