Image analysis – Applications
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-03
2001-11-13
Johns, Andrew W. (Department: 2621)
Image analysis
Applications
C380S054000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06317505
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various images in traditional print or photographic media are commonly distributed to many users. Examples include the distribution of prints of paintings to the general public and photographs and film clips to and among the media. Owners may wish to audit usage of their images in print and electronic media, and so require a method to analyze print, film and digital images to determine if they were obtained directly from the owners or derived from their images. For example, the owner of an image may desire to limit access or use of the image. To monitor and enforce such a limitation, it would be beneficial to have a method of verifying that a subject image is copied or derived from the owner's image. The method of proof should be accurate and incapable of being circumvented. Further, the method should be able to detect unauthorized copies that have been resized, rotated, cropped, or otherwise altered slightly.
In the computer field, digital signatures have been applied to non-image digital data in order to identify the origin of the data. For various reasons these prior art digital signatures have not been applied to digital image data. One reason is that these prior art digital signatures are lost if the data to which they are applied are modified. Digital images are often modified each time they are printed, scanned, copied, or photographed due to unintentional “noise” created by the mechanical reproduction equipment used. Further, it is often desired to resize, rotate, crop or otherwise intentionally modify the image. Accordingly, the existing digital signatures are unacceptable for use with digital images.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention includes a method and system for embedding image signatures within visual images, applicable in the preferred embodiments described herein to digital representations as well as other media such as print or film. The signatures identify the source or ownership of images and distinguish between different copies of a single image. In preferred embodiments, these signatures persist through image transforms such as resizing and conversion to or from print or film and so provide a method to track subsequent use of digital images including derivative images in print or other form.
In a preferred embodiment described herein, a plurality of signature points are selected that are positioned within an original image having pixels with pixel values. The pixel values of the signatures points are adjusted by an amount detectable by a digital scanner. The adjusted signature points form a digital signature that is stored for future identification of subject images derived from the image.
The preferred embodiment of the invention described herein embeds a signature within the original image by locating candidate points such as relative extrema in the pixel values. Signature points are selected from among the candidate points and a data bit is encoded at each signature point by adjusting the pixel value at and surrounding each point. Preferably, the signature is redundantly embedded in the image such that any of the redundant representations can be used to identify the signature. The signature is stored for later use in identifying a subject image.
According to a preferred embodiment, the identification of a subject image includes ensuring that the subject image is normalized, i.e., of the same size, rotation, and brightness level as the original image. If not already normalized, the subject image is normalized by aligning and adjusting the luminance values of subsets of the pixels in the subject image to match corresponding subsets in the original image. The normalized subject image is then subtracted from the original image and the result is compared with the stored digital signature. In an alternate embodiment, the normalized subject image is compared directly with the signed image.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2630525 (1953-03-01), Tomberlin et al.
patent: 3406344 (1968-10-01), Hopper
patent: 3562420 (1971-02-01), Thompson
patent: 3638188 (1972-01-01), Pincoffs et al.
patent: 3838444 (1974-09-01), Loughlin et al.
patent: 3845391 (1974-10-01), Crosby
patent: 3914877 (1975-10-01), Hines
patent: 3984624 (1976-10-01), Waggener
patent: 4225967 (1980-09-01), Miwa et al.
patent: 4230990 (1980-10-01), Lert, Jr. et al.
patent: 4231113 (1980-10-01), Blasbalg
patent: 4237484 (1980-12-01), Brown et al.
patent: 4238849 (1980-12-01), Gassmann
patent: 4310180 (1982-01-01), Mowry, Jr. et al.
patent: 4313197 (1982-01-01), Maxemchuk
patent: 4367488 (1983-01-01), Leventer et al.
patent: 4379947 (1983-04-01), Warner
patent: 4389671 (1983-06-01), Posner et al.
patent: 4425642 (1984-01-01), Moses et al.
patent: 4425661 (1984-01-01), Moses et al.
patent: 4488245 (1984-12-01), Dalke et al.
patent: 4495620 (1985-01-01), Steele et al.
patent: 4528588 (1985-07-01), Löfberg
patent: 4644582 (1987-02-01), Morishita et al.
patent: 4672605 (1987-06-01), Hustig et al.
patent: 4677466 (1987-06-01), Lert, Jr. et al.
patent: 4697209 (1987-09-01), Kiewit et al.
