Watermarking enhanced to withstand anticipated corruptions

• US 6,738,495 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2001
• Issued: 05/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Rhoads, Geoffrey B., Carr, J. Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Johns, Andrew W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NAKHJAVAN, SHERVIN K
• Application Number:
  US09/998,763
• Publication Number:
  US 20020080997A1
• Time in Patent Office: 901 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/232, 382/233, 382/235, 713/161, 713/168, 713/176, 713/179, 704/501, 704/504, 380/201, 380/203, 380/217, 380/269, 348/460
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 45/1418 the inserts being deformed or preformed, e.g. by the injection pressure
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/29 Securities; Bank notes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0028 Adaptive watermarking, e.g. Human Visual System [HVS]-based watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/005 Robust watermarking, e.g. average attack or collusion attack resistant
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0078 using multiple thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0052 Embedding of the watermark in the frequency domain
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0065 Extraction of an embedded watermark; Reliable detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0202 whereby the quality of watermarked images is measured; Measuring quality or performance of watermarking methods; Balancing between quality and robustness
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/40 Document-oriented image-based pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/253 visually
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/0034 using watermarks
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/004 using digital security elements, e.g. information coded on a magnetic thread or strip
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/08 by coded identity card or credit card or other personal identification means without personal verification means G07F7/02
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/086 by passive credit-cards adapted therefor, e.g. constructive particularities to avoid counterfeiting, e.g. by inclusion of a physical or chemical security-layer for security documents G07D7/00; for the reading of record-carriers in general G06K7/00; for the design of coded credit-cards G06K19/10
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/12 Card verification
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/018 Audio watermarking, i.e. embedding inaudible data in the audio signal
• 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: H04N 1/00005 relating to image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00037 Detecting, i.e. determining the occurrence of a predetermined state H04N1/00031 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00079 : remotely
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00838 : Preventing unauthorised reproduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32122 : in a separate device, e.g. in a memory or on a display separate from image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32144 : embedded in the image data, i.e. enclosed or integrated in the image, e.g. watermark, super-imposed logo or stamp
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32219 : involving changing the position of selected pixels, e.g. word shifting, or involving modulating the size of image components, e.g. of characters H04N1/32224 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32261 : in binary data H04N1/32256 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32304 : Embedding different sets of additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32352 : Controlling detectability or arrangements to facilitate detection or retrieval of the embedded information, e.g. using markers for decoding, detection or retrieval operations H04N1/32149 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23892 : involving embedding information at multiplex stream level, e.g. embedding a watermark at packet level
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 : involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3205 : of identification information, e.g. name or ID code H04N2201/3209 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3207 : of an address
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3225 : of data relating to an image, a page or a document
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 : of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3233 : of authentication information, e.g. digital signature, watermark
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3239 : using a plurality of different authentication information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/327 : which are undetectable to the naked eye, e.g. embedded codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3271 : Printing or stamping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3274 : Storage or retrieval of prestored additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/328 : Processing of the additional information

Abstract

An iterative encoding technique assesses trial watermark encoding of an object, and redresses any detected shortcomings in one or more successive re-encodings of the object. Other improvements concern web crawler-based watermark detectors, novel uses of meta-data in watermarks, applications of watermarks in merchandising, embedding of active computer code via watermarks, watermark-based asset management systems, watermark processing of computer system clock signals, and watermarks in labels and tags.

Claims

1. A method of preparing watermarked entertainment content data for public distribution, comprising:

compressing first data;

decompressing the compressed data;

assessing a result of said compression operation; and

providing information obtained through said assessment to a watermarking process that is to watermark the entertainment content.

2. The method of claim 1 that includes using information obtained through said assessment in performing a watermarking operation on said content data.

3. The method of claim 2 that further includes publicly distributing the watermarked content thus produced.

4. A computer storage medium having stored thereon watermarked entertainment content data produced according to the method of claim 2.

5. The method of claim 1 in which the first data comprises information that is to be used in said watermarking process.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the first data comprises data that is to be used in said watermarking process.

7. The method of claim 1 which comprises assessing degradation through said compression and decompression operations.

8. The method of claim 1 which comprises assessing degradation of the first data through said compression and decompression operations.

9. The method of claim 1 which comprises using the first data, after said compression and decompression, as watermark data to be combined with said entertainment content data.

10. The method of claim 1 in which the first data comprises initial data that has been processed in accordance with pseudo-random data.

11. The method of claim 1 in which the first data represents plural-symbol auxiliary information with which the entertainment content data is to be watermarked.

12. A computer storage medium having stored thereon instructions causing a processor to perform the method of claim 1.

13. A method of enhancing robustness of a steganographically embedded signal to distortion, comprising preconditioning the signal by determining components thereof that are expected to survive said distortion, and removing other components.

14. The method of claim 13 in which the preconditioning comprises processing the signal with said distortion, wherein said distortion acts to determine components of the signal that survive said distortion, and removes other components.

15. The method of claim 14 in which processing the signal with distortion comprises processing the signal with a lossy process including compression and decompression.

16. The method of claim 13 in which said embedded signal is steganographically embedded in a host signal, and the method includes preconditioning the embedded signal prior to embedding in the host signal.

17. A computer storage medium having stored thereon instructions causing a processor to perform the method of claim 13.

18. In a method of steganographically encoding a content signal with an auxiliary signal, an improvement comprising preconditioning the auxiliary signal prior to said encoding so as to better withstand expected degradation of the encoded content signal, and thereafter encoding the content signal in accordance with the auxiliary signal.

19. The method of claim 18 that further includes decoding the auxiliary signal from the encoded content signal.

20. The method of claim 18 in which the content signal includes components representing image data that are rendered to yield a visible impression to a viewer, and the steganographic encoding alters said components.