Document security system

Cryptography – Particular algorithmic function encoding – Nbs/des algorithm

Patent

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Details

382 3, 380 24, 380 25, H04L 732, G06K 900

Patent

active

053554116

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a document security system and apparatus for encoding documents such as cheque cards and credit cards with information to ensure that the documentation can be verified as authentic to prevent document fraud and the like. This invention is particularly, but not exclusively, intended to minimise cheque, cheque card and credit card fraud.
It is well known that document fraud, such as credit card fraud, costs several million pounds per annum both to the owners of the documents such as banks, and also to the customers. In addition, there is considerable police and court time devoted to the pursuit, apprehension and punishment of persons involved in the carrying out of such frauds.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a document security system and apparatus which obviates or mitigates the above mentioned problem.
This is achieved by storing the signature of a user on the document, in a form which cannot be read by the unaided human eye and providing reading means for reading the stored signal so that the stored signal can be compared with a sample signature.
In a preferred arrangement, the portrait and signature of the user are both provided on the document, for example, a cheque card or credit card, and the signature is encoded on the card so that the signature cannot be read if the document falls into unauthorised hands. However, the encoded signature may be read at the point of use by a reading machine and compared with a stored signature or by direct comparison with the presenter's signature to verify the authenticity of the user.
The user's signature is electronically read and compressed and is stored on a magnetic strip on the document, when the magnetic strip is read at the point of use, the user's signature is displayed on a screen to enable the vendor to compare it with the actual signature of the user to enable verification of the user.
The encoded signal may be optically encoded and consequently can be optically read.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a security system for encoding documents with a signature representative of a user, said security system comprising: signal recording means for reading a sample signature and for digitally encoding said sample signature so that said sample signature cannot be read directly by the unaided eye; digital data compression means coupled to said signal recording means for compressing the digitally encoded signature to a reduced amount of data of 160 bytes or less, said digital data compression means including,
means for setting the desired usage size of the signature and means for setting the level of digital data to fit into said desired signature size, scanning means for scanning said signature on a line by line basis, means for determining and removing multiple dots from said scanned image and storage means for storing a number of dots and a number of dot displacements, counting and storage means for counting and storing increment values and the number and position of tray dots, comparison means for comparing the total dot count in said compressed digitised signature with said digital data level, and scaling means for scaling the image size of the signature by the target or dot count in vertical and horizontal scales;
recording means for magnetically recording the compressed digitised signature on a magnetic stripe of a document; signal reading means including magnetic stripe reading means including magnetic stripe reading means for reading a compressed signature so stored on a magnetic stripe; and display means coupled to the signal reading means for visually displaying the compressed signature so that a visual comparison between the compressed signature and a further sample signature provided by a user may be made to verify the identity of the user.
Conveniently, the signal recording means includes a digital scanner for digitising said signal and a computer coupled to said digital scanner for receiving and storing said dig

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