DESCRIPTION:
This disclosure concerns the problem of
authenticating digital images. In particular,
the method enables to decisively answer
the following questions: Given a digital
image and the imaging device that took it,
was some specific area of the image tampered?
Is there a tampered area in the image and
where? As digital images and video continue
to replace their analog counterparts, reliable
and inexpensive authentication of digital
images increases on importance. It would
especially prove useful in the court. For
example, the integrity verification could
be used for establishing the originality
of images presented as evidence, or, in
a child pornography case, one could prove
that certain imagery, or at least its critical
part, has been obtained using a specific
camera and is not a computer-generated image.
The process of image authentication has
been approached from several different directions,
but to the best of our knowledge none so
far led to a generally usable 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 area is
established using a mathematical operation
called correlation. This approach is computationally
simple and relatively reliable. It is also
possible to authenticate processed images
(e.g., using JPEG or other common processing
operations).
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS
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:
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
PATENT STATUS:
Patent Pending.
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