Image retrieval based on compressed camera sensor fingerprints

Image retrieval is the process of finding images from a large collection, satisfying a user-specified criterion. Content-based retrieval has been the traditional paradigm, in which one wishes to find images whose content is similar to a query. In this paper we explore a novel criterion for image search, based on forensic principles. We address the problem of retrieving all the photos in a collection that have been acquired by a specific device which is presented to the system as a query. This is an important forensic problem, whose solution could be very useful for detecting improper usage of pictures. We do not rely on metadata such as Exif headers because they can be unavailable, or easily manipulated, and in most cases cannot identify the specific device. We rely instead on a forensic tool called Photo Response Non-Uniformity (PRNU), which constitutes a reliable fingerprint of a camera sensor. We examine recent advances in compression of such fingerprints, which allow to address the previously unexplored image retrieval problem on large scales.