IMAGE ANALYSIS FOR AUTHENTICATING A PRODUCT

摘要

A method of authenticating a product by taking an image of the product and comparing the image with a reference image of a genuine product taken previously to determine if the products in the two images are the same. The two images are captured under substantially similar conditions so that the two images are as similar as possible prior to the comparison. The two images are processed in order to calculate for each of them a list of significant points. The significant points are compared to determine a degree of correspondence between the significant points. An answer is output indicating the authenticity of the product based on the degree of correspondence. Some of the matching significant points may be used to define a common coordinate system for the two images. The two lists of significant points may be compared in this common coordinate system.

主权项

1. A method of authenticating a product, comprising:
capturing an image of a product to be authenticated; determining a plurality of significant points of the captured image; comparing the plurality of significant points of the captured image of the product to be authenticated with a plurality of significant points of a previously captured reference image of a genuine product to determine if the product to be authenticated is the same as the genuine product for authenticating the product; aligning a plurality of said significant points of the image of the product to be authenticated with a plurality of said significant points of the image of the genuine product prior to comparing the significant points, wherein comparing the plurality of significant points of the image of the product to be authenticated with the plurality of significant points of the image of the genuine product comprises determining if a significant point of the plurality of significant points of the image of the product to be authenticated is within a defined distance of a significant point of the plurality of significant points of the image of the genuine product; and determining a total number of significant points of the image of the product to be authenticated which are within said defined distance of a significant point of the image of the genuine product within a region of the image.