WO2024069526A1

WO2024069526A1 - Method for assigning and grouping authenticated and fungible digital fragments of digital images

Info

Publication number: WO2024069526A1
Application number: PCT/IB2023/059703
Authority: WO
Inventors: Simone RUSSO
Original assignee: Whtexch Solutions S.R.L.
Priority date: 2022-09-30
Filing date: 2023-09-28
Publication date: 2024-04-04
Also published as: IT202200020142A1

Abstract

A method for assigning and grouping authenticated and fungible digital fragments of digital images is described. Each digital fragment derives from the fragmentation of a digital image, in which each digital fragment corresponds to a respective micro-fraction of digital image. Each digital fragment is authenticated and fungible and represents a minute portion of digital image which is substantially indistinguishable and equivalent to every other fragment of the same digital image. The method comprises generating, based on the overall set of digital fragments deriving from the whole digital image, a plurality of groups of digital fragments by assigning digital fragments to the various groups of digital fragments so that the groups of digital fragments are disjoint from one another and do not contain duplicate digital fragments. In turn, the aforesaid assignment of digital fragments comprises allocating the digital fragments to the various groups of digital fragments in a random and scattered manner so that the groups of digital fragments having an equal given number of fragments are equivalent to one another with respect to the ability to represent and/or reconstruct the whole digital image or portions of digital images.

Description

“Method for assigning and grouping authenticated and fungible digital fragments of digital images”

DESCRIPTION

TECHNOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of application.

The present invention relates to a method for assigning and grouping authenticated and fungible digital fragments of digital images.

Such digital fragments (also defined hereinbelow as “micro-fractions”) can be, for example, exchangeable and fungible authenticated digital objects deriving from the fragmentation of a digital image.

Description of the prior art.

The phenomenon of fractional NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) has recently emerged in the growing field of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

The market and the strong growth of NFTs are of recent origin and are associated with the diffusion of blockchain technology (also known as DLT, Distributed Ledger Technology).

As is well known, an NFT is a special type of token which, among the various possibilities, can represent the title deed and written certificate of authenticity on blockchains of a unique asset of digital type.

NFTs are used in different specific applications which require unique digital objects.

Among the various applications, NFTs have allowed the circulation in unregulated markets of so-called “tokenized” images which are accessible and verifiable through DLT, thus giving value to certain digitalized or digital works.

More recently, there has also been the possibility of fractioning a single NFT (by means of the aforesaid “Fractional NFT” technology) in order to allow access by several users to a series of rights or portions of the same NFT (which are variable according to the specific NFT), thus creating a “democratization” of the access to the same asset/product.

The fungibility of the single fractions following the fragmentation process associated with, for example, mechanisms at times applied to Fractional NFTs and variants thereof, is not however a guaranteed result, especially if the latter represent fragments of the original image and given that, by definition, the starting NFTs are “not fungible” by nature.

On the other hand, the fungibility of the single fractions appears increasingly to be a desirable property for different reasons.

The tangibility of the fractions increases the economic value thereof, thus ensuring increased exchangeability.

Fungibility is in fact an attribute of an asset which has significant economic value because it facilitates the exchange, diffusion and liquidity thereof without, for example, each time having to re-verify the value or wonder what is involved, thus in fact slowing down the possibility of being exchanged. With reference to the importance of fungibility, think, for example, of one Euro coins with respect to the possibility of having coins all mutually different, which would make the possibility of an actual use thereof very slow and would slow down the circulation thereof.

Moreover, also from a jurisprudential viewpoint, the European legislator places large importance on fungibility, up to make explicit reference thereto in Directive MIFID II (Directive 2014/65/EU and the relative delegated regulations, including Delegated Regulation 565 of 2017) which legislates Markets in Financial Instruments for all instruments which can circulate during regulated negotiations. For example, MIFID II (Art. 8(f) of Delegated Regulation 565) says that “any other asset or right of a fungible nature” can be the underlying of financial instruments or derivatives.

Fungibility is an essential precondition for creating financial instruments and accessing Regulated Markets. On a global level, all instruments in listed financial markets are fungible by nature, just think of two or more stocks of the same company or two bonds of the same issuer with the same maturity date, and the same also applies for derivatives (those who trade these products within the same type always and in any case trade fungible products).

