Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7505605?dq=7,237,634
Timestamp: 2015-07-29 23:03:31
Document Index: 296020846

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'application No. 2004', 'Application No. 97', 'Application No. 97', 'Application No. 97924752', 'application No. 00116604']

Patent US7505605 - Portable devices and methods employing digital watermarking - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsMedia objects are transformed into active, connected objects via identifiers embedded into them or their containers. In the context of a user's playback experience, a decoding process extracts the identifier from a media object and possibly additional context information and forwards it to a server....http://www.google.com/patents/US7505605?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7505605 - Portable devices and methods employing digital watermarkingAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7505605 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 10/823,997Publication dateMar 17, 2009Filing dateApr 13, 2004Priority dateApr 25, 1996Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS20050058319Publication number10823997, 823997, US 7505605 B2, US 7505605B2, US-B2-7505605, US7505605 B2, US7505605B2InventorsGeoffrey B. Rhoads, Bruce L. Davis, Douglas B. EvansOriginal AssigneeDigimarc CorporationExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (101), Non-Patent Citations (32), Referenced by (31), Classifications (106), Legal Events (7) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetPortable devices and methods employing digital watermarking
US 7505605 B2Abstract
Media objects are transformed into active, connected objects via identifiers embedded into them or their containers. In the context of a user's playback experience, a decoding process extracts the identifier from a media object and possibly additional context information and forwards it to a server. The server, in turn, maps the identifier to an action, such as returning metadata, re-directing the request to one or more other servers, requesting information from another server to identify the media object, etc. The server may return a higher fidelity version of content from which the identifier was extracted. In some applications, the higher fidelity version may be substituted for the original media object and rendered to provide higher quality output. The linking process applies to broadcast objects as well as objects transmitted over networks in streaming and compressed file formats.
1. In a portable wireless device that includes a sensor to capture image or audio data, a method comprising:
capturing audio in the device to provide an audio signal;
extracting data from the captured audio from the audio signal, the extracted data serving to identify the audio signal, wherein the extracted data is obtained from a digital watermark steganographically embedded in the audio signal;
wirelessly transferring the extracted data to a remote location; and
wirelessly receiving data separate from yet corresponding to the extracted data from the remote location, wherein the extracted data provides identification of the audio signal and the separate data corresponds to the extracted data through a database that associates the identification of the audio signal with the separate data.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the data corresponding to the extracted data comprises a higher fidelity version of the audio.
3. The method of claim 1 which further includes indexing a database with reference to at least a portion of a digital watermark decoded from the audio signal to obtain information corresponding to the audio signal, and returning the information to the portable wireless device.
4. The method of claim 3 which further includes indexing a database with reference to at least a portion of the decoded watermark to obtain a computer address corresponding thereto, and receiving content data from said computer address at a destination device.
5. The method of claim 4 in which the destination device is co-located with the portable device.
6. The method of claim 5 in which the destination device comprises the portable device.
7. The method of claim 2 including:
substituting the higher fidelity version for at least a part of the captured data to create a new data object; and
rendering the new data object on an output device.
This patent application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/147,228, filed May 15, 2002, which is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/670,115, filed Sep. 26, 2000. application Ser. No. 10/147,228 also is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/769,017, filed Jan. 24, 2001, which is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/563,664, filed May 2, 2000 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,505,160), and which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/178,028, filed Jan. 26, 2000. application Ser. No. 10/147,228 is also a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/563,664, filed May 2, 2000, which is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/476,686, filed Dec. 30, 1999, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/134,782, filed May 19, 1999. application Ser. No. 10/147,228 is also a continuation in part of Ser. No. 09/504,239, filed Feb. 15, 2000, which is a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/491,534, filed Jan. 26, 2000 (now abandoned). application Ser. No. 10/147,228 is also a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/473,396, filed Dec. 28, 1999 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,577,746). application Ser. No. 10/147,228 is also a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 09/571,422, filed May 15, 2000, which is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 09/343,104, filed Jun. 29, 1999, and which claims the benefit of application 60/163,332, filed Nov. 3, 1999, and application 60/531,076, filed Mar. 18, 2000. This patent application is also a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 09/186,962, filed Nov. 5, 1998, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/649,419, filed May 16, 1996 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,260), which is a continuation-in-part of PCT/US96/06618, filed May 7, 1996, and Ser. No. 08/637,531, filed Apr. 25, 1996 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,436). This application is also a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 09/545,174, filed Apr. 6, 2000, which is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/746,613 filed Nov. 12, 1996 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,403).
