Patent US6345104B1 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US6345104B1
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Digital watermarks and methods for security documents
Assignee: Digimarc Corp
•
Filing: 1998-07-31
•
Granted: 2002-02-05
•
Expires: 2018-07-31
Abstract
Abstract Security documents (e.g. passports, currency, event tickets, and the like) are encoded to convey machine-readable multi-bit binary information (e.g., a digital watermark), usually in a manner not alerting human viewers that such information is present. The documents can be provided with overt or subliminal calibration patterns. When a document incorporating such a pattern is scanned (e.g. by a photocopier), the pattern facilitates detection of the encoded information notwithstanding possible scaling or rotation of the scan data. The calibration pattern can serve as a carrier for the watermark information, or the watermark can be encoded independently. In one embodiment, the watermark and the calibration pattern are formed on the document by an intaglio process, with or without ink. A photocopier responsive to such markings can take predetermined action if reproduction of a security document is attempted. A passport processing station responsive to such markings can use the decoded binary data to access a database having information concerning the passport holder. Some such apparatuses detect both the watermark data and the presence of a visible structure characteristic of a security document (e.g., a printed seal of the document's issuer).
Inventors
- 👤 Geoffrey B. Rhoads
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 11:17
CPC Classifications
G; G07; G07F; G07F17/00; G07F17/16; G06; G06V; G06V10/00; G06V10/88; B; B42; B42D; B42D25/00; B42D25/20; B42D25/29; G06Q; G06Q20/00; G06Q20/30; G06Q20/34; G06Q20/341; G06Q20/38; G06Q20/40; G06Q20/401; G06Q20/4014; G06Q20/40145; G06T; G06T1/00; G06T1/0021; G06T1/005; G06T1/0064; G06V30/00; G06V30/40; G07C; G07C9/00; G07C9/20; G07C9/22; G07C9/25; G07C9/253; G07D; G07D7/00; G07D7/003; G07D7/0032; G07D7/0034; G07D7/004; G07F7/00; G07F7/08; G07F7/086; G07F7/10; G07F7/1008; G07F7/1016; G07F7/12; G10; G10L; G10L19/00; G10L19/018; G11; G11B; G11B20/00; G11B20/00086; G11B20/00094; G11B20/00166; G11B20/0021; G11B20/00217; G11B20/00224; G11B20/00485; G11B20/00557; G11B20/00855; G11B20/00884; G11B20/00891; H; H04; H04B; H04B1/00; H04B1/66; H04B1/665; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/00002; H04N1/00005; H04N1/00026; H04N1/00037; H04N1/00071; H04N1/00074; H04N1/00079; H04N1/00838; H04N1/0084; H04N1/00843; H04N1/00846; H04N1/00856; H04N1/00864; H04N1/00867; H04N1/0087; H04N1/00875; H04N1/32; H04N1/32101; H04N1/32144; H04N1/32149; H04N1/32203; H04N1/32208; H04N1/32219; H04N1/32251; H04N1/32261; H04N1/32288; H04N1/32304; H04N1/32352; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/23; H04N21/238; H04N21/2389; H04N21/23892; H04N21/80; H04N21/83; H04N21/835; H04N21/8358; H04N5/00; H04N5/76; H04N5/91; H04N5/913; B29; B29C; B29C45/00; B29C45/14; B29C45/1418; G06T2201/00; G06T2201/005; G06T2201/0051; G06T2201/0052; G06T2201/0061; G06T2201/0065; G11B20/00876; H04N1/32106; H04N1/32122; H04N2005/91307; H04N2005/91321; H04N2005/91335; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3201; H04N2201/3204; H04N2201/3205; H04N2201/3207; H04N2201/3225; H04N2201/3226; H04N2201/3233; H04N2201/3239; H04N2201/3269; H04N2201/327; H04N2201/3271; H04N2201/3274; H04N2201/328; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S428/00; Y10S428/916; Y10T; Y10T428/00; Y10T428/24; Y10T428/24802
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 46
Claim 1
Independent Claim
60 words
A Security document including at least a substrate, a digital watermark, and a calibration pattern, the calibration pattern having a known transform facilitating decoding of the digital watermark from scan data corresponding to said document, said watermark not being apparent to a human viewer of the document, yet can be detected from visible light scan data corresponding to said document.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
60 words
A Security document including at least a substrate, a digital watermark, and a calibration pattern, the calibration pattern having a known transform facilitating decoding of the digital watermark from scan data corresponding to said document, said watermark not being apparent to a human viewer of the document, yet can be detected from visible light scan data corresponding to said document.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
28 words
The document of claim 1 in which the calibration pattern has a known Fourier-Mellin transform facilitating decoding of the digital watermark from scan data corresponding to said document.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
10 words
A negotiable financial instrument in accordance with claim 1 .
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
8 words
A passport in accordance with claim 1 .
