Digital watermarking is adapted for the variable data printing. A reference signal serves as a proxy for optimizing the embedding a watermark in a host image to be printed. Using the reference signal, embedding parameters are generated, which are a function of constraints such as visual quality and robustness of the machine readable data. Adjustments needed to embed a unique payload in each printed piece are generated using the embedding parameters. These adjustments are stored in a manner that enables them to be efficiently obtained and applied within the raster image processor or press during operation of the press. Various other methods, system configurations and applications are also detailed.

Image authenticity verification is disclosed. In one example, in a verification unit, an image is captured by performing photoelectric conversion, an electronic signature is verified of the image output from an imaging element along with an electronic signature of the image, and the image is output in a case where verification of the electronic signature of the image is successful. Moreover, in the verification unit, the image is processed, an electronic signature is verified of a result of processing the image output from a processing unit that outputs a result of processing the image together with an electronic signature of the result of processing the image, and the result of processing the image is output in a case where verification of the electronic signature of the result of processing the image is successful.

A camera captures video imagery depicting a digitally-watermarked object. A reference signal in the watermark is used to discern the pose of the object relative to the camera, and this pose is used in affine-transforming and positioning a graphic on the imagery as an augmented reality overlay. Feature points are also discerned from the captured imagery, or recalled from a database indexed by the watermark. As the camera moves relative to the object, the augmented reality overlay tracks the changing object depiction, using these feature points. When feature point-based tracking fails, the watermark is again processed to determine pose, and the overlay presentation is updated accordingly. In another arrangement, feature points are extracted from images of supermarket objects captured by multiple users, and are compiled in a database in association with watermark data identifying the objects—serving as a crowd-sourced repository of feature point data. A great number of other features and arrangements are also detailed.

Variable data printing workflows are enhanced for use with content that includes 2D code patterns, such as digital watermark data. One arrangement includes applying a filter to a content stream within a PDF document to extract both first variable pattern data for a first watermark pattern and second variable pattern data for a second watermark pattern. A first composite watermark pattern is then defined based on the extracted first variable watermark pattern data in conjunction with static watermark pattern data, and a second composite watermark pattern is defined based on the extracted second variable watermark pattern data in conjunction with the static watermark pattern data. A variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed.

A steganographic digital watermark signal is decoded from host imagery without requiring a domain transformation for signal synchronization, thereby speeding and simplifying the decoding operation. In time-limited applications, such as in supermarket point-of-sale scanners that attempt watermark decode operations on dozens of video frames every second, the speed improvement allows a greater percentage of each image frame to be analyzed for watermark data. In battery-powered mobile devices, avoidance of repeated domain transformations extends battery life. A great variety of other features and arrangements, including machine learning aspects, are also detailed.

Systems and methods for providing a visible watermark in a remote session. The methods comprise: determining if a graphic update needs to be made at a client computing device during the remote session; generating a first graphic update message in response to a determination that a graphic update is needed; identifying pixels of the graphic which would be affected by at least one watermark if the graphic and watermark were both displayed on a screen of the client computing device; constructing a second string of commands specifying a new color value for each of the pixels that were previously identified; converting the first graphic update message to a second graphic update message by inserting the second string of commands in between a first string of commands and an End-Of-Frame (“EOF”) command; and communicating the second graphic update message from the sever to the client computing device.

Optical code signal components are generated and then transformed into signal bearing art that conveys machine readable data. The components of an optical code are optimized to achieve improved signal robustness, reliability, capacity and/or visual quality. An optimization program can determine spatial density, dot distance, dot size and signal component priority to optimize robustness. An optical code generator transforms tiles of an optical code or image embedded with the optical code into signal-bearing art using stipple, Voronoi, Delaunay or other graphic drawing methods so as to retain prioritized components of the optical code. The optical code is merged into a host image, such as imagery, text and graphics of a package or label, or it may be printed by itself, e.g., on an otherwise blank label or carton. A great number of other features and arrangements are also detailed.

Methods and systems for invisible watermarking of images and video are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a method for watermarking video comprises selecting a block corresponding to a subset of pixels in a video frame. The block has quantized coefficients generated during encoding of the block. A modification function is applied to a candidate quantized coefficient (QC) in the block to incorporate a bit of a watermark message. The modification function is based on a set of configuration parameters.

Systems, methods, devices, and other techniques for detecting, with a predictive model, the presence of a watermarking image in a captured source image. The techniques can involve operations that include obtaining a first image, where the first image is a scaled version of the captured source image. Colors of pixels in the first image are analyzed to determine encoded values of possibly encoded pixels in the first image, and patterns of encoded values of the possibly encoded pixels in the first image are analyzed to determine possibly encoded regions of the first image. Values for features of the possibly encoded regions of the first image are determined, and a predictive model processes the feature values to generate a prediction indicative of whether a watermarking image is encoded in the first image. The prediction is stored and provided to a controller to make a decision regarding invocation of a decoding process.

A method of encoding a watermark into a digital image is provided. The method includes partitioning an image into a plurality of blocks of a same size; accumulating the plurality of blocks of the same size into a single block image; performing a Fourier transformation on the single block image to obtain a two-dimensional Fourier spectrum defined by Fourier coefficients at different positions of a Fourier domain; inserting a watermark into a frequency domain of the two-dimensional Fourier spectrum by modifying the two-dimensional Fourier spectrum as a function of watermarking coefficients in the watermark, to obtain a modified Fourier spectrum; performing an inverse Fourier transformation on the modified Fourier spectrum to obtain a watermarked image; copying the watermarked image horizontally and vertically into a plurality of copied watermarked images; and splicing the plurality of copied watermarked images into a reconstituted watermark image.