Bulk Product Authentication via Optical Key and Reader
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing authentication systems are costly and impractical for bulk quantities of consumable products, especially those with odd shapes or low value, as they require individual marking and proximity-based keying, making it difficult to monitor consumption and ensure authenticity without extensive modifications to existing equipment.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that associate a bulk quantity of consumable products with a consumption parameter, using a key and reader to monitor consumption until a maximum quantity value is reached, providing an event output and allowing for retro-fit integration with existing equipment, enabling authentication and consumption tracking without individual marking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If individual authentication systems are incorporated into each consumable product, then product authenticity can be verified, but the cost increases significantly for inexpensive bulk products
Solution Approach 1:
The authentication system is segmented into two parts: an inexpensive key attached to each consumable unit and a reader mounted on the corresponding product. This segmentation allows the expensive reader to be shared across multiple consumable units, reducing the per-unit authentication cost while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
An optical coating acts as an intermediary between the key and reader, enabling authentication through light interaction. This intermediary allows for contactless or minimal-contact verification, reducing mechanical complexity and cost while maintaining authentication reliability.
2Reliability
If proximity-based keying is used for authentication, then individual product verification is enabled, but geometric limitations prevent use with bulk products in containers
Solution Approach 1:
The authentication system transitions from requiring spatial proximity to a line-of-sight optical dimension. The optical coating enables light to penetrate or reflect through the bulk product container, allowing authentication without physical proximity between the key and reader, thus expanding adaptability to bulk products.
3Measurement precision
If consumption monitoring is implemented for bulk products, then usage tracking is achieved, but individual marking of each item becomes difficult and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple consumable units are merged into a single bulk container with one authentication key for the entire container. The reader monitors total consumption from the bulk container rather than requiring individual tracking of each unit, reducing device complexity while maintaining measurement precision at the bulk level.
Data Source
AI summary
This application generally relates to systems and methods for authenticating a bulk quantity of a consumable product with a corresponding product. More specifically, the invention associates a bulk quantity of the consumable product with a product parameter such as a consumption rate of the consumable product within the corresponding product; provides and authorizes a key and/or reader with the bulk quantity and consumption rate data to a specific corresponding product wherein the bulk quantity and consumption rate data are correlated to a maximum consumption quantity value; monitoring consumption of the consumable product within the corresponding product until the maximum consumption quantity value is reached; and providing an event output to the corresponding product when the maximum consumption quantity value is realized.