US6718046B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Low visibility watermark using time decay fluorescence
Assignee: Digimarc Corp
•
Filing: 2001-08-31
•
Granted: 2004-04-06
•
Expires: 2021-08-31
Abstract
Abstract Media is embedded with an out-of-phase digital watermark. A first component of the digital watermark is printed using a first ultraviolet (UV) ink. The first UV ink includes a first fluorescence decay time. The second digital watermark component is inverted with respect to the first component and is printed using a second UV ink. The second ink includes a second fluorescence decay time, which is longer than the first decay time. The embedded media is illuminated with a UV pulse. The watermark is detected after the first emission decay time, but before the second emission decay time. The watermark is fragile under steady-state UV illumination since the inverted watermark component cancels the non-inverted component.
Inventors
- 👤 Alastair M. Reed
- 👤 Lou H. Berkley, Jr.
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 11:35
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06K; G06K7/00; G06K7/10; G06K7/14; G06K7/1404; G06K7/1408; G06K7/1417; B; B41; B41M; B41M3/00; B41M3/14; B42; B42D; B42D25/00; B42D25/30; B42D25/333; B42D25/36; B42D25/378; B42D25/382; B42D25/387; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/90; G06F16/95; G06F16/955; G06K19/00; G06K19/06; G06K19/06009; G06K19/06037; G06K19/06046; G06K19/08; G06K19/10; G06K19/14; G06K19/18; G06K7/1439; G06K7/1447; G06Q; G06Q20/00; G06Q20/30; G06Q20/34; G06Q20/341; G06Q20/38; G06Q20/40; G06Q20/401; G06Q20/4014; G06Q20/40145; G06T; G06T1/00; G06T1/0021; G06T1/0028; G06T1/0042; G06V; G06V30/00; G06V30/40; G07; G07C; G07C9/00; G07C9/20; G07C9/22; G07C9/25; G07C9/253; G07D; G07D7/00; G07D7/003; G07D7/0034; G07D7/004; G07F; G07F17/00; G07F17/16; G07F7/00; G07F7/08; G07F7/086; G07F7/10; G07F7/1008; G10; G10L; G10L19/00; G10L19/018; G11; G11B; G11B20/00; G11B20/00086; G11B20/00884; G11B20/00891; H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/00002; H04N1/00005; H04N1/00026; H04N1/00037; H04N1/00071; H04N1/00074; H04N1/00079; H04N1/32; H04N1/32101; H04N1/32144; H04N1/32149; H04N1/32154; H04N1/3216; H04N1/32203; H04N1/32208; H04N1/32229; H04N1/32251; H04N1/32288; H04N1/32293; H04N1/32309; H04N1/32352; H04N19/00; H04N19/46; H04N19/467; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/23; H04N21/238; H04N21/2389; H04N21/23892; H04N21/80; H04N21/83; H04N21/835; H04N21/8358; B41M3/144; G06K2019/06215; G06K2019/06253; G06T2201/00; G06T2201/005; G06T2201/0051; H04N1/32106; H04N1/32122; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3201; H04N2201/3204; H04N2201/3205; H04N2201/3207; H04N2201/3225; H04N2201/3226; H04N2201/3233; H04N2201/3269; H04N2201/327; H04N2201/3271; H04N2201/3274; H04N2201/328; H04N2201/3284
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 44
Claim 1
Independent Claim
46 words
A printing method comprising the steps of: printing on a surface a first digital watermark component with a first ink having a first emission decay time; and printing on the surface a second digital watermark component with a second ink having a second emission decay time.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
46 words
A printing method comprising the steps of: printing on a surface a first digital watermark component with a first ink having a first emission decay time; and printing on the surface a second digital watermark component with a second ink having a second emission decay time.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first digital watermark component is out-of-phase with respect to the second digital watermark component.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method according to claim 1 wherein the second digital watermark component is inverted with respect to the first digital watermark component, and wherein the first component and second component each include at least one attribute that is spatially registered on the surface.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method according to claim 3 wherein the second emission decay time is longer than the first emission decay time.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method according to claim 4 , wherein the first ink and the second ink emit in the ultraviolet spectrum.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method according to claim 4 , wherein the first ink and the second ink emit in the infrared spectrum.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method according to claim 4 , wherein the first ink and the second ink emit visible light when excited with ultraviolet light.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method according to claim 7 , wherein the ultraviolet light comprises black ultraviolet light.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method according to claim 4 , further comprising the step of shielding the surface from visible light.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method according to claim 4 , further comprising the step of filtering visible light.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method according to claim 4 , wherein the first ink is printed with a first plate and the second ink is printed with a second plate.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method according to claim 4 , wherein the first ink prints the first digital watermark component in a cyan, magenta and yellow channel and the second ink prints the second digital watermark component in a black channel.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method according to claim 4 , wherein the first emission decay time and the second emission decay time each comprise at least one of emission exhaustion and emissions falling below a threshold level.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the first digital watermark component is printed so as to cancel at least some of a change in luminance that is attributable to the second digital watermark component.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
95 words
A method to detect a digital watermark embedded in media, the digital watermark comprising a first component printed with a first ink and a second component printed with a second ink, the second ink comprising an emission decay time that is longer than an emission decay time of the first ink, said method comprising the steps of: exciting the first ink and the second ink; and detecting the digital watermark after emissions from the first ink fall to a first predetermined level and before emissions from the second ink fall to a second predetermined level.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
95 words
A method to detect a digital watermark embedded in media, the digital watermark comprising a first component printed with a first ink and a second component printed with a second ink, the second ink comprising an emission decay time that is longer than an emission decay time of the first ink, said method comprising the steps of: exciting the first ink and the second ink; and detecting the digital watermark after emissions from the first ink fall to a first predetermined level and before emissions from the second ink fall to a second predetermined level.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method according to claim 15 , wherein the first component is inverted with respect to the second component, and wherein at least one part of the first component and one part of the second component are spatially aligned in the media.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method according to claim 15 , wherein the first ink and second ink each emit in the ultraviolet spectrum.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method according to claim 15 , wherein the first ink and second ink emit each in the infrared spectrum.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method according to claim 15 , wherein the first ink and the second ink each emit visible light when excited with ultraviolet light.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
47 words
