Systems and methods for metadata embedding in streaming medical data

• US 8,229,191 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2008
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Vlachos, Michail, Yu, Philip S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Liew, Alex
• Application Number:
  US12/042,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20090226056A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,602 Days
• Field of Search: 382128-134, 382/100
• US Class Current: 382/128
• 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 2201/0061 Embedding of the watermark in each block of the image, e.g. segmented watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0083 whereby only watermarked image required at decoder, e.g. source-based, blind, oblivious

Abstract

Systems and methods for embedding metadata such as personal patient information within actual medical data signals obtained from a patient are provided wherein two watermarks, a robust watermark and a fragile watermark are embedded in a given medical data signal. The robust watermark includes a binary coded representation of the metadata that is incorporated into the frequency domain of the medical data signal using discrete Fourier transformations and additive embedding. Error correcting code can also be added to the binary representation of the metadata using Hamming coding. A given robust watermark can be incorporated multiple times in the medical data signal. The fragile watermark is added on top of the modified medical signal containing the robust watermark in the spatial domain of the modified medical signal. The fragile watermark utilizes hash function to generate random sequences that are incorporated through the medical data signal.

Claims

1. A method for embedding metadata within medical data, the method comprising:

embedding within a given medical data signal comprising a one dimensional time-series sequence, a robust watermark comprising an encrypted version of metadata related to that given medical data signal by;

obtaining an orthogonal transformation of the one dimensional time-series sequence, the orthogonal transformation comprising a plurality of descriptors, each associated with a frequency of the one dimensional time-series sequence;

selecting frequencies within the one dimensional time series sequence to be modified;

identifying magnitude modifications for each one of the selected frequencies based on the robust watermark to be embedded; and

applying the identified magnitude modifications to the descriptors associated with the selected frequencies; and

embedding a fragile watermark into that given medical data signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of embedding the robust watermark further comprises embedding the robust watermark in a transformed domain of the given medical data signal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the orthogonal transformation comprises a Fourier transform or wavelet decomposition.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of embedding the robust watermark in the transformed domain further comprises using at least one of additive embedding and multiplicative embedding to alter only the magnitude of a plurality of coefficients in the transformed domain within the given medical data signal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of embedding the robust watermark further comprises applying an inverse discrete Fourier transformation to the discrete Fourier transformation comprising magnitude modified descriptors to obtain a modified time-series sequence of the medical data signal containing the embedded metadata.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying the magnitude modifications further comprises computing the magnitude modifications using at least one of additive embedding and multiplicative embedding.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting descriptors to be modified further comprises selecting descriptors comprising a largest portion of energy of the medical data signal.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of embedding the robust watermark further comprises embedding a plurality of copies of the robust watermark into the medical data signal.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of embedding the robust watermark further comprises:

partitioning the time-series sequence into a plurality of subsequences; and

embedding the robust watermark in each one of the plurality of subsequences.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each subsequence comprises a first bit string length, the watermark comprises a second bit string length and the first bit string length is three times the second bit string length.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of embedding the robust watermark further comprises randomly generating a binary code representation of the metadata using the metadata in combination with a secret key.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of randomly generating the binary code further comprises using the metadata and the secret key in a cryptographically secure hash function.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of embedding the robust watermark further comprises incorporating an error correcting code into the binary code representation of the metadata.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of incorporating the error correcting code further comprises using Hamming coding.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of using Hamming coding further comprises mapping four bit groupings from the binary code into seven bit groupings.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of embedding the fragile watermark further comprises adding the fragile watermark on top of the robust watermark in the medical data signal.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of embedding the fragile watermark further comprises embedding the fragile watermark in a spatial domain of the medical data signal that represents least significant bits of the medical data signal.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises personal information for a patient from which the medical data signal was obtained.

18. A method for embedding metadata within medical data, the method comprising:

embedding within a given medical data signal a robust watermark comprising an encrypted version of metadata related to that given medical data signal; and

embedding a fragile watermark into that given medical data signal by;

dividing the medical data signal into a plurality of blocks;

setting the least significant bits in each block to zero;

generating, in each block, a plurality of randomly located intervals;

generating hash values for each block;

using the generated hash values and the metadata in a random number generator to generate a corresponding fragile water mark for each block; and

embedding each corresponding fragile watermark into the least significant bits of the block from which the hash values used to generated that corresponding fragile watermark were obtained.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the sep of generating hash values for each block further comprises generating three different hash values for each block by calculating power associated with the medical data signal in a randomly selected location of that block when that signal is filtered by a low pass filter, a high pass filter and a band pass filter.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing a computer-readable code that when read by a computer causes the computer to perform a method for embedding metadata within medical data, the method comprising:

embedding within a given medical data signal comprising a one dimensional time-series sequence, a robust watermark comprising an encrypted version of metadata related to that given medical data signal by;

obtaining an orthogonal transformation of the one dimensional time-series sequence, the orthogonal transformation comprising a plurality of descriptors, each associated with a frequency of the one dimensional time-series sequence;

selecting frequencies within the one dimensional time series sequence to be modified;

identifying magnitude modifications for each one of the selected frequencies based on the robust watermark to be embedded; and

applying the identified magnitude modifications to the descriptors associated with the selected frequencies; and

embedding a fragile watermark into that given medical data signal.