Printing media and methods employing digital watermarking
First Claim
1. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet encodes multi-bit binary data, the presence of said multi-bit binary data not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the multi-bit binary data can be recovered.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Stationery, or other printable media, is encoded with a digital watermark. The watermark is not conspicuous to a human observer of the media, yet conveys plural bits of auxiliary information when optically scanned and digitally processed. The watermark can be formed by ink-jet printing, or otherwise. The encoded information can be used for various purposes, including authenticating the document as an original, linking to associated on-line resources, and distinguishing seemingly-identical versions of the same document (document serialization).
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Citations
50 Claims
- 1. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet encodes multi-bit binary data, the presence of said multi-bit binary data not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the multi-bit binary data can be recovered.
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19. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the substrate has been processed with ink to form the steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon, and the ink forms a mesh of thin lines.
- View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the substrate has been processed with ink to form the steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon, and the ink serves to impart a colored tint to the substrate.
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22. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein said processing locally changes an ink absorption attribute of the substrate.
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23. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the digital watermark pattern degrades when photocopied, so that the printed object can be distinguished from a photocopy thereof.
- View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein a first region of the substrate conveys a first watermark payload, and a second, different region of the substrate conveys a second, different watermark payload.
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26. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the plural bits of digital information serve to identify the type of substrate to a printer, so that the printer can tailor print parameters accordingly.
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27. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the plural bits of digital information can be decoded from said substrate only by a user having secret knowledge, wherein a first end user cannot decode information encoded on a substrate of a second end user, and vice versa.
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28. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, vet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the substrate comprises an envelope.
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29. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, vet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the substrate comprises stationery.
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30. A substrate to which final user printing can be later applied to yield a final printed object, characterized in that the substrate has been processed prior to final user printing to yield a steganographic digital watermark pattern thereon that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, vet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the substrate comprises blank magazine or newspaper printing stock.
- 31. A method of processing a blank substrate prior to final printing by an end-user, the method comprising forming a steganographic digital watermark pattern on the substrate that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet encodes multi-bit binary data, the presence of said multi-bit binary data not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the multi-bit binary data can be recovered.
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45. A method of processing a blank substrate prior to final printing by an end-user, the method comprising forming a steganographic digital watermark pattern on the substrate that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the digital watermark pattern is designed to degrade when photocopied, so that the original printed substrate can be distinguished from a photocopy thereof.
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46. A method of processing a blank substrate prior to final printing by an end-user, the method comprising forming a steganographic digital watermark pattern on the substrate that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, vet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the method further includes passing the processed substrate through a printer for end-user printing, recognizing the pattern thereon, and tailoring a printing parameter accordingly.
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47. A method of processing a blank substrate prior to final printing by an end-user, the method comprising forming a steganographic digital watermark pattern on the substrate that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered, wherein:
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the substrate has a photographic emulsion thereon;
the pattern is formed by exposing the emulsion with a noise-like pattern; and
the pattern is detectable after developing of the substrate.
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48. A method of processing a blank substrate prior to final printing by an end-user, the method comprising forming a steganographic digital watermark pattern on the substrate that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the pattern is defined by generating a tile specifying one of N luminance values for each of plural different areas, consolidating the N values down to M, where M is less than N, and then forming lines between said areas in response to said consolidated luminance values.
- View Dependent Claims (49)
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50. A method of processing a blank substrate prior to final printing by an end-user, the method comprising forming a steganographic digital watermark pattern on the substrate that does not impair subsequent use of the substrate, yet conveys plural bits of digital information, the presence of said information not being apparent to a human observer of the substrate, said steganographic pattern being detectable by visible-light scanning of the substrate to yield data from which the plural bit information can be recovered;
- wherein the plural bits of digital information can be decoded from said substrate only by a user having secret knowledge, wherein a first end user cannot decode information encoded on a substrate of a second end user, and vice versa.
Specification