These applications and patents are hereby incorporated by reference.
The subject matter of the present application is related to that disclosed in PCT Applications Nos. WO 01/01331 A1, published Jan. 4, 2001, and WO 00/70585, published Nov. 23, 2000; and in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/292,569, filed Apr. 15, 1999; Ser. No. 09/343,104, filed Jun. 29, 1999; Ser. No. 09/503,881, filed Feb. 14, 2000 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,614,914); Ser. No. 09/525,865, filed Mar. 15, 2000 (Now U.S. Pat. No. 6,611,607); Ser. No. 09/547,664, filed Apr. 12, 2000; Ser. No. 09/574,726, filed May 18, 2000, Ser. No. 09/636,102, filed Aug. 10, 2000; and Provisional Application No. 60/191,778, filed Mar. 24, 2000. Each of these documents is hereby incorporated by reference.
Steganography provides a way to embed data in the media signal. As such, it offers an advantage over conventional ways to associate metadata with media signals. Examples of steganography include digital watermarking and data glyphs. Exemplary watermarking techniques suitable for still image and video content are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,260 to Rhoads and U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,027 to Cox. Exemplary watermarking techniques suitable for use with audio content are shown in the just-cited Rhoads patent, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,932 to Smith and U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,135 to Petrovic.
FIG. 4 is a general block diagram that illustrates various embodiments
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a network environment in which principles of the present invention may be employed.
FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating aspects of one embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating aspects of another embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating aspects of yet another embodiment.
FIG. 9 shows an apparatus according to another embodiment.
A number of program modules maybe stored in the drives and RAM 1225, including an operating system 1235, one or more application programs 1236, other program modules 1237, and program data 1238.
Portable consumer electronic devices featuring image- or audio-capture capabilities, such as cell phones, wristwatches, digital cameras, personal digital assistants, and MP3 players, are becoming increasingly prevalent. Watermark information embedded in the captured content can be used to trigger distribution of corresponding content (web pages, high fidelity audio, etc.) from on-line repositories. Thus, for example, music “heard” by a user's cell phone microphone can be processed and used to trigger the electronic delivery of a high fidelity version of the same (or different) music to the user's home computer.
In accordance with one embodiment (FIG. 4), a camera-equipped cell phone (e.g., as announced by Sanyo/PacketVideo), a personal digital assistant (e.g., Palm Pilot), a wrist camera watch (e.g., the Casio WQV1-1CR), a digital camera, or another portable device 10 with imaging capability, captures one or more frames of image data. (Image data is used to illustrate the same technology. The same principles are equally applicable with sound data. In such case the user device 10 can be a cell phone, an MP3 player/recorder, or other device with audio capture capability.)
In response to a user command (e.g., a dedicated physical or virtual (UI-implemented) button, or a series of keystrokes, etc.), or autonomously (e.g., whenever an image is captured), the device 10 transmits the image data to a remote processor 14. (The remote processor may be the user's home computer, or a server computer serving many users, or another remote computer, etc. The transmission may be by wireless or by a wired connection. The transmission can occur immediately, or the data can be stored in a memory in the device 10 and relayed at a later time, e.g., when network connectivity is established.)
