JP2000050045A - Method and device for embedding information, method and device for reading supplementary information and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To embed information in original data so as not to erase or change supplementary information related to the original data without degrading the quality of the original data. SOLUTION: A photographic condition or the like in acquiring original image data S is generated as supplementary information H by supplementary information generating means 2 and the supplementary information H is stored in data bases 4A-4D on a network 3 by a supplementary information storage means 5. Storage managing information p such as a URL address related to a place storing the supplementary information H is generated by a storage managing information generating means 6 and embedded in original image data S while being deeply encoded by an embedding means 7 and original image data S0 in which the storage managing information P is embedded, are recorded on a recording medium 8. Since the data amount of the storage managing information P is less than that of the supplementary information H, even when the storage managing information P is embedded in the original image data S, the quality of the data can be prevented from being degraded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information embedding method and apparatus for embedding information in original data, an additional information reading method and apparatus for acquiring additional information related to original data based on this information, and a method thereof. The present invention relates to a computer-readable recording medium on which a program to be executed by a computer is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of data such as images, sounds, and moving images have been digitized, and media on which the data is recorded,
Data in various file formats depending on the application using the data has been increasing. For example, the format of image data used on the Internet is Jpeg or gi.
f, and FlashPi advocated by Eastman Kodak Company
x and the like are known, and image data in a format according to the content of the image is exchanged. With the development of such an open network infrastructure, the possibility of processing or using data via various media and applications is increasing. For example,
The possibility of repeatedly processing image data in different applications or re-saving image data in various formats is increasing.

For this reason, it is a very useful means to add additional information to the data in addition to the data itself in anticipation of a more complex and versatile use form of the data in an open network environment. It has become to. For example, when converting image data acquired by a digital camera or the like into output data such as a hard copy, the way of processing the image data differs depending on the shooting scene. In such a case, if the light source information of the shooting scene such as color cast, underexposure, overexposure, etc. is known, appropriate image processing can be performed on the image data according to the light source information. Also, by attaching a keyword to the original data, it is possible to search for the original data after the data is made into a database, and many other beneficial effects can be expected. On the other hand, in platemaking data in the printing field, in addition to the image data itself, instructions for trimming and correcting the image,
Also, information on process management such as to which editing page belongs is added, and by making this information into a database, the process management of plate making data can be performed.

Here, there is a problem how to attach the above-mentioned additional information to the original data. At present, the supplementary information is attached to the original data file as a file separate from the original data file, or is written in the file header of the original data. However, in the former case,
If various processes are performed on the original data by various applications or format conversion is performed, the correspondence between the original data and the supplementary information may not be understood. In the latter case, depending on the application, the additional information recorded in the file header may not be able to be read, and if the data is read and the format is converted, the additional information written in the header may be lost. There is.
That is, the file header of the data body includes a basic part and an extension part, and the above-described additional information is included in the extension part. However, the extension part is lost or changed by repeating writing and reading. There is a risk.

On the other hand, various techniques have been proposed for embedding the authentication information and copyright information of the original data in the original data by performing a deep encryption (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-
289159, 10-108180, JP-A-9-108
No. 214636). This method embeds authentication information and copyright information in redundant portions of data. For example, if the original data is image data, it is not possible to confirm the embedded information simply by reproducing the image data. By using a device or software for reading the information, the information embedded in the data can be read and displayed. The details of this deep encryption are described in various documents (for example, “Digital Watermark, Koshio Matsui, Oplus
E No.213, August 1997).

As such a deep encryption method, various methods such as a pixel space use type, a quantization error use type, and a frequency domain use type are known. The pixel space utilization type extracts a plane of, for example, 3 × 3 pixels near the target pixel, and
This is a method of embedding supplementary information in bits. The quantization error utilization type focuses on a quantization error generated in the process of compressing image data, and controls the quantization output to an even number and an odd number with 0 and 1 of the bit sequence of the incidental information, so that an apparent quantization noise is generated. Embedded in the image data.
For this quantization error utilization type, see "Image deep encryption".
(Koshio Matsui, Morikita Publishing, 1993) describes the details. The frequency domain utilization type is a method of embedding supplementary information in a visually insensitive frequency domain on an image domain. For example, since the high-frequency component in the image is a visually insensitive area, the image data is decomposed into a plurality of frequency bands, the additional information is embedded in the high-frequency band, and the additional information is embedded by reconstructing the image data. be able to. As for human visual characteristics, color difference and saturation information generally have lower gradation discrimination ability than luminance information, and there is an area where recording that is invisible to the difference between luminance and color difference or saturation information is possible. Exists. Therefore, additional information can be embedded in this area.

