Method and apparatus for marking manufactured items using physical characteristic

1. A method of marking a manufactured item, comprising:

creating a unique product identifier for a manufactured item;

creating one or more encryption keys;

generating a secret key using the unique product identifier and the one or more encryption keys;

generating a system noise value using the secret key and the unique product identifier;

generating a physical key from a measured physical property of the manufactured item;

generating a physical noise value using the physical key and the unique product identifies, wherein generating each of the system noise value and the physical noise value, respectively, comprises using transposition, substitution, table substitution and indexing, or a cryptographic hash function on a combination of the unique product identifier with the secret key with respect to the system noise value and on a combination of the unique product identifier with the physical key with respect to the physical noise value;

generating a secure identifier derived from or incorporating the secret key and the physical key, wherein the secure identifier is derived from or incorporates the system noise value and the physical noise value; and

placing a mark on the manufactured item, the mark comprising the secure identifier or an identifier derived from the secure identifier.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the secure identifier is derived from or incorporates the unique product identifier.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of generating the secure identifier comprises generating a first identifier by encrypting the unique product identifier together with the system noise value and generating the secure identifier by encrypting the first identifier together with the physical noise value.

4. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising authenticating the manufactured item at a verification centre, the step of authenticating comprising:

identifying the mark on the item;

decrypting the mark to derive the first identifier and the physical noise value;

decrypting the first identifier to derive the unique product identifier and the system noise value;

generating a new physical key from a measured physical property of the manufactured item;

generating a new copy of the physical noise value by performing a hash function on the new physical key and the derived unique product identifier;

comparing the new copy of the physical noise value with the derived physical noise value; and

providing at indication of whether the derived physical noise value is identical to or correlates to the new copy of the physical noise value.

5. The method according to claim 4 , the step of authenticating further comprising:

generating a new copy of the secret key from the unique product identifier and the one or more encryption keys;

generating a new copy of the system noise value by performing a hash function on the new copy of the secret key and the unique product identifier;

comparing the new copy of the system noise value with the derived system noise value; and

providing an indication of whether the new copy of the system noise value and the derived system noise value are identical.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of generating the secure identifier comprises generating a first secure identifier by encrypting the unique product identifier together with the system noise value;

generating a second secure identifier by encrypting the unique product identifier together with the physical noise value; and

placing a mark on the manufactured item, the mark comprising the first and second secure identifiers or an identifier or identifiers derived from the first and second secure identifiers.

7. The method according to claim 6 , further comprising authenticating the manufactured item at a verification centre, the step of authenticating comprising:

identifying the mark on the item;

decrypting the mark to derive the unique product identifier, the system noise and the physical noise;

generating a new copy of the secret key from the unique product identifier and the one or more encryption keys;

generating a new copy of the system noise value by performing a hash function on the new copy of the secret key and the unique product identifier;

comparing the new copy of the system noise value with the derived system noise value;

generating a new physical key from a measured physical property of the manufactured item;

generating a new copy of the physical noise value by performing a hash function on the new physical key and the derived unique product identifier;

comparing the new copy of the physical noise value with the derived physical noise value; and

providing an indication of whether both the new copy of the system noise value is identical to the derived system noise value and the new copy of the physical noise value is identical to or correlates to the derived physical noise value.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more encryption keys comprise a static key and a dynamic key, and wherein a new dynamic key is created for each batch of manufactured items.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the unique product identifier includes information identifying a batch of items to which the item belongs.

10. An apparatus for marking a manufactured item, comprising:

key generator software configured to generate encryption keys;

a code generator computer or microcontroller configured to generate a unique product identifier for each manufactured item;

physical key generator hardware configured to generate physical keys from a measured physical property of each manufactured item;

a processor configured to receive the encryption keys, the unique product identifier, and the physical keys, and configured to:

generate a secret key for each manufactured item using the unique product identifier and one or more encryption keys;

generate a system noise value for each manufactured item by performing a hash function on the secret key and the unique product identifier;

generate a physical noise value for each manufactured item by performing a hash function on the physical key and the unique product identifier;

generate a secure identifier derived from or incorporating the secret key and the physical key, wherein the secure identifier is derived from or incorporates the system noise value and the physical noise value; and

marking hardware configured to receive the secure identifier, or an identifier derived from the secure identifier, from the processor and configured to mark each manufactured item with the secure identifier or the identifier derived from the secure identifier.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the manufactured item is a container containing a tobacco product.

12. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising generating a physical noise value using the physical key and the unique product identifier, wherein the secure identifier is derived from or incorporates the system noise value.

