Duplicate Image Evidence Management System for Forensic Integrity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to verify the authenticity and integrity of duplicate images copied from original images stored in image storage devices, particularly in forensic investigations, leading to issues with evidence reliability and admissibility in legal proceedings.
Innovation Solution
A duplicate image evidence management system comprising an image generating unit, hash generating unit, hash checking unit, and duplicate image generating unit, which checks for unchanged hash values before copying the original image, ensuring that only unaltered images are duplicated and stored with associated hash values, and a time correction unit to synchronize image timestamps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If original images are copied for forensic investigation, then evidence accessibility is improved, but authenticity verification becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by generating hash values of original images before they are copied or potentially altered. These pre-generated hash values are stored and used later to verify the authenticity of duplicate images, ensuring that the verification process can confirm whether the duplicate matches the original without requiring the original to be physically present during investigation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces hash values as an intermediary element that mediates between the original image and the duplicate image. Instead of directly comparing images or requiring physical presence of originals, the hash value serves as a mathematical fingerprint that can be computed from both the original and duplicate, providing an objective verification mechanism that bridges the gap between accessibility and authenticity.
2Productivity
If multiple copies of images are made during investigation, then evidence availability is improved, but integrity verification becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables multiple copies of images to be made for investigative purposes by providing a standardized copying mechanism. Each copy can be independently verified against the original using hash comparison, allowing investigators to work with multiple duplicates without compromising the ability to verify integrity. The complexity is reduced because the verification process remains the same regardless of how many copies exist.
3Quantity of substance
If original images are deleted after a period, then storage efficiency is improved, but evidence preservation is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the essential verification information (hash values) from the original images and stores these separately. This allows the original large image files to be deleted after a certain period to free up storage space, while the compact hash values remain preserved indefinitely. The hash values are sufficient for verification purposes, so the original images themselves don't need to be retained, thus resolving the contradiction between storage efficiency and evidence preservation.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a duplicate image evidence management system for verifying authentication and integrity, the duplicate image evidence management system being capable of verifying that a duplicate image has authentication and integrity when an original image generated by an image storage device is copied by an image collecting device. The duplicate image evidence management system according to the present disclosure includes: an image generating unit for generating an original image; a hash generating unit for generating an original hash value for the original image; a hash checking unit for checking whether the original hash value is changed; and a duplicate image generating unit for copying the original image so as to generate a first duplicate image and generating a first hash value for the first duplicate image, when it is checked by the hash checking unit that the original hash value is not changed.