摘要 |
<p>A method and apparatus for authenticating articles using the steps of determining a distinguishing physical or chemical characteristic of an article, encoding that physical or chemical characteristic as an encoded characteristic, encrypting the encoded characteristic so derived to form an encrypted representation using a secret encryption key, applying that encrypted representation to the article, subsequently authenticating the article by redetermining the physical or chemical characteristic and reading and decrypting the encrypted representation and comparing the resulting encoded characteristic of the recorded physical or chemical characteristic with the redetermined physical or chemical characteristic to determine the authenticity of the article.</p> |