TECHNOLOGY
Levels of Protection
Our security technology provides the ability to choose between two levels of protection, the standard Stealth Mark® codes or the Stealth Mark® particle fingerprint. The same mark and application methods can be used with either level of protection. Using a StealthFire™ Reader, the image is taken of a mark on an item and instantly uploaded into our StealthFire™ software. The software can then calculates and displays the code. If you've opted for the higher level of security, it calculates the particle fingerprint and matches it to your customer database for authenticity.
Codes
Codes are recognized and displayed to the user by capturing an image of a mark, via a StealthFire™ Reader, which in turn, live-streams the image data to a PC loaded with StealthFire™ software. The software quickly analyses the mark and returns the code.
The StealthFire™ software analysis separates the microparticles in the mark from their background, makes corrections for the environment in which the mark is located (enabling effective code determinations on many different colored surfaces), identifies the color of the layers in each microparticle and calculates the code. All of this occurs automatically and results are presented within a few seconds of the capture of the mark.
Particle Fingerprint
Our strongest, premium form of protection is the Stealth Mark® Microparticle FingerPrint —which provides a totally unique, and identifiable “fingerprint” for each item you choose to mark.
During the mark application process, our encrypted microparticles are randomly dispersed on your product. We capture certain characteristics about this, such as the size of each particle, its location and orientation, and its various colors.
A particle fingerprint is the combination of the mark code and its unique “Expression Matrix” found in the random pattern formed when the microparticles are dispersed during application. This combination produces a set of data that is actually more unique than a human fingerprint.
In typical use, a mark image is captured at the time it is applied to the protected item. The image is processed by the software and the Code and “Expression Matrix” are calculated and saved to a database for comparison and authentication at a later date.
Later, when your item needs to be authenticated, a new image of the mark is captured, the Code and the “Expression Matrix” are computed and the data is matched against all of the microparticle fingerprint data stored in your database to authenticate the individual item. Our process matches your particle fingerprint on more criteria than are used for human fingerprints. This verification process is similar in nature to validating a credit card and can be performed virtually anywhere. The illustration below shows a mark image and a graphical representation of the Stealth Mark® fingerprint data.
