System and method for digitally watermarking digital facial portraits

1. A computer implemented identification method executed by one or more processors, the method comprising:

obtaining, from a mobile computing device of a device user, data encoding a digital facial portrait that portrays a person, the digital facial portrait embedded with at least one digital watermark identifying payload data linking the digital facial portrait to the person portrayed by the digital facial portrait;

obtaining an image representing a facial portrait of the device user;

receiving results of a comparison between the digital facial portrait and the image representing the facial portrait of the device user, the results indicating that the device user is the person portrayed by the digital facial portrait;

in response to the results indicating that the device user is the person portrayed by the digital facial portrait, decoding the at least one digital watermark to obtain the payload data from the at least one digital watermark;

retrieving personally identifiable information based on the payload data; and

determining that the digital facial portrait is authentic based on the decoded at least one digital watermark by authenticating the digital facial portrait based on the personally identifiable information.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

extracting payload data from the digital watermark; and

verifying that the digital facial portrait is authentic based on the extracted payload data.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein verifying that the digital facial portrait is authentic comprises:

retrieving security check information from the extracted payload data; and

receiving results of verification that the retrieved security check information is valid.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: authenticating the device user presenting the digitally watermarked digital facial portrait based on the retrieved personally identifiable information.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the personally identifiable information retrieved based on the payload data is a first portion of personally identifiable information, and wherein the method further comprises:

sending, to a database system, a characteristic extracted from the digital facial portrait; and

receiving, from the database system, a second portion of personally identifiable information that is associated with the characteristic, and

wherein authenticating the digital facial portrait based on the personally identifiable information comprises:

correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the second portion of personally identifiable information is different from the first portion of personally identifiable information, and

wherein correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information comprises combining the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information to obtain a complete personally identifiable information.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one digital watermark identifying the payload data comprises a first digital watermark identifying first payload data and a second a second digital watermark identifying second payload data,

wherein the personally identifiable information retrieved based on the payload data includes a first portion of personally identifiable information based on the first payload data and a second portion of personally identifiable information based on the first payload data,

wherein authenticating the digital facial portrait based on the personally identifiable information comprises:

correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first portion of personally identifiable information is the same as the second portion of personally identifiable information, and

wherein correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information comprises comparing the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information to verify the personally identifiable information.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the second portion of personally identifiable information is different from the first portion of personally identifiable information, and

wherein correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information comprises combining the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information to obtain a complete personally identifiable information.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first digital watermark is represented by modulation of a spatial luminance pattern of, at least a portion of, the digital facial portrait, and

wherein the second digital watermark is represented by modulation of a spatial chrominance distribution of, at least a portion of, the digital facial portrait.

11. A mobile computing device comprising: at least one processor; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

obtaining, from another mobile computing device of a device user, data encoding a digitally watermarked digital facial portrait that portrays a person, the digital facial portrait embedded with at least one digital watermark identifying payload data linking the digital facial portrait to the person portrayed by the digital facial portrait;

obtaining an image representing a facial portrait of the device user;

receiving results of a comparison between the digital facial portrait and image representing the facial portrait of the device user, the results indicating that the device user is the person portrayed by the digital facial portrait;

in response to the results indicating that the device user is the person portrayed by the digital facial portrait, decoding the at least one digital watermark to obtain the payload data from the at least one digital watermark;

retrieving personally identifiable information based on the payload data; and

determining that the digital facial portrait is authentic based on the decoded at least one digital watermark by authenticating the digital facial portrait based on the personally identifiable information.

12. The mobile computing device of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise: authenticating the device user presenting the digitally watermarked digital facial portrait based on the retrieved personally identifiable information.

13. The mobile computing device of claim 11 , wherein the personally identifiable information retrieved based on the payload data is a first portion of personally identifiable information, and wherein the operations further comprise:

sending, to a database system, a characteristic extracted from the digital facial portrait; and

receiving, from the database system, a second portion of personally identifiable information that is associated with the characteristic, the second portion of personally identifiable information being different from the first portion of personally identifiable information, and

wherein authenticating the digital facial portrait based on the personally identifiable information comprises:

correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information by combining the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information to obtain a complete personally identifiable information.

14. The mobile computing device of claim 11 , wherein at least one digital watermark identifying payload data comprises a first digital watermark identifying the first payload data and a second a second digital watermark identifying second payload data,

wherein the personally identifiable information retrieved based on the payload data includes a first portion of personally identifiable information based on the first payload data and a second portion of personally identifiable information based on the first payload data,

wherein authenticating the digital facial portrait based on the personally identifiable information comprises:

correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information.

15. The mobile computing device of claim 14 , wherein the first portion of personally identifiable information is the same as the second portion of personally identifiable information, and

wherein correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information comprises comparing the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information to verify the personally identifiable information.

16. The mobile computing device of claim 14 , wherein the second portion of personally identifiable information is different from the first portion of personally identifiable information, and

wherein correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information comprises combining the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information to obtain a complete personally identifiable information.

17. The mobile computing device of claim 14 , wherein the first digital watermark is represented by modulation of a spatial luminance pattern of, at least a portion of, the digital facial portrait, and

wherein the second digital watermark is represented by a modulation of spatial chrominance distribution of, at least a portion of, the digital facial portrait.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

obtaining, from another mobile computing device of a device user, data encoding a digitally watermarked digital facial portrait that portrays a person, the digital facial portrait embedded with at least one digital watermark identifying payload data, at least partially, linking the digital facial portrait to the person portrayed by the digital facial portrait;

obtaining an image representing a facial portrait of the device user;

receiving results of a comparison between the digital facial portrait and image representing the facial portrait of the device user, the results indicating that the device user is the person portrayed by the digital facial portrait;

in response to the results indicating that the device user is the person portrayed by the digital facial portrait, decoding the at least one digital watermark to obtain the payload data from the at least one digital watermark;

retrieving a first portion of personally identifiable information based on the payload data;

sending, to a database system, a characteristic extracted from the digital facial portrait;

receiving, from the database system, a second portion of personally identifiable information that is associated with the characteristic; and

determining that the digital facial portrait is authentic based on the decoded at least one digital watermark by:

correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information to obtain correlated personally identifiable information, and

authenticating the digital facial portrait based on the correlated personally identifiable information.

19. The medium of claim 18 , wherein the first portion of personally identifiable information is the same as the second portion of personally identifiable information, and

wherein correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information comprises comparing the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information to verify the personally identifiable information.

20. The medium of claim 18 , wherein the second portion of personally identifiable information is different from the first portion of personally identifiable information, and

wherein correlating the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information comprises combining the first portion of personally identifiable information with the second portion of personally identifiable information.