Circumvention of watermark analysis in a host content

• US 8,811,655 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2012
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verance Corporation
• Original Assignee: Verance Corporation
• Inventors: Petrovic, Rade, Tehranchi, Babak, Winograd, Joseph M., Jemili, Kanaan
• Primary Examiner(s): Allison, Andrae S
• Application Number:
  US13/603,077
• Publication Number:
  US 20130007462A1
• Time in Patent Office: 714 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/232, 380/20, 380/28, 380/54, 713/176, 713/179, 713/181
• 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 1/005 Robust watermarking, e.g. average attack or collusion attack resistant
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0071 using multiple or alternating watermarks
• 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: G09C 5/00 Ciphering apparatus or methods not provided for in the preceding groups, e.g. involving the concealment or deformation of graphic data such as designs, written or printed messages
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/018 Audio watermarking, i.e. embedding inaudible data in the audio signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/608 Watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32203 Spatial or amplitude domain methods H04N1/32309 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32245 Random or pseudorandom selection of pixels
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32299 using more than one embedding method
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32315 Selecting a particular method from amongst a plurality of methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3233 of authentication information, e.g. digital signature, watermark

Abstract

Methods and devices are provided to thwart analysis of a watermarking system by preventing analysis of watermarks in a host content. Upon receiving a content at a watermark embedding device, the content is analyzed to ascertain whether one or more test features are present in at least a first portion of the received content. When the analysis reveals that one or more test features are present, embedding of watermarks in at least the first portion of the received content is disabled. The test features of interest include a temporal, a spatial and/or a frequency characteristic such that, if a region of the content that includes test feature is embedded with a watermark, at least one characteristic of the embedded watermark is detectable upon analysis of that region. The test feature can, for example, approximate an impulse signal, a step function signal or a pure sinusoidal signal.

Claims

1. A method for prevention of discovery of watermark secrets in a watermark embedding system, the method comprising:

receiving a content at a watermark embedding device, the content comprising a plurality of digital content samples;

analyzing the digital content samples using a processing device to ascertain whether one or more test features are present in at least a first portion of the received content, the test features specially designed such that when the specially designed test features are embedded with watermarks, the embedded test features enable extraction of at least one secret parameter of the embedded watermarks through analysis of the embedded test features; and

upon a determination that the one or more test features are present, disabling embedding of watermarks in at least the first portion of the received content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one test feature includes a temporal, a spatial and/or a frequency characteristic such that, when a region of the content that includes the at least one test feature is embedded with a watermark, a transfer function of the watermark embedding system is detectable upon analysis of the region.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising embedding a dummy feature into at least the first portion of the host content, wherein the dummy feature does not represent an actual watermark.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the test features approximates one of:

an impulse signal, a step function signal or a pure sinusoidal signal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising embedding one or more watermarks in at least a second portion of the received content upon a determination that the at least second portion does not include the one or more test features.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more embedded watermarks include a plurality of bits that are embedded at a variable bit rate.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more watermarks are embedded with the variable bit rate in at least one of time, space and frequency domains.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the variable bit rate is a pseudo-randomly varying bit rate.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein

each watermark is represented by a watermark packet;

at least one watermark bit within a first watermark packet is embedded at a bit rate that is different from at least another bit within the first watermark packet; and

all watermark packets are embedded at a constant rate.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein

each watermark is represented by a watermark packet;

watermark bits within a given watermark packet are embedded at a constant bit rate; and

at least a first watermark packet is embedded at a different packet rate than a second watermark packet.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein

each watermark is represented by a watermark packet;

at least one watermark bit within a first watermark packet is embedded at a bit rate that is different from at least another bit within the first watermark packet; and

at least one watermark packet is embedded at a different packet rate than another watermark packet.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

embedding at least one watermark in a second portion of the received content upon a determination that the at least second portion does not include the one or more test features, wherein the at least one watermark is recoverable from the embedded second portion only upon conversion of the embedded second portion into a different domain.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one watermark is recoverable upon spectral conversion of the embedded second portion such that one or more lower spectral components of the embedded second portion are switched with one or more higher spectral components of the embedded second portion.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one watermark is recoverable upon scrambling at least the embedded second portion.

15. A device, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a content, the content comprising a plurality of digital content samples; and

a processor configured to;

analyze the digital content samples to ascertain whether one or more test features are present in at least a first portion of the received content, the test features specially designed such that when the specially designed test features are embedded with watermarks, the embedded test features enable extraction of at least one secret parameter of the embedded watermarks through analysis of the embedded test features; and

upon a determination that the one or more test features are present, disable embedding of watermarks in at least the first portion of the received content.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein at least one test feature includes a temporal, a spatial and/or a frequency characteristic such that, when a region of the content that includes the at least one test feature is embedded with a watermark, a transfer function of watermark embedding system is detectable upon analysis of the region.

17. The device of claim 15, further comprising a watermark embedder configured to embed a dummy feature into at least the first portion of the host content, wherein the dummy feature does not represent an actual watermark.

18. The device of claim 15, wherein at least one of the test features approximates one of:

an impulse signal, a step function signal or a pure sinusoidal signal.

19. The device of claim 15, further comprising a watermark embedder configured to embed one or more watermarks in at least a second portion of the received content upon a determination that the at least second portion does not include the one or more test features.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the one or more embedded watermarks include a plurality of bits and the watermark embedder configured to embed the one or more watermarks at a variable bit rate.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the watermark embedder configured to embed the one or more watermarks with the variable bit rate in at least one of time, space and frequency domains.

22. The device of claim 20, wherein the variable bit rate is a pseudo-randomly varying bit rate.

23. The device of claim 20, wherein

each watermark is represented by a watermark packet;

and

the watermark embedder configured to;

embed at least one watermark bit within a first watermark packet at a bit rate that is different from at least another bit within the first watermark packet, and

embed all watermark packets are embedded at a constant rate.

24. The device of claim 20, wherein

each watermark is represented by a watermark packet;

and

the watermark embedder configured to;

embed watermark bits within a given watermark packet at a constant bit rate, and

embed at least a first watermark packet at a different packet rate than a second watermark packet.

25. The device of claim 20, wherein

each watermark is represented by a watermark packet;

the watermark embedder configured to;

embed at least one watermark bit within a first watermark packet at a bit rate that is different from at least another bit within the first watermark packet, and

embed at least one watermark packet at a different packet rate than another watermark packet.

26. The device of claim 15, further comprising a watermark embedder configured to embed at least one watermark in a second portion of the received content upon a determination that the at least second portion does not include the one or more test features, wherein the at least one watermark is recoverable from the embedded second portion only upon conversion of the embedded second portion into a different domain.

27. The device of claim 26, wherein the at least one watermark is recoverable upon spectral conversion of the embedded second portion such that one or more lower spectral components of the embedded second portion are switched with one or more higher spectral components of the embedded second portion.

28. The device of claim 26, wherein the at least one watermark is recoverable upon scrambling at least the embedded second portion.