WO2018126031A1

WO2018126031A1 - Secure financial transactions with smartphone cameras using glitter displays on physical payment mediums

Info

Publication number: WO2018126031A1
Application number: PCT/US2017/068748
Authority: WO
Inventors: Robert Bryan PLESS; Eric Leuthardt
Original assignee: Pless Robert Bryan; Eric Leuthardt
Priority date: 2016-12-30
Filing date: 2017-12-28
Publication date: 2018-07-05

Abstract

A method and system is provided for authenticating a credit card or other financial instrument based on measuring the optical properties of a glitter sticker or glitter markings. When the card is presented, the pattern of bright reflections from the glitter can be measured by a mobile phone or other portable image capture device. An algorithm is described that matches the pattern against a database which may be stored on the mobile device or on a remote server. This match may be used, for example, to authenticate or both identify and authenticate a physical object such as a credit card for secure financial transactions, between buyers and sellers that are in the same space or distant from each other.

Description

SECURE FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS WITH SMARTPHONE CAMERAS USING GLITTER DISPLAYS ON PHYSICAL PAYMENT MEDIUMS

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Application Serial No. 62/440,947, filed on December 30, 2016. The disclosure of the prior application is considered part of the disclosure of this application, and is incorporated in its entirety into this application.

BACKGROUND

Field of the Technology:

This technology relates to a method of, and a system for financial transactions by digitally verifying a credit card or other tangible object. A few references detail technologies applicable in connection with this work.

Reference WO 2007087498 A2 discloses the measurement of directional albedo of an identity card to generate a unique identifier that can be queried by a mobile phone. US Patent 6,584,214 discloses how three-dimensional characteristics of a complex physical structure can be used to generate a unique identifier useful in cryptography, so that the structure can be identified with less information than is required to reproduce the structure.

Several patent documents disclose methods to uniquely identified a physical object by reference to its inherent physical characteristics, such microscopic grain structure, optical characteristics, or structural characteristics. Examples include

US20050190914, US20050210255, US20030035564, US20050262350, WO0065541, WO03030105 (corresponding, e.g., to US applications 60/317,665, and 60/394,914), and WO03087991 (corresponding, e.g., to 60/371,073). Reference WO 2007087498 A2 discloses the measurement of directional albedo of an identity card to generate a unique identifier that can be queried by a mobile phone. US Patent 6,584,214 discloses how three-dimensional characteristics of a complex physical structure can be used to generate a unique identifier useful in cryptography, so that the structure can be identified with less information than is required to reproduce the structure.

Patent WO 2015121841A1 discloses an authentication that includes an authentication device created by attaching glitter to a support, a calibration step requiring at least two images, and an authentication step requiring at least two images taken with different lighting conditions.

Prior art is limited in several ways. Initial recording and measuring the physical structure of an object may be costly and expensive in terms of time, materials, equipment and data. Capturing the signature of the physical object at the time of verification may require specialized equipment. When the observed signature used for verification is the same in each use, the verification process is vulnerable to man in the middle attacks. Therefore, there is a need for additional approaches that make it simple and economical to validate a physical object such as a credit card. The ability to authenticate or identify an object based on a single image, or set of images, is especially important to facilitate, for example, credit card transactions.

SUMMARY

The technology capitalizes on the imaging nature of glitter. Specifically, that one piece of physical glitter creates numerous distinct patterns of reflected light that are all uniquely associated with that physical patch of glitter. As a result, each patch has a very high number of unique identifiers that can be used in conjunction with a database of these identifiers to ensure safe secure validated financial transactions via a camera in a mobile phone. Thus, either any single pattern of the many patch specific reflectance patterns can be used for a validation, or multiple patterns taken from the patch specific reflectance patterns to even more fully ensure safe validation of a financial transaction. In one embodiment of the present technology, a system for verifying the identity of a credit card is based on a glitter sticker attached to the card. Alternatively, the glitter can be embedded on the card design itself. The method includes a calibration process to measure the orientation of each facet of glitter on the sticker/marking. When an additional picture is taken of the glitter, either in sunlight or with a flash, a method is provided to validate that the pattern of bright reflections is consistent with the orientations of the glitter pieces.