The remote processor 14 performs a watermark decoding operation on the received image data, and extracts a watermark payload. Address information associated with this payload (e.g., a URL stored in a database record 12 indexed by an ID part of the payload, or a URL directly represented in the payload) is then obtained, and used to access an on-line resource 20 (e.g., a web page or music server) that provides content back to a desired destination device for storage or rendering. The destination device can be an output device associated with the user (e.g., a display screen or an audio transducer, either integrated with the image capture device 10, or separate). Or it can be a home media appliance, permitting the user to view or listen to the content upon returning home.
In some embodiments, the address information is forwarded back to a user device (e.g., device 10). The user device then links to the specified resource 20 to acquire the content (so-called “pull” delivery). In other embodiments, the content available at the specified resource 20 is transmitted, at the instigation of the remote device 14, to the destination device (i.e., pushed, rather than pulled).
In other embodiments, the watermark decoding is performed by a processor co-located with the user device 10, e.g., integrated therein.
In still other embodiments, the watermark decoding is performed locally, but the user device is unsuited for receiving or rendering the content provided from resource 20 (e.g., the device's rendering capabilities are limited, or the device's link to the network is of unsuitably low bandwidth). In such case, the device 10 sends an ID decoded from the captured image (or sound) to a media server (e.g., the repository 20, together with instructions indicating what is to be done with content corresponding to the decoded ID). The server may have a higher bandwidth connection with the ultimate destination, or may have more capability to process, render, or transmit the content, than the user device. The server sends a higher fidelity version of the content (or some content related to the captured content) to the ultimate destination 22. (Or the server performs some other processing for which the portable device, or its lower bandwidth connection, are unsuited.)
In the example just given, it will be recognized that the watermark payload transmitted from the user device serves as a proxy for the delivered content. Further details and variants of systems employing such proxy principles described elsewhere in this document
In other embodiments, the user's capture device may determine the available external bandwidth and then send the watermark data (rather than the captured content) only where bandwidth is insufficient (e.g., compared to a preset, or user-specified threshold) to transfer content from device 10 to a desired destination. Or this choice of sending the captured content, or the watermark proxy, can be specified by the user. If a first delivery approach fails (e.g., as indicated by an error message returned to one of the devices involved), then another delivery approach can be employed. For example, if a watermark proxy is first sent, but the content respository 20 identified thereby does not have corresponding content, or is otherwise unable to transmit content to a destination device, the user device can be so-informed and, in response, send the content it earlier captured.
The destination device 22 can also exercise some control in the method. For example, it might specify that it wants to receive a high resolution version of the content or a low resolution version of the content. Or, it may simply receive and store the watermark payload or a computer address corresponding thereto (e.g., as determined by the database record 12), permitting it to summon the content as desired, without dedicating local resources to store the content itself.
While the destination device 22 may be a device distinct from the user device, this need not be the case. The user device 10 may both serve as the content capturing node and the destination device. For example, an audio appliance (e.g., an MP3 player/recorder) may capture a part of a watermarked song broadcast over the radio, and thereby obtain a high fidelity version of the same song from an on-line music repository. Again, the appliance can signal the desired content either by locally decoding the watermark, and transferring same to a remote device. Or the appliance can transfer the captured audio itself and allow a remote device to perform the watermark decoding. In any event, and possibly through one or more intermediary devices and databases, the corresponding high fidelity MP3 version is returned for storage on the consumer device. (In some methods, only the decoded watermark data is returned to the user device, permitting it to thereby summon the corresponding content on-demand from a repository 20 without dedicating local resources for storage.)
Further information on systems in which machine-readable indicia (e.g., watermarks) are sensed by a consumer device, and used to link to associated internet content, is found in application Ser. No. 09/571,422. That application, and its priority application 60/163,332, include information on cell phones and the like for use in such applications.
Application Ser. No. 09/636,102 details other arrangements in which content captured by one device is provided to a second device for watermark decoding.
Application Ser. No. 09/503,881 details illustrative watermark encoding and decoding methods. There are a great number of watermarking techniques known to those skilled in the art that can alternatively be employed.
The embodiments detailed above, and in the cited applications, are illustrative only. A much larger class of embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the present invention—with elements from the detailed embodiments and the incorporated applications interchanged, substituted and combined to yield other embodiments.
Referring to FIG. 5, consider an exemplary network 110 linking two devices—a first device 112 associated with an originating user, and a second device 114 associated with a recipient user. The first device 112 is coupled to the network through a relatively low bandwidth channel, whereas the second device 114 is coupled to the network through a relatively high bandwidth channel. (For example, the first device may be an internet-capable cell phone having low resolution-, still image only capture capabilities, providing a 9600 baud data channel, or it may be a home PC, with an associated PC or digital single shot camera, coupled to the internet with a 28.8 kbps modem. The second device may be a computer coupled to the internet through a 1.45 megabit per second T-1 line, a cable modem, etc.) The network 110 connecting the two devices includes various links—narrow bandwidth at some parts (e.g., 116), very broadband at other (e.g., internet backbone 118), etc.
Assume the user of device 112 encounters a printed image, e.g., an advertisement in a magazine, that may be of interest to the user of device 1112. Using an imaging device (e.g., a CMOS- or CCD-camera built into a cell phone, a flatbed scanner connected to a PC, etc.), device 112 captures an image of the advertisement.
In prior art techniques, the image captured by device 112 would have been sent to device 114 over the network; the image received by the second device would be exactly the image sent by the first device.
In accordance with one embodiment, device 114 receives a better image than that sent from device 112. In one such embodiment, device 114 receives the image data captured by device 112. Device 114 recognizes that the image includes a watermark hidden within the image data, and decodes same. The watermark payload includes an index by which a copy of the image can be accessed from a server 120 on the internet or other storage medium. With this index, the second device 114 queries the server 120, which returns the image corresponding to this watermark index (in this case, the advertisement) back to the second device 114. The image provided by the server can be higher resolution or pristine, i.e., it has no artifacts left from scanning at device 112, etc. Such a procedure is shown by the flowchart of FIG. 6.
The watermark payload identifying the sensed image can as long or as short as the application requires. Typically, payloads of between 16 and 64 bits are used, although this is not essential. Shorter payloads have the advantage that they can be more robustly encoded while maintaining a fixed degree of image quality; longer payloads offer a greater universe of identifiers with which the image can be labeled. Illustrative watermarking technology is detailed in the assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,260, and in copending application Ser. No. 09/503,881. A great variety of other watermarking arrangements may be used, including those proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,930,369, 5,933,798, 5,664,018, 5,825,892, 5,940,429 and 5,889,868.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention (FIG. 7), the bandwidth bottleneck imposed by narrowband channel 116 (through which device 112 is coupled) is obviated by employing a watermark as a proxy for an image. In such an arrangement, the image data captured by device 112 is decoded, and a watermark payload hidden in the image is extracted. (This can be performed by hardware or software available in device 112, e.g., a cell phone microprocessor, a desktop computer, dedicated decoder circuitry, etc. Alternatively, this decoding can be done remotely from device 112, but before device 114, e.g., by a smart router in the intervening network. In the following discussion, decoding in the device 112 is assumed.) Instead of transmitting the image data over the network, the watermark decoding device (e.g., device 112) simply transmits the watermark payload (or a part thereof). On receipt of the payload, device 114 again queries the server 120, and obtains the image (and/or additional content or functionality, as detailed below), corresponding to that watermark. The image is obtained over the high-speed channel(s) between the server and the second device; the low bandwidth channel linking the first device conveys just the low bandwidth watermark payload information.
By building filters into the low bandwidth devices, upon recognition of a class of watermarks indicating availability of the image as a shared resource, or upon user selection of “transmit only watermark data”, the image [or content associated with it via the watermark] can be made available to the message recipient via more capable transmission means.
A variant of the foregoing does not transmit the watermark payload to the second device 114. Instead, the payload is dispatched by the first device 112 (or the smart router) directly to the server 120, with instructions that the corresponding desired image be sent to the second device 114. Such an arrangement is shown in FIG. 8. In some applications, the media delivered by the server may be richer than the simple image captured by device 112. For example, the watermark payload in the image captured by device 112 may index one or more files on server 120 that includes video, animation, sound, executable applications, aplets (e.g., JAVA, ActiveX) etc (“enhanced content”). Thus, scanning of a magazine ad at one device can prompt delivery of a video, a Macromedia ShockWave presentation, etc., to the second device.
In some embodiments, the second device 114 identifies to the server 120 its media-playback capabilities. The server 120 can then respond to a watermark-based query with media appropriate to that particular media consumer.
One way the media capabilities of device 114 can be indicated to server 120 is by a data word comprising flag bits, with each set “1” bit indicating a capability. A simplified 8-bit capability word may be as follows:
Bit Capability 0 GIF file display 1 TIFF file display 2 JPEG filed display 3 AVI movie display 4 WAV sound 5 RealAudio sound 6 MP3 sound 7 WindowsMedia The data comprising this word may be automatically compiled on device 114, e.g., from the operating system database with which programs are registered on installation (the Registry database in Windows).
If device 114 sends the capability word 10101100 to server 120, the server knows the device 114 supports GIF and JPEG imagery (but not TIFF), and RealAudio and WAV sound (but not MP3 or WindowsMedia).
If server 120 has media content corresponding to the queried watermark in several supported formats, it can deliver certain ones according to a priority order (e.g., send JPEG if supported; else send GIF if supported; else send TIFF if supported). If the server 120 only has media in a format not supported by the second device 114 (e.g., TIFF in the foregoing example), the server may invoke a conversion routine to perform an on-the-fly conversion to a supported media type (e.g., JPEG) prior to sending to the second device 114.
If the watermark index is provided by the second device 114 (rather than directly from the first device 112), the capability data word can accompany the index.
If the watermark index is provided directly from the first device 112, the server can solicit from the second device 114 a data capability word before responding to the query.
Alternatively, the server can keep, on-file, a database detailing the media capabilities of all known media consumers, and can tailor its query response according to such profile. (The second device 114 can be arranged to automatically inform server 120 of updates to its capability, e.g., each time a new media playback application is registered in the registry database.)
If the server 120 does not know, and cannot discern, the media capabilities of the second device 114, it can provide media in a default form that is most likely to be acceptable (e.g., JPEG, if the content captured by the first device 112 is imagery). From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that embodiments of the present invention provide various advantages over the prior art. One is the dispatch of high bandwidth enhanced content using a low bandwidth channel. Another is the receipt of higher-quality data than that originally captured. Another is delivering applications via low bandwidth channels to recipients by capturing images or watermark data from media content that serve as proxies for the applications.
For example, while examples have been provided with reference to images, the same principles are equally applicable to video and audio.
Similarly, while the foregoing description has made reference to transmitting the watermark, in many implementations, only a part of the watermark need be transmitted. (The watermark may include error correcting information, or other data, not necessary to identify the corresponding data on the server 120.)
Still further, while the detailed embodiment contemplated a still or video camera system for first device 112, much of the functionality of such an image capture system isn't essential to the present invention. Instead, an input device that serves a simpler “watermark capture” function may be used instead. Such a device can omit, e.g., hardware or software components associated with pixel interpolation (commonly used to achieve a desired virtual resolution), formatting (e.g., to provide output in JPEG form), etc. Such components serve useful functions when the resulting imagery is to be displayed or printed, but are superfluous—or detrimental—when the image data is simply to be decoded to extract watermark data.
While examples are provided with reference to steganographic watermark technology for identifying the initial content (i.e., that sensed by device 112), other technologies can alternatively be used. These include data glyphs, 1- and 2-D barcodes, magnetic ink, RF ID tags, UV or IR markings, etc.
While the detailed embodiment contemplated a single server 120 to serve as the repository of content corresponding to watermarks, in other embodiments such a server is implemented in distributed fashion. In some embodiments, one server may act as a default repository, and can dispatch queries to other servers if the first server cannot provide the requested data. Caching of frequently-requested content can be provided at various locations through the network. Additional details on such network configurations can be found in application Ser. No. 09/343,104.
As is familiar to those skilled in the arts, the foregoing methods may be performed using dedicated hardware at devices 112, 114 and 120, and/or through use of processors programmed in accordance with firmware or software, etc. In the latter case the processors may each include a CPU and associated memory, together with appropriate input and output devices/facilities. The software can be resident on a physical storage media such as disks, and can be loaded into the processors' memory for execution. The software includes instructions causing the CPU to perform the various processes detailed above.
OLE-like principles can be implemented using watermark data in digital objects in order to effect object linking or embedding.
Referring to FIG. 9, an illustrative embodiment of the present invention is a photocopier 210. The photocopier includes a platen 212, a scanner assembly 214, a raw data memory 216, a watermark decoder 218, a processor 220, a network connection 222, a pristine image buffer 224, a compositing memory 226, and a reproduction engine 228.
A paper document, such as document 230, is placed on platen 212, and scanner assembly 214 is activated to generate scan data corresponding to the document. The scanner assembly is conventional and may include a linear array of CCD or CMOS sensor elements that optically scans along an axis of the platen to generate 2D image data. Alternatively, the scanner can comprise a 2D array of sensor elements onto which an image of the document is projected through one or more lenses. In the illustrated embodiment, the document 230 includes a picture 231 that is encoded with a plural-bit digital watermark. Document 230 may be referred to as a compound document since it incorporates plural components (e.g., text and picture).
The scan data from the scanner assembly 214 is stored in the raw data memory 216, where it is analyzed for the presence of watermark data by the watermark decoder 218.
Upon detection of the watermark in picture 231, the processor 220 is programmed to initiate communication with a remote server 232 (e.g., over the internet) through the network connection 222. The programmed processor sends to the server a query message identifying the detected watermark (which may be, e.g., an identifier of 16-64 bits). A database 234 at the server 232 searches its records 237 for a digital object indexed by that watermark ID 239 and, if located, causes a pristine version of the object 238 (in this case a pristine version of the picture 231) to be sent to the photocopier.
In the embodiment illustrated, the database has the pristine version of the object stored within the database record for that watermark ID, and relays same directly back to the photocopier. In other embodiments, the object itself is not stored in the database. Instead, the database stores (in a record associated with the watermark ID) the address of a remote data repository at which the pristine object is stored. In this case the object server 232 can transmit an instruction to the remote repository (e.g., again over the internet), requesting the remote repository to provide the pristine object. The object can be sent directly from the remote data repository to the photocopier, or may be relayed through the object server 232. In any case, the pristine object may be provided in TIFF, JPEG, GIF, or other format. (In some embodiment, the request signal from the photocopier specifies the format desired, or may specify plural formats that the photocopier can accept, and the pristine object is then output by the server 232 or remote repository in such a format. In other embodiments, the request signal from the photocopier does not include any format data.)
In some embodiments, the object server 232 can be of the sort more particularly detailed in copending application 60/164,619 (filed Nov. 10, 1999), and Ser. No 09/343,104 (filed Jun. 29, 1999), the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In addition to detecting the ID of any watermark in the scanned image data, the photocopier's watermark detector also discerns the placement of the watermarked picture within the document image, and its state (e.g., size, rotation, etc.), and produces corresponding state information. In some embodiments, this state information is passed to the object server 232, permitting the pristine object 238 to be sized/rotated/etc. (e.g., by the object server) to match the object detected in the document image. In other embodiments, a generic version of the pristine object is passed back to the photocopier, and the processor 220 attends to sizing, rotating, etc., of the pristine picture 238 as necessary to match that of the original picture 231.
In some embodiments the picture 231 in the paper document has been cropped. (The watermark can nonetheless be detected from the cropped image.) When the pristine picture 238 is received from the remote location, it can be pattern-matched to the picture 231 detected in the original document to determine the cropping boundaries (if any), and corresponding cropping of the pristine picture can be effected.
