Abstract:
A system for verifying ownership of articles is based on attributing a unique article number, an ownership certificate and a geographical area to each article. The ownership certificate carries an individual certification number different from the article number. A central computer with a database contains a list of the geographical area, article number and certification number of each article. The system can be queried by entering the article and certification numbers as well as the geographical location of the enquirer. The geographical location can be retrieved automatically from the technical information accompanying the enquirer&#39;s phone call. The system then indicates if the two numbers match or if the do not match. It also checks if the enquirer is located within the geographical area of the article and issues an alert if this is not the case.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This application claims the priority of European patent application 00123400.4, filed Nov. 2, 2000, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The invention relates to a method for verifying the authenticity of articles according to the preamble of claim 1.  
           [0003]    EP 0 957 459 describes a system where objects of value are marked with article numbers. An ownership certificate carrying a certification number accompanies the article. The two numbers are stored in a database for checking if a given ownership certificate belongs to a given article.  
           [0004]    Systems of this type can be used to verify the authenticity of an article and provide a means to detect counterfeits.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    It is an object of the present invention to further refine such systems to provide an even better and more reliable certification of articles.  
           [0006]    Now, in order to implement these and still further objects of the invention, which will become more readily apparent as the description proceeds, the method for verifying authenticity of articles, wherein an article number is affixed to each article, comprises the steps of providing a database with information for each article, said database storing, for each article, the corresponding article number and a geographical area attributed to the article, electronically receiving through an electronic communication network an article number from an enquirer, determining a geographical location of the enquirer, looking up, in the database, the article corresponding to the article number and comparing the geographical location of the enquirer to the geographical area of the looked up article and generating an alert if the geographical location of the enquirer and the geographical area of the looked up article do not correspond.  
           [0007]    Accordingly, when an enquirer wants to verify the authenticity of the article, not only an article number but also a geographical location is fed to the database. The database stores a geographical area attributed to each article, and this area is compared to the enquirer&#39;s location. If the enquirer is not located in the geographical area, an alert is generated.  
           [0008]    This alert can e.g. comprise a warning to the enquirer stating that the article must not be traded at the enquirer&#39;s location, thereby giving him a hint that he may be about to trade a gray market article.  
           [0009]    The alert can also comprise a warning to the operator of the database or a manufacturer of the article, who may want to take further steps to detect and/or to take steps against gray market activities.  
           [0010]    Preferably, the request from the enquirer is received through a communication network capable of generating origin information indicative of the enquirer&#39;s location. This origin information can e.g. be the country and area code of a phone number or, if the call is made from a cellular phone network, information derived from the cell the call is made from. The origin number can be used by the database to determine the enquirer&#39;s location.  
           [0011]    Preferably, but not necessarily, a unique article number is attached to each article, and, in addition to this, an owner certificate is attributed to each article. The owner certificate carries a certification number different from the article number. The database stores both numbers for each article. In order to make his enquiry, the user must provide both numbers to the database, which will compare them to test for the article&#39;s authenticity. This procedure shows that the certificate is a true certificate attributed to the article he is about to purchase. To further increase security, the owner certificate should be a copy-proof document, i.e. it should comprise features that are difficult to reproduce, e.g. in photocopiers and similar reproduction devices. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings, wherein:  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is an article with an article number,  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is an embodiment of an ownership certificate,  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 shows several possible transmission paths for a request,  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the procedure for verifying a pair of numbers, and  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 5 is an extract from the database. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0018]    According to the present invention, articles at the risk of being forged or stolen, such as expensive watches, paintings, automobile spare parts, etc., are provided with a security mechanism such as it is e.g. shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. These figures show schematically an article  1 , which carries an article number  2  affixed thereto. Preferably, the article number is in human readable form. Article number  2  can e.g. be imprinted upon, embossed or engraved in or otherwise connected to the article in such a way that it is difficult to remove or delete. The owner of article  1  also possesses an ownership certificate  3  carrying a certification number  4 . Ownership certificate  3  is a security document provided with conventional security features, such as a hologram or a fine printed pattern  5  and/or a storage medium (e.g. a magnetic strip or a semiconductor chip for electronically storing a copy of the certification number). Such security features make it difficult to forge or copy the certification document.  
         [0019]    Both, article number  2  and certification number  4  are e.g. alphanumeric strings of several digits or characters. They are both attributed to the same article, e.g. after its production. They are different from each other. Preferably, they are both at least in part generated by random or pseudo-random algorithms such that one number cannot be easily derived by the other, at least not by a member of the public. The numbers should be unique for each article.  
         [0020]    As shown in FIG. 3, the manufacturer or, preferably, a trusted third party maintains a computer  6  with a database  7 . Database  7  holds a list of all issued pairs of certification and article numbers. The operator of database  7  is called the “database holder”.  
         [0021]    In addition to this, a geographical area can be attributed to each article, designating e.g. the country or countries where the article can be traded. This geographical area can be attributed to the article at the time of manufacturing, but it can also be attributed later, e.g. when the article is sold to a distributor who is allowed to sell the article in a certain geographical region.  
         [0022]    Verification of the authenticity of the certification and article numbers e.g. takes place when the article is sold, e.g. from a retailer to the end user, or between end users. In such a case, the seller shows article  1  as well as the ownership certificate  3  to the buyer. In order to verify that the ownership certificate is genuine and that offered article is sold at the point of sale with the manufacturer&#39;s authorization, the buyer sends an authentication request to the operator of database  7 . He can do this in several ways:  
         [0023]    Preferably, the buyer uses a phone  10   a  or  10   b  to contact the database holder. This phone can either be a wireless cellular phone  10   a  or a wire-bound phone  10   b , and preferably it is a device owned and controlled by the buyer. Using a cellular phone  10   a  is preferred, because it allows the buyer to conduct a query right from the retailer&#39;s premises without relying on a (potentially insecure) phone or computer of the retailer.  
         [0024]    Details on how to contact the database holder can e.g. be imprinted on ownership certificate  3 .  
         [0025]    In one embodiment, the buyer calls the database holder using conventional voice telephony using a public phone network  14  and, when using a cellular phone, a cellular phone network  15 .  
         [0026]    He will be connected to a phone interface  12  linked to the database holder&#39;s computer  6 . When phone interface  12  is contacted, it will query the phone network  14  for information on the origin of the call in order to determine the geographical location of the caller.  
         [0027]    In digital phone networks, a caller&#39;s number will normally be transmitted automatically with each call. When the caller uses a stationary phone  10   b , the caller&#39;s number, and in particular the country code and, optionally, the local area code, allow to determine the geographical location of the caller.  
         [0028]    When the caller uses a mobile phone  10   a , the caller&#39;s number does not provide a secure means for determining his geographical location because he might be travelling, using roaming services to operate his phone. For covering this case, an agreement can be established between a phone network operator and the database holder, where the phone network operator agrees to provide the database holder with origin information regarding the location of the caller, e.g. the country or geographical region the call was made from. Such information can be derived from the cell of the cellular phone network the enquirer makes his call form, and it is readily available to the phone network operator. A cell in this context is a geographical sub-section of the area covered by the cellular phone network, e.g. characterized by being covered by a given radio transmitter.  
         [0029]    In addition to the location of the caller (i.e. at least the country he calls from), the database holder needs the article number and the certification number in order to verify the authenticity. For this purpose, phone interface  12  asks the caller for these numbers, and the caller either speaks them into his phone or enters them using the phone&#39;s keyboard.  
         [0030]    In a further embodiment, the buyer can use the internet  9  for contacting the database holder, either by using a cellular phone with browsing capabilities (such as WAP), or by using a computer  10   c . In both cases, the buyer contacts a secure web server  8  of the database holder, which queries him for the article number and the phone number. Secure web server  8  is able to establish a secure connection to computer  10   c  or cellular phone  10   a , which connection positively identifies at least the server (and preferably the client) and provides cryptographically encoded data exchange between them, e.g. by using known methods involving asymmetric public and private key pairs.  
         [0031]    When using a cellular phone with WAP browser, secure web server  8  receives information regarding the caller&#39;s location automatically. When using a computer  10   c , secure web server  8  requests the user to enter not only the article and certification numbers, but his location as well.  
         [0032]    In all the above cases, the database holder will receive the article number, the certification number and the enquirer&#39;s (buyer&#39;s) location. This information is used to query database  7 . The verification process is depicted in FIG. 4. Starting at point A, first the article and certification numbers as well as the enquirer&#39;s geographical location are received (step  20 ). Only when all this data is available, verification continues at step  22  by searching the database  7  for a pair of matching numbers. If a match is found (step  24 ), the enquirer&#39;s geographical location is compared to the geographical area attributed to the article (step  25 ). If the geographical data do not match, an alert is issued (step  25   a ). In all cases, the validity of the entered pair of numbers is confirmed in step  26 , e.g. by sending a voice message or a corresponding web page to the enquirer. If no match is found, it must be assumed that the pair of entered numbers is incorrect and validity is denied in step  28 . Operation ends and point B.  
         [0033]    As can be seen, the enquirer can only query the database in storage  7  by entering both numbers. In particular, it is not possible to enter only one of the numbers and receive the second number as a result. As mentioned above, this makes forging ownership certificates or articles very difficult.  
         [0034]    The alert issued in step  25   a  can e.g. be directed to an operator  17  of the database holder, to the manufacturer and/or to the enquirer. If an operator  17  is alerted and if the enquirer has contacted the database holder by phone, a phone connection can be established between the operator  17  and the enquirer. The operator can then ask the enquirer for more information, which may allow to prosecute an unauthorized reseller.  
         [0035]    Access to the verification mechanism of FIG. 4 should be available to any person or institution who has a need for verifying an article&#39;s ownership. The Internet is a well suited medium for linking the enquirer to the database because of its world wide availability and standardization, but a phone connection is preferred.  
         [0036]    The need to check the article and certification numbers as well as the geographical location for each transferal of the article&#39;s ownership allows to build up a customer and article history database if the buyer (voluntarily) deposits his personal data when querying the system. For this purpose, database  7  may be provided not only with a list of certification and article numbers but also with a list of owners and the owner history.  
         [0037]    In addition to this, database  7  can be used for storing further individual information for each article. For instance, when a retailer sells an article, he (or the buyer) can alert the database holder to enter the start of a warranty period.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 5 shows an example of the data that can be held by database  7 . Column  1  contains the article numbers, column  2  the certification numbers, column  3  the geographical area attributed to the article, column  4  the current owner, column  5  a list of all recorded transferals of ownership, and column  6  the warranty expiry date. Each row holds the data for one article.  
         [0039]    Such data can be valuable e.g. for marketing and tracking purposes. Recording the current owner has the further advantage for attributing access privileges: Only the current owner is allowed to enter a transferal of ownership into the database.  
         [0040]    In addition to this, the system disclosed here provides the manufacturer with timely point of sale information, thereby allowing him to predict demand and use his resources efficiently.  
         [0041]    While there are shown and described presently preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims.