Patent Document ID: 7831042
Application ID: 11685759
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for determining an authenticity of a microparticle mark having a plurality of microparticles and using a determination of authenticity for the microparticle mark in authenticating an article containing the microparticle mark, comprising: acquiring at least a first set and a second set of information from the microparticle mark, the second set of information differing from the first set of information and the first set and the second set of information each based at least in part on the plurality of microparticles; using a processing system to perform an automatic analysis of at least the first set and the second set of information to determine the authenticity of the microparticle mark for the article based on confirmation that the microparticle mark includes at least one difference between the first set and the second set of information due to characteristics that are producible only by three-dimensional microparticles; and providing a tangible indication of an authentication of the article in response to the automatic analysis of the existence and authenticity of the microparticle mark, wherein the automatic analysis is performed by an automated reader and comprises: generating a code based on analysis of the microparticles in the microparticle mark; determining if the code is valid; if the code is valid, confirming the authenticity of the microparticle mark by comparing the first set and the second set of information to determine the at least one difference between the first set and the second set of information is due to at least one of an existence and placement of shadows from at least one three-dimensional microparticle or changes in features attributable to differences in orientation of at least a plurality of sides of at least one three-dimensional microparticle as the authentication that the microparticle mark contains at least one three-dimensional microparticle.