Method of using plural watermarks to prevent unauthorized image copying

• US 7,158,652 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2001
• Issued: 01/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Iwamura, Keiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehta; Bhavesh M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Edwards; Patrick
• Application Number:
  US09/793,634
• Publication Number:
  US 20010024510A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,135 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0071 using multiple or alternating watermarks
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0051 Embedding of the watermark in the spatial domain
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0052 Embedding of the watermark in the frequency domain
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0064 for copy protection or copy management, e.g. CGMS, copy only once, one-time copy
• 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 1/32299 using more than one embedding method
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32304 Embedding different sets of additional information
• 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

Abstract

An increasing number of people are employing a variety of methods of editing and processing digital content in an effort to illegally copy the content. It is difficult to develop digital watermark technology that is able to withstand all types of editing and processing. The present invention addresses the foregoing problems by providing a digital content processing method comprising performing a plurality of copyright protection processes on digital content, each copyright protection process differing in difficulty of being analyzing, and distributing the processed digital content.

Claims

1. A digital content processing method comprising the steps of:

adding information by using a plurality of copyright protection processes on the same digital content; and

outputting the processed digital content,

wherein each of the plurality of copyright protection processes differs in difficulty of being analyzed,

wherein the plurality of copyright protection processes include a confidential copyright protection process and a non-confidential copyright protection process,

wherein information added by the confidential copyright protection process contains both first and second information and information added by the non-confidential copyright protection process contains the first information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the digital content when the first information added by the confidential copyright protection process can be extracted from the digital content and the first information added by the non-confidential copyright protection process cannot be extracted, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the digital content.

2. A digital content processing method according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of copyright protection processes embeds a digital watermark in the digital content, each digital watermark differing in method of embedment.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein a confidential copyright protection process is a process for which at least one of (i) an embedding method and (ii) existence of the process is kept confidential.

4. A digital content processing method according to claim 1, wherein the first information is information related to a user who purchases the digital content.

5. A digital content processing method according to claim 1, wherein the second information is confidential information.

6. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable medium having computer program codes, for processing digital content, said codes including:

performing procedure codes for adding information by using a plurality of copyright protection processes on the same digital content,

wherein the processed digital content is distributed,

wherein each of the plurality of copyright protection processes differs in difficulty of being analyzed,

wherein the plurality of copyright protection processes include a confidential copyright protection process and a non-confidential copyright protection process,

wherein information added by the confidential copyright protection process contains both first information and second information and information added by the non-confidential copyright protection process contains the first information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the digital content when the first information added by the confidential copyright protection process can be extracted from the digital content and the first information added by the non-confidential copyright protection process cannot be extracted, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the digital content.

7. A computer program product according to claim 6, wherein the first information is information related to a user who purchases the digital content.

8. A computer program product according to claim 6, wherein the second information is confidential information.

9. A digital content processing method comprising the steps of:

performing a plurality of copyright protection processes on the same digital content;

outputting a first extracting unit for part of the plurality of copyright protection processes;

extracting information from the digital content using the first extracting unit for part of the plurality of copyright protection processes and a second extracting unit for the remaining copyright protection processes,

wherein the first extracting unit is for extracting first information and the second extracting unit is for extracting both the first information and second information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the digital content when the first information can be extracted from the digital content using the second extracting unit but not using the first extracting unit, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the digital content.

10. A digital content processing method according to claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of copyright protection processes embeds a digital watermark in the digital content, each digital watermark differing in method of embedment and robustness against attack.

11. A digital content processing method according to claim 9, wherein the information extracted by the second extracting unit is more robust than the information extracted by the first extracting unit.

12. A digital content processing method according to claim 9, wherein the first extracting unit differs from the second the extracting unit.

13. A digital content processing method according to claim 9, wherein the first extracting unit is software distributed through a network.

14. A digital content processing method according to claim 9, wherein the first extracting unit is software stored on a storage medium, wherein the storage medium containing the first extracting unit is distributed.

15. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable medium having computer program codes, for processing digital content, said codes including:

code for performing a plurality of copyright protection processes on the same digital content,

wherein information is extracted from the digital content using a first extracting unit for part of the copyright protection processes and using a second extracting unit for the remaining copyright protection processes,

wherein the the first extracting unit is for extracting first information and the second extracting unit is for extracting both the first information and second information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the digital content when the first information can be extracted from the digital content using the second extracting unit but not using the first extracting unit, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the digital content.

