System and method for encoding high density geometric symbol set

• US 7,751,585 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2004
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jancke, Gavin
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahmed; Samir A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bekele; Mekonen
• Application Number:
  US11/022,863
• Publication Number:
  US 20050285761A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,016 Days
• Field of Search: 235/462.04, 235/462.09, 235/462.02, 235/462.41, 235/462.16, 235/468, 235/469, 340/5.53
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06037 multi-dimensional coding
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2019/06225 using wavelength selection, e.g. colour code

Abstract

A system and related techniques provide a platform for encoding high density geometric symbol sets, for example a triangular barcode-type of encoding which may be used to encode drivers'"'"' licenses, biometric IDs, passports, or other transaction or identification media. According to embodiments of the invention in one regard, an inkjet, laser or other printer or output device may imprint a paper, plastic or other media with geometric symbols such as triangles in a defined array, to represent, for instance, name, address, or other identifying information, for instance such as digital facial photographs, iris or retinal scans, fingerprints, signatures, or other information. The geometric symbols may in one regard be arranged in a staggered format, separated in embodiments by a white space that may serve to reduce aliasing effects and other distortions. Because triangular symbols may in general be packed more closely together, and the number of distinct individual symbols may scale according to the range of color space employed for the symbol set, information densities high enough to satisfactorily encode biometric iris or retinal scans, digital facial photographs, or other identification or other information may be achieved. In embodiments, error correcting processing such as Reed-Solomon techniques may be employed to enhance scanning accuracy. In further embodiments, a reference palette may be embedded within the imprinted media, to provide a scale against which color fading or other distortion may be measured.

Claims

1. A system for encoding a symbol set, comprising:

an input interface to receive information to be encoded in media; and

an encoding engine, the encoding engine communicating with the input interface to receive the information and encode the information in a media as a set of colored triangular symbols including at least a first row of colored triangular symbols pointed a first direction and a second row of colored triangular symbols pointed a second direction that is opposite the first direction, wherein a white space separator is positioned between the colored triangular symbols and serves as a partition between the colored triangular symbols.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the information comprises at least one of identification information, transactional information and medical information.

3. A system according to claim 2, wherein the information comprises identification information, and the identification information comprises at least one of a facial image and biometric information.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein the biometric information comprises at least one of an iris scan, a thumbprint scan, a fingerprint scan and a DNA sample representation.

17. A system according to claim 1, wherein the set of colored triangular symbols includes additional verification information so that the content of the information encoded in the set of colored triangular symbols may be validated upon subsequent decoding of the set of colored triangular symbols using a cyclic redundancy check, and wherein the colored triangular symbols include a subset of colored triangular symbols that form a reference color palette for verifying the particular colors of individual colored triangular symbols in the set of colored triangular symbols.

5. A method for encoding a symbol set, comprising:

using a computer to perform the steps of;

receiving information to be encoded in media;

encoding the information in a set of colored triangular symbols including at least a first row of colored triangular symbols pointed a first direction and a second row of colored triangular symbols pointed a second direction that is opposite the first direction in a color space in the media; and

inserting a white space separator between the colored triangular symbols to serve as a partition between the colored triangular symbols.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the information comprises at least one of identification information, transactional information and medical information.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the information comprises identification information, and the identification information comprises at least one of a facial image and biometric information.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the biometric information comprises at least one of an iris scan, a thumbprint scan, a fingerprint scan and a DNA sample representation.

9. A method according to claim 5, wherein the color space comprises at least one of a set of grayscale values and a set of color values.

10. A method according to claim 5, wherein the set of colored triangular symbols further comprises a reference palette.

18. A method according to claim 5, wherein the set of colored triangular symbols includes additional verification information so that the content of the information encoded in the set of colored triangular symbols may be validated upon subsequent decoding of the set of colored triangular symbols using a cyclic redundancy check, and wherein the colored triangular symbols include a subset of colored triangular symbols that form a reference color palette for verifying the particular colors of individual colored triangular symbols in the set of colored triangular symbols.

11. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method for encoding information into a set of encoded geometric symbols, the method comprising:

receiving information to be encoded in media;

encoding the information in the media using a set of colored triangular symbols including at least a first row of colored triangular symbols pointed a first direction and a second row of colored triangular symbols pointed a second direction that is opposite the first direction, wherein a white space separator is positioned between the colored triangular symbols and serves as a partition between the colored triangular symbols.

12. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the information comprises at least one of identification information, transactional information and medical information.

13. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the information comprises identification information, and the identification information comprises at least one of a facial image and biometric information.

14. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the biometric information comprises at least one of an iris scan, a thumbprint scan, a fingerprint scan and a DNA sample representation.

15. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the method further includes printing the set of colored triangular symbols onto a media.

16. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the set of colored triangular symbols includes at least a first row of colored triangular symbols pointed a first direction and a second row of colored triangular symbols pointed a second direction that is opposite the first direction.

19. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the set of colored triangular symbols includes additional verification information so that the content of the information encoded in the set of colored triangular symbols may be validated upon subsequent decoding of the set of colored triangular symbols using a cyclic redundancy check, and wherein the colored triangular symbols include a subset of colored triangular symbols that form a reference color palette for verifying the particular colors of individual colored triangular symbols in the set of colored triangular symbols.