The method according to claim 15 , wherein said detecting step comprises gating a camera to capture emissions from the second ink after emissions from the first ink fall to a first predetermined level and before emissions from the second ink fall to a second predetermined level.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method according to claim 15 , wherein said exciting step comprises pulsing an illumination source.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method according to claim 21 , further comprising a second step of exiting the first ink and the second ink after emissions from the first ink fall to the first predetermined level and before emissions from the second ink fall to the second predetermined level.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method according to claim 22 , wherein said second exciting step comprises pulsing the illumination source.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
41 words
A document comprising a digital watermark embedded thereon, said digital watermark comprising: a first component applied with a first ink comprising a first emission decay time; and a second component applied with a second ink comprising a second emission decay time.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
41 words
A document comprising a digital watermark embedded thereon, said digital watermark comprising: a first component applied with a first ink comprising a first emission decay time; and a second component applied with a second ink comprising a second emission decay time.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
37 words
The document according to claim 24 , wherein the first component is inverted with respect to the second component, and wherein the first component and the second component are spatially registered with one another on the document.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method according to claim 25 , wherein the second emission decay time is longer than the first emission decay time.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method according to claim 26 , wherein the document comprises at least one of a certificate, paper, label, tag, product packaging, thin films, identification card, bank note, treasury bond, cardboard, metal foil, fabric, property title, plastic, metal insurance receipt, contract and trading card.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method according to claim 26 , wherein the first emission decay time and the second emission decay time comprise at least one of emission exhaustion and emissions falling below a threshold level.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
39 words
The document according to claim 24 , wherein the first component is applied on the document so as to counteract a luminance change tat is attributable to the second component at least while the document is under steady-state illumination.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
116 words
A digital watermarking method comprising the steps of: embedding a first digital watermark signal in at least a first color channel; embedding a second digital watermark signal in at least a second color channel; printing on a surface the embedded first color channel with a first ink comprising a first emission decay time; and printing on the surface the embedded second color channel with a second ink comprising a second emission decay time, wherein the second digital watermark signal is embedded in the second color channel so as to cancel at least some of a luminance change that is attributable to the first digital watermark signal at least while the printed surface is under steady-state illumination.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
116 words
A digital watermarking method comprising the steps of: embedding a first digital watermark signal in at least a first color channel; embedding a second digital watermark signal in at least a second color channel; printing on a surface the embedded first color channel with a first ink comprising a first emission decay time; and printing on the surface the embedded second color channel with a second ink comprising a second emission decay time, wherein the second digital watermark signal is embedded in the second color channel so as to cancel at least some of a luminance change that is attributable to the first digital watermark signal at least while the printed surface is under steady-state illumination.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
52 words
The method according to claim 30 , wherein the first color channel comprises a cyan channel, a magenta channel and a yellow channel and the first ink comprises a cyan, magenta and yellow ink, and wherein the second color channel comprises a black channel and the second ink comprises a black ink.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method according to claim 31 , wherein the second decay time is longer than the first decay time.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method according to claim 32 , wherein the first decay time is longer than the second decay time.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 30 , wherein the second digital watermark signal is inverted with respect of the first digital watermark signal.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
85 words
A digital watermarking method comprising the steps of: embedding a first digital watermark component in a first color channel, wherein the first color channel is to be printed with a first ink having a first decay time embedding a second digital watermark component in a second color channel, wherein the second digital watermark component is embedded so as to be spatially registered with the first digital watermark component when printed to reduce a change in luminance that is attributable to the first digital watermark component.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
85 words
A digital watermarking method comprising the steps of: embedding a first digital watermark component in a first color channel, wherein the first color channel is to be printed with a first ink having a first decay time embedding a second digital watermark component in a second color channel, wherein the second digital watermark component is embedded so as to be spatially registered with the first digital watermark component when printed to reduce a change in luminance that is attributable to the first digital watermark component.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
47 words
The digital watermarking method of claim 35 , further comprising: printing the embedded first color channel with the first ink; and printing the embedded second color channel with a second ink having a second decay time, the first decay time being different than the second decay time.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
79 words
A data hiding method comprising the steps of: providing a first message component in a first color channel, wherein the first color channel is to be printed with a first ink comprising a first emission decay time; providing a second message component in a second color channel, wherein the second message component is provided so as to be spatially registered with the first message component when printed to reduce visibility artifacts that are attributable to the first message component.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
79 words
A data hiding method comprising the steps of: providing a first message component in a first color channel, wherein the first color channel is to be printed with a first ink comprising a first emission decay time; providing a second message component in a second color channel, wherein the second message component is provided so as to be spatially registered with the first message component when printed to reduce visibility artifacts that are attributable to the first message component.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
54 words
The data hiding method of claim 37 , wherein the second message component is to be printed with a second ink having a second emission decay time, and wherein the second emission decay time is at least one of longer than the first emission decay time and shorter than the first emission decay time.
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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) | 2007-04-06 | 2007-10-06 | 2008-04-06 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2011-04-06 | 2011-10-06 | 2012-04-06 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2015-04-06 | 2015-10-06 | 2016-04-06 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |