Patent ID: 8534544

Claim:
A system for protecting an article of manufacture from counterfeiting, the system comprising at least one computing device configured to: analyze a first digital image of an at least partially random physical property of the article to create a numerical representation of the first digital image, the at least partially random physical property resulting from the manufacture of the article and being usable to uniquely distinguish the article from other articles of the same kind; execute a cryptographic algorithm using at least the numerical representation of the first digital image of the at least partially random physical property of the article and a first cryptographic key associated with a source of the article as inputs to the cryptographic algorithm, the cryptographic algorithm generating a digital signature that can be used to verify the authenticity of the article and to authenticate the source of the article; apply a digital certificate to the article so as not to obscure the at least partially random physical property of the article, the digital signature being readable from the digital certificate; analyze a second digital image of the at least partially random physical property of the article; and authenticate the article based on the second analyzed digital image and the digital certificate using a second cryptographic key, wherein the first and second cryptographic keys are different from one another and at least one of the keys is intended to be kept secret.