A further need emerging in this field once a digitalized work has been fragmented into micro-fractions (fragments) is that of assigning the latter to possible purchasers who acquire, for example, a subset (or even a group Gn) of fragments X thereof. When assigning a given subset/group, it is important for the latter not to benefit certain purchasers to the detriment of others, reducing the possibility of subsequent exchanges and complicating the dynamics of price formation which would no longer only be left to the demand and supply of participants in the exchanges. In this respect, it becomes necessary from a technical viewpoint to provide an equitable assignment mechanism which avoids concentrations of micro-fractions so as to ensure that various groups, if purchased in the same quantities X, have the same value beforehand and as such are fungible, more exchangeable and sellable, thus increasing the value thereof. Since the groups of same quantities X of micro-fractions provide a similar representation of the image beforehand, this implies that they are in turn exchangeable and/or sellable.

Indeed, a market of Fractional NFTs (and variants thereof) on digital images referring to the same work requires that the micro-fractions (whether they consist of single fragments or groups of digital fragments) be distributed to the subjects who buy them in a quantity X so as to avoid a privileged allocation (for example, reproducing the center of the work) and ensure that the allocation mechanism is equitable for the users ex ante and ex post. In fact, only in the absence of a privileged allocation, which would allow specific parts of the work itself to be recreated, it is possible to avoid certain members from having an advantage over others while purchasing the same quantity X of micro-fractions.

This is reflected in the technical problem of suitably assigning the digital fragments for constructing groups of digital fragments which in turn are fungible.

Such a technical problem is currently not solved in a satisfactory manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for assigning and grouping authenticated and fungible digital fragments of digital images, which allows at least partially obviating the drawbacks mentioned above with reference to the prior art, and responding to the aforementioned needs particularly felt in the technical field considered. Such an object is achieved by a method according to claim 1.

Further embodiments of such a method are defined in claims 2-17.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the method according to the invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments, given by way of non-limiting indication, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 shows a simplified view of an allocation of digital fragments of a digital image in groups of digital fragments, according to an embodiment of the method according to the invention;

- Figure 2 shows a fractioning of a digital image into fragments, according to an embodiment of the method according to the invention;

- Figure 3A shows an example of digital image to which the method of the present invention is applicable; Figures 3B and 3C show respective reconstructions of the digital image in Figure 3A based on two respective different groups of digital fragments generated by means of an embodiment of the method according to the invention, each comprising 10% of the total of digital fragments of the original digital image. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method for assigning and grouping authenticated and fungible digital fragments of digital images is described.

Each digital fragment derives from the fragmentation of a digital image, in which each digital fragment corresponds to a respective micro-fraction of digital image.

Each digital fragment is authenticated and fungible and represents a minute portion of digital image which is substantially indistinguishable and equivalent to every other fragment of the same digital image.

The method comprises generating, based on the overall set of digital fragments deriving from the whole digital image, a plurality of groups of digital fragments by assigning digital fragments to the various groups of digital fragments so that the groups of digital fragments are disjoint from one another and do not contain duplicate digital fragments.

The groups of fragments, which can contain a number X of mutually different micro-fragments according to an implementation option, are aggregable with one another so as to reconstruct the whole digital image by uniting the micro-fractions.

In turn, the aforesaid assignment of digital fragments comprises allocating the digital fragments to the various groups of digital fragments in a random and scattered manner so that the groups of digital fragments having an equal given number X of fragments are equivalent to one another with respect to the ability to represent and/or reconstruct the whole digital image or portions of digital images.

Naturally, the resolution of the image provided by each group of fragments is a function of the number X of digital fragments forming it, which can vary from group to group, and therefore the greater the number of fragments of a given group, the better the resolution provided by that given group, and generally, the greater the value (even at a purchase level) of the group itself. The method ensures that equivalent groups, in terms of the number of fragments contained, are equivalent with respect to the quality of the image they allow being represented/reconstructed, which implies that the number of fragments forming a group can be used as an exact indication of the value thereof in a given moment once the unit price-value of each fragment (the value of each group is the result of the product between the value of the micro-fragment times the number X it is in each group) is known or obtained.

According to an embodiment, the method includes dividing the overall set of digital fragments deriving from the whole digital image into said plurality of groups of digital fragments so that the sum of all the groups of digital fragments allows reconstructing the whole original digital image.

