Patent ID: 7171017

Claim:
An image processing apparatus operable to embed data into an image, said image comprising a frame of image data, said frame comprising first and second image fields generated from an inter-laced scan of the image, said apparatus comprising: a combining processor operable to represent said data to be embedded in a transform domain form, and, in combination with a transform processor, to combine said data to be embedded with at least one of said first and second fields of said image in one of: a transform domain form, said transform processor generating a transform domain form of said first and second fields, said data being combined with said first and second fields by said combining processor in said transform domain, or a spatial domain form of said at least one of said first and second fields, said transform processor generating a spatial domain representation of said transform domain form of said data to be embedded, said data being combined with said at least one of said first and second fields of said image by said combining processor in said spatial domain, wherein said transform domain provides a plurality of sub-bands and said combining processor is operable to combine data to be embedded with a first sub-band of said first field, and to combine said data with a second sub-band of said second field of said image data in said transform or said spatial domain, and wherein said first sub-band and said second sub-band comprise mutually exclusive spatial frequency components.