Methods and apparatus for embedding and recovering an image for use with video content

1. A method of embedding image data within a plurality of video frames, comprising:

embedding a real component of a spectral representation of the image data into a first set of video frames from the plurality of video frames to form a modified first set of video frames; and

embedding an imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data into a second set of video frames from the plurality of video frames to form a modified second set of video frames.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the image data is representative of a two-dimensional image.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the image data comprises coded data.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising:

associating at least one random phase angle from a plurality of random phase angles to each pixel of at least a portion of the image data to form randomized image data;

applying a two-dimensional Fourier transform to the randomized image data to form a spectral representation of the randomized image data; and

separating the plurality of video frames into the first set of video frames and the second set of video frames.

5. A method as defined in claim 4 , wherein the plurality of random phase angles comprises an uniform distribution of phase angles.

6. A method as defined in claim 4 , wherein a first random phase angle associated with a first pixel is not equal to a second random phase angle associated with a second pixel.

7. A method as defined in claim 4 , further comprising conditioning the spectral representation of the randomized image data.

8. A method as defined in claim 7 , wherein conditioning the spectral representation of the randomized image data comprises at least one of scaling by a gain factor, normalizing, and quantizing the spectral representation of the randomized image data.

9. A method as defined in claim 8 , wherein normalizing the spectral representation of the randomized image data comprises scaling the spectral representation of the randomized image data by an inverse of a maximum amplitude of the spectral representation of the randomized image data.

10. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the first set of video frames is not equal to the second set of video frames.

11. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of video frames comprises a set of sequential video frames.

12. A method as defined in claim 11 , wherein the set of sequential video frames comprises a set of consecutive video frames.

13. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of video frames comprises at least four video frames.

14. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of video frames comprises at least two video frames having inter-frame pixel differences less than a predetermined threshold.

15. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein embedding the real component of the spectral representation of the image data into the first set of video frames comprises at least one of an addition operation and a subtraction operation.

16. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein embedding the imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data into the second set of video frames comprises at least one of an addition operation and a subtraction operation.

17. A method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising:

combining the modified first set of video frames and the modified second set of video frames to form a third set of video frames from the plurality of video frames; and

broadcasting the third set of video frames.

18. A method of recovering image data from a plurality of video frames comprising:

recovering a real component of a spectral representation of the image data from a first set of video frames from the plurality of video frames;

recovering an imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data from a second set of video frames from the plurality of video frames; and

recovering the image data based on the real component of the spectral representation of the image data and the imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data.

19. A method as defined in claim 18 , wherein the image data recovered from the plurality of video frames comprises coded data.

20. A method as defined in claim 18 , wherein recovering the real component of the spectral representation of the image data from the first set of video frames comprises calculating a difference between two video frames from the first set of video frames.

21. A method as defined in claim 18 , wherein recovering the imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data from the second set of video frames comprises calculating a difference between two video frames from the second set of video frames.

22. A method as defined in claim 18 , wherein recovering the image data comprises:

combining the real component of the spectral representation of the image data with the imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data to form a spectral representation of the image data; and

applying an inverse Fourier transform to the spectral representation of the image data to recover the image data.

23. A method as defined in claim 18 , further comprising:

separating the plurality of video frames into the first set of video frames and the second set of video frames.

24. A method as defined in claim 23 , wherein the first set of video frames is not equal to the second set of video frames.

25. A method as defined in claim 18 , further comprising:

receiving a video frame;

storing the video frame in a video frame buffer until at least four video frames have been buffered;

forming the plurality of video frames from the video frames within the video frame buffer; and

removing an oldest video frame from the video frame buffer.

26. A method as defined in claim 22 , further comprising testing the validity of the recovered image data.

27. A method as defined in claim 26 , wherein testing the validity of the recovered image data comprises at least one of a comparison between the recovered image data and images within an image database and decoding of coded data within the recovered image data.

28. A system for embedding image data within a plurality of video frames comprising:

a processor system including a memory; and

instructions stored in the memory that enable the processor system to:

embed a real component of a spectral representation of the image data into a first set of video frames from the plurality of video frames; and

embed an imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data into a second set of video frames from the plurality of video frames.

29. A system as defined in claim 28 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory enable the processor system to:

combine the first set of video frames from the plurality of video frames with the second set of video frames from the plurality of video frames to form a third set of video frames from the plurality of video frames.

30. A system as defined in claim 28 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory enable the processor system to:

associate at least one random phase angle from a plurality of random phase angles to each pixel in the image data to form randomized image data;

apply a two-dimensional Fourier transform to the randomized image data to form a spectral representation of the randomized image data; and

transmit the third set of video frames from the plurality of video frames.

31. A system as defined in claim 28 , wherein the real component of the spectral representation of the image data is embedded in the first set of video frames using at least one of an addition operation and a subtraction operation.

32. A system as defined in claim 28 , wherein the imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data is embedded in the second set of video frames using at least one of an addition operation and a subtraction operation.

33. A system to recover image data from a plurality of video frames comprising:

a processor system including a memory; and

instructions stored in the memory that enable the processor system to:

recover a real component of a spectral representation of the image data from a first set of video frames from the plurality of video frames;

recover an imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data from a second set of video frames from the plurality of video frames; and

recover the image data based on the real component of the spectral representation of the image data and the imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data.

34. A system as defined in claim 33 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory enable the processor system to:

separate the plurality of video frames into the first set of video frames and the second set of video frames.

35. A system as defined in claim 33 , wherein the real component of the spectral representation of the image data is recovered from the first set of video frames by calculating a difference between two video frames from the first set of video frames.

36. A system as defined in claim 33 , wherein the imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data is recovered from the second set of video frames by calculating a difference between two video frames from the second set of video frames.

37. A system as defined in claim 33 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory enable the processor system to combine the real component of the spectral representation of the image data with the imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data to form the spectral representation of the image data.

38. A system as defined in claim 33 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory enable the processor system to:

receive the plurality of video frames; and

transform the spectral representation of the image data to form the image data.

39. A system as defined in claim 33 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory enable the processor system to:

receive a video frame;

store the video frame in a video frame buffer until at least four video frames have been buffered;

form the plurality of video frames from the video frames within the video frame buffer; and

remove an oldest video frame from the video frame buffer.

40. A system as defined in claim 33 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory enable the processor system to test the validity of the recovered image data.