RU2608240C2 - Method of protecting products from forgery and checking authenticity of counterfeit-protected products - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: data processing.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to methods for counterfeit protection and authentication of counterfeit-protected products. Method includes applying a bar code on an information-protective label and equipping it with a copy-protect element – an area with a latent image which is invisible to naked eye, which is visible depending on latent image-forming technique using one of known technical means, and structure of information-protective label is such that when attempting to separate it from surface of unit of product, label is permanently destroyed, making its reuse impossible. Deposited bar code does not contain identification information on product, includes a coded access key for information in information system on a specific unit of product, wherein first access key is initially generated and entered into a data base, at stage of marking by means of a scanner and an application, interacting with information system, to which authorised access is provided, bar code is scanned and each specific copy of product with information protective label on it is simultaneously associated with information about copy of product, previously entered into information system, which activates information protective label in information system, in process of checking, bar code with information-protective label of checked unit of product is also read using code scanners with installed software for reading bar code with simultaneous opening on a page display device connected to code scanner on a link on Internet encoded in bar code or presenting information on unit of product in an application window.

EFFECT: improved security of products and faster authentication thereof.

4 cl

Description

The invention mainly relates to methods of protecting against counterfeiting and preventing the production and delivery of products into shadow circulation and can be used to control the production and sale of certain types of goods by authorized and supervisory authorities, for identification by authorized and supervisory authorities, as well as consumers of each commodity unit, the identification of fakes and / or products put into circulation without observing the procedures prescribed by law. In addition, the invention can be applied for obtaining by authorized and supervisory authorities, as well as consumers, complete information about the product, including information about the manufacturer, production date, date of sale, technical characteristics and properties of the product, product photos, expiration date, availability of certificates, etc. d.

A known method of controlled sale of products and their protection against counterfeiting (RF patent No. 2144220, G09F 3/02, G06K 19/16).

The known method consists in the fact that each unit of production is equipped with an information-protective label, on which a bar code is applied containing identification and informative information. The technical result is achieved due to the fact that the label is additionally equipped with a copy protection diffraction element with a surface diffraction microrelief, and the information for entering into the bar code is first entered into the central computer of the control institution from the supplier’s accompanying documents for each shipment delivered, and then according to a predefined conversion algorithm data from the accompanying documents according to a certain rule, which is set by a specific responsible person region by entering the password, a bar code is formed into the character set and a batch of labels is printed in the quantity declared by the supplier, and the trade institution checks the products by visually checking the presence of the diffraction element and reading the bar code from the label with the information being converted back and comparing it with the information from the accompanying documents for each batch of goods.

A disadvantage of the well-known product protection system is its large vulnerability to counterfeiting today, caused by the fact that at present there are a large number of relatively inexpensive specialized equipment that allows a security element proposed by a known method to be copied with a high degree of visual reliability. Another disadvantage of the well-known product protection system is the use of informative information in a barcode, the need to install specialized software for consumers of products and regulatory bodies to reverse convert barcode information into information from accompanying documents for a batch of goods.

The well-known security method described in the application US 2011211727, where the issue of protection is solved by checking the authenticity of the brands (trademarks) that mark products, services, authentication of the “sources” of brands and, more specifically, to the system and components for authentication, has the same drawback brands. It should be noted that the task of ensuring verification of each specific product instance in this technical solution was not posed and was not solved.

The closest analogue of the claimed method is a method of protecting products from counterfeiting and authenticity control of products protected against counterfeiting, implemented in the product marking and identification system (RF patent No. 2183349, G06K 1/12, 9/00).

The known method consists in the fact that each unit of production is equipped with an information-protective label, on which a bar code containing identification and content information is applied, the label is additionally equipped with a copy protection element - an area with a hidden, invisible to the naked eye image visualized depending on the technology forming a latent image using one of the well-known technical means. Authorized and supervisory authorities, as well as consumers, check products by visually checking the presence of an area with a hidden image and visualizing the image hidden in it, depending on the technology for generating such an image, using one of the well-known technical means. The design of the information security label is such that when it is separated from the surface of a unit of production, an unrecoverable destruction of the label occurs, making it impossible to reuse it.

The problem to which the invention is directed is to create a method of protecting products from counterfeiting and controlling its authenticity, which would reliably protect manufactured and supplied products from counterfeiting and prevent involvement in the shadow turnover, confirm the authenticity quickly and without significant material costs and origin of production.

