Photograhic system with selected area image authentication

A public key encryption system for authenticating image data from an image of a scene captured by a digital camera, said digital camera having embedded therein a private key unique to said digital camera and a known public key so uniquely based upon said private key that digital data encrypted with said private key may be decrypted using said public key, said encryption system comprising:

• means for generating one or more patterns each composed of at least one individual area that is visible together with the image of the object;
• means for designating said at least one individual area as an active area of the image suitable for authentication and for generating location data identifying the active area;
• means for calculating image hash from image data of said active area of the image using a predetermined hash algorithm;
• means for encrypting said image hash with said embedded private key, thereby producing a digital signature uniquely associated with said active area of the image;
• and
• means for storing said image data, said digital signature, and the location data of said active area in a digital record.

A digital camera capable of authenticating images of a scene captured by said camera, said digital camera having embedded therein a private key unique to said digital camera and a known public key so uniquely based upon said private key that digital data encrypted with said private key may be decrypted using said public key, said digital camera comprising:

• an image sensor for capturing image data representative of the scene;
• an electronic display for displaying an image from the image data;
• means for generating one or more patterns composed of a plurality of individual area that are visible through the electronic display together with the image of the object;
• means for designating one or more individual areas as an active area of the image suitable for authentication and for generating location data identifying the active area;
• means for calculating image hash from image data of said active area of the image using a predetermined algorithm;
• means for encrypting said image hash with said embedded private key, thereby producing a digital signature uniquely associated with said active area of the image;
• and
• means for storing said image data, said digital signature, and the location data of said active area in a digital record.

A digital camera capable of authenticating images of a scene captured by said camera, said digital camera having embedded therein a private key unique to said digital camera and a known public key so uniquely based upon said private key that digital data encrypted with said private key may be decrypted using said public key, said digital camera comprising:

• an image sensor for capturing image data representative of the scene;
• an electronic display for displaying an image from the image data;
• means for generating one or more patterns composed of a plurality of individual area that are visible through the electronic display together with the image of the object;
• means for designating one or more individual areas as an active area of the image suitable for authentication and for generating location data identifying the active area;
• means for compressing the image data;
• means for calculating image hash from the compressed image data of said active area of the image using a predetermined algorithm;
• means for encrypting said image hash with said embedded private key, thereby producing a digital signature uniquely associated with said active area of the image;
• and
• means for storing said compressed image data, said digital signature, and the location data of said active area in a digital record.

A system for reproducing authenticated images captured by a digital camera, said digital camera having embedded therein a private key unique to said digital camera and a known public key so uniquely based upon said private key that digital data encrypted with said private key may be decrypted using said public key, said camera hashing image data from a selected area of the image using a predetermined hash algorithm, producing encrypted image hash using the private key and generating an image file including image data, a digital signature comprising the encrypted hash, and location data identifying the selected area of the image used for the digital signature, said system comprising:

• means for identifying the selected area used for the digital signature from the image file;
• means for selecting image data corresponding to the selected area from the image file;
• means for calculating image hash of said selected image data from the selected area of the image file using the predetermined hash algorithm;
• means for decrypting said encrypted image hash with said public key, thereby producing a decrypted digital signature uniquely associated with the selected area of the image;
• and
• means for comparing the decrypted image hash with the calculated image hash to determine the authenticity of at least the selected area of the image contained in the image data.

A method for authenticating an image of a scene captured by a digital camera, said digital camera having embedded therein a private key unique to said digital camera and a known public key so uniquely based upon said private key that digital data encrypted with said private key may be decrypted using said public key, said method comprising the steps of:

• generating one or more patterns each composed of at least one individual area that is visible together with the image of the object;
• designating said at least one individual area as an active area of the image suitable for authentication and for generating location data identifying the active area;
• calculating image hash from image data of said active area of the image using a predetermined hash algorithm;
• encrypting said image hash with said embedded private key, thereby producing a digital signature uniquely associated with said active area of the image;
• and
• storing said image data, said digital signature, and the location data of said active area in a digital record.

A method for authenticating an image of a scene captured by a digital camera, said digital camera compressing image data representative of the scene, said digital camera having embedded therein a private key unique to said digital camera and a known public key so uniquely based upon said private key that digital data encrypted with said private key may be decrypted using said public key, said method comprising the steps of:

• generating one or more patterns each composed of at least one individual area that is visible together with the image of the object;
• designating said at least one individual area as an active area of the image suitable for authentication and for generating location data identifying the active area;
• calculating image hash from compressed image data of said active area of the image using a predetermined hash algorithm;
• encrypting said image hash with said embedded private key, thereby producing a digital signature uniquely associated with said active area of the image;
• and
• storing said compressed image data, said digital signature, and the location data of said active area in a digital record.