US 2001/0033674 A1 · System, method, and product for information embedding using an ensemble of non-intersecting embedding generators

Abstract

A system, method, and product are provided to (1) embed a watermark signal into a host signal, thereby generating a composite signal, (2) optionally enable the composite signal to be transmitted over a communication channel, and (3) optionally extract the watermark signal from the transmitted composite signal. In one embodiment, the invention is a method for watermarking a host signal with a watermark signal. The watermark signal is made up of watermark-signal components, each having one of two or more watermark-signal values. The host signal is made up of host-signal components, each having one of two or more host-signal values. The method includes: (1) generating two or more embedding generators, each corresponding to a single watermark-signal value of a co-processed group of one or more watermark-signal components; (2) having each embedding generator generate two or more embedding values, the total of which is referred to as an original embedding-value set such that at least one embedding value generated by one embedding generator is different than any embedding value generated by another embedding generator; and (3) setting a host-signal value of one or more selected host-signal components to an embedding value of a particular embedding generator, thereby forming a composite-signal value, such that the particular embedding generator corresponds to the watermark-signal value of the co-processed group of watermark-signal components, and such that the embedding value of the particular embedding generator is selected based on its proximity to the host-signal value.

Claims92

Dependent claims

A system that watermarks a host signal with a watermark signal, the watermark signal comprising watermark-signal components, each having one of a plurality of watermark-signal values, and the host signal comprising host-signal components, each having one of a plurality of host-signal values, the system comprising:

a pre-processor that operates on one or more primary-signal components of at least one primary signal to generate one or more transformed host-signal components and one or more transformed watermark-signal components;
an ensemble designator that designates a plurality of embedding generators, each corresponding to a single watermark-signal value of a co-processed group of one or more transformed watermark-signal components;
an embedding value generator that generates, by each embedding generator, a plurality of embedding values, the total of each plurality of embedding values comprising a first embedding-value set, wherein at least one embedding value generated by a first embedding generator is not the same as any embedding value generated by a second embedding generator;
and
a point coder that sets at least one host-signal value of one or more selected transformed host-signal components to a first embedding value of a third embedding generator, thereby forming a composite-signal value, wherein the third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed transformed watermark-signal components, and wherein the first embedding value is selected based at least in part on its proximity to the at least one host-signal value, and wherein at least one embedding interval of one embedding generator is not the same as any embedding interval of at least one other embedding generator.

2 more elements

a pre-processor that operates on one or more primary-signal components of at least one primary signal and one or more supplemental-signal components of a supplemental signal to generate one or more transformed host-signal components;
an ensemble designator that designates a plurality of embedding generators, each corresponding to a single watermark-signal value of a co-processed group of one or more watermark-signal components;
an embedding value generator that generates, by each embedding generator, a plurality of embedding values, the total of each plurality of embedding values comprising a first embedding-value set, wherein at least one embedding value generated by a first embedding generator is not the same as any embedding value generated by a second embedding generator;
and
a point coder that sets at least one host-signal value of one or more selected transformed host-signal components to a first embedding value of a third embedding generator, thereby forming a composite-signal value, wherein the third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed watermark-signal components, and wherein the first embedding value is selected based at least in part on its proximity to the at least one host-signal value, and wherein at least one embedding interval of one embedding generator is not the same as any embedding interval of at least one other embedding generator.

2 more elements

a block selector that selects one or more host-signal components for embedding;
an ensemble designator that designates a plurality of embedding generators, each corresponding to a single watermark-signal value of a co-processed group of one or more watermark-signal components;
an embedding value generator that generates, by each embedding generator, a plurality of embedding values, the total of each plurality of embedding values comprising a first embedding-value set, wherein at least one embedding value generated by a first embedding generator is not the same as any embedding value generated by a second embedding generator;
and
a point coder that sets at least one host-signal value of the one or more selected host-signal components to a first embedding value of a third embedding generator, thereby forming a composite-signal value, wherein the third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed watermark-signal components, and wherein the first embedding value is selected based at least in part on its proximity to the at least one host-signal value, and wherein at least one embedding interval of one embedding generator is not the same as any embedding interval of at least one other embedding generator.

