Imaging systems with data encryption and embedding capabalities

A method of generating images that include encrypted data, the method comprising:

• with an imager on a silicon image sensor chip, capturing image data in response to light received at the imager;
• with a sensor on the silicon image sensor chip, generating image metadata at the same time that the imager is capturing the image data;
• with an encryption engine on the silicon image sensor chip, receiving the image metadata;
• with the encryption engine, obtaining an encryption key stored on the silicon image sensor chip;
• with the encryption engine, encrypting the image metadata using the encryption engine and the encryption key to generate encrypted metadata;
• with a data embedder on the silicon image sensor chip, receiving the encrypted metadata from the encryption engine and receiving the image data from the imager rather than from the encryption engine;
• with the data embedder, embedding the encrypted metadata into the image data by replacing at least some of the image data with the encrypted metadata;
• and
• with the data embedder, outputting a final image that includes the image data and the encrypted metadata embedded therein.

A system, comprising:

• a central processing unit;
• memory;
• input-output circuitry;
• and
• an imaging device, wherein the imaging device comprises:
• a single common silicon image sensor chip;
• an array of image sensor pixels formed on the single common silicon image sensor chip, wherein the array of image sensor pixels generates image pixel data in response to received light;
• image formatting circuitry formed on the single common silicon image sensor chip, wherein the image formatting circuitry receives the image pixel data directly from the array of image sensor pixels;
• data encryption hardware formed on the single common silicon image sensor chip;
• memory formed on the single common silicon image sensor chip, wherein an encryption key is stored on the memory;
• a sensor formed on the single common silicon image sensor chip, wherein the sensor generates sensor data while the array of image sensor pixels generates the image pixel data in response to the received light;
• and
• data embedding hardware formed on the single common silicon image sensor chip, wherein the image pixel data is provided to the data embedding hardware directly from the image formatting circuitry without passing through the data encryption hardware, wherein the data encryption hardware encrypts the sensor data using the encryption key to generate encrypted sensor data, and wherein the data embedding hardware embeds the encrypted sensor data into the image pixel data to generate an image.