Patent ID: 7388606

Claim:
A system for allowing an operator to create a watermark to be applied to an unaltered complete digital image photograph comprising n pixels to produce an altered digital image photograph: a first device for producing a first image file of the complete digital image photograph including an image section and a marker section; a watermark production device included in said first device for producing at least one watermark translucently covering a portion of the complete digital image photograph, said at least one watermark consisting of m pixels, wherein said m pixels is less than the n pixels of the unaltered complete digital image, said watermark production device replacing m pixels of the unaltered complete digital image with said m pixels of said at least one watermark, to create the altered digital image comprising n-m pixels of the unaltered complete digital image and m pixels of said at least one watermark, said watermark production device replacing the m pixels of the complete digital image corresponding to the m pixels of said at least one watermark with said m pixels of said at least one watermark in said image section of said image file, and further including said m pixels of the complete digital unaltered image corresponding to the m pixels of said at least one watermark in said marker section of said first image file, to produce a second image file, including said altered digital image and a marker section; a device allowing the operator to transmit said second image file to an end user; and a second device for inserting a password into said marker section of said second image file, preventing the complete digital image photograph from being produced by the end user, without said password being transmitted to the end user, wherein said password allows the end user to produce the complete digital photograph image only once.