2 more elements

an ensemble designator that designates a plurality of adaptive embedding generators, each corresponding to a single watermark-signal value of a co-processed group of one or more watermark-signal components;
an adaptive embedding value generator that generates, by each adaptive embedding generator, a plurality of adaptive embedding values, the total of each plurality of embedding values comprising a first embedding-value set comprising a plurality of embedding super-groups, wherein at least one embedding value generated by a first embedding generator is not the same as any embedding value generated by a second embedding generator;
and
a point coder that sets at least one host-signal value of one or more selected host-signal components to a first embedding value of a third embedding generator, thereby forming a composite-signal value, wherein the first embedding value is selected based at least in part on its being the furthest in a first embedding super-group from the host-signal value, wherein the first super-group comprises a plurality of embedding values of the third embedding generator that are each closer to the host-signal value than any other embedding value of the third embedding generator, wherein the third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed watermark-signal components.

1 more element

A computer system that watermarks a host signal with a watermark signal, the watermark-signal comprising watermark-signal components, each having one of a plurality of watermark-signal values, and the host signal comprising host-signal components, each having one of a plurality of host-signal values, the computer system comprising:

at least one embedding computer having an information embedder that embeds a watermark signal into a host signal, thereby creating a composite signal, the information embedder comprising:
a pre-processor that operates on one or more primary-signal components of at least one primary signal to generate one or more transformed host-signal components and one or more transformed watermark-signal components;
an ensemble designator that designates a plurality of embedding generators, each corresponding to a single transformed watermark-signal value of a co-processed group of one or more watermark-signal components;
an embedding value generator that generates, by each embedding generator, a plurality of embedding values, the total of each plurality of embedding values comprising a first embedding-value set, wherein at least one embedding value generated by a first embedding generator is not the same as any embedding value generated by a second embedding generator;
and
a point coder that sets at least one host-signal value of one or more selected transformed host-signal components to a first embedding value of a third embedding generator, thereby forming a composite-signal value, wherein the third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed transformed watermark-signal components, and wherein the first embedding value is an embedding value that is the closest of all embedding values of the third embedding generator in distance to the at least one host-signal value;
and
at least one extracting computer having an information extractor that extracts the first watermark-signal value from the first embedding value.

5 more elements

A computer system that watermarks a host signal with a watermark signal, the watermark signal comprising watermark-signal components, each having one of a plurality of watermark-signal values, and the host signal comprising host-signal components, each having one of a plurality of host-signal values, the computer system comprising:

at least one embedding computer having an information embedder that embeds a watermark signal into a host signal, thereby creating a composite signal, the information embedder comprising:
a pre-processor that operates on one or more primary-signal components of at least one primary signal and one or more supplemental-signal components of a supplemental signal to generate one or more transformed host-signal components;
an ensemble designator that designates a plurality of embedding generators, each corresponding to a single watermark-signal value of a co-processed group of one or more watermark-signal components;
an embedding value generator that generates, by each embedding generator, a plurality of embedding values, the total of each plurality of embedding values comprising a first embedding-value set, wherein at least one embedding value generated by a first embedding generator is not the same as any embedding value generated by a second embedding generator;
and
a point coder that sets at least one host-signal value of one or more selected transformed host-signal components to a first embedding value of a third embedding generator, thereby forming a composite-signal value, wherein the third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed watermark-signal components, and wherein the first embedding value is an embedding value that is the closest of all embedding values of the third embedding generator in distance to the at least one host-signal value;
and
at least one extracting computer having an information extractor that extracts the first watermark-signal value from the first embedding value.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System, method, and product for information embedding using an ensemble of non-intersecting embedding generators

Life of this patent

System, method, and product for information embedding using an ensemble of non-intersecting embedding generators

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims92