Biometric watermarks

• US 6,208,746 B1
• Filed: 12/31/1997
• Issued: 03/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: GTE Service Corporation (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Musgrave, Clyde
• Primary Examiner(s): Johns, Andrew W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dastouri, Mehrdad
• Application Number:
  US09/002,219
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/115, 382/116, 382/117, 382/118, 382/119, 382/120, 382/121, 382/122, 382/123, 382/124, 382/135, 382/232, 382/250, 380/3, 380/4, 380/23, 380/51, 380/54, 713/176, 713/185, 713/186, 340/825.31, 705/57, 705/58
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition

Abstract

A biometric watermark system and method generate a biometrically encoded bitstream from biometric data of a user and from electronic data to be transmitted to the user. The encoded bitstream has the biometric data acting as a biometric watermark. The encoded bitstream is then sent to a decoder of the user, with the biometric watermark providing security in the transmission in order to prevent unauthorized users from extracting the electronic data. The decoder utilizes the biometric data of the user to decode the biometrically encoded bitstream, so as to extract the biometric watermark, and to securely retrieve the electronic data.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a data provider, for electronically watermarking data being provided to a user, comprising:

receiving encrypted first biometric data originating from a user, the first biometric data corresponding to a physical characteristic of the user and being encrypted using second biometric data corresponding to a different physical characteristic of the user;

retrieving electronic data to be provided to the user;

decrypting the encrypted first biometric data; and

encoding the electronic data using at least a portion of the first biometric data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scanning the physical characteristic of the user; and

generating the first biometric data from the scanned physical characteristic.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the scanning step is performed using a biometric scanner.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the encoded electronic data to the user over a data channel.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the data channel is a secure data channel.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of encoding further comprises:

encoding the electronic data using an MPEG encoding procedure producing at least a set of discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients; and

modifying the set of DCT coefficients using the first biometric data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic data includes at least one of:

computer software, audio data, video data and audio-video data.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a payment from the user for the electronic data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving step further comprises:

retrieving the electronic data in response to a user request for the electronic data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first biometric data includes at least one of:

iris data, retinal data, fingerprint data, hand geometry data and speech data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the encoding step includes encoding using at least one of:

an MPEG format, a JPEG format and an H.261 format.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the encoding step results in the encoded electronic data being distorted.

13. A method, performed by a user, for purchasing electronic data from a data provider, comprising:

transmitting a user request for electronic data to a data provider;

encrypting first biometric data corresponding to a physical characteristic of the user using second biometric data corresponding to a different physical characteristic of the user;

transmitting, to the data provider, the encrypted first biometric data; and

receiving the electronic data encoded with at least a portion of the first biometric data.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

decoding the electronic data using at least a portion of the first biometric data.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the decoding step further comprises:

removing at least a portion of the first biometric data from the encoded electronic data.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of transmitting the encrypted first biometric data includes:

scanning the physical characteristic of the user.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the scanning step is performed using a biometric scanner.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of transmitting the encrypted first biometric data further includes:

transmitting the encrypted first biometric data over a secure data channel.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving step further includes:

receiving the encoded electronic data over a secure data channel.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting a payment for the electronic data.

21. An apparatus for electronically watermarking data being provided to a user, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing a program for controlling the processor, the processor operative with the program to;

receive encrypted first biometric data originating from a user, the first biometric data corresponding to a physical characteristic of the user and being encrypted using at least one second biometric data corresponding to a different physical characteristic of the user;

retrieve electronic data to be provided to the user;

decrypt the encrypted first biometric data; and

encode the electronic data using at least a portion of the first biometric data.