The technical result that can be obtained using the proposed method is to increase the reliability of protection, so that being implemented using a combination of modern technologies of passive protection against forgery, automated encoding and reading of identification information, organization of secure databases and authorized access, it allows you to reliably protect products from counterfeiting, control the origin and characteristics of a specific product instance, provide control they and supervisors, as well as consumers a convenient and does not require significant material cost service control product authentication, regardless of the brand, in particular, stored in the database information about this unit, using conventional labels, not overloaded with information.

The problem is solved by creating a method of protecting products from counterfeiting and verifying the authenticity of products protected against counterfeiting, which consists in the fact that each unit of products is equipped with an information-protective label on which a bar code is applied, the label is additionally equipped with a copy protection element - an area with a hidden by an invisible image to the naked eye, visualized depending on the technology of forming a latent image using one of the well-known technical means, and the authorization The authorities and supervisory authorities, as well as consumers, check products by visually checking the presence of an area with a latent image and visualizing the image hidden in it, depending on the technology for generating such an image, using one of the well-known technical means, and the design of the information-protective label is as follows, that when you try to separate it from the surface of a unit of production, permanent damage to the label occurs, making it impossible to reuse it, which differs m, that a bar code is applied to the information security label that does not contain information (identification and content) about the product and which encodes the access key to information in the information system for a specific product unit, while the access key to information from the information system for a specific unit products to be entered in the barcode are initially generated in the information system and entered into the database, at the stage of marking using a scanner and an application that interacts with information the first system to which authorized access is provided, they scan the bar code and at the same time bind each specific product instance with the information-protective label applied on it to the information about this product instance previously entered into the information system, which activates the information-protective label in the information system , and during the verification process, a bar code is also read from the information-protective label of the product being checked using code scanners with installed grammnym software for bar code reader with the simultaneous opening of the connected to the scanner code display device on page encoded in the barcode link on the Internet or display information about one product in the application window.

Additionally, if necessary, an individual control mark of the label, which can be an alphanumeric combination, is placed on the information security label and serves to facilitate the control of logistic operations with the information security label.

As display devices can be used portable and stationary computers, smartphones.

As barcode scanners, portable or stationary scanners can be used, for example, of the following types, models:

http://www.pos-shop.ru/shop/to/14/883/

http://www.store.ru/catalog/ID2_3273

http://lextrade.ru/articl/element.articl43.html

In addition, the hardware and software capabilities of smartphones and other similar devices equipped with a camera and a barcode reader application can be used to read the barcode.

Examples of free code reading applications for various operating systems:

https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/qr-reader-for-iphone/id368494609?mt=8

https://plav.google.com/store/apps/details?id=la.droid.qr&hl=en

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/qr-reader/9b45fe73-274a-47d8-918-9017 s6919486

The involved participants in the product turnover are connected to the information system, for example, the manufacturer of information security labels, product manufacturers, importers and suppliers of products, regulatory authorities, and consumers of products.

The control of the authenticity and origin of products is also ensured through the implementation of the mandatory functions of the information system:

- maintaining a register of legal manufacturers, importers and suppliers of products (using the proposed method of protecting products from counterfeiting and preventing involvement in shadow traffic) and the range of products protected by the proposed method;

- accounting for the issue of information security labels and bar code marking;

- traceability of the life cycle of units of production (registration of information at each of the involved stages of the life cycle, for example, production, labeling, movement along the supply chain, sale, repair, decommissioning, disposal).

Using the proposed method due to the presence of feedback on the information available on each product unit, and its comparison with the information available in the information system, allows the consumer to be protected from fakes and uncontrolled batches of products entering the market, thereby eliminating the shadow turnover of products .

Protection of products from counterfeiting and control of its authenticity and origin of the proposed methods are performed in the following order.

A batch of information-protective labels is made with the security element placed on them - an area with a hidden image.

An information security label with an area with a latent image may have one of the known designs:

- a self-adhesive label on a paper or polymer basis of various shapes and sizes, possibly with perforation to achieve the effect of non-permanent self-destruction, or on the basis of a material with the effect of non-permanent self-destruction when trying to separate the label from the base;

- laminates for hot or cold lamination;

- foil for hot and cold stamping;

- other.

The latent image is a specialized security element made using one of the well-known technologies: hologram, cinemagram, color-changing paints, luminescent paints, metallized paints, magnetic paints, optically variable paints, latent images, latentogram, unigram and others.

