# US 7,609,848 B2 · Multi-stage watermarking process and system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 7,609,848 B2 - Document ID: US7609848B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 11/209,647 - Filed: 2005-08-24 - Published: 2005-12-22 - Granted: 2009-10-27 - Earliest claimed: 2000-12-29 - Assignees: ContentGuard Holdings, Inc. - Inventors: Xin Wang; Steve Atsushi Okamoto; Russell Robert Lear; Nancy Lynn Ishigo - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7609848B2 ## CPC - H04N 1/32149: {Methods relating to embedding, encoding, decoding, detection or retrieval operations} - G06T 1/0021: {Image watermarking} - H04N 1/32315: {Selecting a particular method from amongst a plurality of methods} - H04N 2201/3236: Details of authentication information generation - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL ## Abstract A multi-stage watermarking system and process that creates a watermark specification which describes how to generate a watermark, generates a template specification which describes how to merge the watermark into a target document, generates the watermark based on the watermark specification, and merges the watermark into the target document based on the template specification to provide a watermarked document. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of recovering content information from a watermark in a target digital document to be carried out by a computer adapted to perform the steps of: locating the watermark in the target document based on a pre-determined template specification that describes a manner in which the watermark was merged into the target document, the template specification identifying at least one watermark specification and providing a mapping list indicating a manner in which at least one watermark associated with the at least one watermark specification is merged into a document; and obtaining the content information from the located watermark according to a watermark specification identified by the template specification, the watermark specification identifying a specific watermarking technology and a target object into which the watermark was placed. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one watermark specification is described using a watermark specification language including grammar elements. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the obtained content information includes dynamic information pertaining to different stages of the life cycle of the target document. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the content information indicates at least one of document type, document-associated application, document authenticity and document source. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined template specification is identified by comparing a plurality of template specifications to the target document and selecting a match. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the content information further comprises selecting a watermark specification identified by the pre-determined template specification; comparing the located watermark to the selected watermark specification to identify if the selected watermark specification is a matched watermark specification; and decoding the located watermark into the content information according to the matched watermark specification if the located watermark matches the selected watermark specification. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the target document comprises audio or video content. ### Claim 8 A watermark recovery system comprising: a watermarked document including a watermark with encoded content information; a watermark specification for identifying a specific watermarking technology and identifying a target object in which the watermark is placed; a template specification identifying at least one watermark specification and providing a mapping list indicating a manner in which at least one watermark associated with the at least one watermark specification is merged into a document; a watermark scanning module for scanning the watermarked document to locate a watermark according to the template specification, the watermark scanning module including a repository for storing at least one of the template specification and a watermark specification; and a watermark recovery module for recovering the content information from the located watermark according to a watermark specification identified by the template specification. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the template specification describes the manner in which the watermark was merged into the target document. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the content information indicates at least one of document type, document-associated application, document authenticity and document source. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the watermarked document comprises audio or video content. ### Claim 12 A method for creating a watermark in a target digital document at different stages of the target document life cycle to be carried out by a computer adapted to perform the steps of: scanning the target document containing a target watermark; recovering the target watermark from the target document, the recovered target watermark indicating a template specification that describes how the target watermark was merged into the target document; generating an additional watermark according to a watermark specification; updating the template specification by adding the watermark specification and associating the additional watermark with the watermark specification in the template specification; and merging the generated additional watermark with the scanned target document. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the template specification identifies at least one watermark specification and provides a mapping list of how the target watermark associated with the at least one watermark specification is merged, the at least one watermark specification identifying a specific watermarking technology and a target object in which the additional watermark is placed. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the additional watermark includes dynamic information pertaining to different stages of the life cycle of the target document. ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the target watermark has a dataglyph format indicating a form type associated with the template specification. ### Claim 16 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the target document comprises audio or video content. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the target watermark has a dataglyph format indicating a form type associated with the template specification. ### Claim 18 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the target watermark has a dataglyph format indicating a form type associated with the template specification.