[0007] Other methods include embedding incidental information in a bit plane having a poor S / N ratio as noise by embedding noise as redundancy, and embedding information in information blocks within a certain range of pixel blocks (spaces). A method of embedding a quantization error in the case where the amount of data information is reduced due to encoding when performing data compression is exemplified.

Here, a method of embedding information utilizing information conversion redundancy of a pixel block in a density pattern for expressing a gradation in a binary image will be described.

As a method of expressing a multi-value gradation by using a binary bit map, there is a density pattern method. FIG.
FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically illustrating a case in which four pixels of a value are defined as one unit and a gradation is expressed by an area change. here,
The gradation number Leq that can be represented by the specific number of bits L and the number of pixels n × n can be represented by the following equation (1).

Leq = (L−1) n ² +1 (1) Therefore, in the case shown in FIG. 3, five gradations can be expressed. Also, as is apparent from FIG.
There are a plurality of patterns indicating one quantization level (same gradation) depending on which of the four pixels has a black bit. For example, quantization levels 0 and 4 can take only one pattern, while quantization levels 1 and 3 have four possible patterns and quantization level 2 has six possible patterns. That is, of the n ² pixel arrangements, the number of patterns is determined by the combination arrangement of m black pixels and (n ² -m) white pixels, so that the number of patterns that can be taken per gradation is n ² Cm It is possible. By using the redundant pixel array pattern for the same quantization level, it is possible to represent different information.

If the different information in this case is an integer, for example, in the case of the quantization level 1, four integers are assigned and 2
Become a bit. That is, the number of allocated bits BITm at the quantization level m can be obtained as BITm = [log ₂ (n ² Cm)] (2). Therefore, quantization level 2
For from equation (2), BIT2 = [log 2 (2 2 C2)] = log 2 6 = 2.
585. The number of quantization bits that can be represented by the entire block of 4 pixels is BIT0 + BIT1 + BIT2 + BIT3 + BIT4 =
0 + 2 + 2.585 + 2 + 0 = 6.585 bits. In this way, the pixel position where the black bit is set can be represented as one piece of information in the redundancy. That is, as visual information, there are only 0 to 4 as quantization levels, but in terms of another information redundancy,
Thus, there are various variations at each quantization level.

[0012]

By embedding the above-mentioned additional information in the original data by performing deep encryption, it is possible to prevent the additional information from being lost or changed. However, the amount of information to be embedded and the deterioration of the quality of the original data are in a trade-off relationship. For example, when the original data is image data, the image quality deteriorates when the amount of information to be embedded is large. Therefore, in order to maintain the quality of the original data, it is necessary to limit the amount of information to be embedded.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and uses the technique of deep encryption so that the quality of original data is not degraded and the above-mentioned incidental information is not lost or changed. Information embedding method and apparatus capable of embedding information in original data, additional information reading method and apparatus for acquiring additional information related to original data based on embedded information, and causing a computer to execute these methods It is an object to provide a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for recording is recorded.

[0014]

According to the information embedding method of the present invention, in the information embedding method for embedding information in original data, additional information related to the original data is stored in a predetermined storage location, The storage management information representing the storage location of the storage management information is generated, and the storage management information is embedded in the original data.

Here, the "extra information" refers to information relating to the original data, and includes copyright information of the original data, authentication information, and, when the original data is image data, the image data when the image was taken. In the case where image data is read from a film or a print image, a photographing condition, a reading condition at the time of reading, search information of original data, and the like are included.

The "predetermined storage location" includes a database owned by the user, a database on a network, and the like.

The "storage management information" includes information on the address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc. of the person storing the supplementary information, and the URL address of the Internet.

In the information embedding method of the present invention,
Preferably, the storage management information is deeply encrypted and embedded in the original data.

Here, "embedding by deep encryption" means that auxiliary information is encrypted and embedded in a redundant portion of the original data, and the detailed method is described in the above-mentioned Matsui document. .

An information embedding device according to the present invention is an information embedding device for embedding information in original data, wherein additional information storage means for storing additional information related to the original data in a predetermined storage location; It is characterized by comprising storage management information generating means for generating storage management information indicating a storage location, and embedding means for embedding the storage management information in the original data.

In the information embedding device of the present invention,
It is preferable that the embedding unit is a unit for deeply encrypting the storage management information and embedding it in the original data.

