Extrinsic Signature Embedding and Detection in Electrophotographic Halftoned Images Through Exposure Modulation

Printer identification based on printed documents can provide forensic information to protect copyright and verify authenticity. In addition to intrinsic features (intrinsic signatures) of the printer, modulating the printing process to embed specific features (extrinsic signatures) will further extend the encoding capacity and decoding accuracy. One of the key issues with embedding extrinsic signatures is that the embedding should not degrade the image quality, but needs to be detectable by a detection algorithm. In this paper, we will demonstrate the feasibility of embedding code sequences in electrophotographic halftone images by modulating dot size through laser intensity modulation. We have developed corresponding embedding and detection algorithms to embed and extract information. Experimental results indicate that using a 600 dpi native resolution printer's default halftone algorithm, we can encode 5 bits of information in every 310 printer scan-lines or approximately every 0.5 inches.