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US6590996B1 Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Color adaptive watermarking

Assignee: Digimarc Corp
•
Filing: 2000-04-19
•
Granted: 2003-07-08
•
Expires: 2020-04-19
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Abstract

Abstract A color mapping process enhances a watermark by computing a change in colors that is less visible for a given watermark strength. The mapping process provides smooth transitions from one color region to another, and may be implemented efficiently with a 3D look up table. A user interface scheme enables the user to control encoding of the watermark in desired color regions.

Inventors

  • 👤 Alastair M. Reed
  • 👤 Geoffrey B. Rhoads

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-09 19:23
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06T; G06T1/00; G06T1/0021; G06T1/0028; G06T1/005; G06T1/0064; H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/32; H04N1/32101; H04N1/32144; H04N1/32149; H04N1/32154; H04N1/32203; H04N1/32208; H04N1/32229; H04N1/32251; H04N1/32288; H04N1/32293; H04N1/32309; H04N1/32352; H04N19/00; H04N19/46; H04N19/467; H04N19/60; H04N19/63; H04N19/64; H04N19/645; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/23; H04N21/238; H04N21/2389; H04N21/23892; H04N21/40; H04N21/43; H04N21/44; H04N21/44008; H04N21/45; H04N21/462; H04N21/4627; H04N21/80; H04N21/83; H04N21/835; H04N21/8358; H04N7/00; H04N7/16; H04N7/162; H04N7/163; G06T2201/00; G06T2201/005; G06T2201/0051; G06T2201/0052; H04H; H04H20/00; H04H20/28; H04H20/30; H04H20/31; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3201; H04N2201/3225; H04N2201/3233; H04N2201/3269; H04N2201/327; H04N2201/328; H04N2201/3284

