Methods and systems for digital authentication using digitally signed images

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining, in at least one processor system, a first image for encoding;

encoding, in the at least one processor system, a first party digital signature in a first signature region of the first image and encoding a second party digital signature in a second signature region of the first image to produce a first encoded image; and

separating, in the at least one processor system, the first encoded image into a first portion and a second portion, the first portion including a first part of the first party digital signature and a first part of the second party digital signature and the second portion including a second part of the first party digital signature and a second part of the second party digital signature.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating the first party digital signature from the first image before encoding.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the first party digital signature comprises:

computing a hash from the first image; and

encrypting the hash using a first party private key.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising generating the second party digital signature by encrypting the hash using a second party private key.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising blanking out the first signature region of the first image by zeroing out a predetermined number of least significant bits associated with pixels in the first signature region before generating the first party digital signature.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising blanking out the second signature region of the first image by zeroing out a predetermined number of least significant bits associated with pixels in the second signature region before generating the first party digital signature.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing the first portion of the first encoded image to a first party.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

duplicating an original image to produce the first image for encoding and a second image;

separating the second image into a first portion and a second portion, the first portion of the second image being substantially similar to the first portion of the encoded image and the second portion of the second image being substantially similar to the second portion of the encoded image; and

combining the first portion of the first encoded image with the second portion of the second image to form a first party combined image substantially similar to the received image.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising providing the first party combined image to a first party.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising encoding a first party private key into the second portion of the second image.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising blanking out a first key region of the second portion of the second image by zeroing out a predetermined number of least significant bits associated with pixels in the first key region before encoding the first party private key in the blanked out first key region.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first party private key is encoded into the second portion of the second image before combining with the first portion of the first encoded image.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first party private key is encrypted using a first party password before encoding.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising encoding a first party public key into the second portion of the second image.

15. The method of claim 8 , further comprising encoding a second party public key into the second portion of the second image.

16. The method of claim 8 , wherein the original image is selected by a first party.

17. The method of claim 8 , further comprising reformatting the original image before duplicating.

18. The method of claim 8 , further comprising generating a first party private key and a first party public key from the original image.

19. A method, comprising:

obtaining, in at least one processor system, a first image for encoding;

encoding, in the at least one processor system, a plurality of N digital signatures in N corresponding signature regions of the first image, each digital signature associated with at least one of N parties; and

separating, in the at least one processor system, the first encoded image into a plurality of M portions, each portion including a first part of at least one of the N digital signatures.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising providing one of the M portions to the party associated with a digital signature included in the one of the M portions.

21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

duplicating an original image to produce the first image for encoding and a second image;

separating the second image into M portions, each of the M portions of the second image being substantially similar to the corresponding portion of the first encoded image; and

combining a first portion of the first encoded image including the first part of a first of the N digital signatures with a second portion of the second image, the second portion of the second image corresponding to a second portion of the first encoded image including a second part of the first digital signature.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the first portion of the first encoded image includes a first part of a second of the N digital signatures and the second portion of the first encoded image includes a second part of the second digital signature.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the first portion of the first encoded image includes a first part of a third of the N digital signatures and the second portion of the first encoded image includes a second part of the third digital signature.

24. The method of claim 21 , further comprising combining the first portion of the first encoded image and the second part of the second image with a third portion of the second image, the first portion of the first encoded image including a first part of a second of the N digital signatures, the third portion of the second image corresponding to a third portion of the first encoded image including a second part of the second digital signature.

25. The method of claim 19 , further comprising generating at least one of the N digital signatures from the first image.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein generating the at least one digital signature comprises:

computing a hash from the first image; and

encrypting the hash using a private key associated with the at least one of the N parties associated with the digital signature.

27. The method of claim 25 , further comprising blanking out the N corresponding signature regions of the first image by zeroing out a predetermined number of least significant bits associated with pixels in the corresponding signature regions before generating the at least one digital signature.

28. A method, comprising:

extracting, in at least one processor system, a first image portion from an image selected by a first party, the first image portion including a first encoded part of a second party digital signature;

obtaining, in the at least one processor system, a second image portion associated with the first image portion, the second image portion including a second encoded part of the second party digital signature;

decoding, in the at least one processor system, the first and second encoded parts of the second party digital signature from the first and second image portions; and

confirming, in the at least one processor system, validity of the second party digital signature based upon a second party public key.

29. The method of claim 28 , wherein the first image portion includes a first encoded part of a first party digital signature and the second image portion includes a second encoded part of the first party digital signature.

30. The method of claim 29 , further comprising providing the second image portion to the first party to confirm validity of the first party digital signature based upon a first party public key.

31. The method of claim 28 , further comprising:

computing a hash from the selected image;

determining an index for the second image portion based upon the hash; and

locating the second image portion in a database based upon the index.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein the hash is computed from the first image portion of the selected image.

33. The method of claim 28 , further comprising:

decoding a second party public key encoded in the selected image based upon a passkey provided by the first party; and

confirming validity of the decoded second party public key.

34. The method of claim 33 , where the second party public key is associated with a Secure Sockets Layer connection.

35. The method of claim 33 , further comprising confirming validity of biometric information based upon keyboard input of the passkey by the first party.

36. The method of claim 28 , further comprising:

providing a prompt associated with the selected image to the first party; and

confirming validity of a response to the prompt.

37. The method of claim 36 , wherein the prompt is a question about the selected image.

38. The method of claim 28 , further comprising:

decoding a first party public key encoded in the selected image based upon a passkey provided by the first party; and

confirming validity of a digital signature associated with a transaction based upon the decoded first party public key.

39. The method of claim 38 , further comprising confirming validity of biometric information based upon keyboard input of the passkey by the first party.

40. The method of claim 28 , further comprising:

decoding a machine identifier encoded in the selected image based upon a passkey provided by the first party; and

confirming the decoded machine identifier.