A supplementary information reading method according to the present invention obtains original data in which the storage management information is embedded by the information embedding method according to the present invention, reads the storage management information from the original data, and adds the storage management information to the storage management information. The additional information is obtained based on the information.

Further, the supplementary information reading device according to the present invention comprises:
A data acquisition unit for acquiring original data in which the storage management information is embedded by the information embedding device according to the present invention; a storage management information reading unit for reading the storage management information from the original data; And additional information obtaining means for obtaining the additional information.

The information embedding method and the supplementary information reading method according to the present invention may be provided by being recorded in a computer-readable recording medium as a program for causing a computer to execute the method.

[0025]

According to the present invention, additional information is stored in a predetermined storage location, and storage management information indicating the storage location of the additional information is embedded in the original data. Then, the user receiving the original data in which the storage management information is embedded reads the storage management information from the original data, obtains information on the storage location of the additional information, and obtains the additional information from the storage location based on this information. can do.

Here, since the storage management information has a relatively small amount of information such as the address of the person storing the supplementary information, an e-mail address, and a URL address of the Internet, the quality of the original data is deteriorated. And can be embedded in the original data. Also, since the storage management information is embedded in the original data, even if various processing, storage, and reading are repeated on the original data, the storage management information is lost or changed like the information recorded in the header. Or be lost. Further, the association between the storage management information and the original data is not lost. Therefore, the storage management information is always attached to the related original data, and by using this storage management information, the additional information can be obtained without losing the association with the original data.

Furthermore, by embedding the storage management information in the deep data and embedding it in the original data, it is possible to restrict access to the additional information, thereby maintaining the confidentiality of the additional information.

[0028]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of an information embedding device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the information embedding device according to the present embodiment is for embedding information in image data, and includes a data generation unit 1 for generating original image data S such as a digital camera and an image reading device; When the original image data S is obtained by the generation unit 1, the additional information generation unit 2 generates information such as imaging conditions and reading conditions as the additional information H, and the additional information H is stored in the databases 4A to 4D on the network 3. Additional information storage means 5 for storing, storage management information generating means 6 for generating storage management information P indicating the storage location of the additional information H, and storing the storage management information P in the original image data S
To generate original image data S0 in which the storage management information P is embedded by being deeply encrypted and embedded, and stored on a hard disk, a database on a network, an MO, a CD-ROM.
Embedding means 7 for recording on a recording medium 8 such as R, ZIP or the like.

The storage management information generating means 6 generates, as storage management information P, information on the storage location of the additional information H stored by the additional information storage means 5. Here, when the supplementary information H is stored in the databases 4A to 4D on the network 3 as in the present embodiment, the U of the database is used.
The RL address is generated as the storage management information P. Further, the storage management information P may be an address, a telephone number, an e-mail address, or the like of a person having a database storing the supplementary information H.

In the embedding means 7, for example, the methods described in JP-A-8-289159, JP-A-10-108180, and JP-A-9-214636 described above, a pixel space utilization type, a quantization error utilization type, By various methods such as a frequency domain utilization type, the storage management information P
0 is embedded and deep-encrypted.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the original image data S is generated by the data generating means 1. On the other hand, imaging conditions, reading conditions, and the like are generated as additional information H by the additional information generating means 2, and the additional information H is stored in the additional information storage means 5 by the network 3.
These are stored in the above databases 4A to 4D. Further, information on the storage location of the additional information H by the additional information storage unit 5 is generated as storage management information P by the storage management information generation unit 6. The storage management information P generated by the storage management information generating means 6 is deeply encrypted and embedded in the original image data S by the embedding means 7, and the original image data S0 in which the storage management information P is embedded is recorded on the recording medium 8. Will be recorded.

FIG. 2 shows that the supplementary information H is read out based on the original image data S0 in which the storage management information P is deeply encrypted and embedded, and image processing is performed on the original image data S0 based on the supplementary information H. FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing device. As shown in FIG. 2, the image processing apparatus includes a reading unit 11 for reading original image data S0 from a recording medium 8, and a storage management information for reading storage management information P embedded in the original image data S0 by being deeply encrypted. Reading means 12, additional information acquiring means 13 for acquiring additional information H from databases 4A to 4D on network 3 based on storage management information P, and original information based on additional information H acquired by additional information acquiring means 13. A processing unit 14 that performs image processing on the image data S0 to obtain processed image data S1.

