Domino launches ‘check, track, trace’ camera-phone solution

Domino’s Integrated Solutions Group has led the development of a major breakthrough in combating product counterfeiting - the world’s first software solution that enables camera mobile phones to verify a product’s unique serialized barcode and so assure end-users of its authenticity, or alert them to possible fraud.

The solution effectively transforms a mobile phone into a hand-held scanner that can operate in real-time anywhere in the world using low-cost, high-speed data transfer technology - there is no need for separate scanners, laptops or other computing equipment.

Simon King, director of Domino’s Integrated Solutions Group, said that ‘the combination of the camera mobile phone, which most people now carry, and easy-to-use software offers enormous benefits across a multitude of applications and environments, from basic product identification to authenticating the “pedigree” of pharmaceuticals, where counterfeiting and substitution can have disastrous consequences’.

A range of camera-phones programmed with specially-adapted decoding software can scan serialized barcodes ranging from linear to 2D DataMatrix codes. The software analyses the image of the code captured by the camera-phone, identifies the code and translates it into its unique alphanumeric serial number and streams the data to a secure database for checking against pre-set identification criteria.

Depending on the application, the process may only entail checking and verifying the code content, but by linking the camera-phone to a secure database additional levels of authentication can be added by effectively ‘texting’ the data to the database via a secure SMS or mobile link.  Providing the camera or the user, or both, has the correct level of security clearance, the phone can access the secure database via an automatic link to check if the unique number can be matched. Data is then returned to the mobile phone in whatever format is required (via SMS, as photographic evidence or mobile message) to confirm that the product is genuine or alert the end-user to defects or possible counterfeiting.

The system can be configured to administer additional levels of identification and layers of security.  For example, a ‘first level’ product check might simply confirm that the product is as it should be, while ‘second level’ verification might interrogate the database to confirm additional information such as size, quantity, date, brand, etc.

Simon King explained: ‘The software can incorporate all sorts of checks, depending on clients’ needs:  for example, the ID number of the product, a name or short description, details of the product logistics, customs and excise data and payments, and so on.’

He added that because the mobile phone has become such an accepted feature of everyday life, the system will not attract attention when being used, making it ideal for ‘hostile’ environments – for example, where covert on-the-spot product checks are necessary to confirm, or otherwise, suspicions of counterfeiting or substitution.