13. The method according to 12 , wherein the secure identifier incorporates the unique product identifier.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to generate a physical noise value for each manufactured item by performing a hash function on the physical key and the unique product identifier, wherein the secure identifier is derived from or incorporates the physical noise value.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the manufactured item is a container containing a tobacco product.

16. A method of marking a manufactured item, comprising:

creating a unique product identifier for a manufactured item;

creating one or more encryption keys;

generating a secret key using the unique product identifier and the one or more encryption keys;

generating a physical key from a measured physical property of the manufactured item;

generating a system noise value using the secret key and the unique product identifier;

generating a physical noise value using the physical key and the unique product identifier;

generating a secure identifier derived from or incorporating the secret key and the physical key, wherein generating the secure identifier comprises generating a first identifier by encrypting the unique product identifier together with the system noise value and generating the secure identifier by encrypting the first identifier together with the physical noise value;

placing a mark on the manufactured item, the mark comprising the secure identifier or an identifier derived from the secure identifier; and

authenticating the manufactured item at a verification centre, wherein authenticating the manufactured item comprises:

identifying the mark on the item;

decrypting the mark to derive the first identifier and the physical noise value;

decrypting the first identifier to derive the unique product identifier and the system noise value;

generating a new physical key from a measured physical property of the manufactured item;

generating a new copy of the physical noise value by performing a hash function on the new physical key and the derived unique product identifier;

comparing the new copy of the physical noise value with the derived physical noise value; and

providing an indication of whether the derived physical noise value is identical to or correlates to the new copy of the physical noise value.

17. The method according to claim 3 , wherein:

generating the first identifier by encrypting the unique product identifier together with the system noise value comprises:

encrypting by a code generator obfuscation key;

combining the first identifier with the physical noise value and a code generator identifier; and

encrypting the combination of the first identifier, the physical noise value, and the code generator identifier using a global key to produce the secure identifier.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the code generator obfuscation key is particular to a code generator on which it is preloaded and wherein the global key is common to all of one or more production centres.

19. The method according to claim 6 , wherein:

the system noise value is combined with the unique product identifier;

the combination of the system noise value and the unique product identifier is encrypted with a code generator obfuscation key to produce a first identifier;

the first identifier is combined with a code generator identifier and encrypted with a global key to produce a first secure identifier;

the physical noise value is combined with the unique product identifier to produce a second identifier; and

the second identifier is encrypted with the global key to produce a second secure identifier.

20. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the manufactured item is a container containing a tobacco product.

21. The method according to claim 16 , wherein authenticating further comprises:

generating a new copy of the secret key from the unique product identifier and the one or more encryption keys;

generating a new copy of the system noise value by performing a hash function on the new copy of the secret key and the unique product identifier;

comparing the new copy of the system noise value with the derived system noise value; and

providing an indication of whether the new copy of the system noise value and the derived system noise value are identical.

22. A method of marking a manufactured item, comprising:

creating a unique product identifier for a manufactured item;

creating one or more encryption keys;

generating a secret key using the unique product identifier and the one or more encryption keys;

generating a physical key from a measured physical property of the manufactured item;

generating a system noise value using the secret key and the unique product identifier;

generating a physical noise value using the physical key and the unique product identifier;

generating a secure identifier derived from or incorporating the secret key and the physical key;

wherein generating the secure identifier comprises:

generating a first secure identifier by encrypting the unique product identifier together with the system noise value; and

generating a second secure identifier by encrypting the unique product identifier together with the physical noise value;

placing a mark on the manufactured item, the mark comprising the first and the second secure identifiers or an identifier or identifiers derived from the first and the second secure identifiers; and

authenticating the manufactured item at a verification centre, wherein authenticating comprises:

identifying the mark on the item;

decrypting the mark to derive the unique product identifier, the system noise value, and the physical noise value;

generating a new copy of the secret key from the unique product identifier and the one or more encryption keys;

generating a new copy of the system noise value by performing a hash function on the new copy of the secret key and the unique product identifier;

comparing the new copy of the system noise value with the derived system noise value;

generating a new physical key from a measured physical property of the manufactured item;

generating a new copy of the physical noise value by performing a hash function on the new physical key and the derived unique product identifier;

comparing the new copy of the physical noise value with the derived physical noise value; and

providing an indication of whether both the new copy of the system noise value is identical to the derived system noise value and the new copy of the physical noise value is identical to or correlates to the derived physical noise value.

23. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the measured physical property of the manufactured item is based on surface texture of the manufactured item.

24. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the measured physical property of the manufactured item is based on surface texture of the manufactured item.