16. A valuable paper processing method comprising the steps of:

adding information by using a plurality of counterfeit prevention processes in the same valuable paper; and

outputting the processed valuable paper,

wherein each of the plurality of counterfeit prevention processes differs in difficulty of being analyzed,

wherein the plurality of counterfeit prevention processes include a confidential counterfeit prevention process and a non-confidential counterfeit prevention process,

wherein information added by the confidential counterfeit prevention process contains both first and second information and information added by the non-confidential counterfeit prevention process contains the first information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the valuable paper when the first information added by the confidential counterfeit prevention process can be extracted from the valuable paper and the first information added by the non-confidential counterfeit prevention process cannot be extracted, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the valuable paper.

17. A valuable paper processing method according to claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of counterfeit prevention processes embeds a digital watermark in the valuable paper, each digital watermark differing in method of embedment and robustness against attack.

18. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable medium having computer program codes, for processing valuable paper, said codes including:

code for adding information by using a plurality of counterfeit prevention processes in the same valuable paper,

wherein the processed valuable paper is output,

wherein each of the plurality of counterfeit prevention processes differs in difficulty of being analyzed,

wherein the plurality of counterfeit prevention processes include a confidential counterfeit prevention process and a non-confidential counterfeit prevention process,

wherein information added by the confidential counterfeit prevention process contains both first and second information and information added by the non-confidential counterfeit prevention process contains the first information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the valuable paper when the first information added by the confidential counterfeit prevention process can be extracted from the valuable paper and the first information added by the non-confidential counterfeit prevention process cannot be extracted, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the valuable paper.

19. A valuable paper processing method comprising the steps of:

performing a plurality of counterfeit prevention processes in the same valuable paper;

outputting a first extracting unit for part of the plurality of counterfeit prevention processes;

extracting information from the valuable paper using the first extracting unit for part of the counterfeit prevention processes and a second extracting unit for the remaining counterfeit prevention processes,

wherein the first extracting unit is for extracting first information and the second extracting unit is for extracting both the first information and second information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the valuable paper when the first information can be extracted from the valuable paper using the second extracting unit but not using the first extracting unit, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the valuable paper.

20. A valuable paper processing method according to claim 19, wherein each of the plurality of counterfeit prevention processes embeds a digital watermark in the valuable paper, each digital watermark differing in method of embedment and robustness against attack.

21. A valuable paper processing method according to claim 19, wherein the first extracting unit is a robust digital watermark extracting unit, and the second extracting unit is kept confidential.

22. A valuable paper processing method according to claim 19, wherein the first extracting unit is software distributed through a network.

23. A valuable paper processing method according to claim 19, wherein the first extracting unit is software stored on a storage medium, wherein the storage medium containing the first extracting unit is distributed.

24. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable medium having computer program codes, for processing valuable paper, said codes including:

codes for performing a plurality of counterfeit prevention processes in the same valuable paper,

wherein information is extracted from the valuable paper using a first extracting unit for part of the counterfeit prevention processes, which include a confidential counterfeit prevention process, and using a second extracting unit for the remaining counterfeit prevention processes, which include a non-confidential counterfeit prevention process,

wherein information embedded by the confidential counterfeit prevention process contains both first and second information and information embedded by the non-confidential counterfeit prevention process contains the first information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the valuable paper when the first information added by the confidential counterfeit prevention process can be extracted from the valuable paper and the first information added by the non-confidential counterfeit prevention process cannot be extracted, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the valuable paper.

25. A processing method comprising the steps of:

a first embedding step for embedding a digital watermark in digital content;

a second embedding step for embedding a digital watermark in a manner more robust than the first embedding step in the digital content; and

outputting the digital content embedded with the digital watermarks which are embedded by the first embedding step and the second embedding step,

wherein the first embedding step uses a non-confidential process and the second embedding step uses a confidential process,

wherein the first embedding step and the second embedding step are each used to embed a digital watermark including first information, and the second embedding step is further used to embed a second digital watermark including second information that is different from the first information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the digital content when the first information added by the confidential process can be extracted from the digital content and the first information added by the non-confidential process cannot be extracted, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the digital content.

26. A processing method according to claim 25, further comprising the step of distributing a first extracting software for extracting the first digital watermark, wherein a second extracting software for extracting the second digital watermark is kept confidential.

27. A processing method according to claim 25, further comprising the steps of:

performing processing for extracting the first digital watermark using first extracting software; and

performing processing for extracting the second digital watermark using second extracting software,

wherein if the first digital watermark is unable to be extracted using the first extracting software and the second digital watermark is able to be extracted using the second extracting software, the first digital watermark is considered to have been removed from the digital content.