Once the foregoing scaling/rotation/cropping, etc., adjustments (if any) have been made on the pristine picture 238 stored in buffer 224, the processed pristine picture is combined with the original document scan data in compositing memory 226, yielding a composite document image that includes the pristine picture data 238 in lieu of the scanned picture 231. (The substitution of the pristine picture for the original picture data can be accomplished by various known image processing techniques, including masking, overwriting, etc.) The composite document image is then passed to the reproduction engine 228 to produce a hard-copy output (i.e., an enhanced compound document 230′) in the conventional manner. (The reprographic engine 228 can take many different forms including, e.g., xerography, ink-jet printing, etc.)
The pristine picture 238 received from the server 232 can, itself be watermarked or not. If watermarked, the watermark will usually convey the same payload information as the watermark in the original picture 231, although this need not always be the case. In other embodiments, the pristine picture 238 received from the remote server 232 has no watermark. In such case the pristine picture can be substituted into the compound document 230 in its unwatermarked state. Alternatively, the apparatus 210 can embed a watermark into the picture prior to (or as part of) the substitution operation.
If the substituted picture is watermarked, this permits later watermark-based enhancement or updating. For example, if the enhanced compound document 230′ including the pristine picture 238 is printed by the photocopier, and the resulting photocopy is thereafter photocopied, the latter photocopying operation can again substitute pristine picture data for the scanned picture data produced by the second photocopier's scanner. Moreover, in applications where it is appropriate for a picture to be updated with the latest version whenever printed, the watermarking of the picture 238 permits substitution of a latest version whenever the document is scanned for printing.
In other situations, it is desirable for the picture 238 included in the enhanced compound document 230′ to be unwatermarked. This is the case, for example, in certain archival applications where it is important that the document 230′ not be changed after archiving. By assuring that the picture 238 is not watermarked, inadvertent changing of the picture in subsequent photocopying can be avoided. (In cases where the pristine image 238 is provided from server 232 in a watermarked state, the photocopier may remove or disable the watermark in response to corresponding instructions from a user through a user interface or the like.)
While this example embodiment is particularly illustrated with reference to a photocopier, the same principles are equally applicable in other systems, including personal computers (e.g., in conjunction with image editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop). In such case the input image data needn't come from a scanner but may come, e.g., from a digital file, from a network location, etc.
Likewise, while the embodiment is particularly illustrated with reference to picture (i.e., graphic) data, the same principles are equally applicable in connection with other data types, such as video, sound, text, etc. Moreover, the reference to “documents” is illustrative only; the invention can similarly be employed with any compound object that includes a watermarked component—whether in digital or analog form.
While the detailed embodiment is described as using separate raw data memory 216, pristine image buffer 224, and compositing memory 226, more typically some or all of these functions are served by a single memory, which may be a computer system's main RAM memory.
Likewise, while the detailed embodiment employs a processor 220 programmed in accordance with software instructions (e.g., stored in a memory or on a storage medium), in other embodiments some or all of the described functionality can be achieved using dedicated hardware (e.g., ASICs), or programmable hardware (e.g., PLAs).
Still further, while the embodiment is illustrated with reference to an arrangement in which a document includes a single watermarked photograph, it will be recognized that plural such watermarked components may be present in a compound document, and the system may be arranged to obtain pristine versions of each, and edit/composite same as necessary as to recreate an enhanced version of the original document.
While reference has been made to substitution of pristine image components, in some embodiments it may be desirable to substitute components that are not “pristine.” Indeed, in some embodiments an object may be substituted that is visually dissimilar to the original object. Consider artwork for a Christmas card. The artwork may include a watermarked “generic” corporate logo. When encountered by a computer according to the present invention, the generic logo may be replaced with a logo corresponding to the corporate owner of the computer. In such case, the substitute imagery may be stored within the computer itself, obviating the need for any network connection. The registry database maintained by the computer's operating system may include keys defined by watermark IDs. When a watermark ID is encountered, the registry database can be consulted to identify a corresponding graphic that can be substituted into the object being processed. If none is found, the watermark ID can be passed to the remote server 232.
