Creating electronic forms through digital watermarking

• US 7,194,106 B2
• Filed: 04/03/2003
• Issued: 03/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Stach, John, Brundage, Trent J., Hannigan, Brett T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bella; Matthew C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): AZARIAN, SEYED H
• Application Number:
  US10/407,816
• Publication Number:
  US 20040197029A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,447 Days
• Field of Search: 382/112, 382/113, 382/116, 382/135, 382136-140, 382/168, 382/189, 382/194, 382/203, 382/219, 382/232, 382/233, 382/235, 382/243, 382/250, 382/260, 382/274, 382/276, 382/321, 709/217, 380/201, 380/246, 358/3.11
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00838 Preventing unauthorised reproduction
• 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 2201/3242 of processing required or performed, e.g. for reproduction or before recording H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3243 of type information, e.g. handwritten or text document
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/327 which are undetectable to the naked eye, e.g. embedded codes

Abstract

The present invention relates to creating electronic versions of printed documents. A printed document will include steganographic, but machine-readable, indicia thereon. The steganographic indicia provides clues on how best to create a corresponding electronic version of the printed document.

Claims

1. A method of generating an electronic version of a printed document, wherein the printed document comprises steganographic indicia arranged at least to correspond to a first area and to a second area of the printed document, said method comprising:

receiving optical scan data corresponding to the printed document;

analyzing the optical scan data to detect the steganographic indicia;

based at least in part on detected steganographic indicia, generating an electronic version of the printed document including a first field corresponding to the first area and a second field corresponding to the second area,

wherein the first field and the second field each facilitate user interaction with the electronic version of the printed document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the steganographic indicia comprises a first identifier that is associated with the first area, and a second identifier that is associated with the second area.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the steganographic indicia comprises a digital watermark.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the steganographic indicia comprises a first digital watermark component corresponding to the first area, and a second digital watermark component corresponding to the second area.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said generating comprises providing image data from the optical scan data for use as at least one of a background or overlay image in the electronic version.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving user input via the first field or the second field.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising storing the user input as an XML file.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising associating second steganographic information with the electronic version, and printing the electronic version so as to include the second steganographic information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second steganographic information corresponds to at least one of the electronic version or a stored copy of the electronic version.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the steganographic indicia comprises a sticker applied to the printed document.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein the first identifier comprises data corresponding to at least one of a type of information expected to be associated with the first area or a field length of the first field.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the steganographic indicia comprises at least one field type name or indicator.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one field type name or indicator comprises an XML descriptor or tag.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein user input is associated with the at least one XML descriptor or tag.

11. A method of generating an electronic version of a printed document, wherein the printed document comprises steganographic indicia arranged at least to correspond to a first area and to a second area of the printed document, said method comprising:

receiving optical scan data corresponding to the printed document;

analyzing the optical scan data to detect the steganographic indicia;

based at least in part on detected steganographic indicia, generating an electronic version of the printed document including a first field corresponding to the first area and a second field corresponding to the second area; and

determining, based at least in part on the steganographic indicia, a relative location of the first area and second area with respect to the printed document, and using at least the relative location of the first area and the second area to spatially position the first field and the second field within the electronic version.

13. A method of generating an electronic version of a printed document, wherein the printed document comprises steganographic indicia arranged at least to correspond to a first area and to a second area of the printed document, said method comprising:

receiving optical scan data corresponding to the printed document;

analyzing the optical scan data to detect the steganographic indicia;

based at least in part on detected steganographic indicia, generating an electronic version of the printed document including a first field corresponding to the first area and a second field corresponding to the second area, wherein the steganographic indicia comprises data corresponding to a document template, and said generating uses the data to help create the electronic version in accordance with the template.

14. A system to create an electronic version of a printed document, the printed document comprising steganographic encoding thereon, the encoding including at least a first identifier associated with a first printed document area and a second identifier associated with a second printed document area, said system comprising:

memory;

electronic processing circuitry; and

a communications bus to facilitate communication between said memory and said electronic processing circuitry, wherein said memory includes software instructions stored therein, the instructions comprising instructions to;

generate an electronic version of the printing document including a first electronic document area and a second electronic document area, wherein each of the first electronic document area and the second electronic document area facilitates user interaction; and

relatively position the first electronic document area and the second electronic document area within the electronic version in accordance to a relative positioning of the first printed document area and the second printed document area within the printed document, wherein the relative positioning is determined at least in part from the steganographic encoding.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to provide the electronic version with at least one of a background image or overlay image that is associated with at least a part of the printed document.

16. A printed document including information hidden therein to facilitate the generation of an electronic version of the printed document, the printed document including first printed text and second printed text, said printed document including a first area associated with the first printed text and a second area associated with the second printed text, the first area including first steganographic indicia including first data related to at least expected text associated with the first area, template identifier, relative position and character or numeric field length, the second area including second steganographic indicia including second data related to at least expected text associated with the second area, template identifier, relative position and character or numeric field length.

17. The printed document of claim 16, further comprising third steganographic indicia comprising a document type identifier.

18. The printed document of claim 16, wherein the first steganographic indicia and the second steganographic indicia respectively comprise a first digital watermark component and second digital watermark component.

19. The printed document of claim 16, further comprising a positioning fiducial, wherein a positioning of the first steganographic indicia on the printed document can be determined relative to the fiducial.

20. The printed document of claim 19, wherein the fiducial comprises a digital watermark orientation component.