A Watermarking Technique to Secure Printed Matrix Barcode—Application for Anti-Counterfeit Packaging

Abstract

Counterfeiting of consumer goods is a critical problem which causes various negative impacts for consumers, enterprises and the whole economic ecosystem. Anti-counterfeit labels and packaging is one of the main solutions to help enterprises protect their brand against this concern. In this paper, we introduced a novel watermarking technique, which embeds a particular random micro-texture into a matrix barcode and transforms this one into a security layer for making packaging anti-counterfeited. The secured matrix barcode is hard to be reproduced by counterfeiters. In fact, any degradations caused by the counterfeiting process will change the statistical behaviors of the embedded micro-texture. Statistical detectors based on the hypothesis testing framework are also introduced to classify authentic and counterfeited printed barcodes. Experimental results confirm the usability and the effectiveness of the proposed anti-counterfeiting solution.INDEX TERMS Anti-counterfeiting, printed watermarking, matrix code, statistical hypothesis testing. III. DESCRIPTION OF W-QR CODEA. CONCEPT

A Texture-Hidden Anti-Counterfeiting QR Code and Authentication Method

“…Therefore, the fusion of anti-counterfeiting graphics with QR codes is gaining increasing attention. At present, the fusion can be summarized as physical unclonable function (PUF) [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], watermark [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ], copy detection pattern (CDP) [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ], and halftone [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. Although the above methods can achieve certain anti-counterfeiting effects, there are still some aspects that can be improved.…”

“…The authors in [ 20 ] adopt the improved discrete wavelet transform and singular value decomposition algorithm to hide the digital watermark in the 2D code. In [ 21 ], the researchers embed specific random micro-textures into a 2D code and then convert them into a security layer. Any degradation process due to counterfeiting will change the statistics of the micro-textures and thus achieve anti-counterfeiting.…”

Sustainable and invisible anti-counterfeiting inks based on waterborne polyurethane and upconversion nanoparticles for leather products

“…Nowadays, an increasing number of counterfeit leather products are arising in the market. To obtain high profits, some illegal traders counterfeit all kinds of bestselling leather products, which infringes the intellectual property rights of the business, causes huge economic loss, and negatively influences the business enthusiasm for innovation [1][2][3]. So far, anti-counterfeiting technology has been an effective method to curb the spread of counterfeit products.…”

An Efficient Paper Anti-Counterfeiting Method Based on Microstructure Orientation Estimation

“…Unlike conventional anti-counterfeiting methods which have complex processing techniques or high production cost, such as bar code authentication [1] and fluorescence detection [2], twisting plant fibres along with paper forming process can be regarded as a unique and reliable fingerprint for anticounterfeiting [3,4]. Therefore, researchers focus on these intrinsic microscopic structure of surface and develop associated feature descriptor for paper authentication.…”