Design and Comparison of Image Hashing Methods: A Case Study on Cork Stopper Unique Identification

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Computer Science
• Forensic Science

Background:

• Cork stoppers possess unique characteristics suitable for authentication in anti-counterfeiting strategies.
• Current authentication relies on one-to-many image comparisons, which become inefficient as databases grow.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and compare hashing-assisted image matching methods for cork stopper authentication.
• To improve the speed and efficiency of cork authentication systems.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of various image matching techniques including Discrete Cosine Transform, Wavelet Transform, Radon Transform, Difference Hash, and Average Hash.
• Implementation of a hashing-assisted approach to transform image matching into hash matching.

Main Results:

• The Difference Hash method with a 1024-bit hash length achieved a 98% accuracy rate.
• The hashing-assisted approach demonstrated a speed improvement of approximately 40 times compared to existing literature methods.

Conclusions:

• Hashing-assisted image matching offers a significantly faster and efficient solution for cork stopper authentication.
• The Difference Hash method is a highly effective technique for this application, enhancing anti-counterfeiting efforts.