In another embodiment of the present technology, the observed pattern of bright reflections is compared against a database of known sparkle stickers/markings, and a method is provided to identify which sticker or stickers is consistent with these measurements.

In another embodiment of the present technology, the pattern of sparkles is sent to a central server or computer system that keeps records of previous verification requests. If the same pattern of sparkles is used multiple times, this server can request that the image of the card be taken from a different viewpoint to create a signature that has not previously been used. In another embodiment of the present technology, a series of two or more pictures are taken of the glitter pattern. Since these are separated in time, either due to

micromotion from a hand holding the picture taking device (e.g. smart phone), or because it is perturbed by features in the picture taking device (vibration), or because there are instructions to move the phone for each picture, several different reflection patterns are recorded from the physical glitter partem. This series of glitter patterns can be references against a database of previously stored reflection patterns for a given glitter display. When these are matched a validation is accomplished enabling further financial transactions. The requirement for multiple images reduce the likelihood for a single photo copy of the glitter enabling false use of the pattern.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 shows a schematic illustrating the surface normal for an example close-up image of a glitter sticker. The direction that is perpendicular to each flat, reflective glitter facet is shown with a bold arrow.

Fig.2 is a flowchart disclosing an exemplar technique to determine the orientations of every piece of glitter on a glitter sticker.

Fig. 3 shows two exemplar embodiments of the shape, number, and placement of stickers on a credit card. Fig. 4 is a flowchart disclosing an exemplar technique by which the identity of a card containing a glitter sticker is determined.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example pattem of bright reflections that occur for glitter pieces that exactly bounce light from the light towards a smartphone camera.

Fig. 6 illustrates the optical property that is used for verification.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart disclosing an exemplar process where the verification process is repeated if the bright reflection pattern duplicates an earlier verification attempt.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For convenience of explanation, the following specification focuses on credit cards. However, it should be understand that the principles herein could be used with any tangible article (e.g. ATM cards, identification cards, legal documents, etc.). Also the glitter pattern could be affixed to other non-standard items that still enable a financial purchase transaction. This could include a key fob, wearables (such as watches, pendants, bracelets, glasses), clothing, tattoos, and piercings. Generally speaking, a glitter display can be placed on a sticker that can be affixed to any object, or glitter display can be etched onto a reflective surface that can be used for the specific glitter display. A glitter sticker or pattem is comprised of many small, flat, highly reflective facets, each of which generally is between 0.1mm and 3 mm in sides. That said, the facets can be larger and smaller than this depending on the specific use case scenario.

Larger facets may be useful for larger identification scenarios such as a car, and smaller facet sizes may be useful when microscale specificity is needed such as perhaps hidden identifier on the card or making counterfeit resistant currency. Each facet has a particular orientation, that can be described by the direction is

perpendicular to the plane of the facet. Fig.1 shows a schematic diagram of a close up of a glitter sticker, with bold arrows illustrating the orientation of each piece. Glitter is most often made using a random process, so the orientation of each facet is different from nearby facets, and the overall pattem of the orientation of facets of one glitter sticker/display differs from others. This randomness is useful because it creates a unique pattern on each glitter sticker/display. Additionally, this randomness is useful because it would be exceedingly difficult to exactly copy a pattern of glitter facet orientations.

Fig. 2 shows an exemplary process through which the glitter facet orientations of a particular glitter sticker can be determined. A camera takes many images of the glitter in a controlled environment which has lighting conditions that can be varied. A camera takes many images of the glitter sticker under a variety of different lighting conditions. An algorithm solves for the orientation of each glitter facet that is consistent with the variation in the images of the glitter sticker. Several approaches to this calibration process in the literature provide exemplary algorithms, including methods that take images of glitter when illuminated by different patterns on a nearby screen. Showing the set of two dimension discrete cosine transform patterns on the screen as the illumination pattern is detailed in [Zhang, Zhengdong, Phillip Isola, and Edward H. Adelson. "SparkleVision: Seeing the world through random specular microfacets." Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops. 2015], and showing a set of lines sweeping across the screen is detailed in [Stylianou, Abigail, and Robert Pless. "SparkleGeometry: Glitter Imaging for 3D Point Tracking." Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops. 2016]. Additional exemplary processes to vary the lighting include: using colored illumination (such as color gradients) and using the apparent color of the glitter pieces to constrain their orientation, illuminating the glitter with polarized light and using a polarization sensitive camera.

One possible representation of these orientations is to represent the surface normal of each glitter facet as a unit-length 3D vector. This representation is stored in a database comprising these surface normal and relative position for each facet of each sticker. In another exemplary implementation, the glitter facets may be so small that more that each pixel of the camera is viewing more than one facet. In this case the database may have several surface normal for each possible facet position.

Additionally, when this sticker is attached to a credit card, the information about the credit card is associated to the identity of the sticker. It is important to note that each glitter sticker/display creates a high number of unique patterns that are particular to that sticker display. This provides substantial security and flexibility in the sticker/display being identified at a later time by camera in a cell phone. When a authentification is required, the camera most only recognize one of the glitter reflectance pattems. Thus, when this gives a substantial degree of flexibility for the camera to collect and recognize the pattern at the time of the interaction. Also for added security more than one pattern could be required to be recorded by the camera. Thus. It would be difficult for a identity theft by simply taking a picture of the glitter an attempting to use that image as a validation. Further, if identity theft occurs from a subset a images, given the very high number of specific patterns associated with a glitter sitck/display, the one in particular that were used for theft could be deleted from the database of validating images thus still retained the card and its utility for payments in the future. As an example, if a glitter sticker has ten thousand unique reflectance pattems and all can be used to validate a financial transaction, and if an identity theft occurs using three specific patterns associate with that card, then once the false transaction is identified the response would be to delete those three specific patterns. The owner of the card would not have to go through the inconvenience of getting a new card or changing their credit card number. Indeed credit cards with this method may not require numbers on the cards, providing further levels of security.

Fig. 3 shows two of many possible ways that a glitter sticker could be attached to a card, including different locations and shapes. These shapes may be designed to avoid other important information currently on the card. The glitter stickers may additionally be augmented with fiducial markers, QR-codes, etc. that appear in the image and simplify the process of detecting the glitter and characterize the relative positions of the brightest reflections. Additionally, the glitter stickers may be augmented by barcodes, QR-codes, etc. whose purpose is to encode the identity of the glitter sticker, or to carry additional information useful for the algorithm.

Fig. 4 shows an exemplary process that takes places when the card is being digitally identified or validated. In one use case, a buyer gives their credit card to a seller. The seller captures an image, or images, of the credit card. This image can be captured by a smartphone or other mobile or fixed device with a camera. The image may be captured outdoors in sunlight, or outdoor with a flash on a cloudy day, or indoors with a flash. The brightest reflections of the glitter sticker create a pattern. As shown in Fig. 5, that pattern corresponds to the set of glitter facets that directly bounce light from the light source to the camera.

The pattern of brightest reflections is compared with the database. This database could be local or in the cloud. To verify a single card, the algorithm looks up the sticker associated with that card and then the surface normal map for that sticker. The algorithm determines if the set of observed bright reflections is consistent with the orientation of those glitter facets. Fig. 6 shows the optical geometry of this test. Each glitter facet must have a surface normal whose direction lies between the direction to the light and the direction to the camera. This is a simple test, if the direction to the light and the camera is known. If every bright-reflection in the pattern is consistent with this geometry, and there are no dark facets that are consistent with this geometry, then this pattern is consistent with the surface normal map of that sticker and the associated card. The algorithm may also include tolerance for some mismatches. Or it can require multiple matches for authentication of a card.

