Image analysis – Applications
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-03
2003-10-21
Patel, Jayanti K. (Department: 2625)
Image analysis
Applications
C713S176000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06636615
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to steganography, and more particularly relates to the use of multiple watermarks to determine the authenticity or history of a particular document or electronic object (e.g., image, motion picture, audio track).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Steganographic and digital watermarking technologics are well known. For example see U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,292 and the extensive references cited therein. Also see copending patent applications Ser. No. 08/327,426 which was filed Oct. 21, 1994 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,426) and copending application Ser. No. 08/436,134 which was filed May 8, 1995 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5.748,763).
The technology for inserting digital watermarks in images and the technology for reading or detecting digital watermarks in images is well developed, well known and described in detail in public literature. Furthermore, there are commercially available products which include programs or mechanisms for inserting digital watermarks into images. For example the commercially available and widely used products “Adobe Photoshop” which is marketed by Adobe Corporation of San Jose Calif. and “Corel Draw” program which is marked by Corel Corporation of Ontario Canada, include a facility for inserting digital watermarks into images.
The technology for making high quality copies of documents is widely available. The technical quality of scanners and color printers has been increasing rapidly. Today for a relatively low cost one can purchase a high quality scanner and a high quality color printer. Thus, it is becoming increasingly easy to duplicate documents. The ability to create high quality copies has created a need for technology which can differentiate between original documents and copies of the original.
It is known that watermarks can be used to help differentiate genuine documents from copies. However, the prior art techniques for using digital watermarks to differentiate genuine documents from copies have serious limitations. The present invention is directed to an improved technique for using steganography and digital watermark technology to facilitate differentiating original documents from copies of the original.
The present invention can also be used for various other purposes such as to embed multiple types of information in a single document or to provide watermarks that enable documents to perform special functions.
The present invention can also be used for various other purposes such as to embed multiple types of information in a single document or to providie watermarks that enable documents to perform special functions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With the present invention multiple digital watermarks, each of which has a different character, are embedded in a document. The characters of the two watermarks are chosen so that the watermarks will be affected in different manners by what may subsequently happen to the document.
The detection process or mechanism reads the two digital watermarks and compares their characteristics. While wear and handling may change the characteristics of the individual watermarks, the relationship between the characteristic of the two watermarks will never-the-less give an indication as to whether a document is an original or a copy of an original.
For example according to the present invention two digital watermarks in a document may have different energy levels. The absolute energy level of a digital watermark in an original image may be decreased if a document is subject to wear. Likewise the energy level of the digital watermark in an image may be decreased if an image is scanned and reprinted on a color printer. However, the relationship between the energy level of the two digital watermarks will be different in an image that has been subject to wear and in a reproduced image. Likewise if two digital watermarks are introduced into an image where the bit pattern used to construct the digital watermarks have different patterns, the ratio between the signal to noise ratio of the watermarks will be different in an original subject to wear and in a copy generated by scanning the original and printing the scanned image. Other characteristics of multiple digital watermarks can also be used to differentiate original documents from copies.
In other embodiments, a watermark-independent assessment of wear can be performed, and the results used to aid in differentiating original documents from copies.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3984624 (1976-10-01), Waggener
patent: 4210346 (1980-07-01), Mowry et al.
patent: 4238849 (1980-12-01), Gassmann
patent: 4296326 (1981-10-01), Haslop et al.
patent: 4313197 (1982-01-01), Maxemchuk
patent: 4367488 (1983-01-01), Leventer et al.
patent: 4379947 (1983-04-01), Warner
patent: 4380027 (1983-04-01), Leventer et al.
patent: 4395600 (1983-07-01), Lundy et al.
patent: 4425642 (1984-01-01), Moses et al.
patent: 4528588 (1985-07-01), Löfberg
patent: 4547804 (1985-10-01), Greenberg
patent: 4672605 (1987-06-01), Hustig et al.
patent: 4675746 (1987-06-01), Tetrick et al.
patent: 4723072 (1988-02-01), Naruse
patent: 4750173 (1988-06-01), Blüthgen
patent: 4807031 (1989-02-01), Broughton et al.
patent: 4855827 (1989-08-01), Best
patent: 4908836 (1990-03-01), Rushforth et al.