Note that the method aims at extracting, from the total digital fragments which were generated through a fragmentation and authentication process (i.e., “microfractions”), a varying quantity X for each group of digital fragments, where X is a parameter which can be provided as an input each time.

In different implementation options, X is a number which can vary each time by creating groups of fragments which can contain a number of different micro-fractions from one another.

Note that X is always a smaller number than the total of the micro-fragments into which the digital image was fragmented (suppose N). Moreover, if N were 10 million and the sum of the preceding assigned micro-fragments were 8 million, X could not be greater than 2 million. Thus, the dimension of X considers the total number N of fragments and how many have already been assigned in the preceding extractions.

The extracted fragments within each group need to be equitably distributed within the original image. An explicit or strict division (for example, 1 in the top right, 1 in the top left, etc.) is not required, but it is important for them not to be “too close”.

According to an implementation option, the method includes managing extractions in a row, whereby the extraction n+1 must consider the fragments already extracted by extractions 0,1 ,2, ..., n.

According to an embodiment of the method, given a division of the digital image into adjacent portions having the same dimensions, the assignment step comprises allocating, to a given group, a scattered set of digital fragments comprising a given number of fragments equal to X.

According to an embodiment of the method, given a number X of digital fragments to be assigned to a group, and given a number PN of portions of digital image (into which the original digital image is divided), the aforesaid assignment step includes an extraction comprising selecting a first digital fragment in the first portion, a second digital fragment in the second portion, up to a PN^th fragment in the first portion, then a PN+1^th fragment again in the first portion, a PN-2^th fragment in the second portion, and so on, up to reaching the number X of digital fragments to complete the group of digital fragments.

According to an implementation option, the information of the fragments selected at each selection step is stored so as to avoid duplicating the selection of a digital fragment already previously selected.

According to an implementation option, the method comprises generating a plurality of groups G1 -GN of digital fragments, each group being generated through an extraction of digital fragments performed as previously mentioned. In this case, the method comprises the further step of storing the digital fragments selected in each extraction, and taking such a storing into account in the subsequent extractions so as not to duplicate the selection of a digital fragment already previously selected.

By way of example, if a digital image were divided into 10 adjacent portions and there were 1 million micro-fractions in total, and an individual bought 100,000 thereof, first a group comprising 100,000 digital fragments should be generated, and therefore the first extraction and allocation requires assigning 100,000 micro-fractions in a scattered manner.

An example of assignment mechanism includes starting by catching, from the first portion, the first micro-fraction to be assigned and so on, until reaching the total of the micro-fractions to be assigned. If, at a given point of the procedure there were no more micro-fractions available in the first portion, it would go to the second one.

Note that after creating the first group of digital fragments, as mentioned above, it is possible to create a second group of digital fragments in a similar manner based on all the digital fragments not assigned to the first group. If the second group requires having the same number of fragments as the first one (i.e., in this example, 100,000), the assignment method described above ensures that such a second group is substantially equivalent to the first one in terms of ability to represent the digital image and/or the quality of the constructed digital image.

In this respect, consider the example shown in Figure 3. In particular, Figure 3A shows an example of original digital image to which the present method is applicable.

Suppose that a first group of digital fragments of such an image, equal to 10% of the total, is generated and assigned by means of the present method, to a first user, who purchases such a first digital group; Figure 3B shows a reconstruction of the original digital image carried out based on such a first group of digital fragments.

Suppose also that a second group of digital fragments of the aforesaid image, equal to 10% of the total (therefore with a number of fragments equal to the number of fragments of the aforesaid first group, but comprising different fragments with respect to the first group), is generated and assigned, by means of the present method, to a second user, who purchases such a second digital group; Figure 3C shows a reconstruction of the original digital image carried out based on such a second group of digital fragments.

As shown, by virtue of the random and scattered assignment of digital fragments carried out by the present method, the two groups of digital fragments, having equal given fragments (equal to 10% of the total, in this example) allow reconstructions of the digital image having a substantially comparable and indistinguishable quality. In other words, Figures 3B and 3C demonstrate that two groups of digital fragments having equal given fragments, generated by the present method, are equivalent to each other with respect to the ability to represent and/or reconstruct the whole digital image or portions thereof.

