Circumvention of watermark analysis in a host content
First Claim
1. A method for thwarting circumvention attempts on a watermarking system, the method comprising:
- (a) receiving a content at a content handling device that includes embedded watermarks;
(b) extracting an embedded watermark from a segment of the received content, the extracted watermark being suitable for reporting to a user of the content handling device;
(c) using a probability value to make a determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark, wherein the determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark includes discarding the extracted watermark according to a random value;
(d) upon a determination to report the extracted watermark, reporting a value of the extracted watermark or a presence of the extracted watermark;
(e) upon a determination not to report the extracted watermark, not reporting information related to the extracted watermark; and
(f) repeating operations (b) through (e) for one or more additional embedded watermarks in the received content so that at least one of the extracted watermarks suitable for reporting is not reported.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for thwarting circumvention attempts on a watermarking system, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving a content at a content handling device that includes embedded watermarks; (b) extracting an embedded watermark from a segment of the received content, the extracted watermark being suitable for reporting to a user of the content handling device; (c) using a probability value to make a determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark, wherein the determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark includes discarding the extracted watermark according to a random value; (d) upon a determination to report the extracted watermark, reporting a value of the extracted watermark or a presence of the extracted watermark; (e) upon a determination not to report the extracted watermark, not reporting information related to the extracted watermark; and (f) repeating operations (b) through (e) for one or more additional embedded watermarks in the received content so that at least one of the extracted watermarks suitable for reporting is not reported. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for thwarting circumvention attempts on a watermarking system, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving a content at a content handling device that includes embedded watermarks; (b) extracting an embedded watermark from a segment of the received content, the extracted watermark being suitable for reporting to a user of the content handling device; (c) using a probability value to make a determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark; (d) upon a determination to report the extracted watermark, reporting a value of the extracted watermark or a presence of the extracted watermark that includes delaying the reporting of the presence or the value of the extracted watermark based on a randomly-assigned value; (e) upon a determination not to report the extracted watermark, not reporting information related to the extracted watermark; and (f) repeating operations (b) through (e) for one or more additional embedded watermarks in the received content to thwart a determination, from the reported watermark value or the reported watermark presence, of an exact location of the extracted watermarks in the content. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A method for thwarting circumvention attempts on a watermarking system, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving a content at a content handling device that includes embedded watermarks; (b) extracting an embedded watermark from a segment of the received content, the extracted watermark being suitable for reporting to a user of the content handling device; (c) using a probability value to make a determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark; (d) upon a determination to report the extracted watermark, reporting the presence or the value of the extracted watermark(s) periodically at a predetermined time interval; (e) upon a determination not to report the extracted watermark, not reporting information related to the extracted watermark; and (f) repeating operations (b) through (e) for one or more additional embedded watermarks in the received content to thwart a determination, from the reported watermark value or the reported watermark presence, an exact location of the extracted watermark in the content. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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10. A method for thwarting circumvention attempts on a watermarking system, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving a content at a content handling device that includes embedded watermarks; (b) extracting an embedded watermark from a segment of the received content, the extracted watermark being suitable for reporting to a user of the content handling device; (c) using a probability value to make a determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark; (d) upon a determination to report the extracted watermark, reporting of the presence or the value of the extracted watermark(s) on a time-shifted basis; (e) upon a determination not to report the extracted watermark, not reporting information related to the extracted watermark; and (f) repeating operations (b) through (e) for one or more additional embedded watermarks in the received content to thwart a determination, from the reported watermark value or the reported watermark presence, as to which particular segment of the content included the reported watermark(s).
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11. A device, comprising:
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a receiver to receive a content that includes embedded watermarks; a watermark extractor coupled to the receiver to extract one or more embedded watermarks from the received content, the one or more extracted watermarks being suitable for reporting to a user of the device; and a processor to; for each of the one or more extracted watermarks, (A) use a probability value to make a determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark(s), wherein the determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark includes discarding the extracted watermark according to a random value, (B) upon a determination to report the extracted watermark(s), report corresponding value(s) of the extracted watermark(s) or presence of the extracted watermark(s), and (C) upon a determination not to report the extracted watermark(s), not report the extracted watermark(s) and so that at least one of the extracted watermarks suitable for reporting is not reported.
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12. A device, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory, including program code, the program code, when executed by the processor, configures the device to; (a) receive a content that includes embedded watermarks; (b) extract an embedded watermark from a segment of the received content, the extracted watermark being suitable for reporting to a user of the device; (c) use a probability value to make a determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark, wherein the determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark includes discarding the extracted watermark according to a random value; (d) upon a determination to report the extracted watermark, report a presence or a value of the extracted watermark; (e) upon a determination not to report the extracted watermark, not report information related to the extracted watermark; and (f) for one or more additional embedded watermarks in the received content, repeat (b) through (e) so that at least one of the extracted watermarks suitable for reporting is not reported. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. A device, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory, including program code, the program code, when executed by the processor, configures the device to; (a) receive a content that includes embedded watermarks; (b) extract an embedded watermark from a segment of the received content, the extracted watermark being suitable for reporting to a user of the device; (c) use a probability value to make a determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark; (d) upon a determination to report the extracted watermark, report a presence or a value of the extracted watermark that includes delaying the reporting of the presence or the value of the extracted watermark based on a randomly-assigned value; (e) upon a determination not to report the extracted watermark, not report information related to the extracted watermark; and (f) for one or more additional embedded watermarks in the received content, repeat (b) through (e) to thwart a determination, from the reported watermark value or the reported watermark presence, of an exact location of the extracted watermarks in the content. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A device, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory, including program code, the program code, when executed by the processor, configures the device to; (a) receive a content that includes embedded watermarks; (b) extract an embedded watermark from a segment of the received content, the extracted watermark being suitable for reporting to a user of the device; (c) use a probability value to make a determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark; (d) upon a determination to report the extracted watermark, report a presence or a value of the extracted watermark periodically at a predetermined time; (e) upon a determination not to report the extracted watermark, not report information related to the extracted watermark; and (f) for one or more additional embedded watermarks in the received content, repeat (b) through (e) to thwart a determination, from the reported watermark value or the reported watermark presence, an exact location of the extracted watermark in the content. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. A device, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory, including program code, the program code, when executed by the processor, configures the device to; (a) receive a content that includes embedded watermarks; (b) extract an embedded watermark from a segment of the received content, the extracted watermark being suitable for reporting to a user of the device; (c) use a probability value to make a determination as to whether or not to report the extracted watermark; (d) upon a determination to report the extracted watermark, report a presence or a value of the extracted watermark on a time shifted basis; (e) upon a determination not to report the extracted watermark, not report information related to the extracted watermark; and (f) for one or more additional embedded watermarks in the received content, repeat (b) through (e) to thwart a determination, from the reported watermark value or the reported watermark presence, an exact location of the extracted watermark in the content.
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Specification