Data processing: measuring – calibrating – or testing – Calibration or correction system – Weight
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-22
2001-06-12
Shah, Kamini (Department: 2857)
Data processing: measuring, calibrating, or testing
Calibration or correction system
Weight
C702S175000, C700S305000, C177S025110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06246967
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to digital weight indicators and more particularly, to digital weight indicators having weight verification devices that verify weight transaction data.
2. Description of Related Art
The duty of the State Departments of Weights and Measures is to ensure that weight data employed in commercial transactions are fair and accurate. And yet, as computer technology assumes a greater role in the capture, processing, and transmission of weight data, the traditional methods of assuring fair weights and measures are increasingly inadequate to the task.
At the present time, when a weight inspector calibrates and seals a digital weight indicator, he or she verifies that the weighing system is capturing a fair and accurate weight, and that it adheres to accepted weighing procedures. Once the weight data leave the indicator, however, to be processed by attached computer equipment, no such verification is possible. An inspector may witness a transaction and see that it was performed properly, but there is no guarantee that the software will continue to perform in a fair and accurate way under actual conditions of use. There is no guarantee that the software that was inspected is even the same software that will be used in daily operations. Participants in a transaction may be given scale tickets or other paperwork to verify the weighing transaction, but since any paper output is itself the product of the attached computer equipment, they are just as easily forged. The situation is, of course, worse for those participants in a weighing transaction who are not present at the weighment, who only receive electronic confirmation, and yet charge or pay based on numbers received electronically. The possibilities for fraud are obvious.
The costs of combating fraud can be substantial, including mailing of signed scale tickets back and forth, or even duplication of the weighing process on both the vendor's and customer's scales. In many cases, it is not possible to recover the original weight. For example, if a vehicle is involved in an accident, the original (easily forged) scale ticket or bill of lading may be required as evidence of whether the vehicle was overloaded. Additionally, the reliance on paper tickets can be an impediment to the further development of electronic commerce.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a Weight Verification Device (WVD). The WVD is an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) device that is installed in a sealed digital weight indicator (or scale). When a vehicle is weighed on the digital weight indicator, a record of the transaction is created and stored on a computer. The WVD stamps each weight transaction record with a digital signature so that the transaction data may later be verified.
The WVD confirms that the inbound and outbound weights and the date and time and the weighing equipment identifier are accurate, that the transaction data have not been tampered with, and that the transaction as a whole has not been modified in any way since the time the transaction record was created. The digital signature stored with the transaction data is based on a secure hash of the transaction data and a “private” key belonging to an inspector from the Weights and Measures Department or a designated representative. The private key is entered into the WVD in a secure manner and is erased automatically whenever the digital weight indicator's seal is breached.
The WVD is an ASIC that operates in conjunction with software residing in a scale operator's computer. The software adheres to a specific protocol. The WVD is interposed on a serial line between the computer and the digital weight indicator (or indicators, one per indicator). The WVD comprises a processor, memory, two serial ports, and circuitry to detect breaching of the seal. Optionally, the connection between the digital weight indicator and the load cell (from which the vehicle weight is determined) may be secured. Software to verify the authenticity and accuracy of the transaction data may be installed and run from any computer that processes or relays the transaction data.
Once installed within a digital weight indicator, the WVD is sealed in such a way that breaking the seal (for instance, as is done for weight calibration) also erases the inspector's private key. The operation of the digital weight indicator is not affected, but any subsequent transactions are not stamped with the digital signature. The software then leaves the digital signature field of the transaction record blank so it is clear to any user of the transaction data that the security of the WVD has been breached and the transaction data may have been modified.
The proposed Weight Verification Device makes a weight inspector's seal relevant in the world of computer transactions and electronic data interchange. The device is targeted to the weighing of commercial truck traffic, but the same device may be exploited for any other commercial weighment where the economic value of an individual weighment warrants the expense of verification. The goal of the Weight Verification Device is to provide a transaction in electronic form, that anyone can verify, even if that person has no access to the original weighing equipment, that the transaction contains fair and accurate gross, tare and net weights, that the weighments were performed at the times stated, using the identified equipment, and that no information on the transaction has been altered since the moment the final weight was captured. The authority that verifies the integrity of the transaction is neither the buyer nor the seller, nor the owner of the weighing equipment, but the state inspector.
The use of digital signature technology in a digital weight transaction record is unique to the present invention and results in several benefits. Other types of encryption/decryption or encoding/decoding technology may be used to achieve the benefits of the present invention. The WVD produces an electronic or digital weighing transaction record such that, without accessing the weighing equipment, the holder of the transaction data can verify that the transaction record contains accurate weights and times and that the information in transaction record has not been altered since a final net weight was obtained. The weight transaction data may be verified by software that complies with the public protocol of the applicable digital signature standard. Consequently, fraud in weighing transactions is reduced and businesses that receive shipments of material by weight may rely on the transaction data record and devote fewer resources to verifying the actual weight of incoming shipments.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4856604 (1989-08-01), Sisson et al.
patent: 4917199 (1990-04-01), Loshbough
patent: 5136646 (1992-08-01), Haber et al.
patent: 5136647 (1992-08-01), Haber et al.
patent: 5373561 (1994-12-01), Haber et al.
patent: 5583765 (1996-12-01), Kleehammer
patent: 5655023 (1997-08-01), Cordery et al.
patent: 5655024 (1997-08-01), Bell et al.
patent: 5884238 (1999-03-01), Noll et al.
patent: 5983207 (1999-11-01), Turk et al.
Cheney, III Harold W.
Libicki Charles M.
Interface Logic Systems, Inc.
Shah Kamini
Standley & Gilcrest LLP
LandOfFree
Weight verification device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Weight verification device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Weight verification device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2451427