Systems and methods for authenticating and providing anti-counterfeiting features for important documents

1. A method for authenticating a document, comprising:

obtaining optical character recognition (OCR) characteristics of contents of the document, wherein the contents of the document comprise at least a portion of text from the document;

obtaining, separate from the document, biometric characteristics from an individual authorized to access the document;

forming a message based on the OCR characteristics of the contents of the document and the separately obtained biometric characteristics of the individual authorized to access the document;

generating a digital signature based on the message and a key;

writing the digital signature to a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag affixed to the document;

in response to an attempt to copy the document, reading the digital signature from the RFID tag;

verifying an individual attempting to copy the document based on one or more biometric characteristics collected from the individual attempting to access the document and at least a portion of the biometric characteristics of the individual authorized to access the document included in the message comprising the digital signature; and

in response to successfully verifying the individual attempting to copy the document, granting the individual copy access to the document by activating a lighting feature comprising a copier that allows the copier to copy at least a portion of the contents of the document.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the text from the document includes all of the text contained within the document.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the text from the document includes only certain words contained within the document.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the text from the document includes only certain letters or symbols contained within the document.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the contents of the document is rendered in a special ink that cannot be copied without the lighting feature.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the text from the document includes a security print.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the text from the document includes a micro-print.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising reading the digital signature out of the RFID tag and verifying the digital signature using a key.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising obtaining the key used to verify the digital signature from a hologram included in the document.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising obtaining the key used to verify the digital signature from an optical memory attached to the document.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising obtaining the key used to verify the digital signature from a bar code attached to the document.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising locking the RFID tag after the digital signature is written thereto.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining, separate from the document, biometric characteristics from an holder or owner of the document, and wherein the message is further formed based on the biometric characteristics of the holder or owner of the document.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a protection level for the individual with respect to the document, wherein the protection level corresponds to one or more authorized access levels associated with the individual;

verifying whether copy access corresponds to one of the one or more authorized access levels associated with the individual; and

granting the individual copy access to the document further in response to successfully verifying that copy access corresponds to one of the one or more authorized access levels associated with the individual.

15. A method for authenticating a document and for controlling access to said document, the method comprising:

obtaining optical character recognition (OCR) characteristics of contents of the document, wherein the contents of the document comprise text from the document;

obtaining, separate from the document, biometric characteristics from an individual authorized to access the document;

forming a message based on the OCR characteristics of the contents of the document and the separately obtained biometric characteristics of the individual authorized one or more levels of access to the document;

generating a digital signature based on the message and a key;

writing the digital signature to a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag affixed to the document;

in response to an attempt to read the document, reading the digital signature from the RFID tag;

verifying an individual attempting to read the document based on one or more biometric characteristics collected from the individual and at least a portion of the biometric characteristics of the individual having authorized access to the document included in the message comprising the digital signature;

in response to successfully verifying the individual attempting to read the document, granting the individual read access to the document by activating a lighting feature that renders at least a portion of the contents visible.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the text from the document includes all of the text contained within the document.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the text from the document includes only certain words contained within the document.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the text from the document includes only certain letters or symbols contained within the document.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein at least a portion of the contents of the document is rendered in a special ink that is invisible without the lighting feature.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the text from the document includes a security print.

21. The method of claim 15 , wherein text from the document includes a micro-print.

22. The method of claim 15 , further comprising obtaining the key used to verify the digital signature from a hologram included in the document.

23. The method of claim 15 , further comprising obtaining the key used to verify the digital signature from an optical memory attached to the document.

24. The method of claim 15 , further comprising obtaining the key used to verify the digital signature from a bar code attached to the document.

25. The method of claim 15 , further comprising locking the RFID tag after the digital signature is written thereto.

26. The method of claim 15 , wherein obtaining the individual's credentials comprise obtaining biometric information of the individual.

27. The method of claim 15 , further comprising obtaining, separate from the document, biometric characteristics from an holder or owner of the document, and wherein the message is further formed based on the biometric characteristics of the holder or owner of the document.

28. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

determining a protection level for the individual with respect to the document, wherein the protection level corresponds to one or more authorized access levels associated with the individual;

verifying whether copy access corresponds to one of the one or more authorized access levels associated with the individual; and

granting the individual read access to the document further in response to successfully verifying that read access corresponds to one of the one or more authorized access levels associated with the individual.