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
18 words
The document of claim 1 in which the calibration pattern has a weave-like appearance if scrutinized under magnification.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
17 words
The document of claim 1 in which the calibration pattern extends across most of the security document.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
28 words
The document of claim 1 in which at least one of the digital watermark and calibration pattern are realized by texturing of the document surface, and not printing.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
26 words
The document of claim 1 in which both the digital watermark and the calibration pattern are realized by texturing of the document surface, and not printing.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
38 words
The document of claim 1 in which each one square millimeter zone of the calibration pattern has an 8-bit grey-scale value within twenty percent of the value of all adjoining one square millimeter zones of the calibration pattern.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
42 words
The document of claim 1 in which each 250 micron by 250 micron zone of the calibration pattern has an 8-bit grey-scale value within twenty percent of the value of all adjoining 250 micron by 250 micron zones of the calibration pattern.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
24 words
The document of claim 1 in which the calibration pattern comprises a tiled pattern, each tile including a line following an apparently random route.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
29 words
The document of claim 1 in which at least one of the digital watermark and calibration pattern is realized, at least in part, by texturing of the substrate surface.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
28 words
The document of claim 1 in which the calibration pattern is integrated with the watermark pattern, and is likewise not apparent to a human viewer of the document.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
105 words
A substrate on which a security document is to be printed, comprising a plurality of features thereon which, when imaged by a visible light sensor, produce image data, characterized in that: (a) the appearance of said features, when contrasted with the remainder of the substrate surface, is selected so as to be substantially indistinguishable by eye; (b) the appearance of said features is selected to be identifiable upon computer analysis of said image data, so that the substrate can be computer-recognized as being a security document; and (c) said features are repeated at intervals over at least some of the surface area of the substrate.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
105 words
A substrate on which a security document is to be printed, comprising a plurality of features thereon which, when imaged by a visible light sensor, produce image data, characterized in that: (a) the appearance of said features, when contrasted with the remainder of the substrate surface, is selected so as to be substantially indistinguishable by eye; (b) the appearance of said features is selected to be identifiable upon computer analysis of said image data, so that the substrate can be computer-recognized as being a security document; and (c) said features are repeated at intervals over at least some of the surface area of the substrate.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
16 words
The substrate of claim 14 wherein the identification features are repeated in a regular two-dimensional pattern.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
22 words
The substrate of claim 14 wherein said features define an identification pattern by which skew in the image data can be discerned.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
14 words
The substrate of claim 14 wherein said features comprise ink applied to the substrate.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
16 words
The substrate of claim 17 wherein said ink serves to give a tint to the substrate.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
14 words
The substrate of claim 14 wherein said features comprise texturing of the substrate surface.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
11 words
A security document printed on the substrate of claim 14 .
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
108 words
In a security document having formed thereon a visible structure, apparent to the eye, that identifies the document as a security document, said visible structure aiding in machine identification of the document from visible light scan data, so that equipment used in document reproduction can recognize that the document is a security document and change its operation accordingly, an improvement wherein the document further comprises other features that are detectable from said visible light scan data and yet are not apparent to the eye, said further features enabling recognition of the document as a security document, so it can be treated accordingly by equipment used in document reproduction.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
108 words
In a security document having formed thereon a visible structure, apparent to the eye, that identifies the document as a security document, said visible structure aiding in machine identification of the document from visible light scan data, so that equipment used in document reproduction can recognize that the document is a security document and change its operation accordingly, an improvement wherein the document further comprises other features that are detectable from said visible light scan data and yet are not apparent to the eye, said further features enabling recognition of the document as a security document, so it can be treated accordingly by equipment used in document reproduction.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
43 words
The document of claim 21 wherein said other features are distributed across said security document, wherein alteration of said document to obscure the visible structure does not defeat detection of the altered document as a security document by reference to said other features.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
55 words
A substrate having a background pattern formed over at least a portion thereof, characterized in that the pattern has a substantially uniform appearance to casual human inspection, but represents N-bits of digital data, where N is greater than one, said N-bits being detectable through computer analysis from visible light scan data corresponding to said substrate.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
55 words
A substrate having a background pattern formed over at least a portion thereof, characterized in that the pattern has a substantially uniform appearance to casual human inspection, but represents N-bits of digital data, where N is greater than one, said N-bits being detectable through computer analysis from visible light scan data corresponding to said substrate.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
10 words
A banknote formed on the substrate of claim 23 .
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
13 words
The banknote of claim 24 wherein said N-bit data represents the banknote's denomination.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
12 words
The banknote of claim 24 wherein said N-bit data represents location information.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
12 words
The banknote of claim 24 wherein said N-bit data represents date information.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
12 words
The substrate of claim 23 wherein the pattern is formed by ink.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
12 words
The substrate of claim 23 wherein the pattern is formed by texture.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
15 words
The substrate of claim 23 wherein the pattern comprises plural cells, each representing all N-bits.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
15 words
The substrate of claim 30 wherein each cell comprises a rectangular array of plural regions.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
15 words
The substrate of claim 31 wherein each region is associated with one of said bits.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
31 words
The substrate of claim 23 wherein the pattern comprises a steganographic calibration pattern, permitting the orientation of said substrate to be determined by said computer analysis of visible light scan data.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
12 words
The substrate of claim 23 wherein the pattern comprises plural inter-woven lines.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
16 words
The substrate of claim 34 wherein the lines have widths of between 30 and 100 microns.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
19 words
The substrate of claim 23 wherein the pattern is designed to produce a particular pattern in a transform domain.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
14 words
The substrate of claim 23 wherein said pattern gives the substrate a colored tint.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
13 words
The substrate of claim 23 wherein said pattern is formed by intaglio printing.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
19 words
The substrate of claim 23 wherein said pattern is formed on a layer that is laminated to said substrate.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
11 words
A passport page formed on the substrate of claim 23 .
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
10 words
A check formed on the substrate of claim 23 .
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
11 words
An identification document formed on the substrate of claim 23 .
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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) | 2005-02-04 | 2005-08-06 | 2006-02-05 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-02-04 | 2009-08-06 | 2010-02-05 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-02-04 | 2013-08-06 | 2014-02-05 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |