Methods for identifying equipment used in counterfeiting

A method of image processing, comprising:

• providing image data corresponding to an optically scanned document to a processing apparatus;
• and
• digitally watermarking the image data with a machine readable, image-adapted, steganographic digital watermark representing plural bit binary data, said digital watermark serving to mark the image data as having been processed on said apparatus;
• wherein said image data thereafter carries said digital watermark embedded therein, permitting the apparatus on which said image data was processed to be identified, and wherein said plural bit binary data is encoded redundantly through the image data, rather than each bit being encoded in a single localized region only.

A method of image processing, comprising:

• providing image data corresponding to an optically scanned document to a processing apparatus;
• and
• digitally watermarking the image data with a machine readable, image-adapted, steganographic digital watermark representing plural bit binary data, said digital watermark serving to mark the image data as having been processed on said apparatus;
• wherein said image data thereafter carries said digital watermark embedded therein, permitting the apparatus on which said image data was processed to be identified, and wherein the digital watermarking makes use of a discrete cosine transform.

A method of image processing, comprising:

• providing image data corresponding to an optically scanned document to a processing apparatus;
• and
• digitally watermarking the image data with a machine readable, image-adapted, steganographic digital watermark representing plural bit binary data, said digital watermark serving to mark the image data as having been processed on said apparatus;
• wherein said image data thereafter carries said digital watermark embedded therein, permitting the apparatus on which said image data was processed to be identified;
• wherein the digital watermarking includes encoding a calibration signal with the plural bit digital data so as to facilitate decoding of the watermark, and in which the calibration signal is adapted to facilitate decoding of the watermark notwithstanding rotation of the image data.

A method of image processing, comprising:

• providing image data corresponding to an optically scanned document to a processing apparatus;
• and
• digitally watermarking the image data with a machine readable, image-adapted, steganographic digital watermark representing plural bit binary data, said digital watermark serving to mark the image data as having been processed on said apparatus;
• wherein said image data thereafter carries said digital watermark embedded therein, permitting the apparatus on which said image data was processed to be identified;
• the method also including digitally watermarking the image data with two different digital watermarks.

A method of image processing, comprising:

• providing image data corresponding to an optically scanned document to a processing apparatus;
• and
• digitally watermarking the image data with a machine readable, steganographic digital watermark representing plural bit binary data, said digital watermark serving to mark the image data as having been processed on said apparatus, said watermark locally changing the luminance, but not the chrominance, of the image data;
• wherein said image data thereafter carries said digital watermark embedded therein, permitting the apparatus on which said image data was processed to be identified.

A method of image processing, comprising:

• providing image data corresponding to an optically scanned document to a processing apparatus;
• and
• digitally watermarking the image data with a machine readable, steganographic digital watermark representing plural bit binary data, said digital watermark serving to mark the image data as having been processed on said apparatus, said watermark altering a majority of pixels comprising said image data;
• wherein said image data thereafter carries said digital watermark embedded therein, permitting the apparatus on which said image data was processed to be identified.

A method of image processing, comprising:

• providing image data corresponding to an optically scanned document to a processing apparatus;
• and
• digitally watermarking the image data with a machine readable, steganographic digital watermark representing plural bit binary data, said digital watermark serving to mark the image data as having been processed on said apparatus, said watermark being manifested differently at different regions of the image;
• wherein said image data thereafter carries said digital watermark embedded therein, permitting the apparatus on which said image data was processed to be identified.

A method of image processing, comprising:

• providing image data corresponding to an optically scanned document to a processing apparatus;
• and
• digitally watermarking the image data with a machine readable, steganographic digital watermark representing plural bit binary data, said digital watermark serving to mark the image data as having been processed on said apparatus, said watermark changing certain pixels of the image in accordance with more than one bit of said plural bit binary data;
• wherein said image data thereafter carries said digital watermark embedded therein, permitting the apparatus on which said image data was processed to be identified.

A method of marking scanner data provided from a scanner unit to a separate computer system to permit later identification of the scanner unit, the method comprising in the scanner unit:

• generating first scan data;
• encoding the first scan data with a steganographic digital watermark representing plural bit binary data to yield second scan data;
• and
• providing said second scan data from the scanner unit to the computer system;
• wherein the digital watermark in the second scan data serves to identify the scanner from which the scan data was generated—irrespective of the computer with which it is used.