Authentication receipt
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to a method, a system and a computer-readable medium storing computer-executable components for authenticating a digital pen. The invention is based on the idea that a paper look-up server issues an authentication receipt used by a service handler to authenticate a digital pen. The authentication receipt comprises such information that the service handler can use it to authenticate the digital pen without having to communicate with the paper look-up server.
1. A method for authenticating a digital pen at a service handler in a system including at least one paper look-up server, at least one digital pen and at least one service handler, the method including the steps of:
sending encrypted data and a digital pen identifier from said digital pen to said paper look-up server, said encrypted data including position data obtained by using said digital pen to read a position code from a surface of a position-coded product;
identifying at said paper look-up server, based on said position data, a service handler that provides a service associated with said position-coded product;
authenticating said digital pen and creating an authentication receipt at said paper look-up server;
sending an indication of the identified service handler and said authentication receipt from said paper look-up server to said digital pen;
sending said authentication receipt from said digital pen to said identified service handler; and
authenticating said digital pen at said identified service handler based on the received authentication receipt thereby allowing said identified service handler to provide a service associated with said position-coded product.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the encryption of data is performed with a symmetric key at said digital pen.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said encrypted data includes a digital signature created by said digital pen.
4. The method according to claim 1 , including providing, at the paper look-up server, the authentication receipt with a first digital signature created by the paper look-up server.
5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the step of authenticating said digital pen at said service handler includes authenticating said authentication receipt by means of said first digital signature created by the paper look-up server.
6. The method according to claim 4 , including creating a second digital signature at the paper look-up server.
7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the step of sending said authentication receipt from said paper look-up server to said digital pen includes sending said second digital signature.
8. The method according to claim 7 , including authenticating said paper look-up server at said digital pen by means of said second digital signature before sending the authentication receipt to the service handler.
9. The method according to claim 1 , including providing, at the paper look-up server, the authentication receipt with a unique identifier.
10. The method according to claim 9 , including encrypting said unique identifier.
11. The method according to claim 1 , including providing, at the paper look-up server, the authentication receipt with a timestamp.
12. The method according to claim 11 , including providing, at the paper look-up server, the timestamp with a predetermined lifetime.
13. The method according to claim 11 , including encrypting said timestamp.
14. The method according to claim 1 , including providing, at the paper look-up server, the authentication receipt with the digital pen identifier.
15. The method according to claim 14 , including encrypting said digital pen identifier.
16. The method according to claim 1 , including providing, at the paper look-up server, the authentication receipt with a paper look-up server key identifier.
17. The method according to claim 10 , wherein said encryption is performed with a symmetric key.
18. The method according to claim 1 including encrypting said authentication receipt at said paper look-up server.
19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein said encryption of said authentication receipt is performed with a symmetric key.
20. The method according to claim 18 , including the steps of:
decrypting said authentication receipt at the digital pen; and
encrypting the decrypted authentication receipt at the digital pen.
21. The method according to claim 20 , wherein said encryption of said authentication receipt is performed with a symmetric key.
22. A system for authentication including:
at least one digital pen;
at least one paper look-up server; and
at least one service handler, wherein
said digital pen is arranged to send encrypted data, including position data obtained by using said digital pen to read a position code from a surface of a position-coded product, and a digital pen identifier to said paper look-up server, receive an authentication receipt from said paper look-up server and send said authentication receipt to said service handler;
said paper look-up server is arranged to authenticate said digital pen, create said authentication receipt, identify, based on said position data, a service handler that provides a service associated with said position-coded product, and send an indication of the identified service handler and said authentication receipt to said digital pen; and
said identified service handler is arranged to authenticate said digital pen based on the received authentication receipt thereby allowing said identified service handler to provide a service associated with said position-coded product.
23. The system according to claim 22 , wherein said digital pen is arranged to perform the encryption of data with a symmetric key.
24. The system according to claim 22 , wherein said digital pen is arranged to create a digital signature and include said digital signature in the encrypted data.
25. The system according to claim 22 , wherein said paper look-up server is arranged to provide the authentication receipt with a first digital signature created by the paper look-up server.
26. The system according to claim 25 , wherein said service handler is arranged to authenticate said digital pen by authenticating said authentication receipt by means of said first digital signature created by the paper look-up server.
27. The system according to claim 25 , wherein said paper look-up server is arranged to create a second digital signature.
28. The system according to claim 27 , wherein said paper look-up server is arranged to send said second digital signature to the digital pen.
29. The system according to claim 28 , wherein said digital pen is arranged to authenticate said paper look-up server by means of said second digital signature before sending said authentication receipt to said service handler.
30. The system according to claim 22 , wherein the paper look-up server is arranged to provide the authentication receipt with a unique identifier.
31. The system according to claim 30 , wherein the paper look-up server is arranged to encrypt said unique identifier.
32. The system according to claim 22 , wherein the paper look-up server is arranged to provide the authentication receipt with a timestamp.
33. The system according to claim 32 , wherein the paper look-up server is arranged to provide the timestamp with a predetermined lifetime.
34. The system according to claim 32 , wherein the paper look-up server is arranged to encrypt said timestamp.
35. The system according to claim 22 , wherein the paper look-up server is arranged to provide the authentication receipt with the digital pen identifier.
36. The system according to claim 35 , wherein the paper look-up server is arranged to encrypt said digital pen identifier.
37. The system according to claim 22 , wherein the paper look-up server is arranged to provide the authentication receipt with a paper look-up server key identifier.
38. The system according to claim 31 , wherein the paper look-up server is arranged to perform said encryption with a symmetric key.
39. The system according to claim 22 , wherein said paper look-up server is arranged to encrypt said authentication receipt.
40. The system according to claim 39 , wherein said paper look-up server is arranged to encrypt said authentication receipt with a symmetric key.
41. The system according to claim 39 , wherein
said digital pen is arranged to decrypt said authentication receipt; and
said digital pen is arranged to encrypt the decrypted authentication receipt.
42. The system according to claim 41 , wherein said digital pen is arranged to encrypt said authentication receipt with a symmetric key.
43. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable components for causing a unit to perform the steps recited in claim 1 when the computer-executable components are run on microprocessor included by the unit.