Appeal No. 2000-1185 Page 2
Application No. 08/886,516
specifically, to a label which includes digitally signed
information for authenticating the article. The label includes
various fields containing scannable and digitally signed
verifying information such as description, authorized provider
and expiration date of the article (Specification, page 4). The
label further contains an unreproduceable pattern of which a
tangible representation is digitally signed and incorporated in
one of the fields along with the verifying information
(Specification, page 5). Examples of the unreproduceable pattern
are randomly distributed magnetic fibers and marks on the label.
The information is digitally signed using the private key of a
public/private key pair while the verification of the information
may be achieved by the public key made available to those who
wish to validate the source of the article (Specification, page
6).
Representative independent claim 1 is reproduced as follows:
1. A method for verifying the source of an article of
manufacture, said method comprising the steps of:
a) preparing a label, said label comprising an
unreproduceable pattern and information relating to said
article;
b) describing said unreproduceable pattern and
including said description with said information relating to
said article;
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Last modified: November 3, 2007