Data transmission by watermark proxy

• US 20060120560A1
• Filed: 11/14/2005
• Published: 06/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Conwell, William Y., Rhoads, Geoffrey B., Davis, Bruce L., Evans, Douglas B.
• Granted Patent: US 7,545,951 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2895 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data provider application, e.g. reverse proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

A media object sensed at one location is delivered at a second remote location, or an application associated with the object is made available at the second location. In some embodiments, the delivered object is of a higher quality than the sensed object. In other embodiments, larger objects requiring higher bandwidth for effective transmission are delivered notwithstanding low bandwidth bottlenecks between the first and second locations. Such advantages are achieved by employing watermark data as proxies for media objects and associated applications. These techniques are advantageously applied to cell phones.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining a high resolution output, the method comprising:

(a) identifying a location of or providing a low resolution image by a user to a service provider;

(b) extracting a watermark from the low resolution image by the service provider;

(c) based on the watermark, locating a high resolution image on a network; and

(d) providing the high resolution image using the located high resolution image to the user.

2. A method for obtaining a pristine output, the method comprising:

(a) identifying a location of or providing relatively low quality content by a user to a service provider;

(b) extracting a watermark from the relatively low quality content by the service provider;

(c) based on the watermark, locating relatively pristine content that is related to the relatively low quality content on a network; and

.

(d) providing the relatively high quality content.

3. A method of obtaining content comprising:

receiving first content corresponding to an object on a handheld device, wherein said handheld device comprises a media player executing thereon;

analyzing the content for steganographic encoding, wherein the steganographic encoding comprises a plural-bit payload, whereby the plural-bit payload is obtained from said act of analyzing;

providing data indicating media player capabilities of the handheld device;

communicating the plural-bit payload and the data indicating media player capabilities of the handheld device to a network resource;

receiving from the network resource enhanced content, relative to the first content, that is associated with the plural-bit payload and the media player on the handheld device.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the handheld device comprises a cell phone.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the steganographic encoding comprises digital watermarking that subtly alters content to convey the plural-bit payload.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the object comprises audio or video.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein the content corresponding to the object comprises optical scan data, and the object comprises a physical object.