Methods and arrangements for identifying objects

1. A system comprising:

a 2D camera for capturing imagery of packaged items moving along a path, the packaged items including digital watermarking hidden on their packaging;

one or more processors programmed for:

digital watermark detection of imagery captured by the 2D camera, in which image areas in a captured imagery frame are prioritized for digital watermark detection based on: i) area brightness, and on ii) area frame location, in which areas around the center of the imagery frame are more highly prioritized relative to areas on the top or bottom of the imagery frame.

2. A grocery checkout station comprising the system of claim 1 .

3. The system of claim 2 in which the path comprises a conveyor belt.

4. A system comprising:

a 2D camera for capturing imagery of packaged items moving along a path, the packaged items including digital watermarking hidden on their packaging;

one or more processors programmed for:

digital watermark detection of imagery captured by the 2D camera, in which image areas in a captured imagery frame are prioritized for digital watermark detection based on: i) area brightness, and on ii) area frame location, in which at least some of the image areas differ in image resolution.

5. A system comprising:

a 2D camera for capturing imagery of packaged items moving along a path, the packaged items including digital watermarking hidden on their packaging;

one or more processors programmed for:

digital watermark detection of imagery captured by the 2D camera, in which image areas in a captured imagery frame are prioritized for digital watermark detection based on: i) area brightness, and on ii) area frame location, in which image area prioritization is based, at least in part, on a training set individualized according to a user's characteristics, in which the user's characteristics include checkout speed and object orientation.

6. A system comprising:

a 2D camera for capturing imagery of packaged items, the packaged items including digital watermarking printed on product packaging;

one or more processors programmed for:

prioritizing at least some image areas from within at least one captured imagery frame for digital watermark detection based on: i) area brightness, and on ii) area frame location; and

detecting digital watermarks from one or more image areas prioritized from the prioritizing image areas, in which the detecting digital watermarks analyzes image areas in order of prioritization.

7. The system of claim 6 in which image areas around the center of the captured imagery frame are more highly prioritized relative to areas on the top or bottom of the captured imagery frame.

8. The system of claim 6 in which at least some image areas differ in image resolution.

9. The system of claim 6 in which image area prioritization is based, at least in part, on a training set.

10. The system of claim 9 in which the training set is individualized according to a user's characteristics.

11. The system of claim 10 in which the user's characteristics include checkout speed and object orientation.

12. The system of claim 6 in which the one or more processors are programmed for terminating the detecting digital watermarks once a digital watermark is found in a prioritized image area rather than processing all prioritized image areas.

13. A grocery checkout station comprising the system of claim 6 .

14. The system of claim 6 in which said one or more processors are programmed for omitting images areas from within the at least one captured imagery frame from prioritization.

15. The system of claim 6 in which image areas from multiple captured imagery frames are prioritized for digital watermark detection.

16. A computer program product being embodied in non-transitory computer readable storage media and comprising processor executable instructions for:

obtaining captured imagery representing packaged items, the packaged items including digital watermarking printed on product packaging, the digital watermarking being represented in the captured imagery;

prioritizing at least some image areas from within at least one captured imagery frame for digital watermark detection based on: i) area brightness, and on ii) area frame location; and

detecting digital watermarks from one or more image areas prioritized from the prioritizing image areas, in which the detecting digital watermarks analyzes image areas in order of prioritization.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 in which image areas around the center of the captured imagery frame are more highly prioritized relative to areas on the top or bottom of the captured imagery frame.

18. The computer program product of claim 16 in which at least some image areas differ in image resolution.

19. The computer program product of claim 16 in which image area prioritization is based, at least in part, on a training set.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 in which the training set is individualized according to a user's characteristics.

21. The computer program product of claim 20 in which the user's characteristics include checkout speed and object orientation.

22. The computer program product of claim 16 comprising executable instructions for terminating the detecting digital watermarks once a digital watermark is found in a prioritized image area rather than processing all prioritized image areas.

23. The computer program product of claim 16 comprising executable instructions for omitting images areas from within the at least one captured imagery frame from prioritization.

24. The computer program product of claim 16 in which image areas from multiple captured imagery frames are prioritized for digital watermark detection.

25. A system comprising:

a 2D camera for capturing imagery of packaged items, the packaged items including digital watermarking printed on product packaging;

means for prioritizing at least some image areas from within at least one captured imagery frame for digital watermark detection based on: i) area brightness, and on ii) area frame location; and

means for detecting digital watermarks from one or more image areas prioritized from the prioritizing image areas, in which the detecting digital watermarks analyzes image areas in order of prioritization.

26. The system of claim 25 in which image areas around the center of the captured imagery frame are more highly prioritized relative to areas on the top or bottom of the captured imagery frame.

27. The system of claim 25 in which at least some image areas differ in image resolution.

28. The system of claim 25 in which image area prioritization is based, at least in part, on a training set.

29. The system of claim 28 in which the training set is individualized according to a user's characteristics.

30. The system of claim 29 in which the user's characteristics include checkout speed and object orientation.

31. The system of claim 25 in which the one or more processors are programmed for terminating the detecting digital watermarks once a digital watermark is found in a prioritized image area rather than processing all prioritized image areas.

32. A grocery checkout station comprising the system of claim 25 .

33. The system of claim 25 further comprising means for omitting images areas from within the at least one captured imagery frame from prioritization.

34. The system of claim 25 in which image areas from multiple captured imagery frames are prioritized for digital watermark detection.