Patent ID: 8279039

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a user device, a signal comprising information associated with a touch pattern on a tag attached to, or associated with an object, and tag-specific information specifying a corresponding selective action to be performed with respect to the object; capturing a strength profile associated with the signal, wherein the signal strength increases to a first predetermined level as the user device approaches the tag, the signal strength decreases to a second predetermined level when a touch associated with the touch pattern is received on the tag, the signal strength returns to the first predetermined level when the touch is removed from the tag, and the signal strength decreases to a level less than both the first predetermined level and the second predetermined level as the user device moves away from the tag; extracting the information associated with the touch pattern from the received signal based on the capturing step; extracting at least one user specific parameter from the touch pattern; using the at least one user specific parameter as part of an encryption or decryption key for encoding or decoding the tag-specific information; comparing the information associated with the touch pattern from the received signal with validation information previously stored on the user device, the validation information corresponding to a plurality of predetermined valid touch patterns; and if the information associated with the touch pattern from the received signal matches the validation information corresponding to one of the predetermined valid touch patterns to confirm that a user of the user device has caused the generation of the touch pattern, performing, by the user device, the action specified by the tag-specific information.