US6301368B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
System and method for data hiding in compressed fingerprint images
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1999-01-29
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Granted: 2001-10-09
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Expires: 2019-01-29
Abstract
Abstract A method to hide small messages in a wavelet compressed fingerprint image is presented. The method is characterized by random placement of the message bits in the compressed and quantized indices. The compressed image can be decompressed by any certified decompressor without any visible difference. However, the decoder aware of the decompression can only retrieve the hidden message in the image and additionally decompress the image without any error in pixel values.
Inventors
- 👤 Rudolf Maarten Bolle
- 👤 Jonathan Hudson Connell
- 👤 Nalini Kanta Ratha
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 11:47
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06T; G06T1/00; G06T1/0021; G06T1/0028; H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/32; H04N1/32101; H04N1/32144; H04N1/32149; H04N1/32154; H04N1/3217; H04N1/32187; H04N1/32267; H04N1/32277; G06T2201/00; G06T2201/005; G06T2201/0052; G06T2201/0053; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3201; H04N2201/3225; H04N2201/3233; H04N2201/3269; H04N2201/327; H04N2201/3278; H04N2201/328; H04N2201/3283
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
131 words
A computer system for hiding an information sequence in a compressed image comprising: an image compressor that spatially compresses an image to create a spatially compressed image with a plurality of frequency components, each with a respective spatial frequency and a respective amplitude; a candidate selector that selects a selected set of a plurality of the frequency components, the selected set having the frequency components with high spatial frequencies and large amplitudes; a data site selector that uses a random process to randomly select from the selected set to create a site set; and a site modifier that partitions the information sequence into one or more portions and uses one or more of the portions to modify one of the amplitudes of one of the frequency components in the site set.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
131 words
A computer system for hiding an information sequence in a compressed image comprising: an image compressor that spatially compresses an image to create a spatially compressed image with a plurality of frequency components, each with a respective spatial frequency and a respective amplitude; a candidate selector that selects a selected set of a plurality of the frequency components, the selected set having the frequency components with high spatial frequencies and large amplitudes; a data site selector that uses a random process to randomly select from the selected set to create a site set; and a site modifier that partitions the information sequence into one or more portions and uses one or more of the portions to modify one of the amplitudes of one of the frequency components in the site set.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
44 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the image compressor is any one or more of the following: a wavelet scalar quantization (WSQ), a joint picture expert group (JPEG), a motion picture expert group (MPEG), JBIG, or other frequency decomposition compression scheme.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
32 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the image is any one or more of the following: a fingerprint image, a face image, a biometric signature, or other biometrics signals.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
33 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the frequency component has a high spatial frequency when the frequency is large compared to the smallest frequency subband used in the compression algorithm.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
36 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the frequency component has a high spatial frequency when the frequency is at least two times higher than the lowest frequency subband used in the compression algorithm.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
37 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the frequency component has a large amplitude when the contribution of the least significant portion is small compared to the magnitude of the amplitude of the frequency component.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
38 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the frequency component has a large amplitude when the contribution of the least significant portion is five times smaller than the magnitude of the amplitude of the frequency component.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
36 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the random process includes any one or more of the following: a pseudo-random number generator, an algorithm to select the seed for the pseudo-random generator, a modulus.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
28 words
A computer system, as in claim 8 , where a portion of the pseudo-random number generator seed is computed from the frequency components of the spatially compressed image.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
43 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the information sequence includes any one or more of the following: a text stream, a user identification number, a date, a time, a social security number, a serial number, global positioning system reported coordinates.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
34 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the portions include any one or more of the following: bits, nibbles, bytes, characters, fixed size subdivisions or variable sized subdivision of the information sequence.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
43 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the site modifier uses any one or more of the following to modify the amplitude: a logical function of the portion, a random function of the portion, a strictly monotonic function of the portion.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
32 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the site modifier stores portions of the amplitudes before they are modified in a data appendage that is appended to the compressed image.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
33 words
A computer system, as in claim 1 , where the site modifier stores restoration information about how to restore the modified amplitudes in a data appendage that is appended to the compressed image.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
119 words
A computer system for extracting a hidden information sequence from a compressed image comprising: an image decompressor that partially decompresses the image to create a plurality of frequency components, each with a respective spatial frequency and a respective amplitude; a candidate selector that selects a selected set of a plurality of the frequency components, the selected set having the frequency components with high spatial frequencies and large amplitudes; a data site selector that uses a random process to randomly select from the selected set to create a site set; and a message extractor that uses one of the amplitudes of one of the frequency components in the site set to extract one or more portions of the information sequence.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
119 words
A computer system for extracting a hidden information sequence from a compressed image comprising: an image decompressor that partially decompresses the image to create a plurality of frequency components, each with a respective spatial frequency and a respective amplitude; a candidate selector that selects a selected set of a plurality of the frequency components, the selected set having the frequency components with high spatial frequencies and large amplitudes; a data site selector that uses a random process to randomly select from the selected set to create a site set; and a message extractor that uses one of the amplitudes of one of the frequency components in the site set to extract one or more portions of the information sequence.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
39 words
A computer system, as in claim 15 , where the message extractor uses any one or more of the following: a logical function of the amplitude, a random function of the amplitude, a strictly monotonic function of the amplitude.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
29 words
A computer system, as in claim 15 , where the message extractor restores the portions of the amplitudes from a data appendage that is appended to the compressed image.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
29 words
A computer system, as in claim 15 , where the message extractor restores the amplitudes using restoration information from a data appendage that is appended to the compressed image.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2004-10-08 | 2005-04-09 | 2005-10-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2008-10-08 | 2009-04-09 | 2009-10-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2012-10-08 | 2013-04-09 | 2013-10-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |