Methods utilizing steganography

• US 8,290,202 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2007
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Carr, J. Scott, Davis, Bruce L., Rhoads, Geoffrey B.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHANG, JON CARLTON
• Application Number:
  US11/622,373
• Publication Number:
  US 20070180251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,105 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 711/161, 399/366, 283/902
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32203 Spatial or amplitude domain methods H04N1/32309 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/327 which are undetectable to the naked eye, e.g. embedded codes

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to steganography, digital watermarking and data hiding. In one embodiment a method is provided including: processing data representing content; analyzing the data to determine whether a plural-bit identifier is steganographically encoded therein, the plural-bit identifier encoded in the data through modifications to the data, the modifications steganographically hiding the presence of the plural-bit identifier; and upon detection of the plural-bit identifier, redundantly carrying out an action while attempting to conceal the action from one or more users of the content. Of course, other embodiments are described and claimed as well.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining access to a set of data corresponding to an image or video;

controlling a steganographic encoding detector to examine only a portion of the data, without examining the entire set of data,

detecting plural-bit data from the portion of the data; and

upon detection of the plural-bit data, carrying out an action based on the detected plural-bit data, wherein the plural-bit data indicates a possible use of a device for an illicit activity and wherein the action comprises storing or generating forensic data to identify the possible use or the illicit activity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of data comprises scan-line data, and wherein the detecting operates on only a portion of the scan-line data, without buffering the entire set of data for analysis.

3. A method comprising:

obtaining data representing content;

analyzing the data to determine whether a steganographic signal is encoded therein through modifications to the data, wherein the modifications are made so as to conceal the presence of the steganographic signal to a casual human observer of the content; and

upon detection of the steganographic signal, redundantly carrying out an action that is concealed from a user of the content, wherein the steganographic signal indicates a possible use of a device for an illicit activity, and wherein the action comprises storing or generating forensic data to identify the possible use or the illicit activity.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the content comprises an image or video.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the steganographic signal comprises an identifier, and wherein the action comprises transmitting at least the identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the identifier is transmitted to a remote device.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the steganographic signal comprises an identifier, and wherein the action comprises generating data.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the steganographic signal comprises an identifier, and wherein the action comprises storing data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data is remotely stored.

10. A method comprising:

processing data representing content;

analyzing the data to determine whether a plural-bit identifier is steganographically encoded therein through modifications to the data, wherein the modifications steganographically hide the plural-bit identifier;

upon detection of the plural-bit identifier, redundantly carrying out an action while attempting to conceal the action from one or more users of the content, wherein the plural-bit identifier indicates a possible use of a device for an illicit activity and wherein the action comprises storing or generating forensic data to identify the possible use or the illicit activity.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the action comprises transmitting at least the plural-bit identifier.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plural-bit identifier is transmitted to a remote device.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the action comprises generating data.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the action comprises storing data.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the content comprises an image or video.

16. A device comprising:

a memory configured to store data representing content; and

a processor operatively coupled to the memory and configured to;

analyze the data to determine whether a steganographic signal is encoded therein through modifications to the data, wherein the modifications are made so as to conceal a presence of the steganographic signal; and

upon detection of the steganographic signal, carry out an action that is concealed from a user of the content, wherein the steganographic signal indicates a possible use of the device for an illicit activity, and wherein the action comprises storing or generating forensic data to identify the possible use or the illicit activity.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the steganographic signal comprises an identifier, and further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit at least the identifier to a remote device.

18. A tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions to obtain data representing content; and

instructions to analyze the data to determine whether a steganographic signal is encoded therein through modifications to the data, wherein the modifications are made so as to conceal a presence of the steganographic signal; and

upon detection of the steganographic signal, instructions to carry out an action that is concealed from a user of the content, wherein the steganographic signal indicates a possible use of the device for an illicit activity, and wherein the action comprises storing or generating forensic data to identify the possible use or the illicit activity.

19. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the steganographic signal comprises an identifier, and further comprising instructions to transmit at least the identifier to a remote device.