According to an implementation option, after having fragmented the digital images into portions of equal dimension, an arbitrary number X of fragments is extracted which ensures there is a minimum number of extractions. The minimum number of extractions is 1 , if the number of fragments required coincides with the number of fragments available. The theoretical maximum number of extractions coincides with the total (N) of the micro-fractions representing the digital image. However, the number of extractions is not necessarily given, because it could depend on the quantities X of micro-fractions to be assigned, required by the users each time.

After concluding the first extraction - or “catch” - round, the information relating to the “catch” is saved so as to have available only the fragments not already selected in the next “catch”.

According to an implementation option, when a digital fragment comprising “partial” pixels is caught during a selection, the next catch completes this partiality so as to have two digital fragments which, adding them to each other, no longer contain partial information, i.e., the two digital fragments contain partial but complementary information therein. Therefore, a limiting case is that in which the fragments, albeit random, are caught in pairs.

According to an implementation option, the digital fragments from a given portion of digital image which are allocated to one group alone of digital fragments are randomly selected within the aforesaid portion of digital image.

According to an implementation option, to do this, the digital image is divided into portions of equal dimensions, i.e., squares (for example, 9 or 16 portions or squares) and a digital fragment is then extracted from the first square. Should the first fragment extracted be a “partial” fragment, its complementary fragment is caught immediately at the next extraction.

Then, the digital fragments are remixed and a digital fragment is extracted again from the next square. In doing this, every fragment has the same probability of being caught and the result is uniform each time, i.e., there are no “privileged points” (hotspots) in which some digital fragments can be caught more frequently and others less frequently.

In the aforesaid embodiments and implementation options, note that the meaning of the “random” and “scattered” manner of allocating the digital fragments in the groups of digital fragments is shown by way of example.

Also note that in the above description, the concepts of “image portion” into which the digital image is divided and “group of digital fragments” into which the same digital image is divided play very different roles: the “image portions” are adjacent and recognizable image areas, while the “groups of digital fragments” are groups of digital fragments selected randomly and in a scattered manner.

Actually, it is desirable for the “portions of image” and the “groups of digital fragments” to be as disjointed and different as possible so that no group of digital fragments allows the reconstruction of an image portion or contains fragments privileging one or the other portion.

The circumstance described above is also shown in a simplified manner (and obviously with a very limited number of fragments, portions and groups, with respect to more realistic cases) in Figure 1 , where there is shown how digital fragments (represented by black and grey dots) originating from different portions P1 -PK-PN of the digital image can be allocated in groups G1 -Gn, which can have an equal or different number of micro-fractions, and where there is shown how the composition, in terms of digital fragments, of the portions P1 -PK-PN and of the groups G1 -Gn, must be as uncoupled as possible.

In other words, the allocation of the digital fragments of each portion of digital image must be distributed randomly and in a scattered manner in the groups of digital fragments.

Note that although the example in Figure 2 shows two groups containing the same number of digital fragments, in other possible implementation options, the groups G1 -Gn can comprise different quantities of digital fragments based on the quantity to be assigned to a given user (conventionally, as a function of the number of micro-fractions such a user intends purchasing).

In particular, according to an implementation option, the allocation of the digital fragments in the groups of digital fragments is carried out so as not to allow the reconstruction of the digital image or a portion thereof starting from the digital fragments included in one group alone.

According to an implementation option, the various extractions or random and scattered selections continue without dividing the image into portions, rather simply by catching and remixing the micro-fractions not assigned previously (in the preceding catches) so as to achieve the number X.

According to different possible embodiments, the method applies to digital fragments in which each digital fragment comprises one or more pixels or one or more fractions of pixels of the original digital image.

According to an implementation option, each fraction of pixel corresponds to one or more bits forming the pixel according to the digital image coding by which the digital image is coded.

For example, the digital image coding by which the digital image is coded is PNG or JPG or BMP coding.

According to an embodiment of the method, the allocation step comprises reaggregating a plurality of digital fragments into a group of digital fragments, which in turn is fungible.

According to an implementation option, the fungible reaggregated groups of digital fragments are such that a complete reaggregation results in the original digital image.

According to an embodiment of the method, all the groups of digital fragments generated comprise an equal number of digital fragments, and therefore represent the same fraction and/or percentage of the digital image.

According to another embodiment of the method, the groups of digital fragments generated comprise a different number of digital fragments, and therefore represent a different fraction and/or percentage of the digital image.

