Document Verification and Traceability Through Image Quality Analysis

Abstract

The age of digital printing has complicated the task of forensic document examination in two significant ways. In the case of document falsification and verification, the widespread availability of sophisticated hardware and software tools (and knowledge to use them) for imaging, manipulation, and duplication has made it difficult if not impossible to detect counterfeiting without equally powerful equipment and know-how. Where a document has been identified as a fraud, or where the pedigree of a valid one is required, traceability to the printing source is critical for successful prosecution. The equivalent of a fingerprint for the printer must be identified, and matched to the source from either a database or the suspect device.Objective, quantifiable image quality analysis provides a means to achieve these objectives. Powerful image analysis algorithms combined with flexible imaging hardware and instrumentation offer the tools required to analyze documents and establish defensible curricula vitae.