US6400826B1
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System, method, and product for distortion-compensated information embedding using an ensemble of non-intersecting embedding generators
Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Filing: 1999-04-27
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Granted: 2002-06-04
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Expires: 2019-04-27
Abstract
Abstract A system, method, and product provide distortion compensation when watermarking a host signal with a watemark signal. The watermark signal includes watermark-signal components having watermark-signal values, and the host signal includes host-signal components having host-signal values. A system includes 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. Also included is an embedding value generator that generates embedding values by each embedding generator. The system also has a point coder that sets at least one host-signal value of one or more selected host-signal components to a first embedding value to form a composite-signal value. A distortion compensator modifies at least one composite signal value. The distortion compensator includes a difference signal generator that generates a difference signal component having a first difference-signal value that is the difference between a host-signal value and its corresponding composite-signal value. The distortion compensator also includes a difference signal processor that scales the difference-signal value by a scaling factor, A distortion compensation combiner then generates a distortion-compensated composite signal based on the scaled difference-signal value and the composite-signal value. The distortion compensator may modify the composite signal value based on the number of possible watermark signal values to be embedded, a watermark-induced distortion level, an expected channel-induced distortion level, and a reliability of extracting the watermark signal.
Inventors
- 👤 Brian Chen
- 👤 Gregory W. Wornell
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 11:20
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04H; H04H20/00; H04H20/28; H04H20/30; H04H20/31; G; G06; G06T; G06T1/00; G06T1/0021; G06T1/0028; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/32; H04N1/32101; H04N1/32144; G11; G11B; G11B20/00; G11B20/00086; G11B20/00884; H04H2201/00; H04H2201/50
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 48
Claim 1
Independent Claim
270 words
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: 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; 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 third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed watermark-signal components, 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; and a distortion compensator that modifies at least one composite signal value, thereby forming a distortion-compensated composite signal value of a distortion-compensated composite signal component, wherein the distortion-compensated composite signal value has a distortion with respect to the at least one host signal value that is less than a distortion of the at least one composite signal value with respect to the at least one host signal value.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
270 words
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: 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; 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 third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed watermark-signal components, 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; and a distortion compensator that modifies at least one composite signal value, thereby forming a distortion-compensated composite signal value of a distortion-compensated composite signal component, wherein the distortion-compensated composite signal value has a distortion with respect to the at least one host signal value that is less than a distortion of the at least one composite signal value with respect to the at least one host signal value.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
122 words
The system of claim 1 , further 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, wherein the ensemble designator designates a plurality of embedding generators, each corresponding to a single transformed watermark-signal value of a co-processed group of one or more transformed watermark-signal components, and wherein the point coder sets at least one host-signal value of one or more selected transformed host-signal components to the first embedding value of the third embedding generator, thereby forming the composite-signal value, and wherein the third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed transformed watermark-signal components.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
75 words
The system of claim 1 , further 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, wherein the point coder sets at least one host-signal value of one or more selected transformed host-signal components to the first embedding value of the third embedding generator, thereby forming the composite-signal value.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of claim 1 , further comprising: an information extractor that extracts the first watermark-signal value from the first embedding value.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
117 words
The system of claim 4 , wherein the information extractor comprises: a synchronizer that acquires a composite signal including the distortion-compensated composite-signal value; an ensemble replicator that replicates the first embedding-value set to form a second embedding-value set, each embedding value of the second embedding-value set having the same correspondence to a single watermark-signal value as has the one embedding value of the first embedding-value set from which it is replicated; a point decoder that selects a second embedding value of the second embedding-value set based on its proximity to the distortion-compensated composite-signal value, and that sets the first watermark-signal value to a one of the plurality of watermark-signal values to which the second embedding value corresponds.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
122 words
The system of claim 4 , wherein the information extractor comprises: a synchronizer that acquires a composite signal including the distortion-compensated composite-signal value; an ensemble replicator that replicates a first distortion-compensated embedding-value set to form a second distortion-compensated embedding-value set, each embedding value of the second distortion-compensated embedding-value set having the same correspondence to a single watermark-signal value as has the one embedding value of the first distortion-compensated embedding-value set from which it is replicated; a point decoder that selects a second embedding value of the second distortion-compensated embedding-value set based on its proximity to the distortion-compensated composite-signal value, and that sets the first watermark-signal value to a one of the plurality of watermark-signal values to which the second embedding value corresponds.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
29 words
The system of claim 1 , further comprising: a conventional embedder that embeds at least one of the group of co-processed watermark-signal components into the distortion-compensated composite signal component.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
20 words
The system of claim 1 , further comprising: a block selector that selects one or more host-signal components for embedding.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
28 words
The system of claim 8 , wherein: the block selector selects the one or more host-signal components for embedding based upon a masking characteristic of the host signal.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
