Digital watermarking apparatus, systems and methods

• US 20020169721A1
• Filed: 05/10/2001
• Published: 11/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Seder, Phillip Andrew, Cooley, William Ray
• Application Number:
  US09/853,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20020169721A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2151 Time stamp

Abstract

A variety of systems responsive to watermarked documents are detailed. In one, a system includes a user terminal, a central site, and a website. The user terminal includes a watermark reader, and a capture device to capture an image of a watermarked document. The central site includes a database of watermark identifiers and corresponding and related information. The user terminal communicates an extracted watermark identifier to the central site. The central site interrogates a database via the extracted watermark identifier to find any related information. The central site generates a random number and a time stamp, and stores such as a verification record along with the extracted watermark identifier. Such a verification record can be used to verify authority to enter the website from the user terminal.

Claims

1. A method of regulating access to a website by a user terminal via the internet, the user terminal reading a document including an embedded digital watermark, said method comprising the steps of:

at the user terminal, extracting identifying data from the digital watermark, and providing the identifying data to a central computer;

at the central computer;

identifying a pointer associated with the identifying data;

generating at least one component of response information;

storing the response information; and

providing the pointer and response information to the user terminal;

at the user terminal, communicating with the website via the pointer and providing the response information to the website;

at the website, communicating verification information to the central computer; and

at the central computer, verifying authority to access the website based at least in part on a comparison of the verification information and the stored response information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the identifying data comprises a document identifier.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the pointer comprises at least one of a URL, IP address and web address.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the at least one component comprises a random number.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said generating step further comprises the step of generating at least a second component, the second component comprising a time stamp.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the response information comprises at least the random number and the time stamp.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the verification information comprises at least the random number, the time stamp and a valid identifier.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said verifying authority step comprises the steps of indexing the stored response information via the communicated random number and determining whether the stored document identifier matches the valid identifier and whether the verification information is received within a predetermined time period.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein when the stored document identifier matches the valid identifier within the predetermined time period, said method further comprising the step of authorizing user terminal access to the website.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein when the stored document identifier does not match the valid identifier or the verification information is not received within the predetermined time period, said method further comprises the step of signaling a lack of authority for the user terminal to access the website.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein said verifying authority step comprises the steps of indexing the stored response information via the valid identifier and determining whether the stored random number matches the communicated random number, and whether the verification information is received within a predetermined time period.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of encrypting at least one component of the of the response information.

13. The method according to claim 2, wherein the document identifier is randomly generated.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said system comprises a website.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein said receiving step comprises a user terminal signaling the website.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein the verification key comprises a first random number, and the data structure comprises at least one data record including a second random number and a first identifier.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the verification key further comprises a first time stamp and the data record further includes a second time stamp.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein said system communicates the first random number and a second identifier to the data structure, and wherein said data structure:

indexes the data record via the first random number, the first and second random numbers being equal,

determines whether the first identifier matches the second identifier, and whether the first time stamp is within a predetermined time range based on the second time stamp, and

signals to the system whether the first identifier matches the second identifier and whether the first time stamp is within the predetermined time range.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein the first identifier comprises an identifier extracted from a digital watermark.

21. The method according to claim 17, wherein said system communicates the a second identifier and the first random number to the data structure, and wherein said data structure:

indexes the data record via the second identifier, the first identifier and second identifier being equal,

determines whether the first random number matches the second random number, and

signals to the system whether the first random number matches the second random number and whether the verification information is received within a predetermined time.

14. A method of authenticating permission to access a system comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to enter the system, the request including at least a verification key;

querying a data structure to determine whether the verification key is authorized; and

allowing access to the system based on the response to the query.

22. A system for exchanging data comprising:

a central server comprising at least one database including response information and pointer information, wherein when a user terminal communicates an extracted watermark identifier to said central server, said central server identifies a corresponding URL with the extracted watermark identifier, and wherein said central server generates a number, and stores the number and extracted watermark identifier in the database as response information.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein said at least one database comprises a first database for storing pointers and a second database for storing response information.

24. The system according to claim 22, wherein said server further generates a time stamp and stores the time stamp with the response information.

25. The system according to claim 22, wherein the number comprises at least one of a random number, a pseudo-random number, and a predetermined number.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the document identifier comprises an identifier embedded in the form of a digital watermark.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the pointer comprises at least one of a URL, IP address and web address.

29. The method according to claim 27, wherein the at least one component comprises a random number.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein the response information further comprises a time stamp.

31. The method according to claim 26, wherein the response information comprises at least a random number and a time stamp.

32. The method according to claim 31, further comprising a step of verifying data, wherein said verifying data step comprises the steps of indexing the stored response information via a second random number, and determining whether the stored document identifier matches a valid identifier.

33. The method according to claim 32, wherein when the stored document identifier matches the valid identifier, said method further comprises the step of authorizing user terminal access.

34. The method according to claim 32, wherein when the stored document identifier does not match a valid identifier, said method further comprises the step of signaling a lack of authority for the user terminal.

35. The method according to claim 31, wherein said verifying data step comprises the steps of indexing the stored response information via a valid identifier and determining whether the stored random number matches a second random number.

36. The method according to claim 31, further comprising the step of encrypting at least one component of the response information.

37. The method according to claim 31, wherein the document identifier is randomly generated.

26. A method of operating a computer server, the computer server to communicate with at least one user terminal, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a document identifier from the user terminal;

identifying a pointer associated with the document identifier;

generating at least one component of response information;

storing the response information; and

providing the pointer and response information to the user terminal.

38. A data record stored on a computer readable medium, said data record comprising a watermark identifier, a randomly generated number, and a time stamp.