Watermarking of data invariant to distortion

• US 8,098,883 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2009
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Alattar, Adnan M., Stach, John, Tian, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Lu, Tom Y
• Application Number:
  US12/574,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20100254566A1
• Time in Patent Office: 833 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100
• 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: G06T 2201/0083 whereby only watermarked image required at decoder, e.g. source-based, blind, oblivious
• 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: G06T 2201/0203 whereby the image with embedded watermark is reverted to the original condition before embedding, e.g. lossless, distortion-free or invertible watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/018 Audio watermarking, i.e. embedding inaudible data in the audio signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32149 Methods relating to embedding, encoding, decoding, detection or retrieval operations
• 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 1/32229 with selective or adaptive application of the additional information, e.g. in selected regions of the image H04N1/32213 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32283 Hashing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32347 Reversible embedding, i.e. lossless, invertible, erasable, removable or distorsion-free embedding
• 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 2201/3233 of authentication information, e.g. digital signature, watermark
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/327 which are undetectable to the naked eye, e.g. embedded codes

Abstract

A data set is transformed to a domain in which values are robust to distortion. The values are then expanded to carry auxiliary data. To recover the data, the data set is transformed into the domain, further transformed to get a set of possibly expanded data, and then processed to extract auxiliary data from the expanded values.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

electronically transforming a data set to a first domain in which data values are more invariant to distortion;

electronically transforming the data set from the first domain to a second domain that includes a set of expandable values, wherein transforming the data set from the first domain to the second domain comprises recursively transforming at least one difference value; and

modifying expandable values to include auxiliary data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the modifying comprises modifying the expandable values across spectral components.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transforming the data set to the first domain comprises quantizing the data set.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transforming the data set to the first domain comprises transforming the data set to a plurality of different resolutions, and wherein transforming to the second domain comprises transforming at least two different resolutions.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the transforming the data set from the first domain to the second domain is applied iteratively to produce different sets of expandable values, and wherein the different sets of expandable values are modified to include the auxiliary data.

2. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions to transform a data set to a first domain in which data values are more invariant to distortion;

instructions to transform the data set from the first domain to a second domain that includes a set of expandable values, wherein transforming the data set from the first domain to the second domain comprises recursively transforming at least one difference value; and

instructions to modify expandable values to include auxiliary data.

7. A computer-implemented method comprising:

electronically transforming a data set to a first domain in which data values are more invariant to distortion;

electronically transforming the data set from the first domain to a second domain that includes a set of values, wherein transforming the data set from the first domain to the second domain comprises recursively transforming at least one difference value;

identifying locations within the set of values that have attributes indicative of carrying auxiliary data through expansion; and

extracting the auxiliary data from the set of values.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions to transform a data set to a first domain in which data values are more invariant to distortion;

instructions to transform the data set from the first domain to a second domain that includes a set of values, wherein transforming the data set from the first domain to the second domain comprises recursively transforming at least one difference value;

instructions to identify locations within the set of values that have attributes indicative of carrying auxiliary data through expansion; and

instructions to extract the auxiliary data from the set of values.

9. A device comprising:

a memory configured to store a data set; and

a processor operatively coupled to the memory and configured to;

transform the data set to a first domain in which data values are more invariant to distortion;

transform the data set from the first domain to a second domain that includes a set of expandable values, wherein the processor transforms the data set from the first domain to the second domain by recursively transforming at least one difference value; and

modify the expandable values to include auxiliary data.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to modify the expandable values across spectral components.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the processor transforms the data set to the first domain by quantizing the data set.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to iteratively transform the data set from the first domain to the second domain to produce different sets of expandable values, wherein the processor is further configured to modify the different sets of expandable values to include the auxiliary data.

13. A device comprising:

a memory configured to store a data set; and

a processor operatively coupled to the memory and configured to;

transform the data set to a first domain in which data values are more invariant to distortion;

transform the data set from the first domain to a second domain that includes a set of values, wherein the processor transforms the data set from the first domain to the second domain by recursively transforming at least one difference value;

identify locations within the set of values that have attributes indicative of carrying auxiliary data through expansion; and

extract the auxiliary data from the set of values.