Active watermarks and watermark agents
First Claim
1. An apparatus for monitoring watermarked digital representation in a system which is not a dedicated digital rights management system, the system including a processor and a memory device to which the processor has access, and the system being capable of performing an action on the watermarked digital representation which is potentially a misuse of the watermarked digital representation, the apparatus being resident in the memory device and the apparatus comprising:
- a watermark agent that includes a program which, when executed, responds to the watermark when the agent determines on the basis of the watermark that the action is an actual or potential misuse of the watermarked digital representation by causing the system to respond to the actual or potential misuse; and
a watermark agent engine that, when executed by the processor, provides an environment in the system for executing the watermark agent'"'"'s program and executes the watermark agent'"'"'s program in the environment.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques for protecting the security of digital representations and of analog forms made from them, including a technique for authenticating an analog form produced from the digital representation, an active watermark that contains program code that may be executed when the watermark is read, and a watermark agent that reads watermarks and sends messages with information concerning the digital representations that contain the watermarks. A watermark agent may be a permanent resident of a node in a network or of a device or it may move from one network node to another. The watermark agent executes code which examines digital representations residing in the node or device for watermarked digital representations that are of interest to the watermark agent. The watermark agent then sends messages which report the results of its examination of the digital representations. If the watermarks are active, the agent and the active watermark may cooperate.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An apparatus for monitoring watermarked digital representation in a system which is not a dedicated digital rights management system, the system including a processor and a memory device to which the processor has access, and the system being capable of performing an action on the watermarked digital representation which is potentially a misuse of the watermarked digital representation, the apparatus being resident in the memory device and the apparatus comprising:
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a watermark agent that includes a program which, when executed, responds to the watermark when the agent determines on the basis of the watermark that the action is an actual or potential misuse of the watermarked digital representation by causing the system to respond to the actual or potential misuse; and a watermark agent engine that, when executed by the processor, provides an environment in the system for executing the watermark agent'"'"'s program and executes the watermark agent'"'"'s program in the environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus in a node in a network for monitoring performance of an action involving one or more watermarked digital representations in other nodes in the network, the node including a processor and a memory device to which the processor has access and the apparatus comprising:
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an agent generator in the memory device that, when executed by a processor, generates a watermark agent, the watermark agent including a program that, when executed, reads the watermarked digital representation'"'"'s watermark in one or more other nodes in which the watermark agent is resident and determines whether the action has been performed and thereupon sends a message concerning the performance to the apparatus for monitoring performance, the watermark agent proceeding to the one or more other nodes, becoming resident therein, and the program being executed therein; and a message handler in the memory device that, when executed by the processor, receives the message sent by the watermark agent from the one or more other nodes in which the watermark agent is resident and deals therewith. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method practiced in a node of a network of monitoring performance of an action involving a set of watermarked digital representations resident in the node, the node including a processor and a memory device accessible to the processor and the method comprising the steps performed by the processor of:
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receiving a watermark agent in the node and storing the watermark agent in the memory device, the watermark agent including a program which, when executed in the node, reads the watermarks in the watermarked digital representations of the set, makes a determination whether the action has been performed and/or is potentially performable for each of the watermarked digital representations, and responds to the determination; and executing the program in the node. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification