Sticking Information in Plain Sight: Encoding and Detecting Hidden Stickers in the Real World

While there are many techniques (e.g., QR codes) that con-vey information via visual patterns, some applications would benefit fromusing imperceptible patterns. We present a method for designing subtlecode-conveying patterns that can be printed on transparent sticker paperand applied to real-world surfaces. An image of a scene with an encodedsticker can be captured and the sticker localized and decoded. Thus,our stickers, while mostly unobtrusive to the human eye, are detectableand decodable to our model. We jointly optimize the encoder, localizer,and decoder end-to-end, balancing imperceptibility and accuracy. Ourmethod encodes 100-bit secrets and experimental results show that itis robust to human placement errors, imaging conditions, multiple stick-ers, occlusions, and wrinkles in stickers. Importantly, this method is easyto deploy and applicable in situations such as object tracking for aug-mented reality, conveyance of information about tourist sites, and subtleidentification of manufactured goods or their components.