In order to better illustrate the digital fragments on which the method for allocating and/or grouping digital fragments of the present invention can work, a method for generating such fragments is described, i.e., for fragmenting digital images intended to give rise to authenticated and exchangeable and fungible digital objects.

The method for generating digital fragments comprises the step of fragmenting the digital image into a plurality of fragments, in which each fragment corresponds to a respective micro-fraction of digital image, in which each digital image fragment (i.e., micro-fraction) is fungible.

The fact that each digital image fragment is fungible implies that each of such fragments represents an extremely minute portion of digital image which is substantially indistinguishable and equivalent to every other fragment of the same digital image.

The fractioning into micro-fractions is carried out so that the sum of all the digital image fragments deriving from the aforesaid digital image allows reconstructing the whole original digital image.

Each fragment of the aforesaid plurality of micro-fractions of digital image is then authenticated so as to generate a respective plurality of fractioned fungible and authenticated digital objects, each corresponding to an authenticated fragment.

The aforesaid fragmentation step comprises:

- defining a number N of fragments into which the digital image is to be fractioned;

- dividing the digital image into pixels and/or fractions of pixels;

- generating each fragment of the aforesaid plurality of digital image fragments so that all the fragments have the same dimension and/or resolution, corresponding to a group of pixels or to one pixel, or to a group of fractions of pixels, or to a single fraction of pixel, or to a combination of one or more pixels and one or more sub-pixels, based on the aforesaid predefined number N of fragments.

“Resolution” (defined at times in this description also as “dimension”) means in this description the (integer or fractional) number of pixels forming a digital image or a fragment thereof, for example, divided into number of pixels for each two-dimensional axis.

According to an embodiment of the method, given the predefined number of fragments and the original resolution of the digital image, in pixels, the aforesaid fragmenting step further comprises calculating the resolution of each micro-fraction as the integer or decimal number given by the quotient of the original dimension of the image in pixels by the predefined number N of fragments.

In particular, according to an implementation option, given the predefined number of fragments and the original resolution of the digital image in pixels, the aforesaid fragmentation step comprises the initial division of the digital image into n rows and m columns such that the number of rows n by the number of columns m is equal to the total number N of fragments. The width and the height of the initial image are then divided by the number of columns m and the number of rows n, respectively, thus obtaining a pair of values a and b which form the resolution of each fragment. Therefore, in this case, there is a number of (whole and/or fractions) of pixels in each fragment equal to a x b = A.

For example, Figure 2 shows a digital image divided into N fragments, according to a matrix of n rows and m columns (naturally, for purposes of illustration, the number of rows and columns is very small; in real cases, the numbers m and n are much larger). Each fragment has a resolution of a pixels in width and b pixels in height, i.e., it comprises a total number of pixels (resolution) equal to A = a x b.

The total number of pixels (resolution) R of the digital image is thus less than or equal to A x N, and is hence increased by the value obtained by multiplying the resolutions of the single fragments, i.e., (a x n) x (b x m). The increase occurs if there are pixels shared by overlapping fragments.

For example, single overlapping fragments means that if, in the original digital image, there were 7 pixels (px) in width corresponding to two fragments of 4 px each, each fragment would be the result of 3.5 pixels and 0.5 empty pixels. Thus, adding the areas of two fragments of 4 px obtains a dimension of 8 which is a majorant of 7.

According to another implementation technique aiming to obtain the information contained originally, the information contained in the single fragments is added after positioning them in a matrix having a dimension equal to the original resolution.

The example shown in Figure 2 relates to an integer number of pixels per fragment but (as also described hereinbelow in greater detail) the numbers involved can also be decimals and/or fractions.

To give an idea of the orders of magnitude involved, by mere way of example, an example is provided here of a fragmentation method implemented on a digital image representing the painting “Mona Lisa” where R (image resolution) is equal to 3000 x 4471 pixels (for a total of 13,413,000 pixels); N (number of fragments) is equal to 6,000,000; A is equal to R/N = 2.2355 (in this case, decimal).

According to an implementation option, each fragment is constructed as a grouping of equal whole pixels and fractions of pixels, with a number of whole pixels equal to the integer part of the aforesaid fragment resolution, and with a number of fractions of pixels, belonging to other contiguous pixels, corresponding to the decimal part of the aforesaid fragment resolution.

