Associating data with images in imaging systems
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for associating auxiliary data with an image, the method comprising:
- extracting a steganographic reference to auxiliary data in the image;
querying a metadata database to request the auxiliary data associated with the image using the extracted reference to access the auxiliary data in the metadata database; and
receiving the auxiliary data from the database.
6 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A steganographic embedder associates data with an image by encoding the data, a link to the data, or a combination of both into the image. The embedder may be located in an image capture device or an external process or device. In one application, for example, an embedder process steganographically encodes data into an image as part of the process of uploading the image from the image capture device to external storage.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for associating auxiliary data with an image, the method comprising:
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extracting a steganographic reference to auxiliary data in the image;
querying a metadata database to request the auxiliary data associated with the image using the extracted reference to access the auxiliary data in the metadata database; and
receiving the auxiliary data from the database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for associating auxiliary data with an image, the method comprising:
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maintaining a database of auxiliary data items associated with images, each item being associated with an image via a reference steganographically encoded in the image;
from a requesting application, receiving a request for auxiliary data associated with an image, the request including a reference extracted from the image;
using the reference to locate the auxiliary data associated with the image in the database; and
returning the auxiliary data corresponding to the reference to the requesting application. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for associating auxiliary data with an image, the method comprising:
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maintaining a database of steganographic links and metadata databases associated with the steganographic links;
from a requesting application, receiving a steganographic link extracted from an image, the link referencing auxiliary data about the image;
using the steganographic link to locate a metadata database that stores the auxiliary data associated with the image; and
forwarding the steganographic link to the metadata database that stores the auxiliary data associated with the image. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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12. An image database accessible on the internet, permitting storage of images from plural unrelated consumers, characterized in that the database maintains for each of several images—
- a history file detailing vendors from whom a consumer has requested service relating to an image.
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13. A method of maintaining a transaction history for image processing transactions on images, the method comprising:
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maintaining a transaction history of an image stored on a networked device;
in response to receiving a transaction request to process an image stored on the networked device, updating the transaction history of the image by adding data about the transaction to the transaction history. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification