Associating First and Second Watermarks with Audio or Video Content

• US 20070047763A1
• Filed: 10/20/2006
• Published: 03/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Levy, Kenneth
• Granted Patent: US 7,690,041 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/109 by using specially-adapted hardware at the client
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0071 using multiple or alternating watermarks
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0064 for copy protection or copy management, e.g. CGMS, copy only once, one-time copy
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00884 involving a watermark, i.e. a barely perceptible transformation of the original data which can nevertheless be recognised by an algorithm
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/91335 the copy protection signal being a watermark
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/913 for scrambling ; for copy protection

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to processing audio or video content. In one embodiment, a method is provided including receiving audio or video content, the audio or video content includes a first watermark associated therewith, the first watermark has first data indicating that the audio or video content is rights protected; and associated a second watermark with the audio or video content, the second watermark including second data indicating permissible uses or restrictions associated with the audio or video content, wherein the second watermark is associated with the audio or video content later in time relative to the first watermark. Other embodiments are described and claimed as well.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving audio or video content, the audio or video content comprising a first watermark associated therewith, the first watermark comprising first data indicating that the audio or video content is rights protected; and

associating a second watermark with the audio or video content, the second watermark comprising second data indicating permissible uses or restrictions associated with the audio or video content, wherein the second watermark is associated with the audio or video content later in time relative to the first watermark.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first watermark is embedded in the audio or video content in a more robust manner, relative to embedding of the second watermark.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the second data indicates whether the audio or video content can be copied or reproduced.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second data associates the audio or video content with a particular user device.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the second data associates the audio or video content with a particular user.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein relative to the second watermark, the first watermark is more complex to detect.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first watermark is embedded in the audio or video content through alterations to the audio or video content.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the first watermark is generally imperceptible to a human observer.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the second watermark is embedded in the audio or video content through alterations to the audio or video content.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the second watermark is generally imperceptible to a human observer.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising an act of reproducing the audio or video content.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said act of reproducing comprising distributing the audio or video content.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first watermark only comprises two states:

present, or absent.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the second data comprises a link to a storage device.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first watermark is out-of-band with respect to the audio or video content.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the second watermark is out-of-band with respect to the audio or video content.

17. A method comprising:

receiving audio or video content, the audio or video content comprising a first watermark associated therewith, the first watermark comprising first data indicating that the audio or video content is rights protected, the audio or video content further comprising a second watermark therewith, the second watermark comprising second data indicating permissible uses or restrictions associated with the audio or video content, wherein the second watermark is associated with the audio or video content later in time relative to the first watermark; and

associating a third watermark with the audio or video content, the third watermark comprising third data indicating permissible uses or restrictions associated with the audio or video content, wherein the third watermark is associated with the audio or video content later in time relative to the first watermark and the second watermark.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the first watermark is embedded in the audio or video content in a more robust manner, relative to embedding of the second watermark and the third watermark.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein at least one of the second data or the third data indicates whether the audio or video content can be copied or reproduced.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein relative to the second watermark and the third watermark, the first watermark is more complex to detect.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein at least two of the first watermark, second watermark and third watermark are associated with the audio or video content by being embedded therein.

22. The method of claim 17 wherein at least two of the first watermark, second watermark and third watermark are out-of-band with respect to the audio or video content.

23. Them method of claim 17 further comprising an act of reproducing the audio or video content.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein said act of reproducing comprising distributing the audio or video content.

25. The method of claim 17 wherein the first watermark only comprises two states:

present, or absent.

26. A method comprising:

receiving audio or video content, the audio or video content comprising a first watermark associated therewith,

the first watermark comprising first data indicating that the audio or video content is rights protected,

the audio or video content further comprising a second watermark associated therewith,

the second watermark comprising second data associated with a particular user or user device,

wherein the second watermark is associated with the audio or video content later in time relative to the first watermark;

detecting the second watermark to obtain the second data; and

based at least in part on the second data, controlling reproduction of the audio or video content.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the second data comprises a link to a storage device.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein the first watermark and the second watermark are embedded in the audio or video content through alterations to the audio or video content.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the alterations are generally imperceptible to a human observer of the audio or video content.

30. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

only if the second data is not obtained, detecting the first watermark to obtain the first data, wherein said act of controlling reproduction is then based at least in part on the first data instead of the second data.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the first data only comprises two states:

present, or absent.

32. The method of claim 26 wherein the first watermark is embedded in the audio or video content in a more robust manner, relative to embedding of the second watermark.

33. The method of claim 26 wherein relative to the second watermark, the first watermark is more complex to detect.