Imaging systems with data encryption and embedding capabalities

• US 10,389,536 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2017
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Semiconductor Components Industries LLC (ON Semiconductor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Semiconductor Components Industries LLC (ON Semiconductor Corporation)
• Inventors: Myers, Charles G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thiaw, Catherine
• Application Number:
  US15/834,982
• Publication Number:
  US 20180097636A1
• Time in Patent Office: 621 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00 Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32272 Encryption or ciphering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/4486 using digital data encryption

Abstract

An imaging system may embed encrypted data into image data. The imaging system may generate image data in response to light received at a pixel array. The imaging system may include encryption circuitry that accesses an encryption key. The encryption circuitry may receive data related to the imaging system and/or to an environment in which an image is captured and encrypt the data using the encryption key. The imaging system may include data embedding circuitry that embeds the encrypted data into the image data to generate an output image. The components of the imaging system may be formed on a single imaging system chip. The encrypted data embedded in the output image may be extracted using an extraction engine and decrypted using a decryption engine and decryption key such that the data may be accessed by a user with access to the decryption key.

Claims

1. An imaging system comprising:

a silicon image sensor chip;

an array of image pixels on the silicon image sensor chip that generates image data in response to incident light;

a sensor on the silicon image sensor chip that generates additional data while the array of image pixels generates the image data, wherein the additional data is different than the image data;

encryption circuitry on the silicon image sensor chip that encrypts the additional data to generate encrypted data; and

data embedding circuitry on the silicon image sensor chip that embeds the encrypted data into the image data.

2. The imaging system defined in claim 1, further comprising:

image processing circuitry that processes the image data generated by the array of image pixels, wherein the data embedding circuitry embeds the encrypted data into the processed image data.

3. The imaging system defined in claim 1, wherein the encryption circuitry encrypts the additional data using a cryptographic key, the imaging system further comprising:

memory on the silicon image sensor chip, wherein the cryptographic key is stored in the memory.

4. The imaging system defined in claim 3, wherein the memory comprises one-time programmable memory.

5. The imaging system defined in claim 3, wherein the encryption circuitry retrieves the cryptographic key from the memory over a communications path on the silicon image sensor chip.

6. The imaging system defined in claim 1, wherein the data embedding circuitry generates an output image from the encrypted data and the image data.

7. The imaging system defined in claim 6, wherein the data embedding circuitry embeds the encrypted data in an image header associated with the output image.

8. The imaging system defined in claim 6, wherein the data embedding circuitry embeds the encrypted data in an image checksum in the output image.

9. The imaging system defined in claim 6, wherein the data embedding circuitry embeds the encrypted data in a timestamp in the output image.

10. The imaging system defined in claim 6, wherein the data embedding circuitry embeds the encrypted data in an image watermark in the output image.

11. The imaging system defined in claim 10, wherein the data embedding circuitry replaces at least some of the image data generated by the array of image pixels with the encrypted data in the output image.

12. The imaging system defined in claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a sensor selected from the group consisting of:

a motion sensor, a temperature sensor, and an ambient light sensor.

13. A method comprising:

with an imager on a silicon image sensor chip, capturing image data;

with a sensor on the silicon image sensor chip, generating additional data at the same time that the imager is capturing the image data;

with an encryption engine on the silicon image sensor chip, encrypting the additional data to generate encrypted additional data; and

with a data embedder on the silicon image sensor chip, embedding the encrypted additional data into the image data to generate an output image that includes the image data and the encrypted additional data.

14. The method defined in claim 13, wherein the sensor is a motion sensor, and wherein generating the additional data comprises generating velocity data.

15. The method defined in claim 13, further comprising:

with the encryption engine, receiving information about the imager that is stored in a memory unit on the silicon image sensor chip, wherein the information about the imager comprises information identifying the silicon image sensor chip as a source of the image data;

with the encryption engine, encrypting the information to generate encrypted information; and

with the data embedder, embedding the encrypted information into the image data.

16. The method defined in claim 13, further comprising:

with the encryption engine, receiving information stored external to the silicon image sensor chip;

with the encryption engine, encrypting the information to generate encrypted information; and

with the data embedder, embedding the encrypted information into the image data.

17. The method defined in claim 16, wherein the information stored external to the silicon image sensor chip comprises information indicative of an environment in which the image data was captured.

18. An imaging device comprising:

a single common silicon image sensor chip;

pixels formed on the single common silicon image sensor chip, wherein the pixels generate image data in response to incident light;

a sensor formed on the single common silicon image sensor chip, wherein the sensor generates sensor data while the pixels generate the image data;

data encryption hardware formed on the single common silicon image sensor chip, wherein the data encryption hardware encrypts the sensor data to generate encrypted sensor data; and

data embedding hardware formed on the single common silicon image sensor chip, wherein the data embedding hardware embeds the encrypted sensor data into the image data to generate an image.

19. The imaging device defined in claim 18, further comprising:

image formatting circuitry formed on the single common silicon image sensor chip, wherein the image formatting circuitry processes the image data to generate formatted image data, and wherein the data embedding hardware embeds the encrypted sensor data into the formatted image data to generate the image.

20. The imaging device defined in claim 18, wherein the sensor comprises a motion sensor, and wherein the sensor data includes velocity data generated by the motion sensor.