The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 13, 2008
Filed:
May. 10, 2005
Geoff Lyon, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Salil Pradhan, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Bill Serra, Montara, CA (US);
Alipio Caban, Arecibo, PR (US);
Jorge E. Badillo, Rincon, PR (US);
Geoff Lyon, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Salil Pradhan, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Bill Serra, Montara, CA (US);
Alipio Caban, Arecibo, PR (US);
Jorge E. Badillo, Rincon, PR (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A seal for a package includes a circuit having electrical characteristics that change under mechanical deformation and an attaching material coupled to the circuit and for attaching the circuit to the package. The seal is attached to the package and processed prior to shipping to establish an untampered state for the seal. This includes identifying a circuit on the sealed package according to a seal type associated with the seal, recording one or more characteristics associated with the circuit from the seal and storing the seal type and one or more characteristics associated with the circuit from the seal for later comparison. To detect tampering to the package, the seal type and corresponding seal and circuit for the seal is identified, the characteristics associated with a circuit from the seal are determined and compared with the previous characteristics recorded when the seal was initially applied to the package. If the comparison indicates that a mechanical deformation of the seal occurred, it is possible the seal and package were tampered with during shipment or delivery.