Next, the operation of the image processing apparatus shown in FIG. 2 will be described. First, the reading means 11 reads the original image data S0 recorded on the recording medium 8. On the other hand, the storage management information P embedded in the original image data S0 is read by the storage management information reading means 12 and input to the accompanying information acquisition means 13. The supplementary information acquiring means 13 accesses the databases 4A to 4D on the network 3 in which the supplementary information H is stored and acquires the supplementary information H based on the URL address and the like represented by the storage management information P. If the storage management information P is an address, a telephone number, an e-mail address, or the like of a person having a database storing the supplementary information H, the user directly accesses the person and acquires the supplementary information H. The supplementary information H acquired by the supplementary information acquiring unit 13 is input to the processing unit 3, where the original image data S0 is subjected to image processing based on the supplementary information H to obtain processed image data S1. For example, when the supplementary information H is photographing information such as information on a photographing scene or a photographing light source, exposure correction, color cast correction, and the like are performed based on the supplementary information H, and skin color correction and the like are performed based on subject information. Is performed. Then, the processed image data S1 is reproduced by reproducing means (not shown) such as a monitor or a printer.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the supplementary information H relating to the original image data S0 is not directly embedded in the original image data S0, but the storage management information P which is information relating to the location where the supplementary information H is stored. Is embedded in the original image data S0. Here, the storage management information P is a U
Since the information amount is relatively small, such as the RL address, the address of the person storing the supplementary information H, the telephone number, and the e-mail address, the information is embedded in the original image data S without deteriorating the quality of the original image data S. be able to. Further, even if the format of the original image data S0 is converted, and storage and reading are repeated, the storage management information P is not changed or lost. The storage management information P and the original image data S0
Will not be lost. Therefore, the storage management information P is always attached to the related original image data S0.
The additional information H can be acquired without losing the association with the original image data S0.

Further, by embedding the storage management information P in the original image data S after deeply encrypting the same, it is possible to restrict access to the supplementary information H, thereby maintaining the confidentiality of the supplementary information H. .

In the above embodiment, the storage management information P is embedded in the original image data S.
The storage management information P is not limited to image data, but can be embedded in various original data such as audio and video.

Further, in the above embodiment, the storage management information P is deeply encrypted and embedded in the original image data S. However, if the supplementary information H does not require confidentiality, the storage management information P is not encrypted. The storage management information P may be embedded in the original image data S.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of an information embedding device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a case in which four binary pixels are defined as one unit and a gradation is represented by an area change.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Data generation means 2 Additional information generation means 3 Network 4A-4D database 5 Additional information storage means 6 Storage management information generation means 7 Embedding means 8 Recording medium 11 Reading means 12 Storage management information reading means 13 Additional information acquisition means 14 Processing means

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5B057 CA12 CA16 CB12 CB16 CE08 CG07 CG09 CH01 CH12 CH18 DA17 DC04 5C022 AA13 5C023 AA08 AA31 AA34 AA35 AA37 CA01 5C076 AA14 AA16 AA40 BA06

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An information embedding method for embedding information in original data, comprising: storing additional information related to the original data in a predetermined storage location; and generating storage management information indicating a storage location of the additional information. An information embedding method, wherein storage management information is embedded in the original data. 2. The storage management information is deeply encrypted and embedded in the original data.
Information embedding method described. 3. An information embedding device for embedding information in original data, an additional information storage means for storing additional information related to the original data in a predetermined storage location, and storage management information indicating a storage location of the additional information. An information embedding apparatus, comprising: storage management information generating means for generating the storage management information; and embedding means for embedding the storage management information in the original data. 4. The information embedding device according to claim 3, wherein said embedding means is means for deeply encrypting the storage management information and embedding it in the original data. 5. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for causing a computer to execute an information embedding method for embedding information in original data, wherein the program stores additional information related to the original data in a predetermined manner. A storage medium readable by a computer, comprising: a step of storing information in a location; a step of generating storage management information indicating a storage location of the additional information; and a step of embedding the storage management information in the original data. 6. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 5, wherein the embedding step is a step of deeply encrypting the storage management information and embedding it in the original data. 7. An original data in which the storage management information is embedded by the information embedding method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the storage management information is read from the original data, and the storage management information is read based on the storage management information. A supplementary information reading method, comprising acquiring supplementary information. 8. A data acquisition means for acquiring original data in which the storage management information is embedded by the information embedding device according to claim 3, and storage management information reading for reading the storage management information from the original data. Means, and additional information acquisition means for acquiring the additional information based on the storage management information. 9. A procedure for acquiring original data in which the storage management information is embedded by the information embedding method according to claim 1 or 2, a procedure for reading the storage management information from the original data; A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to execute the step of acquiring the supplementary information based on information.