Perceptual Modeling of Media Signals for Data Hiding

• US 20110150268A1
• Filed: 10/26/2010
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alastair M. Reed, Brett A. Bradley, Brett T. Hannigan
• Original Assignee: Alastair M. Reed, Brett A. Bradley, Brett T. Hannigan
• Inventors: Reed, Alastair M., Hannigan, Brett T., Bradley, Brett A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,213,674 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0028 Adaptive watermarking, e.g. Human Visual System [HVS]-based watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0051 Embedding of the watermark in the spatial domain
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3216 using Fourier transforms
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32165 using cosine transforms
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3217 using wavelet transforms
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32187 with selective or adaptive application of the additional information, e.g. in selected frequency coefficients
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32192 according to calculated or estimated visibility of the additional information in the image

Abstract

The present disclosure relates generally to embedding auxiliary data and data hiding. One claim recites a method including: receiving data representing a media signal; using a programmed electronic processor, calculating perceptibility characteristics of the media signal, in which the perceptibility characteristics include contrast; using a programmed electronic processor, calculating a non-linear contrast to gain mapping using the perceptibility characteristics; using a programmed electronic processor, embedding an auxiliary signal in the media signal with reference to the non-linear contrast to gain mapping. Other claims and combinations are also provided.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

using a programmed electronic processor;

i) determining characteristics of a media signal including characteristics pertaining to perceptual sensitivity; and

ii) computing a control signal using the characteristics of the media signal, the control signal corresponding to portions or features of the media signal; and

using a programmed electronic processor, embedding a plural-bit message in the media signal according to the control signal.

2. The method of claim 1 in which characteristics of the media signal further comprise directional characteristics of the media signal.

3. The method of claim 2 in which the characteristics pertaining to sensitivity comprise a contrast measurement.

4. The method of claim 1 in which said determining characteristics of a media signal determines characteristics in terms of luminance.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon to cause an electronic processor to perform the method of claim 1.

6. The method of claim 1 in which said act of embedding utilizes digital watermarking, in which data representing the media signal is altered through the digital watermarking to convey the plural-bit message.

7. A method comprising:

receiving data representing a media signal;

using a programmed electronic processor, calculating perceptibility characteristics of the media signal, in which the perceptibility characteristics include contrast;

using a programmed electronic processor, calculating a non-linear contrast to gain mapping using the perceptibility characteristics;

using a programmed electronic processor, embedding an auxiliary signal in the media signal with reference to the non-linear contrast to gain mapping.

8. The method of claim 7 in which the perceptibility characteristics further comprise a measure of directional edges.

9. The method of claim 8 in which said act of embedding utilizes digital watermarking, in which data representing the media signal is altered through the digital watermarking to convey the auxiliary message.

10. The method of claim 9 in which the contrast comprises local contrast of the media signal.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising filtering the perceptible characteristics.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon to cause an electronic processor to perform the method of claim 7.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon to cause an electronic processor to perform the method of claim 10.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon to cause an electronic processor to perform the method of claim 11.

15. An apparatus comprising:

electronic memory for storing a media signal;

an electronic processor programmed for;

determining characteristics of a media signal including characteristics pertaining to perceptual sensitivity;

computing a control signal using the characteristics of the media signal, the control signal corresponding to portions or features of the media signal; and

embedding a plural-bit message in the media signal according to the control signal.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 in which characteristics of the media signal further comprise directional characteristics of the media signal.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, in which the characteristics pertaining to sensitivity comprise a contrast measurement.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, in which the determining characteristics of a media signal determines characteristics in terms of luminance.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 in which said embedding utilizes digital watermarking, in which data representing the media signal is altered through the digital watermarking to convey the plural-bit message.

20. An apparatus comprising:

electronic data for storing data representing a media signal;

an electronic processor programmed for;

calculating perceptibility characteristics of the media signal, in which the perceptibility characteristics include contrast;

calculating a non-linear contrast to gain mapping using the perceptibility characteristics;

embedding an auxiliary signal in the data representing the media signal with reference to the non-linear contrast to gain mapping.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 in which the perceptibility characteristics further comprise a measure of directional edges.

22. The method of claim 20 in which said embedding utilizes digital watermarking, in which the data representing the media signal is altered through the digital watermarking to convey the auxiliary message.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 in which the contrast comprises local contrast.

24. The apparatus of claim 20 in which the electronic process is programmed for filtering the perceptible characteristics.