Digital watermarking applications
In one aspect, assembly of multi-part food packaging is checked by reference to payloads of steganographically-encoded digital watermarks printed across the packaging components. 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.
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.
2. The method of claim 1 in which each of the first and second watermarks includes a GTIN code and also an artwork revision code.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein each of the first and second plural-symbol payloads consists of exactly 64 bits.
4. The method of claim 1 in which said items comprise a container and a lid for a food product that includes gluten or high fructose corn syrup.
5. The method of claim 1 in which said items comprise a container and a lid, wherein the container is rotationally-symmetric about a central axis.
6. The method of claim 1 in which said items comprise a container and a lid, wherein the container is generally rectangular.
7. The method of claim 1 in which the first and second watermarks each includes a date code, wherein said alert signal is issued if either of the date codes is outside a threshold range, or if the two date codes differ by more than a threshold amount.
8. The method of claim 1 in which the first and second watermarks each represents a code, wherein said alert signal is issued if the two codes differ by more than a threshold amount.
9. The method of claim 8 in which said codes comprise lot codes.
10. The method of claim 1 in which the payloads of the first and second watermarks each represents a material used in producing the item, wherein said alert signal is issued if the two codes differ.
11. The method of claim 1 in which the first digital watermark comprises an array of sparse elements set at coordinates within a two-dimensional block at which first and second watermark signal components provide compatible modulation, the first watermark signal component encoding the first plural-symbol payload, and the second watermark signal facilitating synchronization of a watermark decoder with the first watermark signal component.
12. A manufacturing method comprising the acts:
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;
confirming that the first and second plural-symbol payloads correspond in an expected manner; and
coupling the first and second items together after confirming that the said payloads correspond in said expected manner, and not coupling said items together otherwise.
13. The method of claim 12 in which the first digital watermark comprises an array of sparse elements set at coordinates within a two-dimensional block at which first and second watermark signal components provide compatible modulation, the first watermark signal component encoding the first plural-symbol payload, and the second watermark signal facilitating synchronization of a watermark decoder with the first watermark signal component.