The applicant (manufacturer, importer, supplier of products or other person) sends the application to the information system operator to allocate an array of bar codes in the required quantity.

In accordance with the application filed, the required number of barcodes is generated and this array is transmitted to the printing device.

Print barcodes on security labels.

Information security labels with protective elements placed on them — areas with a hidden image and bar codes — are transmitted to the applicant.

The applicant at the stage of marking using a scanner and an application that interacts with the information system to which he has authorized access provides scanning of the bar code and simultaneous linking of each specific product instance with the information-protective label applied to it about the information about this product instance available in the information system previously entered by the applicant, which activates the information-protective label in the information system.

Subsequently, the verification of the authenticity and origin of products by supervisory authorities or by the consumer is carried out by visual inspection of the presence of an intact information-protective label, the presence of a latent image area visualized using one of the well-known technical means, as well as by scanning the bar code and checking the information about the products provided by the information system.

The information system may additionally contain information about the individual control characters of the printed information security labels. In this case, for additional verification of origin and authenticity, they realize the possibility of checking in the information system of individual control signs of information-protective labels at the request of the applicant, supervisor or consumer.

If the data available on the product and in the accompanying documents for it coincide with the information provided by the information system when scanning a bar code, and also, if necessary, with information about the individual control signs of information-protective labels, a conclusion is drawn about the legality of the origin of the product and its compliance quality and specifications declared by the manufacturer.

The advantages of the described method of protection against counterfeiting and authentication of products in comparison with known methods can be formulated as follows.

The existing area with a hidden image on the information-protective label prevents its copying on the repetitive technique, forgery.

In addition, the area with a hidden image has the effect of attracting attention and creates a positive psychological perception among consumers, facilitates the control of the authenticity of an information-protective label by visualizing a protective element known to the inspecting subject located in the area with a hidden image made using one of the known technologies.

The technological level of execution of the area with a hidden image at the moment makes it impossible to reproduce it by non-industrial methods or some firms that have developed such technology. Information describing the products, as well as registers of legal manufacturers, importers and suppliers of products and other regulatory and reference information are stored in a secure database of the information system to which unauthorized access is impossible.

The barcode applied to the label does not contain information (identification and content) about the unit of production. The information contained in the bar code is only the key to access information about the unit of production stored in the database of the information system.

Information-protective labels are produced under control and their number strictly corresponds to the number of manufactured, supplied units of production.

The implementation of the described method of protection against counterfeiting and authenticity control of manufactured and supplied products allows protecting the interests of the manufacturer, importer, supplier and consumer of the products, as well as increasing tax revenues to the state budget by forcing counterfeit products out of the market and eliminating their shadow turnover due to the increased share sales of genuine, established origin products.

Claims (16)

1. A method of protecting products from counterfeiting and verifying the authenticity of products protected against counterfeiting, consisting in the fact that each product unit is equipped with an information-protective label, on which a bar code is applied, the label is additionally equipped with a copy protection element - an area with a hidden, invisible naked eye image, visualized depending on the technology for generating a latent image using one of the well-known technical means, and authorized and supervisory authorities, as well as consumers, verify products by visually inspecting the presence of an area with a latent image and visualizing the image hidden in it, depending on the technology for generating such an image, using one of the well-known technical means, moreover the design of the information-protective label is such that when trying to separate it from the surface of a unit of production, irreparable destruction of the label occurs, making it impossible to reuse it, characterized in that a bar code that does not contain product information and in which the key to access information in the information system for a specific unit of production is encoded, wherein the access key to information in the information system for a specific product unit to be entered in the bar code is initially generated in the information system and entered into the database, at the stage of marking using a scanner and an application that interacts with an information system to which authorized access is provided, they scan a bar code and simultaneously bind each specific product instance with the information-protective label applied to it about the information about this product instance previously entered into the information a system that activates an information security label in an information system, and in the process of verification, a bar code is also read from the information security label of the product being checked using code scanners with installed bar code reading software, while simultaneously opening a page display device connected to the code scanner on the Internet link encoded in the bar code or by displaying unit information in the application window. 2. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the latent, invisible to the naked eye image is a polarized image, and the visualization of the latent image is performed using a polarizing filter. 3. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that an information security label is applied an individual control sign of the information security label, which is an alphanumeric combination. 4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that a QR code or Data Matrix code is used as a bar code.