DIGITAL WATERMARKING APPLICATIONS

摘要

In one aspect, assembly of multi-part food packaging is checked by reference to payloads of steganographically-encoded digital watermarks printed across plural components of the packaging. Marking all surfaces of the packaging components allows arbitrary orientation of feed stock in assembly equipment, and wide latitude in placement of inspection cameras along the packaging line. In another aspect, a scanner at a retail checkout station is alert to any gap detected in steganographic encoding on retail product packaging and, if found, alerts an operator to possible presence of an adhesive label with a misleading barcode. A great variety of others features and arrangements are also detailed.

主权项

1. A manufacturing method comprising the acts:
in no particular order: decoding a first plural-symbol payload from a first digital watermark depicted in imagery captured from a first item; decoding a second plural-symbol payload from a second digital watermark depicted in imagery captured from a second item; and physically combining the first and second items together; and issuing an alert signal if the first and second and second plural-symbol payloads do not correspond in an expected manner.