Screen watermarking methods and arrangements

• US 10,026,138 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2017
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Sinclair, Eoin C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bella, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHIN, SOO JUNG
• Application Number:
  US15/425,674
• Publication Number:
  US 20170213311A1
• Time in Patent Office: 526 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0064 Geometric transfor invariant watermarking, e.g. affine transform invariant
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0061 Embedding of the watermark in each block of the image, e.g. segmented watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0065 Extraction of an embedded watermark; Reliable detection

Abstract

In an exemplary embodiment, image content is rendered to include a digital watermark pattern at an essentially fixed scale, regardless of the size of screen on which the content is displayed. In one particular embodiment, CSS and JavaScript are responsive to the rendering context (which can include screen size, and/or viewer position) to define the geometry of a watermarked texture block, which is tiled to serve as a background of an HTML-defined page. A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed.

Claims

1. A method comprising the acts:

discerning a presentation scale at which information will be presented to a user on a first display screen, from among plural different presentation scales at which said information may be presented to users on display screens;

determining a parameter value, based on the discerned presentation scale; and

after said determining, using said determined parameter value in generating a steganographic watermark pattern that is included with the information presented to the user on said first display screen;

the method employing a hardware processor in performing at least one of said acts.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the method employs a programmable hardware processor configured by stored instructions, in performing at least one of said acts.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the discerning act includes invoking a web application programming interface function.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the discerning act includes invoking at least one web application programming interface function selected from the list consisting of window.innerWidth, window.outerWidth, window.innerHeight, window.outerHeight, document.body.clientWidth, and window.screen.availWidth.

5. The method of claim 4 in which the discerning act includes at least two web application programming interface functions selected from said list.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the discerning act comprises discerning a change in a zoom or size datum that governs the scale at which the information is presented on the screen, and the method includes, as a consequence of the discerned change, changing an earlier-established value for said parameter of the stenographic watermark pattern to said first value.

7. The method of claim 6 that includes altering the parameter so to as to maintain a consistent scale of the watermark pattern on the screen despite the change in the zoom or size datum.

8. The method of claim 6 in which the watermark pattern comprises a component rectangle pattern, repeated in a tiled array, and the method includes altering the parameter so as to maintain a substantially consistent inch-based width dimension of said component rectangle pattern on the screen despite a change in the zoom or size datum by more than 20%.

9. The method of claim 6 in which the watermark pattern comprises a component rectangle pattern, repeated in a tiled array, and the method includes altering the parameter so as to maintain an essentially consistent inch-based width dimension of said component rectangle pattern on the screen despite a change in the zoom or size datum by more than 20%.

10. The method of claim 6 in which the watermark pattern includes a component rectangle pattern, and said component rectangle pattern overlays a first region of the presented information on the screen prior to said change, and overlays a second, different region of the presented information on the screen after said change.

11. The method of claim 6 that includes discerning a change in a zoom datum that governs presentation of information on the screen.

12. The method of claim 6 that includes discerning a change in a size datum that governs presentation of information on the screen.

13. The method of claim 6 in which:

the change in zoom or size datum changes a scale of presentation of said information by a first ratio; and

the altering of the parameter changes a scale of the watermark pattern by a second ratio;

wherein the second ratio differs from the first ratio.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions for presentation of information on an output medium, the instructions including first instructions defining user content for presentation on the output medium, the instructions further including second instructions causing the output medium to present a stenographic watermark pattern with said user content, said second instructions causing a scale of the presented watermark pattern to adapt based on a scale of the presented user content;

wherein;

when said instructions are used for presenting the information on a first output medium, having a first width dimension, said instructions give rise to a first ratio between a scale of the presented user content and a scale of the presented stenographic watermark pattern; and

when said instructions are used for presenting the information on a second output medium, having a second width dimension, said instructions give rise to a second ratio between a scale of the presented user content and a scale of the stenographic watermark pattern;

the second ratio being different than the first ratio.

15. The medium of claim 14 in which the medium contains instructions for presentation of information on an electronic display device as the output medium.

16. The medium of claim 14 in which the medium contains instructions for presentation of information as print on a passive substrate as the output medium.

17. A computer system comprising:

a source of image data;

a display screen;

a processor;

a memory, the memory containing software instructions configuring the system to discern a presentation scale at which the image data will be presented on the display screen, from among plural different presentation scales at which the image data may be presented on the display screen, and to produce a parameter corresponding to said discerned presentation scale;

the system further including watermarking means configured to generate, after said parameter has been produced, a tiled stenographic watermark pattern comprising plural blocks, each block having a first width dimension, and to combine said watermark pattern with the image data for presentation on the display screen;

wherein the watermarking means includes sizing means for selecting said first width dimension, from among plural possible width dimensions, dependent on said parameter.