In particular, according to an implementation example, each fragment is constructed by grouping together a number of whole and/or fractions of pixels equal to A. In each fragment, the number of whole pixels is equal to the number of whole pixels within the resolution a x b of the fragment itself. Similarly, the number of fractions of pixels is equal to the number of fragments of pixels (contiguous to the whole pixels of that fragment) present in the resolution a x b of that fragment.

According to another implementation option, each fragment is constructed as a grouping of fractions of pixels belonging to adjacent pixels so as to achieve the total number A of pixels. According to another implementation option, if the number of pixels of the digital image is a multiple of the number of fragments to be generated, the aforesaid number of pixels of each fragment is selected equal to one pixel or to a group of pixels, in which each group comprises a number of pixels equal to the quotient between the number of pixels of the digital image and the number of fragments to be generated.

According to an implementation option, the number of pixels of each fragment is equal to one.

According to an embodiment of the method, each fraction of pixel corresponds to one or more bits forming the pixel according to the digital image coding with which the digital image is coded.

In this case, the minimum unit of division corresponds to a single bit of the aforesaid bits in which the pixel is coded.

According to an implementation option, if the predefined number of fragments is not a multiple of the aforesaid minimum unit of division, the method comprises determining a corrected number of fragments as similar as possible to the predefined number of fragments, such that the corrected number of fragments is a multiple of the aforesaid minimum unit of division.

According to an implementation option, each fragment consists of a plurality of the aforesaid minimum units of division belonging to the same pixel or to adjacent pixels.

According to different possible implementation options, the coding is possible on different file formats, including PNG, JPG, and BMP.

According to a particular implementation option, each pixel is divided into multiples of 8 bits starting from the third multiple (24, 32, etc.).

According to an embodiment of the method, each fragment (i.e., micro-fraction) consists of one or more whole pixels and/or one or more partial pixels, and/or a combination of one or more whole pixels and one or more partial pixels.

In this case, each whole pixel consists of a vector containing the bits by which the respective pixel is coded, and each partial pixel consists of a vector containing the information bits by which the selected fraction of the original whole pixel is coded, in the respective positions, and a 0 value in the other positions.

According to different possible implementation options, the step of authenticating each fragment of the aforesaid plurality of digital image fragments so as to generate a respective plurality of fractioned fungible and authenticated digital objects, each corresponding to an authenticated fragment, is performed according to technologies known per se, based on Distributed Ledger Technology, DLT, and/or Blockchain technology.

As can be noted, the object of the present invention is fully achieved by the method disclosed above by virtue of the functional features thereof.

Indeed, the method disclosed above responds to the need to ensure a random but uniformly scattered distribution (considering the reference digitalized work) of sets of fragments/micro-fractions of digital images and to avoid the fragments/micro-fractions assigned from being reassigned, thus avoiding duplicates.

In this respect, the method ensures that the assignment mechanism for the digital fragments does not involve, in any step (for example, allocating 10% or 90% of the fragments), the reproduction of a single part/section of the digitalized work (as could be the case of a completely random assignment in which the digital fragments assigned represent the center of a picture which are realistically worth more than if the digital fragments assigned were those representing a corner of the work).

The allocation provided by the method is such that any group of digital fragments generated by the method represents/depicts the image in a scattered manner. This ensures a correct and balanced allocation mechanism for the digital fragments in which the assignment, for example, to a first subject of a percentage of fragments/micro- fractions (for example, 50% of the total) thus does not provide the user with a benefit with respect to a second subject who possesses the complementary part of the fragments/micro-fractions.

The technical solution described above and the resolution of the aforesaid technical problem, i.e., the mechanism of random, but scattered allocation in the whole work, do not benefit any member or user, is an enabling factor of the further, more general advantages of facilitating exchanges and negotiations and increasing the economic value of the micro-fractions (for example, of the groups of digital fragments).

As seen above, the method ensures that the selected subset of fragments does not end up representing specific parts of the digitalized work, such as, for example, if we were to take a painting, the eye of a figure or the face with respect to less important parts.

Contrarily, the method disclosed above provides a fragment assignment mechanism which, on the one hand, is equitable and thus random, and on the other hand ensures that the assignment of digital fragments to individual users does not concentrate small pieces/micro-fractions of image in specific points thereof.

