Identification document including embedded data

1. An authentication method comprising:

receiving optical scan data corresponding to a human face;

processing the scan data corresponding to the human face with a facial recognition module to generate a first hash;

receiving optical scan data corresponding to an identification document including steganographic indicia, wherein the steganographic indicia is provided on the identification document through altered values of graphics, art or imagery carried by the identification document, the altered values are generally imperceptible to a human observer of the identification document, and wherein the steganographic indicia includes a second hash corresponding to a facial recognition of the human face; and

comparing the first hash with the second hash to determine whether the first hash and the second hash coincide in an expected manner.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the steganographic indicia comprises digital watermarking.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital watermarking comprises an orientation component that is helpful to resolve image distortion.

4. A method to authenticate an identification document, wherein the identification document comprises a photographic representation of an authorized bearer of the identification document, and wherein said identification document further comprises a digital watermark including first plural-bit auxiliary data, said method comprising:

receiving optical scan data representing at least a portion of the photographic representation;

determining a reduced-bit representation of the portion of the photographic representation front the received optical scan data;

recovering the first plural-bit auxiliary data of the digital watermark from the received optical scan data, wherein the digital watermark is provided on the identification document through altered values of graphics art or imagery carried by the identification document, the altered values art generally imperceptible to a human observer of the identification document; and

comparing the reduced-bit representation of the portion of the photographic representation with the first auxiliary data to authenticate the identification document.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first auxiliary data corresponds to a reduced-bit representation of at least the portion of the photographic representation.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the reduced-bit representation comprises facial recognition data.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the reduced-bit representation comprises a hash.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein said digital watermark comprises an orientation component.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising adjusting the received optical scan data to adjust for image distortion relative to the orientation component.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said determining a reduced-bit representation is executed after said adjusting step.

11. A computer readable medium having software instructions stored thereon, said instructions causing a computer to perform the method of claim 10 .

12. A computer readable medium having software instructions stored thereon, said instructions causing a computer to perform the method of claim 4 .

13. The method of claim 4 wherein the digital watermark is embedded in the photographic representation of the authorized bearer of the identification document.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the digital watermark further comprises second plural-bit auxiliary data including data representing information provided elsewhere on the identification document.

15. A method to authenticate an identification document, wherein the identification document comprises a photographic representation of an authorized bearer of the identification document, and wherein said identification document further comprises steganographic indicia including first facial recognition data that corresponds with a human face depicted in the photographic representation, wherein said steganographic indicia is embedded in the photographic representation of the authorized bearer of the identification document through altered values representing the photographic representation, the altered values are generally imperceptible to a human observer of the identification document, said method comprising:

receiving optical scan data representing at least a portion of the photographic representation;

generating second facial recognition data corresponding to the portion of the photographic representation from the received optical scan data;

recovering the first facial recognition data included in the steganographic indicia that is embedded in the photographic representation of the authorized bearer of the identification document from the received optical scan data; and

comparing the recovered first facial recognition data with the second facial recognition data to determine whether the document is authentic.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the steganographic indicia comprises digital watermarking.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said digital watermarking comprises an orientation component.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising adjusting the received optical scan data relative to the orientation component.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein said generating second facial recognition data is performed after said adjusting step.

20. A computer readable medium having software instructions stored thereon, said instructions causing a computer to perform the method of claim 19 .

21. A computer readable medium having software instructions stored thereon, said instructions causing a computer to perform the method of claim 15 .