Personal document authentication system using watermarking
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An authentication system comprising:
- a database for storing an identifier of a personal document and digital watermark information related to said identifier;
a personal document containing said identifier;
said personal document also containing a readable authentic image in which a digital watermark relative to said identifier is embedded;
a read means for reading at least said authentic image from said personal document;
a watermark information inquiring means for extracting digital watermark information corresponding to said identifier from said authentic image; and
a watermark information comparing means for judging whether said digital watermark information extracted by said watermark information inquiring means from said personal document is identical to said watermark information stored in said database;
if said watermark inquiring means finds identical watermark information in said watermark information from said authentic image and said database, said watermark inquiring means justifies said personal document; and
if the watermark information from the two sources are not identical then the watermark inquiring means fails to justify said personal document.
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Abstract
An identification document includes a unique identifier, and a picture of a person. Steganographically embedded in the picture is information corresponding to the identifier, by which the document can be authenticated. A verification apparatus reads the identifier from the document (e.g., by OCR or a machine-readable feature), and collects scan data corresponding to the picture. The scan data is processed to extract the embedded information. The embedded information is then compared for expected correspondence with the identifier. A remote database can store information related to the card, and can be queried in connection with the authentication.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. An authentication system comprising:
- a database for storing an identifier of a personal document and digital watermark information related to said identifier;
a personal document containing said identifier;
said personal document also containing a readable authentic image in which a digital watermark relative to said identifier is embedded;
a read means for reading at least said authentic image from said personal document;
a watermark information inquiring means for extracting digital watermark information corresponding to said identifier from said authentic image; and
a watermark information comparing means for judging whether said digital watermark information extracted by said watermark information inquiring means from said personal document is identical to said watermark information stored in said database;
if said watermark inquiring means finds identical watermark information in said watermark information from said authentic image and said database, said watermark inquiring means justifies said personal document; and
if the watermark information from the two sources are not identical then the watermark inquiring means fails to justify said personal document. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- a database for storing an identifier of a personal document and digital watermark information related to said identifier;
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8. A personal document issuing system comprising:
- an identifier generating means for generating an identifier unique to a personal document;
a watermark information generating means for generating digital watermark information corresponding to said identifier;
a database for storing said identifier of said personal document and said digital watermark information relative to said identifier in relation to each other;
a watermark information registering means for storing said identifier generated by said identifier generating means and said digital watermark information generated by said watermark information generating means in said database;
an image input means for inputting a raw authentic image;
a watermark-embedded image forming means for forming a watermark-embedded authentic image in which said digital watermark is embedded on said authentic image input by said image input means; and
a personal document that readably carries said authentic image generated by said watermark-embedded image forming means and said identifier generated by said identifier generating means. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
- an identifier generating means for generating an identifier unique to a personal document;
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16. A personal document comprising:
- a unique identifier;
an authentic image of an authorized user of said personal document;
said authentic image being viewable by eye;
said authentic image containing embedded therein digital watermark information corresponding to said identifier; and
means for permitting communication of said identifier and said digital watermark information to a database remote from said personal document.
- a unique identifier;
Specification