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US 10,223,567 B2Granted
Dendritic structures and tags
AssigneeArizona Board of Regents, A Body Corporate of the State of Arizona Acting for and On Behalf of Arizona State University
InventorMichael N. Kozicki
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Abstract
The disclosure features dendritic tags, and methods and systems for fabricating and using such tags. The methods can include obtaining at least one image of a dendritic tag attached to an article, analyzing the at least one image to identify a set of features associated with the dendritic tag, and comparing the set of features to stored information to identify the article.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- obtaining an image of a dendritic structure in a tag attached to an article or to a container comprising the article, wherein the dendritic structure comprises a plurality of members extending away from a common point of the dendritic structure to form a stochastically branched arrangement of the members, and wherein regions of the dendritic structure are stochastically self-similar to the entire dendritic structure;
- segmenting the image into a plurality of regions and assigning a binary value to each region based on the portion of the dendritic structure in each region;
- constructing a binary spatial representation of the dendritic structure based on the plurality of regions;
- and
- comparing the binary spatial representation to reference information for a plurality of dendritic structures to determine information about the article,
- wherein the comparing comprises:
- (a) segmenting the image into a first plurality of regions, assigning a binary value to each one of the first plurality of regions, constructing a first binary spatial representation of the dendritic structure based on the first plurality of regions, and identifying reference information corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of dendritic structures that correspond to the first binary spatial representation;
- and
- (b) segmenting the image into a second plurality of regions, assigning a binary value to each one of the second plurality of regions, constructing a second binary spatial representation of the dendritic structure based on the second plurality of regions, and identifying reference information corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of dendritic structures that correspond to the second binary spatial representation, wherein members of the second plurality of regions are smaller than members of the first plurality of regions, and wherein the second subset is selected from among the first subset.
6 more elements
A method, comprising:
- obtaining multiple images of a dendritic structure in a tag attached to an article or to a container comprising the article, wherein the dendritic structure comprises a plurality of members extending away from a common point of the dendritic structure to form a stochastically branched arrangement of the members, wherein regions of the dendritic structure are stochastically self-similar to the entire dendritic structure, and wherein each one of the multiple images is obtained by illuminating the dendritic structure from a different direction and detecting light reflected from the dendritic structure;
- segmenting the image into a plurality of regions and assigning a binary value to each region based on the portion of the dendritic structure in each region;
- constructing a binary spatial representation of the dendritic structure based on the plurality of regions;
- comparing the binary spatial representation to reference information for a plurality of dendritic structures to determine information about the article;
- and
- authenticating the dendritic structure in the tag based on information derived from the multiple images,
- wherein authenticating the dendritic structure comprises determining an authenticity of the dendritic structure based on changes in light reflected from the dendritic structure along the different illumination directions.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.