US 12,106,311 B2
Methods and systems for making, tracking and authentication of products
Alain Sager, Bossonnens (CH); Philippe Chatelain, Chavornay (CH); and Erwan Fradet, Nyon (CH)
Assigned to Philip Morris USA Inc., Richmond, VA (US)
Filed by Philip Morris USA Inc., Richmond, VA (US)
Filed on Jun. 14, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/839,993.
Application 14/144,829 is a division of application No. 12/839,166, filed on Jul. 19, 2010, granted, now 8,671,062, issued on Mar. 11, 2024.
Application 17/839,993 is a continuation of application No. 15/606,343, filed on May 26, 2017, granted, now 11,379,854.
Application 15/606,343 is a continuation of application No. 14/144,829, filed on Dec. 31, 2013, granted, now 11,080,719, issued on Aug. 3, 2021.
Application 12/839,166 is a continuation of application No. 11/664,841, abandoned, previously published as PCT/IB2005/003103, filed on Sep. 29, 2005.
Claims priority of application No. 041049545 (EP), filed on Oct. 8, 2004.
Prior Publication US 2022/0309517 A1, Sep. 29, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06Q 30/018 (2023.01); G06K 17/00 (2006.01); G06Q 30/0282 (2023.01)
CPC G06Q 30/0185 (2013.01) [G06K 17/00 (2013.01); G06K 17/0022 (2013.01); G06Q 30/0282 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of marking items produced on a production line having one or more processors and a marking device to mark the items, the method comprising:
acquiring, at the one or more processors, a dynamic code and a static code matrix;
generating, at the one or more processors, a random noise code for an item produced on the production line based on (i) the dynamic code, (ii) a unique product identifier for the item produced on the production line, and (iii) the static code matrix;
combining, at the one or more processors, the unique product identifier with the random noise code to obtain a combined code identifying the item produced on the production line;
obfuscating the combined code to obtain a secure unique product identifier for the item; and
marking, at the marking device, the item with indicia representative of, or derived from, the secure unique product identifier for the item, wherein
the marking identifies the item as an authentic manufactured item along a distribution and commercialization chain,
the random noise code is obtainable from the indicia,
an authenticity of the item is based on whether the random noise code matches another noise code,
the other noise code is based on the static code matrix and the dynamic code,
the static code matrix is a salt matrix included in a salt file provided by a code generator computer system, and
the dynamic code is a salt file identifier identifying the salt file.