Derivation and quantization of robust non-local characteristics for blind watermarking

• US 7,318,158 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2005
• Issued: 01/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mihcak, M Kivanc, Venkatesan, Ramarathnam, Jakubowski, Mariusz H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barron, Jr., Gilberto
• Assistant Examiner(s): KIM, JUNG W
• Application Number:
  US11/266,440
• Publication Number:
  US 20060069919A1
• Time in Patent Office: 796 Days
• Field of Search: 713/176, 380/54, 380/201, 382/251
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/005 Robust watermarking, e.g. average attack or collusion attack resistant
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0052 Embedding of the watermark in the frequency domain
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0065 Extraction of an embedded watermark; Reliable detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0083 whereby only watermarked image required at decoder, e.g. source-based, blind, oblivious
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32144 embedded in the image data, i.e. enclosed or integrated in the image, e.g. watermark, super-imposed logo or stamp
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32149 Methods relating to embedding, encoding, decoding, detection or retrieval operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32154 Transform domain methods H04N1/32309 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3217 using wavelet transforms
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32187 with selective or adaptive application of the additional information, e.g. in selected frequency coefficients
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32277 Compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3232 Robust embedding or watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32341 Blind embedding, i.e. the original image not being known beforehand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3233 of authentication information, e.g. digital signature, watermark
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/327 which are undetectable to the naked eye, e.g. embedded codes

Abstract

An implementation of a technology is described herein for deriving robust non-local characteristics and quantizing such characteristics for blind watermarking of a digital good.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for facilitating the protection of digital signals, the method comprising:

obtaining a digital signal;

partitioning the signal into a plurality of segments by pseudorandomly segmenting the signal using a secret key, wherein plurality of segments are pseudorandomly positioned using the secret key, such that said segments have the ability to overlap;

using quantization index modulation (QIM), detecting whether the signal includes a watermark, wherein such QIM is based upon non-local characteristics of the plurality of segments of the signal and wherein the non-local characteristics comprise statistics representative of at least two said segments, and wherein the at least two segments of the signal are pseudorandomly dimensioned; and

indicating whether a watermark is present.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the non-local characteristics are representative characteristics of more than a single element of a signal.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the QIM uses statistics calculated for each said segment; and

the statistics for a least one said segment are based upon non-local characteristics of at least one other segment.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein plurality of segments are pseudorandomly positioned using the secret key, such that said segments are adjacent and non-contiguous.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the digital signal is selected from the group consisting of a audio signal, a video signal, a image signal, a multimedia signal, and a music signal.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein such indication is selected from a group consisting of “

present,”

“

not present,” and

“

unknown.”

7. A computer comprising one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the computer, perform the method as recited in claim 1.

8. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by a computer, perform the acts comprising:

obtaining a digital signal;

partitioning the signal into a plurality of segments by pseudorandomly segmenting the signal using a secret key, wherein the plurality of segments are positioned using the secret key such that said segments have the ability to overlap;

quantizing statistics associated with each said segment to detect whether the signal contains a watermark, wherein the statistics associated with at least one said segment are determined from the non-local characteristics of a least two said segments;

determining whether the watermark is present in the digital signal based upon the quantized values of the two segments using quantization index modulation (QIM), wherein such QIM utilizes non-local characteristics of the signal and wherein the at least two segments of the signal are pseudorandomly dimensioned; and

indicating whether a watermark is present.

9. One or more media as recited in claim 8, wherein the plurality of segments are positioned using the secret key, such that said segments are adjacent and non-contiguous.

10. One or more media as recited in claim 8, wherein such indication is selected from a group consisting of “

present,”

“

not present,” and

“

unknown.”

11. One or more media as recited in claim 8, wherein the plurality of segments are pseudorandomly positioned.

12. A system for facilitating the protection of digital signals comprising:

a content provider configured to;

partition a signal into a plurality of segments by pseudorandomly segmenting the signal using a secret key, wherein the partitioning comprises pseudorandomly segmenting the signal, wherein such segments have the ability to overlap;

watermark the signal by performing quantization index modulation (QIM) on statistics for each said segment, wherein such QIM utilizes non-local characteristics of the signal, and wherein the non-local characteristics comprise statistics representative of one or more pseudorandomly dimensioned segments of the signal; and

a client configured to detect whether a received signal includes the watermark utilizing the secret key.

13. A system as recited in claim 12 wherein the plurality of segments are pseudorandomly positioned.

14. A system as recited in claim 12 wherein the plurality of segments are positioned using the secret key.

15. A system as recited in claim 12, wherein the client uses the secret key to partition the received signal into a plurality of segments.