On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 3:38 AM, Jack Scott <jack.scott.public@gmail.com>wrote:

> A method is proposed to generate a Bitcoin private key by using a physical
> key in conjunction with image recognition software and a PIN.  Use edge
> detection software applied to incoming video feed to convert the shape of a
> physical key into an equation that describes the key.  The hash of the
> key's equation plus a user generated five digit pin can then be used to
> create a Bitcoin private key.
>

Some practical nits:

- Physical keys are vulnerable to photography-based reproduction attacks.
That gets even worse if you use them to identify to a digital system as you
can leave out the tiresome manual reproduction step.

- The output from computer vision algorithms is notoriously noisy. If you
use that as input for hashing a private key, it may become hard/impossible
to reproduce (also, physical objects may deform over time).

Wladimir