Digital authentication with digital and analog documents

• US 6,751,336 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2002
• Issued: 06/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: MediaSec Technologies GmbH (Vantiva SA)
• Original Assignee: MediaSec Technologies GmbH (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Zhao, Jian
• Primary Examiner(s): Johns, Andrew W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NAKHJAVAN, SHERVIN K
• Application Number:
  US10/136,172
• Publication Number:
  US 20020122568A1
• Time in Patent Office: 776 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/232, 713/155, 713/161, 713/169, 713/170, 713/171, 713/176, 713/179, 713/180, 340/5.8, 340/5.81, 340/5.86, 705/67, 705/44, 348/211.5, 348/460, 358/3.28
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/005 Robust watermarking, e.g. average attack or collusion attack resistant
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0065 Extraction of an embedded watermark; Reliable detection
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/004 using digital security elements, e.g. information coded on a magnetic thread or strip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32122 in a separate device, e.g. in a memory or on a display separate from image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32133 on the same paper sheet, e.g. a facsimile page header
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32144 embedded in the image data, i.e. enclosed or integrated in the image, e.g. watermark, super-imposed logo or stamp
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32203 Spatial or amplitude domain methods H04N1/32309 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32213 Modulating the least significant bits of pixels
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32283 Hashing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3225 of data relating to an image, a page or a document
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3233 of authentication information, e.g. digital signature, watermark
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3235 Checking or certification of the authentication information, e.g. by comparison with data stored independently
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3236 Details of authentication information generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3269 of machine readable codes or marks, e.g. bar codes or glyphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/327 : which are undetectable to the naked eye, e.g. embedded codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3271 : Printing or stamping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3281 : Encryption; Ciphering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/1675 : Providing digital key or authorisation information for generation or regeneration of the scrambling sequence pseudo-random number generators in general G06F7/58

Abstract

Techniques for incorporating authentication information into digital representations of objects and using the authentication information to authenticate the objects. The authentication information may be made from information in one portion of the digital representation and incorporated into another portion of the digital representation that does not overlap the first portion. Where the digital representation is made into an analog form and that in turn is made into a digital representation and the second digital representation is verified, the two portions must further be non-overlapping in the analog form. The information from which the authentication information is made may exist at many levels: representations of physical effects produced by the object, representations of features of the object, codes that represent the object'"'"'s contents, and representations of descriptions of the object. Also disclosed are a verification server and techniques for reducing errors by an OCR. The verification server verifies authenticated documents. When a document is verified, an identifier is associated with the document and the identifier is used to locate a key for the authentication information and in some cases a second copy of the authentication information. The verification process may also involve security patterns that are a physical part of the analog form. The error reduction techniques include an error code specifying characters in the object that are confusing to OCR devices, and the error code is used to correct the results of an OCR reading of an analog form.

Claims

1. Apparatus for determining authenticity of an analog form that includes semantic information and an embedded first message that is produced from the semantic information, the apparatus comprising:

a processor connected via a network to a source of a digital representation that is made by digitizing the analog form, the processor including

a first reader that is capable of extracting the embedded first message from the digital representation and

a second reader that is capable of reading the semantic information from the digital representation,

the processor responding when the digital representation is received from the source by using the first reader to extract the first message, using the second reader to read the semantic information, producing a second message from the read semantic information, comparing the second message with the read first message to determine authenticity of the analog form, and providing an indication of authenticity to the source.

2. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein:

in determining authenticity of the analog form, the processor employs further information that is accessible to the processor but not to the source.

3. The apparatus set forth in claim 2 wherein:

in determining authenticity, the processor compares the first message to the information that is accessible to the processor.

4. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the first message is encrypted; and

the processor further decrypts the extracted message.

5. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the first message is a digital signature made using the semantic information.

6. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the first message is a digest made using the semantic information.

7. The apparatus set forth in claim 6 wherein:

the first message is a digital signature made using the digest.

8. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the reader employs a key that is accessible to the processor to interpret the embedded first message.

9. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the reader employs a key that is accessible to the processor to extract the embedded first message from the digital representation.

10. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the first message is a watermark in the analog form.

11. The apparatus set forth in claim 10 wherein:

the analog form includes an image and

the watermark is in the image.

12. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the first message is in a form which is machine readable from the analog form.

13. The apparatus set forth in either one of claims 10 or 12 wherein:

the analog form is a promise to pay and the semantic information includes a specification of a payee and an amount.

14. The apparatus set forth in either one of claims 10 or 12 wherein:

the analog form is an identification document and the semantic information includes a specification of the entity being identified, and a specification of the issuer of the document.

15. The apparatus set forth in either one of claims 10 or 12 wherein:

the analog form is a banknote and the semantic information includes an amount and a specification of an issuer.

16. Apparatus for determining authenticity of an analog form that includes semantic information and an embedded first message that is produced from the semantic information, the apparatus comprising:

an analog form converter that makes a digital representation of the analog form by digitizing the analog form and is coupled to a network, the analog form converter employing the network to send the digital representation to an authentication system, the authentication system responding thereto by extracting the first message from the digital representation, extracting the semantic information from the digital representation, producing a second message from the extracted semantic information, determining authenticity of the analog form by comparing the extracted first message with the second message, and providing an indication of authenticity to the analog form converter.

17. The apparatus for checking authenticity set forth in claim 16 wherein:

the analog form converter further makes a determination from the digital representation whether the authentication system can extract the first message from the digital representation and sends the digital representation only if the determination indicates that the authentication system can extract the first message.

18. The apparatus for checking authenticity set forth in claim 16 wherein:

the analog form further may include a particular security pattern; and

the analog form converter further makes a determination whether the analog form has the particular security pattern and sends the digital representation only if the determination indicates that the analog form has the particular security pattern.

19. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 wherein:

the first message is a digital signature made using the semantic information.

20. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 wherein:

the first message is a digest made using the semantic information.

21. The apparatus set forth in claim 20 wherein:

the first message is a digital signature made using the digest.

22. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 wherein:

the analog form is a promise to pay and the semantic information includes a specification of a payee and an amount.

23. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 wherein:

the analog form is an identification document and the semantic information includes a specification of the entity being identified, and a specification of the issuer of the document.

24. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 wherein:

the analog form is a banknote and the semantic information includes an amount and a specification of an issuer.