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US6614915B2 Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Image capture and marking

Assignee: Digimarc Corp
•
Filing: 2002-06-13
•
Granted: 2003-09-02
•
Expires: 2022-06-13
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Abstract

Abstract A digital image is scanned to generate image data, which is processed to steganographically embed plural-bit auxiliary data. The system is useful, e.g., for capturing and marking digital images without noticeably changing their visual appearance.

Inventors

  • 👤 Robert D. Powell
  • 👤 Mark J. Nitzberg

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-09 14:07
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06T; G06T1/00; G06T1/0021; G06T1/005; G06T1/0064; G06Q; G06Q20/00; G06Q20/30; G06Q20/34; G06Q20/341; G06T1/0028; G07; G07D; G07D7/00; G07D7/004; G07D7/0047; G07D7/005; G07D7/0054; G07D7/0056; G07D7/06; G07D7/12; G07D7/20; G07D7/2008; G07D7/202; G07D7/2033; G07F; G07F7/00; G07F7/08; G07F7/12; H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/32; H04N1/32101; H04N1/32144; H04N1/32149; H04N1/32203; H04N1/32208; H04N1/32229; H04N1/32245; H04N1/32251; H04N1/32288; H04N1/3232; G06T2201/00; G06T2201/005; G06T2201/0051; G06T2201/0081; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3201; H04N2201/3225; H04N2201/3233; H04N2201/3235; H04N2201/3269; H04N2201/327

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 32
Claim 1
Independent Claim 75 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the processing results in steganographic encoding of the auxiliary data into regions of the image having substantially non-uniform pixel values.
Claim 2
Independent Claim 75 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the processing results in steganographic encoding of the auxiliary data into regions of the image having substantially non-uniform pixel values.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 57 words
The method of claim 1 wherein: the image data comprises rows of pixels, each pixel having at least a luminance value associated therewith; the encoding results in increasing the luminance values of at least certain of said pixels; and the encoding further results in decreasing the luminance values of at least certain others of said presented pixels.
Claim 4
Independent Claim 65 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the processing includes processing in accordance with a pseudo-random parameter.
Claim 5
Independent Claim 65 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the processing includes processing in accordance with a pseudo-random parameter.
Claim 6
Independent Claim 89 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the processing distributes energy of the encoded data through the image and adapts the energy distribution in accordance with local characteristics of the image, so as to make the image encoding relatively less visible.
Claim 7
Independent Claim 89 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the processing distributes energy of the encoded data through the image and adapts the energy distribution in accordance with local characteristics of the image, so as to make the image encoding relatively less visible.
Claim 8
Independent Claim 68 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein local changes to image data are scaled in accordance with local pixel values.
Claim 9
Independent Claim 68 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein local changes to image data are scaled in accordance with local pixel values.
Claim 10
Independent Claim 140 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein: the image data comprises rows of pixels, each pixel having at least a luminance value associated therewith; the encoding results in increasing the luminance values of at least certain of said pixels; the encoding further results in decreasing the luminance values of at least certain others of said presented pixels; and a change of a single bit of said plural-bit auxiliary data between first and second values is manifested as changed luminance in plural non-contiguous pixels located in plural non-contiguous rows of said digital image.
Claim 11
Independent Claim 140 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein: the image data comprises rows of pixels, each pixel having at least a luminance value associated therewith; the encoding results in increasing the luminance values of at least certain of said pixels; the encoding further results in decreasing the luminance values of at least certain others of said presented pixels; and a change of a single bit of said plural-bit auxiliary data between first and second values is manifested as changed luminance in plural non-contiguous pixels located in plural non-contiguous rows of said digital image.
Claim 12
Independent Claim 71 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the encoding includes processing plural M-row by M-column areas of adjoining pixels in said image data.
Claim 13
Independent Claim 71 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the encoding includes processing plural M-row by M-column areas of adjoining pixels in said image data.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 9 words
The method of claim 7 where 5 pixels<=M<=10 pixels.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 39 words
The method of claim 7 in which a change of a single of said plural bits of auxiliary data between first and second values is manifested as changed luminance in pixels in plural of said M-column by M-row areas.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 36 words
The method of claim 7 wherein certain M-row by M-column areas of pixels are determined to be unsuitable for encoding, so said encoding does not result in changed luminance values for pixels within said certain areas.
Claim 17
Independent Claim 78 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the encoding is area-based, with each area spanning M contiguous rows and M contiguous columns of pixels, where M is at least five.
Claim 18
Independent Claim 78 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the encoding is area-based, with each area spanning M contiguous rows and M contiguous columns of pixels, where M is at least five.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 12 words
The method of claim 11 wherein M is no greater than ten.
Claim 20
Independent Claim 70 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the processing includes encoding said plural-bit auxiliary data in a redundant fashion permitting error correction.
Claim 21
Independent Claim 70 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the processing includes encoding said plural-bit auxiliary data in a redundant fashion permitting error correction.
Claim 22
Independent Claim 98 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the image data is represented by plural elements, each having a parameter value, and the encoding includes changing the parameter values of said elements to encode the auxiliary data therein, and scaling a magnitude of said changes in accordance with said parameter values.
Claim 23
Independent Claim 98 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the image data is represented by plural elements, each having a parameter value, and the encoding includes changing the parameter values of said elements to encode the auxiliary data therein, and scaling a magnitude of said changes in accordance with said parameter values.
Claim 24
Independent Claim 76 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the processing includes identifying portions of the image where encoding might be relatively more apparent, and avoiding said portions when encoding.
Claim 25
Independent Claim 76 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the processing includes identifying portions of the image where encoding might be relatively more apparent, and avoiding said portions when encoding.
Claim 26
Independent Claim 106 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the image data comprises plural data elements, the method including selecting data elements to be changed to effect said encoding based not just on the values of individual data elements, but on an attribute of a neighborhood of data elements, said neighborhood being comprised of data elements having substantially non-uniform values.
Claim 27
Independent Claim 106 words
A method of operating an image capture device, comprising: presenting a physical subject to a photosensor array to produce image data corresponding to said subject; and processing said image data to steganographically encode plural bit auxiliary data therein, thereby yielding encoded image data, the steganographic encoding locally changing the luminance of the image data; wherein the image data comprises plural data elements, the method including selecting data elements to be changed to effect said encoding based not just on the values of individual data elements, but on an attribute of a neighborhood of data elements, said neighborhood being comprised of data elements having substantially non-uniform values.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim 21 words
The method of claim 16 that includes changing said selected data elements based, at least in part, on initial values thereof.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim 26 words
The method of claim 16 wherein at least certain excerpts of the image are not marked because marking in such excerpts would more likely be conspicuous.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim 63 words
An image capture device for capturing and outputting image data, the image capture device comprising plural opto-electronic sensors, and a processor coupled thereto for inserting steganographic information into image data output by said device, wherein the steganographic information locally changes the luminance of the image data, and energy of the steganographic information is distributed in accordance with local features of the image data.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim 63 words
An image capture device for capturing and outputting image data, the image capture device comprising plural opto-electronic sensors, and a processor coupled thereto for inserting steganographic information into image data output by said device, wherein the steganographic information locally changes the luminance of the image data, and energy of the steganographic information is distributed in accordance with local features of the image data.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim 7 words
A scanner according to claim 19 .

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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) 2006-09-01 2007-03-03 2007-09-02 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2010-09-01 2011-03-03 2011-09-02 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2014-09-01 2015-03-03 2015-09-02 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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