218 words
The system of claim 1 , wherein: the plurality of embedding generators designated by the ensemble designator comprise 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; the embedding value generator comprises 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 the point coder 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.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
47 words
The system of claim 1 , wherein: the distortion compensator modifies the at least one composite signal value based on a number of possible watermark signal values to be embedded, a watermark-induced distortion level, an expected channel-induced distortion level, and a reliability of extracting the watermark signal.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
59 words
The system of claim 1 , wherein: the distortion compensator comprises a difference signal generator constructed and arranged to generate at least a first difference signal component having a first difference-signal value that comprises a difference between a first host-signal value of a first of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding first composite-signal value.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system of claim 12 , wherein: the distortion compensator further comprises a difference signal processor constructed and arranged to scale the first differense-signal value by a first scaling factor.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
83 words
The system of claim 13 , wherein: the difference signal generator further is constructed and arranged to generate a second difference signal component having a second difference-signal value that comprises a difference between a second host-signal value of a second of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding composite-signal value, and the difference signal processor further is constructed and arranged to scale the second difference-signal value by a second scaling factor that is different than the first scaling factor.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
70 words
The system of claim 13 , wherein: the difference signal generator further is constructed and arranged to generate a second difference signal component having a second difference-signal value that comprises a difference between a second host-signal value of a second of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding composite-signal value, and the first scaling factor is based, at least in part, on the second difference-signal value.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of claim 13 , wherein: the first scaling factor is based, at least in part, on the first host-signal value.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
40 words
The system of claim 13 , wherein: the distortion compensator further comprises a distortion compensation combiner constructed and arranged to generate at least a first distortion-compensated composite signal based on the scaled first difference-signal value and the first composite-signal value.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
34 words
The system of claim 17 , wherein: the distortion compensation combiner is constructed and arranged to generate the first distortion-compensated composite signal by adding the scaled first difference-signal value and the first composite-signal value.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
44 words
The system of claim 13 , wherein: the distortion compensator further comprises a distortion compensation combiner constructed and arranged to generate at least a first distortion-compensated composite signal based on the scaled first difference-signal value, the first composite-signal value, and the first host-signal value.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
53 words
The system of claim 13 , wherein: the distortion compensator further comprises a distortion compensation combiner constructed and arranged to generate at least a first distortion-compensated composite signal based on the scaled first difference-signal value, the first composite-signal value, and at least one host-signal value of the host-signal components of the host signal.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
27 words
The system of claim 20 , wherein: the first distortion-compensated composite signal is based on at least one perceptual masking property of at least one host-signal component.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
59 words
The system of claim 1 , wherein: the distortion compensator comprises a difference signal generator constructed and arranged to generate at least a first difference signal component having a first difference-signal value that comprises a filtered difference between a first host-signal value of a first of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding composite-signal value.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
47 words
The system of claim 22 , wherein: the difference between the first host-signal value of the first of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding composite-signal value is filtered based on at least one perceptual masking property of at least one host-signal component.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
37 words
The system of claim 23 , wherein: the difference between the first host-signal value of the first of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding composite-signal value is filtered using a Fourier transform.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
260 words
A method for watermarking 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 method comprising the steps of: (1) designating 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; (2) generating, 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; (3) setting 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 third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed watermark-signal components, 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; and (4) modifying at least one composite signal value, thereby forming a distortion-compensated composite signal value of a distortion-compensated composite signal component, wherein the distortion-compensated composite signal value has a distortion with respect to the at least one host signal value that is less than a distortion of the at least one composite signal value with respect to the at least one host signal value.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
260 words
A method for watermarking 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 method comprising the steps of: (1) designating 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; (2) generating, 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; (3) setting 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 third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed watermark-signal components, 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; and (4) modifying at least one composite signal value, thereby forming a distortion-compensated composite signal value of a distortion-compensated composite signal component, wherein the distortion-compensated composite signal value has a distortion with respect to the at least one host signal value that is less than a distortion of the at least one composite signal value with respect to the at least one host signal value.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
53 words
The method of claim 25 , wherein: step (4) includes the step of generating at least a first difference signal component having a first difference-signal value that comprises a difference between a first host-signal value of a first of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding first composite-signal value.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 26 , wherein: step (4) further includes the step of scaling the first difference-signal value by a first scaling factor.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
69 words
The method of claim 27 , wherein: step (4) includes the steps of generating a second difference signal component having a second differense-signal value that comprises a difference between a second host-signal value of a second of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding composite-signal value, and scaling the second difference-signal value by a second scaling factor that is different than the first scaling factor.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
66 words
The method of claim 27 , wherein: step (4) includes the steps of generating a second difference signal component having a second difference-signal value that comprises a difference between a second host-signal value of a second of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding composite-signal value, wherein the first scaling factor is based, at least in part, on the second difference-signal value.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 27 , wherein: the first scaling factor is based, at least in part, on the first host-signal value.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 27 , wherein: step (4) also includes the step of generating at least a first distortion-compensated composite signal based on the scaled first difference-signal value and the first composite-signal value.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 31 , wherein: the step of generating at least a first distortion-compensated composite signal includes adding the scaled first difference-signal value and the first composite-signal value.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 27 , wherein: step (4) also includes the step of generating at least a first distortion-compensated composite signal based on the scaled first difference-signal value, the first composite-signal value, and the first host-signal value.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
47 words
The method of claim 27 , wherein: step (4) also includes the step of generating at least a first distortion-compensated composite signal based on the scaled first difference-signal value, the first composite-signal value, and at least one host-signal value of the host-signal components of the host signal.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 34 , wherein: the step of generating at least a first distortion-compensated composite signal includes basing it on at least one perceptual masking property of at least one host-signal component.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
53 words
The method of claim 25 , wherein: step (4) includes the step of generating at least a first difference signal component having a first difference-signal value that comprises a filtered difference between a first host-signal value of a first of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding composite-signal value.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 31 , wherein: the filtering of the difference between the first host-signal value of the first of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding composite-signal value based on at least one perceptual masking property of at least one host-signal component.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 37 , wherein: the filtering of the difference between the first host-signal value of the first of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding composite-signal value is done using a Fourier transform.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
278 words
A computer program product comprising storage media that contains software that, when executed on a computing system, performs a method for watermarking 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 method comprising the steps of: (1) designating 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; (2) generating, 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; (3) setting 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 third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed watermark-signal components, 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; and (4) modifying at least one composite signal value, thereby forming a distortion-compensated composite signal value of a distortion-compensated composite signal component, wherein the distortion-compensated composite signal value has a distortion with respect to the at least one host signal value that is less than a distortion of the at least one composite signal value with respect to the at least one host signal value.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
278 words
A computer program product comprising storage media that contains software that, when executed on a computing system, performs a method for watermarking 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 method comprising the steps of: (1) designating 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; (2) generating, 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; (3) setting 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 third embedding generator corresponds to a first watermark-signal value of the group of co-processed watermark-signal components, 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; and (4) modifying at least one composite signal value, thereby forming a distortion-compensated composite signal value of a distortion-compensated composite signal component, wherein the distortion-compensated composite signal value has a distortion with respect to the at least one host signal value that is less than a distortion of the at least one composite signal value with respect to the at least one host signal value.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
55 words
The computer program product of claim 39 , wherein: step (4) includes the step of generating at least a first difference signal component having a first difference-signal value that comprises a difference between a first host-signal value of a first of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding first composite-signal value.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
26 words
The computer program product of claim 40 , wherein: step (4) further includes the step of scaling the first difference-signal value by a first scaling factor.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
36 words
The computer program product of claim 41 , wherein: step (4) also includes the step of generating at least a first distortion-compensated composite signal based on the scaled first difference-signal value and the first composite-signal value.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
32 words
The computer program product of claim 42 , wherein: the step of generating at least a first distortion-compensated composite signal includes adding the scaled first difference-signal value and the first composite-signal value.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
40 words
The computer program product of claim 41 , wherein: step (4) also includes the step of generating at least a first distortion-compensated composite signal based on the scaled first difference-signal value, the first composite-signal value, and the first host-signal value.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
55 words
The computer program product of claim 39 , wherein: step (4) includes the step of generating at least a first difference signal component having a first difference-signal value that comprises a filtered difference between a first host-signal value of a first of the one or more selected host signal components and its corresponding composite-signal value.
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| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-06-03 | 2009-12-03 | 2010-06-04 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
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