Providing Travel-Logs Based on Hidden Geo-Location Metadata

• US 20080080737A1
• Filed: 10/03/2006
• Published: 04/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Rhoads, Geoffrey B., Lofgren, Neil E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,447,064 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 11/00 Photogrammetry or videogrammetry, e.g. stereogrammetry; Photographic surveying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0051 Embedding of the watermark in the spatial domain
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0061 Embedding of the watermark in each block of the image, e.g. segmented watermarking

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to digital watermarking and steganography. In one embodiment, a method is provided including: obtaining a plurality of imagery, each item of the plurality of imagery including steganographic encoding, the steganographic encoding including multi-bit data; detecting the multi-bit data from the plurality of imagery, wherein the multi-bit data is associated with geolocation metadata; and providing a geographic path associated with the plurality of imagery based at least in part on the geolocation metadata. Other embodiments are provided as well.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of digital images over a network,

each of the plurality of digital images comprising at least one digital watermark steganographically embedded therein,

a digital watermark being carried in a digital image through relatively slight variations to data representing the digital image,

wherein at least one digital watermark per digital image comprises a plural-bit payload;

decoding the digital watermarking from the plurality of digital images to obtain a plurality of plural-bit payloads,

wherein each of the payloads comprises geolocation metadata associated with at least one area depicted in a respective digital image; and

providing a travel-log for access over the network based at least in part on the geolocation metadata.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the data representing the digital images comprises transform domain values.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the data representing digital image comprises spatial domain values.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the travel-log provides a geographical path associated with the plurality of photographs.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the travel-log is provided for access over the network in conjunction with copies of the plurality of images.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the geolocation metadata comprises at least geocoordinates.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the network comprises a wireless network.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the plural-bit payloads further comprise at least a timestamp.

9. A computer comprising:

an input to receive a plurality of digital images,

each of the plurality of digital images comprising at least one digital watermark steganographically embedded therein,

the digital watermark being carried in a digital image through relatively slight variations to data representing the digital image,

wherein each digital watermark comprises a plural-bit payload;

a digital watermark decoder to decode digital watermarking from the plurality of digital images to obtain a plurality of plural-bit payloads,

each of the payloads comprises geolocation metadata associated with at least one area depicted in a respective digital image; and

a processor or executable instructions executing on electronic circuitry to determine a travel-log associated with the plurality of pictures based at least in part on the geolocation metadata; and

an output to provide access to the travel-log.

10. The computer of claim 9 wherein the output comprises a graphical display to display the travel-log

11. The computer of claim 10 wherein the travel-log provides a geographical path associated with the plurality of photographs.

12. The computer of claim 11 wherein the geographical path is displayed relative to a map.

13. The computer of claim 9 wherein the data representing the digital images comprises transform domain values.

14. The computer of claim 9 wherein the data representing digital image comprises spatial domain values.

15. The computer of claim 9 wherein the output comprises a communications output.

16. A method comprising:

obtaining a plurality of imagery,

wherein each item of imagery from the plurality of imagery comprises steganographic encoding, the steganographic encoding altering data representing the imagery, the steganographic encoding comprising multi-bit data, and wherein the presence of the multi-bit data is imperceptible to a human observer of the imagery absent machine- detection;

detecting the multi-bit data from the plurality of imagery,

wherein the multi-bit data is associated with geolocation metadata;

providing a geographic path associated with the plurality of imagery based at least in part on the geolocation metadata.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the geographic path is provided for display relative to a map.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the data representing the imagery comprises transform domain values.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the data representing the imagery comprises spatial domain values.

20. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, said instruction comprising instructions to execute the method of claim 16.