patent: 4703476 (1987-10-01), Howard
patent: 4750173 (1988-06-01), Blüthgen
patent: 4775901 (1988-10-01), Nakano
patent: 4825393 (1989-04-01), Nishiya
patent: 4855827 (1989-08-01), Best
patent: 4866771 (1989-09-01), Bain
patent: 4876617 (1989-10-01), Best et al.
patent: 4908836 (1990-03-01), Rushforth et al.
patent: 4920503 (1990-04-01), Cook
patent: 4939515 (1990-07-01), Adelson
patent: 4941150 (1990-07-01), Iwasaki
patent: 4943973 (1990-07-01), Werner
patent: 4943976 (1990-07-01), Ishigaki
patent: 4963998 (1990-10-01), Maufe
patent: 4969041 (1990-11-01), O'Grady et al.
patent: 4972471 (1990-11-01), Gross et al.
patent: 4979210 (1990-12-01), Nagata et al.
patent: 5063446 (1991-11-01), Gibson
patent: 5067162 (1991-11-01), Driscoll, Jr. et al.
patent: 5073899 (1991-12-01), Collier et al.
patent: 5075773 (1991-12-01), Pullen et al.
patent: 5079648 (1992-01-01), Maufe
patent: 5083224 (1992-01-01), Hoogendoorn et al.
patent: 5093867 (1992-03-01), Hori et al.
patent: 5103459 (1992-04-01), Gilhousen et al.
patent: 5113437 (1992-05-01), Best et al.
patent: 5134496 (1992-07-01), Schwab et al.
patent: 5146457 (1992-09-01), Veldhuis et al.
patent: 5161210 (1992-11-01), Druyvesteyn et al.
patent: 5200822 (1993-04-01), Bronfin et al.
patent: 5212551 (1993-05-01), Conanan
patent: 5228056 (1993-07-01), Schilling
patent: 5243423 (1993-09-01), DeJean et al.
patent: 5257119 (1993-10-01), Funada et al.
patent: 5278400 (1994-01-01), Appel
patent: 5315098 (1994-05-01), Tow
patent: 5319735 (1994-06-01), Preuss et al.
patent: 5327237 (1994-07-01), Gerdes et al.
patent: 5337361 (1994-08-01), Wang et al.
patent: 5374976 (1994-12-01), Spannenburg
patent: 5394274 (1995-02-01), Kahn
patent: 5410598 (1995-04-01), Shear
patent: 5436653 (1995-07-01), Ellis et al.
patent: 5453968 (1995-09-01), Veldhuis et al.
patent: 5510900 (1996-04-01), Shirochi et al.
patent: 5537216 (1996-07-01), Yamashita et al.
patent: 5541741 (1996-07-01), Suzuki
patent: 5719984 (1998-02-01), Yamagata et al.
patent: 5721788 (1998-02-01), Powell et al.
patent: 5790932 (1998-08-01), Komaki et al.
patent: 5907443 (1999-05-01), Hirata
patent: 29 43 436 (1981-05-01), None
patent: 058482A1 (1982-08-01), None
patent: 0372601A1 (1990-06-01), None
patent: 0 493 091 (1992-07-01), None
patent: 0493091A1 (1992-07-01), None
patent: 2063018A (1981-05-01), None
patent: 2196167A (1988-04-01), None
patent: WO89/08915A1 (1989-09-01), None
Gabor, et al., “Theory of Communication,”J. Inst. Elect. Eng. 93, 1946, pp. 429-441.
Roberts, “Picture Coding Using Pseudorandom Noise,”IRE Trans. on Information Theory, vol. 8, No. 2, Feb., 1992, pp. 145-154.
Jain, “Image Coding Via a Nearest Neighbors Image Model,”IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. COM-23, No. 3, Mar. 1975, pp. 318-331.
Szepanski, “Optimization of Add-On Signals by Means of a Modified Training Algorithm for Linear Classifiers,”IEEE Int'l Symp. On Info. Theory, Oct. 10, 1997, pp. 27-28.
Szepanski, “Binary Data Transmission Over Video Channels with Very Low Amplitude Data Signals,”Fernseh-und Kin
Nitzberg Mark J.
Powell Robert D.
Conwell William Y.
Digimarc Corporation
Johns Andrew W.
Meyer Joel R.
LandOfFree
Image marking with error correction does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Image marking with error correction, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Image marking with error correction will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2593200