Patent ID: 7114074
Filing Date: 2006-09-26
Classification: G06T,G09C,H04K,H04L,H04N

Abstract:
1. An automated method for authorizing and controlling the production of optically encoded images, the method comprising: receiving from a user data processor a request for authorization to produce an encoded image, the authorization request including user-supplied data comprising at least one authentication image file; determining whether the user is authorized to produce an encoded image using the user-supplied data; responsive to a determination that the user is authorized to produce an encoded image using the user-supplied data, generating an authentication image signature from the at least one authentication image file using an image signature algorithm and returning a positive authorization response to the user data processor, the positive authorization response including the authentication image signature, wherein the user-supplied data comprises a user-supplied encoding parameter and the action of determining whether the user is authorized to produce an encoded image using the user-supplied data includes determining whether the user-supplied data meets predetermined authorization criteria for the user, the predetermined authorization criteria including a limiting range on the user-supplied encoding parameter.