The relative position of the light and the camera are usually not known. In this case, it is necessary for the algorithm to determine if any relative position of the light and camera is consistent with the pattern. This can be simplified with standard techniques if fiducial markers are shown on the card. This can also be simplified using algorithms from [Stylianou, Abigail, and Robert Pless. "SparkleGeometry: Glitter Imaging for 3D Point Tracking." Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops. 2016] to solve for the position of the light source. This can also be simplified if it is assumed that the light source is very far away from the card, as might be the case when using this authentication system outdoors in sunlight. Exemplary implementations of this algorithm may use the fiducial markers on the card to solve for the relative position of the camera and the glitter sticker.

This verification that the image of the glitter sticker/display is consistent with the surface normal maps serves as the authentication of the card. The pattern of brightest reflections of the glitter sticker depends on the orientation of the card, the position of the camera and the position of the light. Therefore, there are many possible patterns that are consistent with the surface normal map of a glitter sticker/display. One possible security weakness in general authentication schemes is that the authentication pattern can be stolen and re-used. Fig. 7 shows an exemplary process to counteract this weakness. If it is detected that a signature has been used more than once, the system can ask for a new image to be taken. In the case of a hand-held phone and card, that new image is very likely to show a different partem of brightest reflections. Therefore this new image can be authenticated without the risk of re-using a pattern.

As shorthand, we use the term seller as the party that would like to authenticate a credit card, and the buyer as the party who has possession of the credit card. In one use case, the buyer and seller are in close physical proximity and the buyer uses their own cell phone to take a picture of the seller's credit card, and this image is used for authentication.

In another possible use case, this system can be executed remotely, where the seller who wants to authenticate a credit card and they buyer are not in the same location. In this case, the buyer may use the buyers own smart phone to take a picture of the buyers credit card. This image can be sent through any standard electronic transmission including e-mail, text, sharing via a cloud repository or special purpose software from the buyer to the seller who can then use the image in the authentication step. The image may also be sent directly to a remote server or cloud based authentication service which then communicates information to the seller.

For exposition, the description above was written in terms of verifying the identity of a single card. The process can be extended to automatically determine the identity of a card by comparing the brightest reflection patterns with all known glitter stickers/displays in the database.

Additionally, for exposition, the description above was written in terms of verifying the identity of a single card using a mobile image capture and computing device such as a smart phone. The process can be easily extended so that analysis of the image is done either on the mobile device or on a remote computing server, or on a cloud based computing server. Additionally, the process can be easily extended to use GPU (graphics processing unit) technology to make the computation faster.

Additionally, for exposition, the description above was written for reflective glitter. Another form of glitter is iridescent glitter, which has the effect that incoming white light rays are reflected in a rainbow pattern, so that one glitter facet may appear different colors when illuminated from different directions. The same process and methods described can be used for iridescent glitter using slight modifications to model that facets reflect different colors in different directions.

This method of glitter validation through a camera can be used to enable cameras to "swipe" credit cards to validate for payments. There are additional possible applications of this technology. These would include specific photo validation of legal documents, financial documents, which require high level of specificity and security. This approach of affixing a glitter sticker to objects could enable no objects other than credit cards be used for financial validation. A calibrated glitter sticker could be affixed to a key fob, wearable items such as bracelets, pendants, watches, and clothing, and piercings. Additionally a glitter stick could be placed on a car for rapid payment models (toll booths).

Another variation on this method would that during the calibration phase in which the photo/video imaging of the glitter display is stored locally on the mobile phone. This recording can then be played back, or segments of the recording can be played back, by the screen of the phone (buyer) to be received by a camera of another phone (seller). In essence this would be "virtual glitter."

