Handheld wand device and method for scanning the physical signature data of a physical unclonable function along an arbitrary path
Unique physical unclonable function objects are created by molding pre-magnetized or post-magnetized particles into a resin. The particles form a unique physical “fingerprint” based on the random particle size, position, polar rotation, magnetization level, particle density, etc. This invention addresses devices for accurately measuring the physical fingerprint of a PUF, specifically including the X, Y, & Z components of the magnetic field at enough discrete points on the PUF to allow a confident recognition of the identification. A handheld wand is described for measuring the magnetic field along an arbitrary path.
1. A handheld device for scanning a magnetic signature data of a physical unclonable function (PUF) along an arbitrary path comprising:
a body;
one or more Hall effect sensors on the tip of the device;
an optical position tracking device adjacent to the sensors.
2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the device communicates the magnetic and positional data to a mobile device.
3. The device of claim 1 , wherein an internal microprocessor performs calculations on the magnetic signature data and positional movement of the device.
4. The device of claim 3 , wherein the device provides feedback to a user.
5. The device of claim 4 , wherein the feedback is provided by a user interface, a light emitting diode, or haptic feedback.
6. A method for capturing a magnetic signature data along an arbitrary path of a physical unclonable function (“PUF”) comprising:
manufacturing a PUF tag with magnetic particles embedded in the tag;
magnetically scanning the PUF tag to enroll the magnetic signature data;
linking the PUF tag to a product;
scanning the PUF tag with a reader that has at least one Hall effect sensor along an arbitrary path the measure the magnetic signature data;
capturing the positional and magnetic data from the PUF tag along the arbitrary path;
continuing to scan the PUF tag along arbitrary paths until sufficient data is collected or the PUF tag is successfully authenticated;
processing the magnetic signature data collected to remove variations from changing angular position; and
comparing the magnetic signature data collected to that stored in the secure cloud environment for authentication.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the scanning is continued along a variety of paths until a certain number of magnetic fiducials have been encountered.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein a rotation of the Hall effect sensor at any given point is measured by the optical sensor.
9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the magnetic signature data is uploaded to a secure cloud environment.
10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the magnetic signature data is uploaded to a secure server.