Patent ID: 7856116

Claim:
A method of authenticating a security or identification document with a handheld computing device, the device comprising an optical imager and a display, the document comprising a plurality of randomly or pseudo-randomly occurring features, the document further comprising steganographic indicia provided thereon, the indicia conveying expected characteristics of the features including expected spatial positioning information relative to the document, said method comprising: receiving from the optical imager optical image or video data corresponding to the document; analyzing the optical image or video data to obtain actual characteristics of the features, the actual characteristics of the features comprising actual spatial positioning information for the features on the document; utilizing at least a configured multi-purpose electronic processor, analyzing the optical image or video data to obtain the expected characteristics of the features; based at least on the expected characteristics and the actual characteristics of the features, providing user feedback via the display corresponding to an expected spatial positioning of the features relative to the document, the user feedback also corresponding to an actual spatial positioning of the features.