28. A processing method according to claim 25, wherein the first digital watermark and the second digital watermark are embedded in the digital content using one of a method embedding information in a spatial area and a method embedding information in a frequency area.

29. A processing method according to claim 25, wherein the second digital watermark contains personal information of a buyer of the digital content.

30. A processing method according to claim 25, further comprising the steps of:

performing processing for extracting the digital watermark including the first information embedded by the first embedding step; and

informing a controlling center for controlling the digital content when the first digital watermark including the first information is not extracted in the performing step.

31. A processing method according to claim 25, further comprising the steps of:

performing processing for extracting the digital watermark including the first information embedded using each of the first embedding step and the second embedding step;

performing processing for extracting the second digital watermark including the second information; and

identifying a person making an illegal copy on the basis of the extracted second digital watermark in case the digital watermark including the first information embedded using the non-confidential process is not extracted in the first performing step and the digital watermark including the first information embedding using the confidential process is extracted in the first performing step.

32. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable medium having computer program codes, for distributing digital content, said codes including:

a first embedding procedure code for embedding a digital watermark in digital content;

a second embedding procedure code for embedding a digital watermark in a manner more robust than the first embedding step in the digital content, and

outputting the digital content embedded with digital watermarks which are embedded by the first embedding step and the second embedding step,

wherein the first embedding step uses a non-confidential process and the second embedding step uses a confidential process,

wherein the first embedding step and the second embedding step are each used to embed a digital watermark including first information, and the second embedding step is further used to embed a second digital watermark that includes second information that is different from the first information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the digital content when the first information added by the confidential process can be extracted from the digital content and the first information added by the non-confidential process cannot be extracted, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the digital content.

33. A processing system comprising:

first embedding means for embedding a digital watermark in digital content;

second embedding means for embedding a digital watermark in a manner more robust than the first embedding step in the digital content; and

outputting means for outputting the digital content embedded with digital watermarks which are embedded by the first embedding step and the second embedding step,

wherein the first embedding step uses a non-confidential process and the second embedding step uses a confidential process,

wherein the first embedding step and the second embedding step embed a digital watermark including first information, and the second embedding step is further used to embed a second digital watermark that includes second information that is different from the first information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the digital content when the first information added by the confidential process can be extracted from the digital content and the first information added by the non-confidential process cannot be extracted, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the digital content.

34. A processing method comprising the steps of:

a first embedding step for embedding a digital watermark in valuable paper;

a second embedding step for embedding a digital watermark in a manner more robust than the first embedding step in the valuable paper; and

outputting the valuable paper embedded with digital watermarks which are embedded by the first embedding step and the second embedding step,

wherein the first embedding step uses a non-confidential process and the second embedding step uses a confidential process,

wherein the first embedding step and the second embedding step each are used to embed a digital watermark including first information, and the second embedding step is further used to embed a second digital watermark that includes second information that is different from the first information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the valuable paper when the first information added by the confidential process can be extracted from the valuable paper and the first information added by the non-confidential process cannot be extracted, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the valuable paper.

35. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable medium having computer program codes, for circulating valuable paper, said codes including:

a first embedding procedure code for embedding a digital watermark in valuable paper; and

a second embedding procedure code for embedding a digital watermark in a maimer more robust than the first embedding step in the valuable paper,

wherein the valuable paper embedded with digital watermarks using both the first embedding step and the second embedding step is output,

wherein the first embedding step uses a non-confidential process and the second embedding step uses a confidential process,

wherein the first embedding step and the second embedding step are each used to embed a digital watermark that includes first information, and the second embedding step is further used to embed a second digital watermark that includes second information that is different from the first information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the valuable paper when the first information added by the confidential process can be extracted from the valuable paper and the first information added by the non-confidential process cannot be extracted, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the valuable paper.

36. A processing system comprising:

first embedding means for embedding a digital watermark in valuable paper; and

second embedding means for embedding a digital watermark in a manner more robust than the first embedding step in the valuable paper; and

wherein the valuable paper embedded with digital watermarks embedded using both the first embedding step and the second embedding step is output,

wherein the first embedding step uses a non-confidential process and the second embedding step uses a confidential process,

wherein the first embedding step and the second embedding step are each used to embed a digital watermark including first information, and the second embedding step is further used to embed a second digital watermark that includes second information is different from the first information,

wherein it can be determined that an illegal process has been performed on the valuable paper when the first information added by the confidential process can be extracted from the valuable paper and the first information added by the non-confidential process cannot be extracted, and

wherein the second information includes information that can identify the person who performed the illegal process on the valuable paper.