US 6,122,403 · Granted 2000-09-19

The Steganography Patent That Hides Data Inside Images

Imagine hiding secret messages or ownership information inside a photo or video so cleverly that nobody can see it without the right decoder. That's steganography, and this patent describes ways to hide data in images that survive rotation, resizing, and even compression — making it perfect for protecting copyrights or securing financial transactions online.

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The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers steganographic systems that embed hidden digital information into images and videos in ways that survive common image transformations like rotation, scaling, and lossy compression. What's protected here is the specific use of rotationally symmetric patterns, subliminal digital graticules, and patterned bit cells to facilitate reliable decoding without needing the original unencoded source material. It also covers applications like embedding URLs into images so they become clickable hotlinks and building copyright detection into photo kiosks.

Why it matters

This patent represents a foundational technology in digital watermarking and steganography — fields that became critical as digital media proliferated online in the late 1990s. Digimarc built its business around protecting intellectual property by embedding invisible identifiers into images, videos, and audio. The broad scope of this patent, covering everything from counterfeit-resistant IDs to covert channels in video transmissions, positioned the company as a key player in digital rights management before streaming became ubiquitous.

Real-world use

When a photographer uploads an image to a stock photo site, invisible copyright information can be embedded in the photo file so that if someone downloads and reuses it without permission, the owner can still prove they created it.

Original USPTO abstract

Various improvements to steganographic systems, and applications therefore, are disclosed. The improvements include facilitating scale and rotation registration for steganographic decoding by use of rotationally symmetric steganographically embedded patterns and subliminal digital graticules; improved techniques for decoding without access to unencoded originals; improving robustness of steganographic coding in motion pictures and/or in the presence of lossy compression/decompression; and representing data by patterned bit cells whose energy in the spatial domain facilitates decoding registration. Applications include enhanced-security financial transactions, counterfeit resistant identification cards, fraud deterrent systems for cellular telephony, covert modem channels in video transmissions, photo duplication kiosks with automatic copyright detection, and hotlinked image objects (e.g. with embedded URLs) for use on the internet.

Patent details

Publication number: US 6,122,403
Filing date: 1996-11-12
Grant date: 2000-09-19
Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
Inventor(s): RHOADS; GEOFFREY B.
CPC class: G06T1/0021

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