# US 12,118,638 B1 · Anti-leak digital document marking system and method using distributed ledger > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,118,638 B1 - Document ID: US12118638B1 - Status: Granted - Kind: B1 - Application number: 18/615,571 - Filed: 2024-03-25 - Granted: 2024-10-15 - Earliest claimed: 2023-04-13 - Assignees: Equity Shift, Inc. - Applicants: Equity Shift, Inc. - Inventors: Thomas Marshall Gordon, III; Gregory Frederick Bush - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12118638B1 ## CPC - G06T 1/0021: {Image watermarking} - G06F 16/9014: {hash tables} - G06F 16/93: Document management systems - G06F 21/16: Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking - G06F 21/645: {using a third party} - G09C 5/00: Ciphering apparatus or methods not provided for in the preceding groups, e.g. involving the concealment or deformation of graphic data such as designs, written or printed messages - H04L 9/3239: {involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD} - H04L 9/50: {using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees} - H04N 1/32208: {involving changing the magnitude of selected pixels, e.g. overlay of information or super-imposition (H04N1/32219, H04N1/32224 take precedence)} - G06T 2201/0062: Embedding of the watermark in text images, e.g. watermarking text documents using letter skew, letter distance or row distance - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G09C: CIPHERING OR DECIPHERING APPARATUS FOR CRYPTOGRAPHIC OR OTHER PURPOSES INVOLVING THE NEED FOR SECRECY - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract The system is disclosed for visual marking sensitive documents for leak prevention. Each time an action is taken with regard to a document (e.g., creation, viewing, downloading), that action is added to a distributed ledger, essentially creating a unique hash for a new instance of the document. This new hash is visually embedded in the document as a code comprising a plurality of differently shaded pixels, wherein some of the pixels directly encode information regarding the document (e.g., an account that generated the new instance of the document, a date, a time, a unique ID for the document, etc.) and some of the pixels do not encode information. The code is capable of being scanned either digitally or physically on a printed version of the document, such that the immediate source of the document, corresponding to who leaked the document, is able to be discerned. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system for digitally encoding a digital document, comprising: a server, including a processor and a memory, in network communication with at least one user device; wherein the server is operable to receive a document request message from the at least one user device, wherein the document request message includes a request to view or download one or more digital documents; wherein the server is operable to generate a visual code uniquely corresponding to a unique hash value for each of the one or more digital documents and/or for particular versions of the one or more digital documents, wherein the visual code includes a pattern, and wherein the pattern uniquely corresponds to the unique hash value; wherein the unique hash value includes information including an identity of the at least one user device, at least one geolocation, a unique document ID, and/or a unique ID associated with an original creator of the one or more digital documents; and wherein the server is operable to alter the one or more digital documents in order to embed the visual code in the one or more digital documents. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the pattern includes a plurality of polygons. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of polygons are subdivided into a second plurality of polygons having one or more greyscale shadings. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of polygons are automatically embedded within one or more letters in the one or more digital documents. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2, wherein at least one of the plurality of polygons does not encode or correspond to information in the unique hash value. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further comprising a scanning device operable to scan the one or more digital documents and generate the unique hash value corresponding to each of the one or more digital documents based on the visual code. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the unique hash value is generated based on a relative difference in greyscale shading between components of the visual code. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein, upon receiving a second document request message for the same one or more digital documents, the server generates a new version of the one or more digital documents without the previous visual code, and embeds a new visual code in each of the one or more digital documents. ### Claim 9 A system of digitally encoding a digital document, comprising: a server, including a processor and a memory, in network communication with at least one user device; wherein the server is operable to receive a document request message from the at least one user device, wherein the document request message includes a request to view or download one or more digital documents; wherein the server is operable to scan the one or more digital documents for one or more preselected letters and/or one or more preselected sequences of letters; wherein, upon receiving the document request message, the server automatically generates a visual code corresponding to a unique hash value, wherein the visual code includes a plurality of polygons, and wherein a pattern of the plurality of polygons and/or a greyscale shading of each of the plurality of polygons uniquely corresponds to the unique hash value; and wherein the server is operable to embed the visual code in the one or more preselected letters and/or the one or more preselected sequences of letters. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the server is in network communication with at least one database including a list of preselected letters and/or preselected sequences of letters, wherein the server first scans the one or more digital documents for instances of a first entry in the list of preselected letters and/or preselected sequences of letters, and wherein, if the first entry is not present, then the server scans the one or more digital documents for instances of other entries in the list of preselected letters and/or preselected sequences of letters. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the server scans the one or more digital documents for one or more additional preselected letters and/or one or more additional preselected sequences of letters, wherein the server automatically embeds a second plurality of shaded polygons into the one or more additional preselected letters and/or the one or more additional preselected sequences of letters, and wherein the second plurality of shaded polygons does not correspond to the unique hash value. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of polygons include a plurality of rectangles. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of rectangles are subdivided into a second plurality of rectangles having one or more greyscale shadings. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, further comprising a scanning device operable to scan the one or more digital documents and generate the unique hash value corresponding to each of the one or more digital documents based on the pattern of the plurality of polygons and/or the greyscale shading of each of the plurality of polygons in the visual code. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the unique hash value is generated based on a relative difference in greyscale shading between each of the plurality of polygons in the visual code. ### Claim 16 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein, upon receiving a second document request message for the same one or more digital documents, the server generates a new version of the one or more digital documents without the previous visual code, and embeds a new visual code in each of the one or more digital documents. ### Claim 17 A method for digitally encoding a digital document, comprising: providing a server, including a processor and a memory, in network communication with at least one user device; the server receiving a document request message from the at least one user device, wherein the document request message includes a request to view or download one or more digital documents; upon receiving the document request message, the server automatically generating a visual code corresponding to a unique hash value, wherein the visual code includes a plurality of polygons, and wherein a pattern of the plurality of polygons and/or a greyscale shading of each of the plurality of polygons uniquely corresponds to the unique hash value; the unique hash value including information including an identity of the at least one user device, at least one geolocation, a unique document ID, and/or a unique ID associated with an original creator of the one or more digital documents; and the server altering the pixels of the one or more digital documents in order to embed the visual code in the one or more digital documents. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, further comprising a scanning device scanning the one or more digital documents and generating the unique hash value corresponding to each of the one or more digital documents based on the pattern of the plurality of polygons and/or the greyscale shading of each of the plurality of polygons in the visual code. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18, further comprising the scanning device generating the unique hash value based on a relative difference in greyscale shading between each of the plurality of polygons in the visual code. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of polygons include a plurality of rectangles, and wherein each of the plurality of rectangles are subdivided into a second plurality of rectangles having one or more greyscale shadings.