SIGNAL IMAGE EXTRACTION

• US 20120274789A1
• Filed: 04/27/2011
• Published: 11/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Authentix, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: Pawlik, Thomas D., Allmann, Erwin L., Spinelli, Gary M., Olm, Myra T., Widzinski, Thomas J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,497,924 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/207.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20216 Image averaging
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20224 Image subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/50 using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/70 Denoising; Smoothing

Abstract

An apparatus for eliminating background noise from a security marker authenticating system including a first sensor for capturing an image of a background of the security marker; a light source for illuminating the security marker; the first sensor or a second sensor or both captures a plurality images of the optical response of the security marker; a computer which averages the plurality of optical response images; the computer smoothes the background image; and the computer subtracts the smoothed background image from the average of the plurality of optical response images.

Claims

1. An apparatus for eliminating background noise from a security marker authenticating system comprising:

a first sensor for capturing an image of a background of the security marker;

a light source for illuminating the security marker;

wherein the first sensor or a second sensor or both captures a plurality images of the optical response of the security marker;

a computer which averages the plurality of optical response images;

wherein the computer smoothes the background image; and

wherein the computer subtracts the smoothed background image from the average of the plurality of optical response images.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising:

wherein the computer calculates a score based on the number of pixels above a predetermined threshold; and

wherein the computer authenticates the security marker if the score meets predetermined requirements.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the images are captured by a CCD or CMOS sensor.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the background image are smoothed by applying a median filter on a pixel by pixel basis to the background image.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the computer averages the plurality of optical response images by averaging the corresponding pixels of the plurality of images.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the computer averages the plurality of optical response images by calculating a resulting image wherein each pixel value is an average of the corresponding pixel values of the plurality of images.

6. An apparatus for eliminating background noise from a security marker authenticating system comprising:

a first sensor for capturing a plurality of image of a background of a security marker;

a computer for averaging the background images;

a first light source for illuminating the security marker;

wherein the first sensor or a second sensor or both capture a plurality images of the optical response of the security marker;

wherein the computer averages the plurality of optical response images;

wherein the computer smoothes the averaged background image; and

wherein the computer subtracts the smoothed background image from the average of the plurality of optical response images.