The illustrative embodiment may be said to employ watermark-based object embedding, since the hard-copy output is static (i.e., cannot change) after printing. In other embodiments, the enhanced compound document 230′ is not printed, but stored. Each time the compound document is utilized (e.g., opened for editing, or printed), any watermarked component(s) therein can be updated to include the latest-available version(s) of the watermarked component(s). In such case, the document may be said to employ watermark-based object linking.
Additional embodiments are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,781, which is hereby incorporated by reference. This patent particularly describes embodiments relating to wireless portable devices like cellular telephones. To ensure that the reader has a comprehensive disclosure, the following patents incorporated into U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,781, are also incorporated here: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,465,387, 5,454,027, 5,420,910, 5,448,760, 5,335,278, 5,345,595, 5,144,649, 5,204,902, 5,153,919 and 5,388,212. These patents detail various cellular telephone systems, and fraud deterrence techniques used therein. The disclosures of these patents are incorporated by reference.
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systemsWO2010144610A1 *Jun 9, 2010Dec 16, 2010Digimarc CorporationContent sharing methods and systems* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification382/100International ClassificationG07F7/10, B42D15/10, H04Q7/38, G07F17/16, G06K9/00, G11B20/00, G07C9/00, G06K19/14, H04N1/32, G06T1/00, G07F7/08, G06K17/00, G10L15/26, G07D7/12, G06K9/20, G06F17/24, G06K19/18, G06K19/06, G06F17/30, H04H20/31, G07D7/00, G06Q30/00, H04N1/00Cooperative ClassificationG10L15/26, H04N1/32203, G06K19/14, H04N2201/3233, H04N2201/3226, H04N21/23892, H04N1/32229, G07C9/00079, G06K19/06037, G06F17/241, G06K2019/06253, G11B20/00884, H04N1/32208, H04N1/32251, G06K19/06046, B42D25/00, H04N2201/3205, G06K7/1417, G07D7/004, H04N2201/3225, G06K7/1447, H04N2201/3207, G06K2017/0064, H04N1/32352, H04N2201/3274, G06Q20/123, H04N2201/3271, H04N1/32288, H04N2201/328, H04N21/8358, G06Q30/02, G06K9/00442, H04N1/3216, H04N1/32144, H04N1/00005, G06K19/18, G06F17/30876, G06T2201/0051, G06T2201/0052, G07D7/002, H04N1/32122, G11B20/00007, H04N1/00037, H04N1/00079, G11B20/00086, H04N2201/327, H04H20/31, G11B20/00891, G06T1/0021, H04N1/00973European ClassificationH04N21/2389B, H04N21/8358, G06Q30/02, G06K9/00L, H04N1/32C19B6, H04N1/32C19C, G06Q20/123, G06K7/14A4C, H04N1/00W4, H04N1/32C19B2B, H04N1/00A4B9, H04N1/32C19B3B, H04N1/00A3E, H04N1/32C19B3G, H04N1/32C19B3E, H04N1/32C19B3, G06K7/14A2C, H04N1/00A1, G06F17/30W5, G07D7/00D, B42D15/10, G06K19/18, G06F17/24A, G07C9/00B6D2, G10L15/26A, H04N1/32C19, G06K19/06C3, H04H20/31, G06T1/00W, G06K19/06C5, G07D7/00B4, G06K19/14Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionNov 29, 2004ASAssignmentOwner name: DIGIMARC CORPORATION, OREGONFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:DAVIS, BRUCE L.;RHOADS, GEOFFREY B.;EVANS, DOUGLAS B.;REEL/FRAME:016025/0574;SIGNING DATES FROM 20040811 TO 20041030Nov 5, 2008ASAssignmentOwner name: DIGIMARC CORPORATION (FORMERLY DMRC CORPORATION),OFree format text: CONFIRMATION OF TRANSFER OF UNITED STATES PATENT RIGHTS;ASSIGNOR:L-1 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