Such an assignment mechanism which, in light of the technical features thereof, is equitable and avoids concentrations of micro-fractions, ensures the further, more general advantage that various groups of fragments, if purchased in the same quantities X, have the same value beforehand, and as such are fungible, more exchangeable and sellable, thus increasing the value thereof.

In order to meet contingent needs, those skilled in the art may make changes and adaptations to the embodiments of the method described above or can replace elements with others which are functionally equivalent, without departing from the scope of the following claims. Each of the features described above as belonging to a possible embodiment can be implemented irrespective of the other embodiments described.

Claims

1. A method for assigning and grouping authenticated and fungible digital fragments of digital images, wherein each digital fragment of said digital fragments derives from the fragmentation of a digital image, wherein each digital fragment corresponds to a respective micro-fraction of digital image, wherein each digital fragment is authenticated and fungible and represents a minute portion of digital image and is substantially indistinguishable and equivalent to every other fragment of the same digital image, wherein the method comprises:

- based on the overall set of digital fragments deriving from the whole digital image, generating a plurality of groups of digital fragments by assigning digital fragments to the various groups of digital fragments so that the groups of digital fragments are disjoint from one another and do not contain duplicate digital fragments; wherein said assignment of digital fragments comprises allocating the digital fragments to the various groups of digital fragments in random and scattered manner so that the groups of digital fragments having an equal given number of fragments are equivalent to one another with respect to the ability to represent and/or reconstruct the whole digital image or portions of digital images.

2. A method according to claim 1 , comprising partitioning the overall set of digital fragments deriving from the whole digital image in said plurality of groups of digital fragments so that the sum of all the groups of digital fragments allows reconstructing the whole original digital image.

3. A method according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein, given a division of the digital image into adjacent portions having same dimensions, the assignment step comprises allocating, to a given group, a scattered set of digital fragments comprising a given number (X) of fragments.

4. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein given a number (X) of digital fragments to be assigned to a group, and given a number (PN) of portions of digital image, said assignment step provides an extraction comprising selecting a first digital fragment in the first portion, a second digital fragment in the second portion, up to a PN^th fragment in the first portion, then a PN+1^th fragment again in the first portion, a PN-2^th fragment in the second portion, and so on, up to reaching the number X of digital fragments to complete said group of digital fragments.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the information of the fragments selected at each step is stored so as to avoid duplicating the selection of a digital fragment already previously selected.

6. A method according to claim 4 or claim 5, comprising generating a plurality of groups (G1 , GN) of digital fragments, each group being generated through an extraction of digital fragments performed according to claim 4, wherein the method comprises the further step of storing the digital fragments selected in each extraction, and of taking such storing into account in the successive extractions so as not to duplicate the selection of a digital fragment already previously selected.

7. A method according to any one of claims 2-6, wherein the digital fragments from a given portion of digital image which are allocated to a single group of digital fragments is randomly selected within said portion of digital image.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the digital fragments are remixed, or ordered in random manner, after each selection of a digital fragment from a portion of digital image, and prior to the successive selection of a digital fragment from the same given portion of digital image.

9. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the allocation of the digital fragments in the groups of digital fragments is performed so as not to allow the optimal reconstruction of the digital image or of a portion thereof starting from the digital fragments comprised in one group alone.

10. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each digital fragment comprises one or more pixels or one or more fractions of pixels of the original digital image.

1 1. A method according to claim 10, wherein when a digital fragment comprising a fraction of pixel, that is a partial pixel, is selected, the successive selection provides selecting the complementary fraction of the same pixel so that the group contains fragments formed by whole pixels.

12. A method according to claim 10 or claim 11 , wherein each fraction of pixel corresponds to one or more bits forming the pixel according to the image digital coding by which the digital image is coded.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the image digital coding by which the digital image is coded is PNG or JPG or BMP coding.

14. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the allocation step comprises reaggregating a plurality of digital fragments into a group of digital fragments, which in turn is fungible.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the fungible reaggregated groups of digital fragments are such that a complete reaggregation results in the original digital image.

16. A method according to any one of claims 1 -15, wherein all the groups of digital fragments generated comprise an equal number of digital fragments, and therefore represent a same fraction and/or percentage of the digital image.

17. A method according to any one of claims 1-15, wherein the groups of digital fragments generated comprise a different number of digital fragments, and therefore represent a different fraction and/or percentage of the digital image.