patent: 4908873 (1990-03-01), Philibert et al.
patent: 4969041 (1990-11-01), O'Grady et al.
patent: 5146457 (1992-09-01), Veldhuis et al.
patent: 5216724 (1993-06-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 5243423 (1993-09-01), DeJean et al.
patent: 5284364 (1994-02-01), Jain
patent: 5354097 (1994-10-01), Tel
patent: 5488664 (1996-01-01), Shamir
patent: 5493677 (1996-02-01), Balogh et al.
patent: 5502576 (1996-03-01), Ramsay et al.
patent: 5521722 (1996-05-01), Colvill et al.
patent: 5530759 (1996-06-01), Braudaway et al.
patent: 5598526 (1997-01-01), Daniel et al.
patent: 5617119 (1997-04-01), Briggs et al.
patent: 5636292 (1997-06-01), Rhoads
patent: 5652626 (1997-07-01), Kawakami et al.
patent: 5663766 (1997-09-01), Sizer, II
patent: 5664018 (1997-09-01), Leighton
patent: 5673316 (1997-09-01), Auerbach et al.
patent: 5687236 (1997-11-01), Moskowitz et al.
patent: 5719939 (1998-02-01), Tel
patent: 5721788 (1998-02-01), Powell et al.
patent: 5751854 (1998-05-01), Saitoh et al.
patent: 5768426 (1998-06-01), Rhoads
patent: 5809160 (1998-09-01), Powell et al.
patent: 5819289 (1998-10-01), Sanford, II et al.
patent: 5822436 (1998-10-01), Rhoads
patent: 5825892 (1998-10-01), Braudaway et al.
patent: 5862218 (1999-01-01), Steinberg
patent: 5862260 (1999-01-01), Rhoads
patent: 5875249 (1999-02-01), Mintzer et al.
patent: 5893101 (1999-04-01), Balogh et al.
patent: 5898779 (1999-04-01), Squilla et al.
patent: 5905800 (1999-05-01), Moskowitz et al.
patent: 5930369 (1999-07-01), Cox et al.
patent: 5933798 (1999-08-01), Linnartz
patent: 5949055 (1999-09-01), Fleet et al.
patent: 5974548 (1999-10-01), Adams
patent: 5991426 (1999-11-01), Cox et al.
patent: 6064764 (2000-05-01), Bhaskaran et al.
patent: 6122403 (2000-09-01), Rhoads
patent: 6185683 (2001-02-01), Ginter et al.
patent: 6233347 (2001-05-01), Chen et al.
patent: 6233684 (2001-05-01), Stefik et al.
patent: 6246777 (2001-06-01), Agarwal et al.
patent: 6226387 (2001-07-01), Twefik et al.
patent: 6272176 (2001-08-01), Srinivasan
patent: 6272634 (2001-08-01), Tewfik et al.
patent: 6275599 (2001-08-01), Adler et al.
patent: 6285775 (2001-09-01), Wu et al.
patent: 6285776 (2001-09-01), Rhoads
patent: 6314192 (2001-11-01), Chen et al.
patent: 6332031 (2001-12-01), Rhoads et al.
patent: 6332194 (2001-12-01), Bloom et al.
patent: 6334187 (2001-12-01), Kadono
patent: 2001/0020270 (2001-09-01), Yeung et al.
patent: 2001/0021144 (2001-09-01), Oshima et al.
patent: 2001/0052076 (2001-12-01), Kadono
patent: 2002/0009208 (2002-01-01), Alattar et al.
patent: 2002/0010684 (2002-01-01), Moskowitz
patent: 2002/0015509 (2002-02-01), Nakamura et al.
patent: 0642060 (1999-04-01), None
patent: 1077570 (2001-02-01), None
patent: WO97/43736 (1997-11-01), None
patent: WO99/36876 (1999-07-01), None
patent: WO00/44131 (2000-07-01), None
patent: WO 00/44131 (2000-07-01), None
patent:
Gustafson Ammon E.
Rhoads Geoffrey B.
Conwell William Y.
Digimarc Corporation
Digimarc Corporation
Patel Jayanti K.
LandOfFree
Methods and systems using multiple watermarks does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Methods and systems using multiple watermarks, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Methods and systems using multiple watermarks will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3116813