The state of the art has progressed to the point where there is little distinction left between hardware, software, and/or firmware implementations of aspects of systems; the use of hardware, software, and/or firmware is generally (but not always, in that in certain contexts the choice between hardware and software can become significant) a design choice representing cost vs. efficiency tradeoffs. There are various vehicles by which processes and/or systems and/or other technologies described herein can be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/or firmware), and that the preferred vehicle will vary with the context in which the processes and/or systems and/or other technologies are deployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardware and/or firmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly software implementation; or, yet again alternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Hence, there are several possible vehicles by which the processes and/or devices and/or other technologies described herein can be effected, none of which is inherently superior to the other in that any vehicle to be utilized is a choice dependent upon the context in which the vehicle will be deployed and the specific concerns (e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability) of the implementer, any of which may vary. Those skilled in the art will recognize that optical aspects of implementations will typically employ optically- oriented hardware, software, and or firmware.

In some implementations described herein, logic and similar implementations can include software or other control structures. Electronic circuitry, for example, may have one or more paths of electrical current constructed and arranged to implement various functions as described herein. In some implementations, one or more media can be configured to bear a device-detectable implementation when such media hold or transmit a device detectable instructions operable to perform as described herein. In some variants, for example, implementations can include an update or modification of existing software or firmware, or of gate arrays or programmable hardware, such as by performing a reception of or a transmission of one or more instructions in relation to one or more operations described herein. Alternatively or additionally, in some variants, an implementation can include special-purpose hardware, software, firmware components, and/or general-purpose components executing or otherwise invoking special-purpose components. Specifications or other implementations can be transmitted by one or more instances of tangible transmission media as described herein, optionally by packet transmission or otherwise by passing through distributed media at various times.

Alternatively or additionally, implementations may include executing a special- purpose instruction sequence or otherwise invoking circuitry for enabling, triggering, coordinating, requesting, or otherwise causing one or more occurrences of any functional operations described above. In some variants, operational or other logical descriptions herein may be expressed directly as source code and compiled or otherwise invoked as an executable instruction sequence. In some contexts, for example, C++ or other code sequences can be compiled directly or otherwise implemented in high-level descriptor languages (e.g., a logic-synthesizable language, a hardware description language, a hardware design simulation, and/or other such similar mode(s) of expression). Alternatively or additionally, some or all of the logical expression may be manifested as a Verilog-type hardware description or other circuitry model before physical implementation in hardware, especially for basic operations or timing-critical applications. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to obtain, configure, and optimize suitable transmission or computational elements, material supplies, actuators, or other common structures in light of these teachings. The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments of the devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understood by those within the art that each function and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment, several portions of the subject matter described herein can be implemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or other integrated formats. However, some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described herein applies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium used to actually carry out the distribution.

In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that the various embodiments described herein can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by various types of electro-mechanical systems having a wide range of electrical components such as hardware, software, firmware, and/or virtually any combination thereof and a wide range of components that may impart mechanical force or motion such as rigid bodies, spring or torsional bodies, hydraulics, electro-magnetically actuated devices, and/or virtually any combination thereof. Consequently, as used herein "electromechanical system" includes, but is not limited to, electrical circuitry operably coupled with a transducer (e.g., an actuator, a motor, a piezoelectric crystal, a Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS), etc.), electrical circuitry having at least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one application specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry forming a general purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g., a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which at least partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein, or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at least partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein), electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of memory (e.g., random access, flash, read only, etc.)), electrical circuitry forming a communications device (e.g., a modem, communications switch, optical-electrical equipment, etc.), and/or any non-electrical analog thereto, such as optical or other analogs. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that examples of electro-mechanical systems include but are not limited to a variety of consumer electronics systems, medical devices, as well as other systems such as motorized transport systems, factory automation systems, security systems, and/or

communication/computing systems. Those skilled in the art will recognize that electro-mechanical as used herein is not necessarily limited to a system that has both electrical and mechanical actuation except as context may dictate otherwise.

