Digital Watermark Conflict Detection and Predictability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital watermarking technologies face challenges in predicting the detectability of watermarks on physical substrates after printing, leading to potential undetectability issues during retail checkout, and conflicts between different encoded signals on product packaging can result in incorrect pricing and inventory management errors.
Innovation Solution
A system that includes a digital watermark embedding apparatus with processors for analyzing and predicting detectability measures, generating robustness maps, and detecting conflicts between encoded signals, allowing for re-embedding or redesign to ensure detectability and accuracy of encoded data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If digital watermarking is applied to physical substrates, then machine-readable data can be embedded, but detectability issues occur during retail checkout
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the digital image to predict watermark detectability before the actual retail checkout process. By pre-assessing detectability measures and generating robustness maps, the system identifies potential detection issues in advance, allowing for corrective actions to be taken before the watermark needs to be scanned at checkout.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where detectability measures are analyzed and used to generate robustness maps that indicate which areas of the image have sufficient watermark strength. This feedback loop allows the system to identify weak areas and prompt re-embedding or redesign to ensure adequate detectability throughout the retail environment.
2Loss of information
If multiple encoded signals are placed on product packaging, then information capacity increases, but conflicts between signals cause pricing and inventory errors
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary conflict detection and resolution process between the multiple encoded signals. By analyzing the digital image to detect conflicts between different machine-readable codes before printing, the system acts as a mediator that identifies and flags conflicting signals, preventing them from causing pricing and inventory management errors during retail operations.
3Reliability
If watermark strength is increased to ensure detectability, then detection reliability improves, but image quality and design flexibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality analysis by generating robustness maps that show detectability measures for different areas of the image independently. This allows the system to identify specific regions where watermark strength is insufficient without requiring the entire image to be redesigned or have uniformly increased watermark strength, thereby preserving design flexibility while ensuring detection reliability in critical areas.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure relates to advanced signal processing technology including signal encoding. One combination includes an apparatus comprising: memory for storing image data, the image data comprising a plurality of color separations or channels, in which the image data comprises at least a first type of machine-readable symbology comprising a 1D barcode represented therein and a second type of machine-readable symbology comprising a first signal represented therein, in which the second type of machine-readable symbology comprises a different type of machine-readable symbology relative to the first type of machine-readable symbology, the 1D barcode comprising a first plural-bit code and the first signal comprising a second plural-bit code; a barcode reader configured to analyze the image data to decode the 1D barcode to obtain the first plural-bit code; a signal decoder configured to analyze one or more color separations or channels of the plurality of color separations or channels to decode the first signal to obtain the second plural-bit code; one or more processors configured to determine whether the second plural-bit code and the first plural-bit code conflict; and to identify a conflict based on a conflict determination. Of course, other features and combinations are described as well.