ITPI20090039A1 - THIS INVENTION CONCERNS A SYSTEM OF CONTROL OF THE ORIGIN OF A PRODUCT BY THE PURCHASER. THE VERIFICATION IS BASED ON THE EXISTENCE OF A BODY WHO IS THE MANUFACTURER OR THE CONSUMER FROM POSSIBLE COUNTERFEITING OF THE PRODUCT. - Google Patents

Description

"VERISPRING: VERIFICATION OF THE ORIGINALITY OF A PRODUCT"

DESCRIPTION

Scope of the invention

The present invention relates to a system for controlling the origin of a product by the purchaser. Verification is based on the existence of a body that protects both the producer and the consumer from possible counterfeits of the product.

The problem of counterfeiting is a known problem and over time numerous systems have been proposed to ensure that a product reaches the consumer intact in its entirety, and also that it is not falsifiable.

The invention consists in introducing a unique identifier for each single product or product that the final purchaser can check with a specific organization that keeps track of the association between identifiers and products. The identifier is protected so that it is revealed only to those who want to verify it and it is also unknown to the manufacturer who applies it.

The identifier can be used only once after which it will be considered no longer valid.

The main application of the invention is the verification of products whose trademark is at risk of counterfeiting, but the scheme can also be used in other areas where it is necessary to guarantee the two extremes of a process (for example in a laboratory analysis).

Description of the technical problem

There are numerous systems to protect the originality of a product, often based on the ability to produce unique identifiers that are substantially impossible to reproduce if you do not have the algorithm that generated them, as happens in the case of credit cards.

The serial number of a product also performs a similar function and some manufacturers use it to check that a customer has it.

The presence of these codes in such a way that they are accessible to all makes it difficult to guarantee that the product is not counterfeit, since if the code is readable it can be copied and any identification verification system will only validate the code. Furthermore, even if the serial number were made inaccessible by the packaging, the verification of the originality would still be the responsibility of the manufacturer who might be interested in not recognizing the paternity.

The presence of the univocal unambiguous identifier in clear text does not guarantee the recipient of paternity, nor does it ensure that whoever is called is who he in fact claims to be since there is no information that the customer can receive to guarantee the interlocutor.

Summary of the invention

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a verification process that simultaneously protects the producer of a commodity and its consumer from the possibility of altering a product during the distribution process of the same. The verification system allows to anticipate the moment in which it is possible to detect possible defects in the distribution system that may have altered the condition for which the product received is not the one originally distributed. The protection system also enjoys the property of non-repudiation, ie the manufacturer, once the originality has been ascertained, will not be able to claim that one of its products is actually counterfeit in the event that its quality is contested.

The verification system consists of the following elements:

- an algorithm for the production of codes (code means a sequence of characters or symbols) which are difficult to reproduce and which are

distribute in a sparse value space (ie where it is unlikely to guess a valid code); each code is composed of two parts, the first of which will be unique and used for the first phase of the verification

- a protected database which maintains the association between each code and the corresponding product, and which also keeps track of the codes already canceled after verification

- a communication system that allows automatic verification, such as the cellular network or the Web. The communication system must offer a reasonable identification of who wants to carry out the verification in order to protect the producer (for example, it is not considered a site Web where you register an adequate identification system)

- a set of codes printed on a medium that keeps them hidden (such as the scratch off system used in scratch cards) and that are unusable if removed from the product (for example by means of suitable glues such as those used in security seals) ; each hidden code will also be annotated with a visible serial number to allow for ancillary checks during the verification process

- an organization responsible for issuing and verifying the codes

The verification system works as follows:

the manufacturer requests a certain number of codes from the organization indicating the product they will be affixed to;

- the organization receives the request and provides the exact number of codes noting the association between code and product (N.B. the organization is the only one to have the association between the serial number of a code, code and product, it is its takes care to ensure that the information remains secret);

- the manufacturer receives the codes and affixes them on the product under his own responsibility, it is the responsibility of the organization to clearly indicate which product the delivered codes refer to;

- the product is distributed through a distribution network that brings it into the hands of the final consumer;

- the consumer discovers the hidden code (which is made up of two parts) and using the communication network (for example an SMS message) sends the first part of the code to an address (i.e. the identifier in the communication network of the managed system from the organization), receives in the shortest possible time a response from the organization with the second part of the code and the associated product or in any case information on the status of the verification.

Verification includes the following possible cases:

- the code sent by the user is valid but already used: the system signals that the code is not valid and invites the customer to report the anomaly; the organization notifies the manufacturer of the incident

- the code is not recognized: the system notifies the invalid code

- the code is valid but the second part in the user's possession does not correspond to the one sent by the organization, or the product does not correspond to the one in possession; the customer knows that the product is not original

- the code is valid and the product is the one indicated by the organization: the product is original

The means by which the verification takes place have been reported by way of example. It is understood that the expressions or terminology used are purely for descriptive and non-limiting purposes.

Claims (1)

CLAIMS 1. A device for verifying the originality consisting of: to. a code generation device consisting of two parts whose first part is unique b. a database kept by a specific organization containing the associations between codes and a product c. a communication system through a network that provides for the identification of the communicator d. a physical medium on which the codes to be attached to the product are printed, and such that it is damaged or left traces in case of attempted removal from the product, and capable of hiding the code that can only be revealed by modifying the support itself 2. a device, according to claim 1, in which the generated codes are printed, according to the criteria of claim 1-d, and sent to the manufacturer for affixing on its products 3. a device, according to claim 1, which receives a message from the communication network with the first part of the code and responds: to. with the second part and the associated product if the code is valid; the code is simultaneously canceled b. with the indication that the code is not valid if it has already been used or it is not valid