Digital watermarking CMOS sensor
AssigneeUTI Limited Partnership
InventorsOrly Yadid-Pecht, Graham R. Nelson, Graham A. Jullien
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Abstract
A complementary metal oxide substrate (CMOS) active pixel sensor (APS) imaging chip includes a combination circuit, an active pixel sensor array and a watermark generating circuit. Also disclosed are methods of using the CMOS APS imager for watermarking images.
Claims15
A complementary metal oxide substrate (CMOS) active pixel sensor (APS) imaging chip for watermarking images comprising:
- a) a watermark generating circuit for generating a digital watermark;
- b) an active pixel sensor array comprising a plurality of n-well photodiodes having an octagonal layout, for sensing an image and producing an array output, in communication with means for digitizing an array output and producing a digitized array output;
- and
- c) a combination circuit for combining the digitized array output and the digital watermark to produce a watermarked image.
A method of embedding a digital watermark in an image, wherein the watermark embedding occurs in a complementary metal oxide substrate (CMOS) active pixel sensor (APS) imaging chip, comprising the steps of:
- a) generating a digital watermark, wherein the digital watermark is a stream of pseudorandom bits generated from the value of an initial state of a linear-feedback shift register (LFSR);
- b) creating a digital array output from an active pixel sensor array, by sensing an image, producing an array output, and digitizing the array output, and
- c) combining the digital watermark with the digital array output;
- wherein the generation of the initial state of the LFSR is accomplished by providing bit values from the ADC.
A method of embedding a digital watermark in an image, wherein the watermark embedding occurs in a complementary metal oxide substrate (CMOS) active pixel sensor (APS) imaging chip, comprising the steps of:
- a) generating a digital watermark, wherein the digital watermark is a stream of pseudorandom bits generated from the value of an initial state of a linear-feedback shift register (LFSR);
- b) creating a digital array output from an active pixel sensor array, by sensing an image, producing an array output, and digitizing the array output;
- and
- c) combining the digital watermark with the digital array output;
- wherein the initial state of the LFSR is representative of characteristics of the APS.
A complementary metal oxide substrate (CMOS) active pixel sensor (APS) imaging chip for watermarking images comprising:
- a) a watermark generating circuit for generating a digital watermark;
- b) an active pixel sensor array for sensing an image and producing an array output in communication with means for digitizing an array output and producing a digitized array output;
- and
- c) a combination circuit for combining the digitized array output and the digital watermark to produce a watermarked image;
- wherein said watermark generating circuit is a linear-feedback shift register (LFSR), said watermark is a stream of pseudorandom bits, and said LFSR is adapted to produce said stream of pseudorandom bits from an initial state, and further comprising means for providing bit values from the ADC to generate the initial state of the LFSR.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.