Strategies and systems that use spectral signatures and a remote authentication authority to authenticate physical items and linked documents

A method to evaluate the authenticity of an evaluated object and an evaluated document, comprising the steps of:

• a. associating at least an identification code directly or indirectly to an authentic object associating a taggant key and an identification code to associated, authentic documentation and, wherein:
• i. the presence of the taggant key and the identification codes on the evaluated object and the evaluated document provides an indication that the evaluated object and/or the evaluated document are authentic;
• ii. the taggant key produces spectral characteristics responsive to illumination by at least one light source, wherein a spectral signature is encoded in the spectral characteristics of the taggant key;
• and
• iii. the identification codes comprises readable indicia that help to identify the authentic object and the associated, authentic documentation;
• and
• b. causing authentication information for the authentic object and the associated, authentic documentation to be stored in a local and/or remote information repository, wherein:
• i. said authentication information comprises a record in the local remote information repository, said record storing attributes of the authentic object and the associated, authentic document in a plurality of fields, said stored attributes including information indicative of the associated identification codes and the taggant key;
• and
• ii. said authentication information is guarded by a security protocol that comprises the steps of:
• 1. determining if the taggant key and/or the identification codes for the authentic object and the authentic document are present on the evaluated object and the evaluated document;
• 2. preventing access to the authentication information if any of the taggant key and the identification codes are not present on the evaluated object and the evaluated document;
• and
• 3. allowing access to the authentication information if all of the taggant key and the identification codes are present on the evaluated object and the evaluated document, the evaluated object match both its own stored authentication attributes and those of the associated, authentic documentation, and the evaluated document match both its own stored authentication attributes and those of the associated, authentic object, thereby providing bidirectional cross-validation between the object and the document.

An authentication system, comprising:

• a. a plurality of, unique, authentic identification codes, each unique, authentic code of said plurality comprising unique, observable indicia that distinguishes each unique, authentic identification code from the other unique, authentic identification codes of said plurality;
• b. a plurality of unique, authentic taggant keys, wherein:
• i. each unique, authentic taggant key of the plurality is associated with one or more of the unique, authentic identification codes;
• and
• ii. each unique, authentic taggant key produces spectral characteristics responsive to illumination by at least one light source, wherein a unique spectral signature is encoded in the spectral characteristics of each unique, authentic taggant key that distinguishes each unique, authentic taggant key from the other unique, authentic taggant keys in said plurality;
• c. a spectral analysis key that comprises an algorithm that processes detected spectral characteristics in a manner effective to determine if a unique, authentic spectral signature of a unique, authentic taggant key is encoded in the detected spectral characteristics;
• d. an authentic object comprising at least one of the unique, authentic identification codes and an associated, authentic document comprising at least one of the unique, authentic taggant keys and at least one of the unique, authentic identification codes;
• e. an information repository that securely stores authentication information for the authentic object and the associated, authentic document, said authentication information including authentication information indicative of the at least one unique, authentic taggant key and the unique identification codes for the authentic object and the associated, authentic document;
• and
• f. information repository security programming that comprises the steps of:
• i. determining if the at least one unique, authentic taggant key and/or the at least one unique, authentic identification code for the authentic document is present on an evaluated document;
• ii. preventing access to the authentication information if any of the at least one unique, authentic taggant key and the at least one unique, authentic identification code of the authentic document is not present on the evaluated document;
• and
• iii. allowing access to the authentication information only if (a) the at least one unique, authentic taggant key and the at least one unique, authentic identification code are present on the evaluated document, and (b) the evaluated object matches both its own stored authentication attributes and those of the associated, authentic document, and (c) the evaluated document matches both its own stored authentication attributes and those of the associated, authentic object, thereby providing bidirectional cross-validation between the object and the document.