Content management based on dither-like watermark embedding

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10445848-B2
Application number	US-201715715755-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2017
Priority date	Aug 20, 2014
Publication date	Oct 15, 2019
Grant date	Oct 15, 2019

Abstract

Methods, devices and computer program products allow embedding and detection of watermarks into and from a multimedia content. One watermark embedding method includes selecting a content segment that lacks inherent features for embedding of watermarks without producing perceptible artifacts, and obtaining a first dither pattern corresponding to a first watermark symbol of a watermark symbol alphabet, where each symbol is associated with a particular dither pattern. Further, each particular dither pattern, upon combination with the multimedia content segment that lacks inherent features, produces a composite content segment without perceptible artifacts. By combining the first dither pattern with the multimedia content segment that lacks inherent features, a first composite content segment with the first embedded watermark symbol is produced. The detection of watermarks messages can be carried out quickly by examining a small portions of the multimedia because even the featureless content segments include embedded watermarks.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for embedding a watermark into multiple segments of a multimedia content, comprising:
receiving the multimedia content including a featureless segment of the multimedia content that lacks inherent features for embedding of watermarks without producing perceptible artifacts;
obtaining a watermark message for embedding into the multimedia content, the watermark message including a plurality of watermark symbols;
embedding, using a watermark embedder that is implemented at least partially in electronic circuits, at least one watermark symbol of the watermark message into a segment of the multimedia content other than the featureless segment, the at least one watermark symbol embedded according to a first watermark embedding technique; and
embedding, using the watermark embedder, one or more additional watermark symbols of the watermark message into the featureless segment, the one or more additional watermark symbols embedded according to a second watermark embedding technique, wherein embedding of the one or more additional watermark symbols according to the second watermark technique includes:
obtaining either a first dither-like pattern corresponding to a first watermark symbol value or a second dither-like pattern corresponding to a second watermark symbol value, each of the first and the second dither-like patterns formed as a low amplitude noise-like pattern which upon combination with the featureless segment of the multimedia content produces a segment having a watermark symbol embedded therein without perceptible artifacts; and
combining the first dither-like pattern or the second dither-like pattern with the featureless segment to produce a composite content segment with the first watermark symbol or the second watermark symbol embedded therein, wherein the first dither pattern produces a positive autocorrelation value and the second dither pattern produces a negative autocorrelation value when combined with the featureless segment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first logical value is one and the second logical value is a zero.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the featureless segment is part of an audio component of the multimedia content.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein combining the first dither-like pattern or the second dither-like pattern with the featureless segment includes combining the first dither-like pattern or the second dither-like pattern with the featureless segment in a frequency band in the range 100 Hertz to 3000 Hertz.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein combining the first dither-like pattern or the second dither-like pattern with the featureless segment includes adding the first dither-like pattern or the second dither-like pattern to the featureless segment.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first or the second dither-like patterns includes a sum of a plurality of selected sinusoids, each sinusoid having a particular frequency such than when the plurality of sinusoids are added together, the sum of the selected sinusoids associated with the first dither-like pattern produces the positive autocorrelation value, and the sum of the selected sinusoids associated with the second dither-like pattern produces the negative autocorrelation value.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising scaling the sum of the sinusoids to constrain peaks of the autocorrelation values within a predefined target range.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the predefined target range is −1 to +1.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the featureless segment is part of an image frame of the multimedia content.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first watermark embedding technique is an autocorrelation modulation technique, and the second watermark embedding technique is a variation of the autocorrelation modulation technique adapted to utilize the first or the second dither-like patterns.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein boundaries of the at least one watermark symbol of the watermark message that is embedded into the segment of the multimedia content other than the featureless segment is synchronized with boundaries of the one or more additional watermark symbols of the watermark message that are embedded into the featureless segment of the multimedia content.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein a boundary of the at least one watermark symbol of the watermark message that is embedded into the segment of the multimedia content other than the featureless segment does not overlap with a boundary of the one or more additional watermark symbols of the watermark message that are embedded into the featureless segment of the multimedia content.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and the second watermark symbols is one of two or more watermark symbols of a watermark alphabet.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein each symbol of the watermark alphabet is represented by a particular dither pattern.

15. A method for embedding a watermark into multiple segments of a multimedia content, comprising:
receiving the multimedia content including a featureless segment of the multimedia content that lacks inherent features for embedding of watermarks without producing perceptible artifacts;
obtaining a watermark message for embedding into the multimedia content, the watermark message including a plurality of watermark symbols;
embedding, using a watermark embedder that is implemented at least partially in electronic circuits, at least one watermark symbol of the watermark message into a segment of the multimedia content other than the featureless segment, the at least one watermark symbol embedded according to a first watermark embedding technique; and
embedding, using the watermark embedder, one or more additional watermark symbols of the watermark message into the featureless segment, the one or more additional watermark symbols embedded according to a second watermark embedding technique, wherein embedding of the one or more additional watermark symbols according to the second watermark technique includes:
obtaining either a first dither-like pattern corresponding to a first watermark symbol value or a second dither-like pattern corresponding to a second watermark symbol value, each of the first and the second dither-like patterns formed as a low amplitude noise-like pattern which upon combination with the featureless segment of the multimedia content produces a segment having a watermark symbol embedded therein without perceptible artifacts; and
combining the first dither-like pattern or the second dither-like pattern with the featureless segment to produce a composite content segment with the first watermark symbol or the second watermark symbol embedded therein, and wherein

prior to embedding the one or more additional watermark symbols of the watermark message into the featureless segment, determining whether or not the featureless segment includes a pre-existing dither pattern; and
upon a determination that the featureless segment includes the pre-existing dither pattern, removing the pre-existing dither pattern from the featureless segment.

16. A device, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory including processor executable code, the processor executable code when executed by the processor configures the device to:
receive a multimedia content including a featureless segment that lacks inherent features for embedding of watermarks without producing perceptible artifacts;
obtain a watermark message for embedding into the multimedia content, the watermark message including a plurality of watermark symbols;
embed, in acco

Assignees

• Verance Corp

Inventors

• Petrovic Rade
• Zhao Jian
• Winograd Joseph M

Classifications

• G06T2201/005

  Image watermarking · CPC title

• G06T1/0085

  Time domain based watermarking, e.g. watermarks spread over several images · CPC title

• H04N21/00

  Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] (real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 {; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18}) · CPC title

• H04N21/4627

  Rights management {associated to the content (security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08)} · CPC title

• G06T2201/0065

  Extraction of an embedded watermark; Reliable detection · CPC title