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 24
Claim 1
Independent Claim 101 words
In a watermark encoder, a method of encoding auxiliary information in an image comprising: computing a change in an attribute of an image sample to encode auxiliary information in the image; and changing color values of the image sample to effect the change in the image sample attribute with minimized impact on visibility; wherein the color values are changed in a direction in color space that depends on original color values of the image sample such that the change in color values is adapted to the color of the image sample and the direction is selected to minimize impact on visibility.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 101 words
In a watermark encoder, a method of encoding auxiliary information in an image comprising: computing a change in an attribute of an image sample to encode auxiliary information in the image; and changing color values of the image sample to effect the change in the image sample attribute with minimized impact on visibility; wherein the color values are changed in a direction in color space that depends on original color values of the image sample such that the change in color values is adapted to the color of the image sample and the direction is selected to minimize impact on visibility.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 61 words
The method of claim 1 wherein changing the color values includes transforming the change in the image sample attribute to a change in color components of the image sample such that the change in the color components are selected to minimize visibility of the change in the image sample attribute yet be equivalent to the change in the image sample attribute.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 31 words
The method of claim 2 including: employing a color look up table to map the change in the image sample attribute to changes in one or more of the color components.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 18 words
The method of claim 3 where the color components of the image sample comprise CMYK data for printing.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 37 words
The method of claim 1 including selectively scaling color vectors of image samples to white or black to effect an equivalent change in the luminance of image samples while reducing visibility of the changes to the image.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 52 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the change in the image sample attribute is a change in magnitude of a specified color vector, and the changes in the color components of the image sample are made to have an equivalent change in the magnitude of the specified color vector while reducing visibility.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 34 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the change in the image sample attribute is a change in luminance, and the changes in the color components are made to have an equivalent change in luminance.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 14 words
A computer readable medium having software for performing the method of claim 1 .
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 82 words
In a watermark encoder, a method of encoding auxiliary information in an image comprising: computing a change in an attribute of an image sample to encode auxiliary information in the image; and changing color values of the image sample to effect the change in the image sample attribute with minimized impact on visibility; wherein the change in the image sample attribute is a change in chrominance, and the changes in the color components are made to have an equivalent change in chrominance.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 82 words
In a watermark encoder, a method of encoding auxiliary information in an image comprising: computing a change in an attribute of an image sample to encode auxiliary information in the image; and changing color values of the image sample to effect the change in the image sample attribute with minimized impact on visibility; wherein the change in the image sample attribute is a change in chrominance, and the changes in the color components are made to have an equivalent change in chrominance.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 151 words
In a watermark encoder, a method of encoding auxiliary information in an image comprising: computing a change in an attribute of an image sample to encode auxiliary information in the image; and changing color values of the image sample to effect the change in the image sample attribute with minimized impact on visibility; wherein the change in the image sample attribute is a change in a first vector in a color space for a first set of colors, and is a change in a second vector in the color space for a second set of colors; and the change in the image sample attribute is mapped to a change in color components of the image sample to effect the change in the first vector for image samples in the first set of colors, and to effect the change in the second vector for image samples in the second set of colors.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 151 words
In a watermark encoder, a method of encoding auxiliary information in an image comprising: computing a change in an attribute of an image sample to encode auxiliary information in the image; and changing color values of the image sample to effect the change in the image sample attribute with minimized impact on visibility; wherein the change in the image sample attribute is a change in a first vector in a color space for a first set of colors, and is a change in a second vector in the color space for a second set of colors; and the change in the image sample attribute is mapped to a change in color components of the image sample to effect the change in the first vector for image samples in the first set of colors, and to effect the change in the second vector for image samples in the second set of colors.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 17 words
The method of claim 10 wherein the first vector represents luminance, and the second vector represents chrominance.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 31 words
The method of claim 10 wherein image sample attribute corresponds to two or more different vectors in the color space, each of the vectors corresponding to a different set of colors.
Claim 16
Independent Claim 79 words
A method for assessing whether a watermark in an image is valid comprising: decoding a watermark using a color key that indicates how an attribute of an image sample is changed in watermark encoding based on color of the image sample, wherein the color key indicates colors in which the watermark is expected to be embedded, and the colors of watermark embedding vary depending on colors of the image; based on the decoding, determining whether the watermark is valid.
Claim 17
Independent Claim 79 words
A method for assessing whether a watermark in an image is valid comprising: decoding a watermark using a color key that indicates how an attribute of an image sample is changed in watermark encoding based on color of the image sample, wherein the color key indicates colors in which the watermark is expected to be embedded, and the colors of watermark embedding vary depending on colors of the image; based on the decoding, determining whether the watermark is valid.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 17 words
A computer readable medium on which is stored software for performing the method of claim 13 .
Claim 19
Independent Claim 120 words
A method for assessing whether a watermark in an image is valid comprising: decoding a watermark using a color key that indicates how an attribute of an image sample is changed in watermark encoding based on color of the image sample; based on the decoding, determining whether the watermark is valid; for image samples in the image, using the color key to select a color channel or channels in which the watermark signal is expected to be the strongest; measuring a figure of merit of the watermark signal in the selected color channel or channels; and assessing validity of the watermark signal based on the measured figure of merit of the watermark signal in the selected color channel or channels.
Claim 20
Independent Claim 120 words
A method for assessing whether a watermark in an image is valid comprising: decoding a watermark using a color key that indicates how an attribute of an image sample is changed in watermark encoding based on color of the image sample; based on the decoding, determining whether the watermark is valid; for image samples in the image, using the color key to select a color channel or channels in which the watermark signal is expected to be the strongest; measuring a figure of merit of the watermark signal in the selected color channel or channels; and assessing validity of the watermark signal based on the measured figure of merit of the watermark signal in the selected color channel or channels.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim 20 words
The method of claim 15 wherein the watermark signal is a known watermark signal expected to be in the image.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim 35 words
The method of claim 16 wherein the known watermark signal is a watermark orientation signal having attributes enabling calculation of an orientation of the known watermark signal in an image suspected of containing a watermark.
Claim 23
Independent Claim 79 words
A method for encoding auxiliary data into an image comprising: transforming blocks of the image into transform coefficients; altering the transform coefficients to encode the auxiliary data; determining a characteristic color of the blocks; wherein the transform coefficients are altered such that the auxiliary data is embedded in each block depending on the characteristic color of the block and the auxiliary data is embedded in a selected color that has reduced visibility for the characteristic color of the block.
Claim 24
Independent Claim 79 words
A method for encoding auxiliary data into an image comprising: transforming blocks of the image into transform coefficients; altering the transform coefficients to encode the auxiliary data; determining a characteristic color of the blocks; wherein the transform coefficients are altered such that the auxiliary data is embedded in each block depending on the characteristic color of the block and the auxiliary data is embedded in a selected color that has reduced visibility for the characteristic color of the block.

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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 2006-07-07 2007-01-06 2007-07-08 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2010-07-07 2011-01-06 2011-07-08 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2014-07-07 2015-01-06 2015-07-08 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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