Distributed Decoding of Digitally Encoded Media Signals

• US 20110069861A1
• Filed: 03/09/2010
• Published: 03/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Brundage, Trent J., Sharma, Ravi K., Hannigan, Brett T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,085,978 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/005 Robust watermarking, e.g. average attack or collusion attack resistant
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0065 Extraction of an embedded watermark; Reliable detection

Abstract

Digital data is decoded from media signals (e.g., audio, images, video, etc.) using a distributed processing in which a first device receives and pre-processes the signal, and transmits it to a remote device for further decoding. One method pre-filters the media signal, leaving a residual from which digital data is decoded. Other arrangements progressively send portions of the signal for decoding operations.

Claims

1. A device for processing a media signal with encoded digital data, the device comprising:

a receiver for receiving the media signal;

a processor configured to filter the audio or visual information of the media signal to leave a portion of the audio or visual information representing a residual signal from which the encoded digital data is decoded;

a transmitter for sending the residual signal to a remote system separate from the first device for extracting the encoded digital data from the residual signal.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to progressively send levels of detail of the residual signals to the remote system.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the residual signal comprises a quantized version of the media signal.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to transform the media signal into a domain in which the encoded digital data is embedded before sending the filtered signal to the remote system.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein the processor is configured to transform the media signal into a color space.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein the receiver comprises a capture device for capturing the media signal.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein the capture device comprises a camera.

8. The device of claim 6 wherein the capture device comprises a microphone.

9. A system for processing a media signal with encoded digital data, the method comprising:

a receiver for receiving the media signal;

a processor configured to identify portions of the media signal to send to a remote system for decoding; and

configured to progressively send the portions of the media signal to the remote system for decoding, wherein the processor is configured to progressively send an increasing amount of the media signal to the remote system as necessary to achieve a successful decoding of the digital data from the media signal.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the processor is configured to identify blocks of the media signal that are likely to have encoded digital data for sending to the remote system.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the processor is configured to analyze signal metrics of the blocks and to rank the blocks for sending based on the signal metrics.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the processor is configured to progressively send frames of the signal to the remote system for decoding the encoded digital data.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to progressively send frames of images.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to progressively send filtered frames of the media signal.