In a general sense, the various aspects described herein can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, and/or any combination thereof and can be viewed as being composed of various types of "electrical circuitry." Consequently, as used herein "electrical circuitry" includes, but is not limited to, electrical circuitry having at least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one application specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry forming a general purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g., a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which at least partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein, or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at least partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein), electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of memory (e.g., random access, flash, read only, etc.)), and/or electrical circuitry forming a communications device (e.g., a modem, communications switch, optical- electrical equipment, etc.). The subject matter described herein can be implemented in an analog or digital fashion or some combination thereof.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that at least a portion of the systems and/or processes described herein can be integrated into an image processing system. A typical image processing system generally includes one or more of a system unit housing, a video display device, memory such as volatile or non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors or digital signal processors, computational entities such as operating systems, drivers, applications programs, one or more interaction devices (e.g., a touch pad, a touch screen, an antenna, etc.), control systems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback for sensing lens position and/or velocity; control motors for moving/distorting lenses to give desired focuses). An image processing system can be implemented utilizing suitable commercially available components, such as those typically found in digital still systems and/or digital motion systems.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that at least a portion of the systems and/or processes described herein can be integrated into a data processing system. A data processing system generally includes one or more of a system unit housing, a video display device, memory such as volatile or non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors or digital signal processors, computational entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one or more interaction devices (e.g., a touch pad, a touch screen, an antenna, etc.), and/or control systems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback for sensing position and/or velocity; control motors for moving and/or adjusting components and/or quantities). A data processing system can be implemented utilizing suitable commercially available components, such as those typically found in data computing/communication and/or network computing/communication systems.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that at least a portion of the systems and/or processes described herein can be integrated into a mote system. Those having skill in the art will recognize that a typical mote system generally includes one or more memories such as volatile or non-volatile memories, processors such as

microprocessors or digital signal processors, computational entities such as operating systems, user interfaces, drivers, sensors, actuators, applications programs, one or more interaction devices (e.g., an antenna USB ports, acoustic ports, etc.), control systems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback for sensing or estimating position and/or velocity; control motors for moving and/or adjusting components and/or quantities). A mote system may be implemented utilizing suitable components, such as those found in mote computing/communication systems.

Specific examples of such components entail such as Intel Corporation's and/or Crossbow Corporation's mote components and supporting hardware, software, and/or firmware.

In certain cases, use of a system or method may occur in a territory even if components are located outside the territory. For example, in a distributed computing context, use of a distributed computing system may occur in a territory even though parts of the system may be located outside of the territory (e.g., relay, server, processor, signal-bearing medium, transmitting computer, receiving computer, etc. located outside the territory). A sale of a system or method may likewise occur in a territory even if components of the system or method are located and/or used outside the territory. Further, implementation of at least part of a system for performing a method in one territory does not preclude use of the system in another territory.

One skilled in the art will recognize that the herein described components (e.g., operations), devices, objects, and the discussion accompanying them are used as examples for the sake of conceptual clarity and that various configuration modifications are contemplated. Consequently, as used herein, the specific exemplars set forth and the accompanying discussion are intended to be representative of their more general classes. In general, use of any specific exemplar is intended to be representative of its class, and the non-inclusion of specific components (e.g., operations), devices, and objects should not be taken limiting.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations are not expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity. The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively "associated" such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as "operably coupled to" each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being "operably connected," or "operably coupled," to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being "operably couplable," to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and/or physically interacting components, and/or wirelessly interactable, and/or wirelessly interacting components, and/or logically interacting, and/or logically interactable components.

In some instances, one or more components can be referred to herein as "configured to," "configured by," "configurable to," "operable/operative to," "adapted/adaptable," "able to," "conformable/conformed to," etc. Those skilled in the art will recognize that such terms (e.g. "configured to") can generally encompass active-state components and/or inactive-state components and/or standby-state components, unless context requires otherwise. While particular aspects of the present subject matter described herein have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modifications can be made without departing from the subject matter described herein and its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as

"including but not limited to," the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least," the term "includes" should be interpreted as "includes but is not limited to," etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to claims containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and/or "an" should typically be interpreted to mean "at least one" or "one or more"); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations," without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, and C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, and C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, or C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, or C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that typically a disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms unless context dictates otherwise. For example, the phrase "A or B" will be typically understood to include the possibilities of "A" or "B" or "A and B."

