DESCRIPTION:

This disclosure concerns the problem of identification of the imaging digital device (e.g., a digital camera or scanner) from a digital image. In particular, the method enables to decisively answer the following questions: Given a digital camera, was a specific image taken with that camera (or scanned with a given scanner)? Did the same camera take two images?

As digital images and video continue to replace their analog counterparts, reliable, inexpensive, and fast identification of digital image origin increases on importance. It would especially prove useful in the court. For example, the identification could be used for establishing the origin of images presented as evidence, or, in a child pornography case, one could prove that certain imagery has been obtained using a specific camera and is not a computer-generated image.

The process of image identification has been approached from several different directions, but to the best of our knowledge none so far led to a reliable method. The technology in this disclosure uses as an identification pattern a certain component of the pattern noise of imaging sensors (e.g., CCD or CMOS) caused by pixel non-uniformity. This pattern is extracted using a specially designed denoising filter. The presence of the pattern in a given image is established using a mathematical operation called correlation. This approach is computationally simple and is able to distinguish between cameras of the exact same model. It is also possible to identify the camera from processed images (e.g., using JPEG or other common processing operations).

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:

Technology applications

• Determining the origin of digital images

• Matching an image to a camera. 

Who might be interested in the technology:

1) Law enforcement and forensic analysts

2) Government contractors and consulting companies

• Booz Hamilton, http://www.boozallen.com/
  

• Wetstones Technologies Inc., http://www.wetstonetech.com/

3) Imaging companies and companies manufacturing imaging sensors:

• Kodak, Xerox, NEC, Philips
  

• Canon, SONY, Sanyo

4) Companies dealing with data embedding:

• Digimarc, http//www.digimarc.com

• Verance, http://www.verance.com/

• Blue Spike, Inc. http://www.bluespike.com

• Signum Technologies, http://www.signumtech.com

ADVANTAGES:

• Reliability and accuracy of this technology unmatched by other competing methods

• Simplicity and computational efficiency

• Applicability to all sensor types and image acquisition devices

• Ability to distinguish between cameras of the exact same bran

PATENT STATUS:

Patent Pending (U.S. Patent Application # 11/305,611,  Filing Date: 12/16/2005)