Invalidity dossier
US 7187780
Image processing methods using reversible watermarking
Current assignee: Digimarc Corp
Added 9/24/2026, 1:42:01 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US 7,187,780 B2
Title: Image processing methods using reversible watermarking
Patent number: US 7,187,780 B2
Application number: US 10/319,380
Inventors: Jun Tian, John Stach, Neil E. Lofgren
Original/current assignee (per source): Digimarc Corp
Priority date: 2001-12-13
Filing date: 2002-12-13
Grant/publication date: 2007-03-06
Earlier publication: US 2003/0179900 A1 (published 2003-09-25)
Legal status (source-listed): Expired – Lifetime; adjusted expiration 2025-02-27
Purpose: The patent concerns image processing methods that use reversible watermarking—embedding auxiliary data (a "payload") in imagery, where the embedding is described as reversible so the original image can be recovered.
Plain-language scope (limited to the excerpt): The classifications place the subject matter in scanning/transmission or reproduction of documents and images (H04N 1/32 family), specifically embedding additional information such as an ID code, date/time, or title inside image data as a watermark (H04N 1/32144). Further subclasses cover multiple or redundant embedding across many image locations, use of more than one embedding method, embedding different sets of additional information, robust watermarking, fragile watermarking, and reversible/lossless, invertible, erasable, or removable embedding. The excerpt's prior-art keywords—watermark, image, content object, payload, robust—reinforce that the disclosure addresses embedding and recovering watermark payloads, including reversible and non-reversible variants. The term "reversible watermarking" in the title indicates the watermark can be removed to restore original image content.
What the excerpt does not establish: It contains no claim text, abstract, or description body, so the exact claimed steps, dependent limitations, and embodiments are not shown. It provides only classification codes, bibliographic data, and keyword/effect tables. It therefore cannot confirm the precise embedding or removal algorithms, payload capacity, robustness tolerances, or which features are actually claimed versus merely classified. The reference to Norphytane under abstract/description counts is a terminology-mapping artifact and does not establish anything substantive.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7187780/en
Note: Assignments and legal-status entries are listed as assumptions in the source and are not analyzed here.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:31:13 PM
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Litigation summary
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.