This disclosure has been made with reference to various example

embodiments. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that changes and modifications may be made to the embodiments without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, various operational steps, as well as components for carrying out operational steps, may be implemented in alternate ways depending upon the particular application or in consideration of any number of cost functions associated with the operation of the system; e.g., one or more of the steps may be deleted, modified, or combined with other steps.

Additionally, as will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, principles of the present disclosure, including components, may be reflected in a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code means embodied in the storage medium. Any tangible, non-transitory computer- readable storage medium may be utilized, including magnetic storage devices (hard disks, floppy disks, and the like), optical storage devices (CD-ROMs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and the like), flash memory, and/or the like. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create a means for implementing the functions specified. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer- readable memory produce an article of manufacture, including implementing means that implement the function specified. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process, such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified.

The foregoing specification has been described with reference to various embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, this disclosure is to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope thereof. Likewise, benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to various embodiments. However, benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, a required, or an essential feature or element. As used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and any other variation thereof are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, a method, an article, or an apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, or apparatus.

In an embodiment, the system is integrated in such a manner that the system operates as a unique system configured specifically for function of the system for monitoring an individual subject and facilitating a motion regimen of the individual subject (e.g., system 1000), and any associated computing devices of the system operate as specific use computers for purposes of the claimed system, and not general use computers. In an embodiment, at least one associated computing device of the system operates as a specific use computer for purposes of the claimed system, and not a general use computer. In an embodiment, at least one of the associated computing devices of the system is hardwired with a specific ROM to instruct the at least one computing device. In an embodiment, one of skill in the art recognizes that the system for monitoring an individual subject and facilitating a motion regimen of the individual subject (e.g., system 1000) effects an improvement at least in the technological field of monitoring and effecting body movements.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.

Claims

1. A method for digitally authenticating a physical object that provides:

- to use a glitter display that is attached to the physical object;

a first step of calibrating the glitter display by creating a representation of the orientation and location of the glitter facets on that sticker, a second step associating that glitter display with information about the physical object

a third step of acquiring a single image of that glitter display in a scene with one or more bright lights that cause bright direct reflections from the glitter display ,

a fourth step of comparing the pattern of bright direct reflections to determine if they are consistent with the orientations determined from the calibration process.

2. Method as in claim 1, where after the verification process, information

associated with the physical object is made available to the mobile device that took the picture.

3. Method as in claim 1 and 2 where this information include financial

transaction information such as a credit card numbers.

4. Method as in claim 1, 2 and 3, where the verification process determines also the identity of the sticker and the authentication, by comparing the brightest reflection partem to all stickers in a database.

5. Method as in claim 1, 2, 3, and 4, where the glitter is not just reflective but may also be holographic or iridescent.

6. Method as in claim 1, 2, 3, and 4, where the glitter display is a sticker.

7. Method as in claim 1, 2, 3, and 4, where the glitter display is a part of a credit card.

8. Method as in claim 1, 2, 3, and 4, where the glitter display is a an etching on a physical object.

9. Method as in claim 1 the method for digitally authenticating a physical object that enable a private financial transaction using a mobile phone camera.

10. A method for digitally authenticating a physical object that provides:

- to use a glitter display that is attached to the physical object;

a third step of acquiring a multiple images of that glitter display in a scene with one or more bright lights that cause bright direct reflections from the glitter display,

a fourth step of comparing the patterns of bright direct reflections to determine if they are consistent with the orientations determined from the calibration process.

11. A method for digitally authenticating a payment object and enabling a

financial exchange that provides:

- to use a glitter display that is attached to the physical object;

a first step of calibrating the glitter display by creating a representation of the orientation and location of the glitter facets on that sticker, a second step associating that glitter display with information about the payment object

- A fifth step that validates the pattern against a database of patterns - A sixth step that authorizes a financial exchange between buyer and a seller.