# US 2014/0153715 A1 · Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to encode auxilary data into text data and methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to obtain encoded data from text data

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- Number: US 2014/0153715 A1
- Document ID: US20140153715A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/691,510
- Filed: 2012-11-30
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Earliest claimed: 2012-11-30
- Assignees: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
- Inventors: Nikolay Georgiev; Leonid Ayzenshtat
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140153715A1

## CPC

- H04L 9/30: Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy
- G06F 21/64: Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures
- G09C 1/00: Apparatus or methods whereby a given sequence of signs, e.g. an intelligible text, is transformed into an unintelligible sequence of signs by transposing the signs or groups of signs or by replacing them by others according to a predetermined system (cryptographic typewriters G09C3/00)
- H04L 2209/16: Obfuscation or hiding, e.g. involving white box
- H04L 2209/34: Encoding or coding, e.g. Huffman coding or error correction
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- 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

## Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to encode auxiliary data into text data and methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to obtain encoded data from text data are disclosed. An example method to embed auxiliary data into text data includes assigning source data to one of a plurality of groups, the source data comprising text data, identifying a symbol to be added to the source data based on an assigned group of the source data, and generating encoded data by including in the source data a text character representative of the symbol.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method to encode auxiliary data into text data, comprising:
assigning source data to one of a plurality of groups, the source data comprising text data;
identifying a symbol to be added to the source data based on an assigned group of the source data; and
generating encoded data by including in the source data a text character representative of the symbol.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the text character representative of the symbol has a visual representation substantially identical to a text character present in the source data.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

A method as defined in claim 2, wherein including the text character comprises replacing the text character present in the source data with the text character representative of the symbol.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the text character comprises an character encoding which, when decoded by a processing device, causes the processing device to represent the encoded text character as a white space on an output device.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the text character comprises a non-breaking space character.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

A method as defined in claim 5, wherein the non-breaking space corresponds to an American National Standards Institute U+00A0 non-breaking space code.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the symbol is representative of a number of bits equal to a number of occurrences of a designated character in the source data.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the source data comprises a plurality of data units, each data unit comprising plurality of encoded text characters.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising dividing auxiliary information by the plurality of groups, wherein the symbol is representative of a portion of the auxiliary information.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising encrypting auxiliary data, the symbol being representative of a portion of the encrypted auxiliary data.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

A method as defined in claim 1, wherein assigning the source data comprises determining the one of the plurality of groups based on a characteristic of the source data that is not changed to generate the encoded data.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

A method as defined in claim 1, wherein assigning the source data comprises applying a hash function to the source data to determine the one of the plurality of groups.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

A method as defined in claim 1, wherein assigning the source data comprises determining the one of the plurality of groups based on a designated letter of a designated word of the source data.

### Claim at position 14

14-22. (canceled)

### Claim 23

An apparatus to encode auxiliary data into text data, comprising:
a data unit group assignor to assign source data to one of a plurality of groups, the source data comprising text data;
a symbol group assignor to assign a symbol to be added to the source data to the one of the plurality of groups; and
a data unit encoder to generate encoded data by including in the source data a text character representative of the symbol.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

An apparatus as defined in claim 23, further comprising an auxiliary data encryptor to encrypt auxiliary data, the symbol being a portion of encrypted auxiliary data.

### Claim 25 (depends on 23)

An apparatus as defined in claim 23, wherein the symbol group assignor is to assign symbols representative of portions of auxiliary data to each of the plurality of groups.

### Claim 26 (depends on 23)

An apparatus as defined in claim 23, wherein the data unit encoder is to include the text character in the source data by selectively replacing a designated character in the source data with the text character.

### Claim 27 (depends on 26)

An apparatus as defined in claim 26, wherein the text character is substantially visually identical to the character in the source data.

### Claim 28 (depends on 23)

An apparatus as defined in claim 23, wherein the data unit encoder is to include the text character in the source data by selectively inserting the text character in the source data at a designated location.

### Claim 29 (depends on 23)

An apparatus as defined in claim 23, wherein the data unit group assignor is to assign the source data to the one of the groups by determining the one of the groups based on a characteristic of the source data.

### Claim 30 (depends on 23)

An apparatus as defined in claim 23, wherein the source data comprises a plurality of data units, the data unit group assignor to assign the data units to ones of the plurality of groups.

### Claim 31 (depends on 30)

An apparatus as defined in claim 30, wherein the data unit group assignor is to assign distinct subsets of the data units to each of the plurality of groups.

### Claim 32 (depends on 30)

An apparatus as defined in claim 30, wherein the data group assignor is to assign the data units to the ones of the plurality of groups by applying a hash algorithm to each of the data units to be encoded.

### Claim at position 25

33-40. (canceled)

### Claim 41

A computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a processor to at least:
assign source data to one of a plurality of groups, the source data comprising text data;
identify a symbol to be added to the source data based on an assigned group of the source data; and
generate encoded data by including in the source data a text character representative of the symbol.

### Claim 42 (depends on 41)

A computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 41, wherein the text character representative of the symbol has a visual representation substantially identical to a text character present in the source data.

### Claim 43 (depends on 42)

A computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 42, wherein the instructions cause the processor to include the text character by replacing the text character present in the source data with the text character representative of the symbol.

### Claim 44 (depends on 41)

A computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 41, wherein the instructions cause the processor to include the text character in the source data comprises including the text character at a designated location in the text data.

### Claim 45 (depends on 41)

A computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 41, wherein the text character comprises a non-breaking space.

### Claim 46 (depends on 45)

A computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 45, wherein the non-breaking space corresponds to an American National Standards Institute U+00A0 non-breaking space code.

### Claim at position 32

47-58. (canceled)