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Method and apparatus for document verification and tracking

 Gregory J. Wolff et al
A document processing system in which a server subsystem stores information corresponding to a document containing human readable and machine readable information and a client subsystem receives the document and interprets the machine readable information. The client subsystem contacts the...
Inventors: Gregory J. Wolff, David G. Stork, K. Venkatesh Prasad
Assignees: Ricoh Corporation, Ricoh Company, Ltd.

U.S. Classification
380/25; 380/51; 380/55; 38082534

International Classification
H04L 900

View patent at USPTO

Citations

Patent NumberTitleIssue date
4641347System for printing encrypted messages with a character generator and bar-code representationFeb 3, 1987
4893338System for conveying information for the reliable authentification of a plurality of documentsJan 9, 1990
5022080Electronic notaryJun 4, 1991
5157726Document copy authenticationOct 20, 1992
5337361Record with encoded dataAug 9, 1994
5341428Multiple cross-check document verification systemAug 23, 1994
5422954Apparatus and method of producing a self printed inspection labelJun 6, 1995
5426700Method and apparatus for verification of classes of documentsJun 20, 1995
5440633Communication network access method and systemAug 8, 1995
5471533Record with encoded dataNov 28, 1995
5513264Visually interactive encoding and decoding of dataformsApr 30, 1996

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A document processing system comprising:

a server subsystem storing an electronic version of information corresponding to a document containing human readable information and machine readable information that corresponds, at least in part, to the human readable information;
a client subsystem that scans both the human readable information and the machine readable information in response to receipt of the document and interprets the machine readable information, wherein the client subsystem uses information in the document to contact the server subsystem to request verification of information in the document; and
a communications network coupled to the server subsystem and the client subsystem for exchanging information therebetween,
wherein the server subsystem verifies the information on the document based on a comparison between a portion of the information on the document provided by the client subsystem and the electronic version and, thereafter provides an authentication indication to the client subsystem once verification has been concluded.

2. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the machine readable information comprises a bar code.

3. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the machine readable information comprises encrypted information.

4. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the document comprises a prescription.

5. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the machine readable information includes an identifier indicating an address of the server.

6. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the server subsystem comprises a print engine to generate the document.

7. The system defined in claim 6 wherein the print engine encodes pixel information corresponding to the document in the machine readable information.

8. The system defined in claim 7 wherein the pixel information indicates the number of pixels in the human readable information.

9. The system defined in claim 7 wherein the pixel information comprises location data indicating the location of pixels on the document to be used in verification.

10. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the server subsystem comprises:

a document storage for storing the electronic version of the document;
a document coordinator for servicing requests from the client subsystem; and
communications facilities coupled to the document coordinator and the network for receiving requests from the client subsystem and providing responses to the client subsystem using the network.

11. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the communications network comprises the Internet.

12. The system defined in claim 10 further comprising a processing unit coupled to the client subsystem for providing an updated version of the document in response to a request.

13. The system defined in claim 10 further comprising a processing unit coupled to the server subsystem for preventing the server subsystem from responding to requests concerning the document.

14. The system defined in claim 10 further comprising a processing unit coupled to the document storage for removing the document from document storage.

15. The system defined in claim 10 further comprising a print engine to create the document.

16. The system defined in claim 15 wherein the print engine creates the document by encoding pixel information for verifying the human readable information.

17. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the client subsystem comprises a document scanner to read the document, interpret the machine readable information, and to contact the server subsystem; and

a communication interface for sending queries to the server subsystem and receiving responses to those queries from the client subsystem.

18. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the communications network comprises the World Wide Web (the Web).

19. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the client subsystem scans at least a portion of the document information and communicates said information to the server subsystem to enable completion of document verification.

20. The system defined in claim 19 wherein the server subsystem performs document change detection.

21. The system defined in claim 20 wherein the amount of change required to indicate that the document has been changed is tunable.

22. The system defined in claim 21 wherein the change detection is tuned based on user selection.

23. The system defined in claim 20 wherein the server subsystem performs document change detection by computing a first CheckSum over a plurality of blocks of said at least a portion of the document information and a second CheckSum computed over blocks of said at least a portion in the stored version of the document, and comparing the first and second CheckSums for a difference, wherein the server subsystem detects a change when a difference is determined to exist between the first and second CheckSums.

24. A method for processing a document having both human readable information and machine readable information specific to the document and corresponding, in part, to the human readable information, said method comprising the steps of:

scanning the document;
a first subsystem interpreting the machine readable information in the document;
the first subsystem contacting, using information in the document, a second subsystem over a network to verify information in the document using the human readable information and the machine readable information;
the second subsystem verifying information in the document in response to information provided by the first subsystem; and
the second subsystem indicating validity of the information in the document to the first subsystem.

25. The method defined in claim 24 further comprising the step of generating the document so that the machine readable information tracks the human readable information.

26. The method defined in claim 24 further comprising the step of preventing re-verification of the document of the document.

27. The method defined in claim 26 wherein the step of verifying comprises comparing the filled-in information on the document with printed portions of the document.

28. The method defined in claim 24 further comprising the step of locating human readable information in the document based on other information contained in the document.

29. The method defined in claim 24 further comprising storing electronic copy of the document, and the second subsystem performing verification using the electronic copy and information received from interpretation of the machine readable information.

30. The method defined in claim 29 further comprising the step of the second subsystem detecting changes between the electronic copy and information received from interpretation of the machine readable information and human readable information, if any, and indicating that the document is not authentic if change is detected.

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