US6654480B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Audio appliance and monitoring device responsive to watermark data
Assignee: Digimarc Corp
•
Filing: 2002-03-25
•
Granted: 2003-11-25
•
Expires: 2022-03-25
Abstract
Abstract A consumer audio device decodes auxiliary control data that is hidden in audio information. The auxiliary control information can be used to trigger some response in the device, such as enabling or disabling certain operations.
Inventors
- 👤 Geoffrey B. Rhoads
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 12:32
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F12/00; G06F12/14; G06F12/1408; G06Q; G06Q20/00; G06Q20/08; G06Q20/12; G06Q20/123; G06Q20/1235; G06Q20/30; G06Q20/34; G06Q20/341; G06Q20/38; G06Q20/40; G06Q20/401; G06Q20/4014; G06Q20/40145; G06T; G06T1/00; G06T1/0021; G06T1/005; G06T1/0057; G07; G07C; G07C9/00; G07C9/20; G07C9/22; G07C9/25; G07C9/253; G07D; G07D7/00; G07D7/003; G07D7/0032; G07D7/004; G07F; G07F17/00; G07F17/16; G07F17/26; G07F7/00; G07F7/08; G07F7/086; G07F7/10; G07F7/1008; G07F7/1016; G07F7/12; G10; G10L; G10L19/00; G10L19/018; G11; G11B; G11B20/00; G11B20/00007; G11B20/00086; G11B20/00094; G11B20/00115; G11B20/00166; G11B20/00181; G11B20/0021; G11B20/00884; G11B20/00891; G11B20/10; G11B20/10009; G11B20/10037; G11B20/10527; H; H04; H04B; H04B1/00; H04B1/66; H04B1/665; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/00002; H04N1/00005; H04N1/00026; H04N1/00037; H04N1/00071; H04N1/00074; H04N1/00079; H04N1/32; H04N1/32101; H04N1/32144; H04N1/32149; H04N1/32203; H04N1/32208; H04N1/32251; H04N1/32288; H04N5/00; H04N5/76; H04N5/89; H04N5/90; H04N5/91; H04N5/913; H04N9/00; H04N9/79; H04N9/80; H04N9/804; H04N9/8042; H04N9/82; H04N9/8205; G06T2201/00; G06T2201/005; G06T2201/0052; G11B2020/00014; G11B2020/10537; G11B2020/10546; G11B2020/10555; H04N2005/91307; H04N2005/91321; H04N2005/91335; H04N2005/91342; H04N2005/9135; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3201; H04N2201/3204; H04N2201/3205; H04N2201/3207; H04N2201/3225; H04N2201/3226; H04N2201/3233; H04N2201/3269; H04N2201/327; H04N2201/3271; H04N2201/328; H04N9/8047; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S283/00; Y10S283/901
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 27
Claim 1
Independent Claim
77 words
An audio appliance comprising: a memory including a key; and a recognition device responsive to a control signal steganographically embedded in audio information to limit use of the appliance, the control signal taking the form of a low level noise-like signal that has been summed with the audio information, the noise signal encoding the control signal, the control signal being repeated throughout the audio information and being represented differently in the audio information according to the key.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
77 words
An audio appliance comprising: a memory including a key; and a recognition device responsive to a control signal steganographically embedded in audio information to limit use of the appliance, the control signal taking the form of a low level noise-like signal that has been summed with the audio information, the noise signal encoding the control signal, the control signal being repeated throughout the audio information and being represented differently in the audio information according to the key.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
74 words
An audio appliance comprising: a memory including a key; and a recognition device responsive to a control signal steganographically embedded in audio information to limit use of the appliance, the control signal being detected by a correlation detector in the recognition device, the correlation detector receiving as one input a noise-like reference signal, the control signal being repeated throughout the audio information and being represented differently in the audio information according to the key.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
74 words
An audio appliance comprising: a memory including a key; and a recognition device responsive to a control signal steganographically embedded in audio information to limit use of the appliance, the control signal being detected by a correlation detector in the recognition device, the correlation detector receiving as one input a noise-like reference signal, the control signal being repeated throughout the audio information and being represented differently in the audio information according to the key.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
23 words
The appliance of claim 2 in which the correlation detector receives as a second input a high-pass filtered version of the audio information.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
40 words
The appliance of claim 2 in which the correlation detector performs a dot product operation between two sets of data, a first of said sets being said noise-like reference signal, the second of said sets corresponding to the audio information.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
111 words
An audio monitoring device comprising: a memory including data for steganographically decoding a control signal from audio information; and a recognition device in communication with the memory and responsive to the control signal steganographically embedded in audio information, the control signal taking the form of an auxiliary signal derived in part from the audio information that has been summed with the audio information, the recognition device being operable to measure statistical characteristics of corresponding segments of audio samples of the audio information, and being operable to estimate from the measure of the statistical characteristic for each segment an embedded symbol corresponding to the measure of the statistical characteristic for the segment.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
111 words
An audio monitoring device comprising: a memory including data for steganographically decoding a control signal from audio information; and a recognition device in communication with the memory and responsive to the control signal steganographically embedded in audio information, the control signal taking the form of an auxiliary signal derived in part from the audio information that has been summed with the audio information, the recognition device being operable to measure statistical characteristics of corresponding segments of audio samples of the audio information, and being operable to estimate from the measure of the statistical characteristic for each segment an embedded symbol corresponding to the measure of the statistical characteristic for the segment.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
20 words
The audio monitoring device of claim 5 wherein the statistical characteristic is computed for delayed segments of the audio information.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
21 words
The audio monitoring device of claim 5 wherein the segments of audio samples comprise time domain samples of the audio information.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
17 words
The audio monitoring device of claim 5 wherein the statistical characteristic comprises entropy of the audio segment.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
19 words
The audio monitoring device of claim 5 wherein the statistical characteristic comprises time averaged power of the audio segment.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
89 words
A method for using a steganographic control signal to limit use of an audio appliance, the method comprising: receiving audio information in the appliance; and decoding a control signal steganographically embedded in the audio information to limit use of the appliance, the control signal taking the form of a low level noise-like signal that has been summed with the audio information, the noise signal encoding the control signal, the control signal being repeated throughout the audio information and being represented differently in the audio information according to the key.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
89 words
A method for using a steganographic control signal to limit use of an audio appliance, the method comprising: receiving audio information in the appliance; and decoding a control signal steganographically embedded in the audio information to limit use of the appliance, the control signal taking the form of a low level noise-like signal that has been summed with the audio information, the noise signal encoding the control signal, the control signal being repeated throughout the audio information and being represented differently in the audio information according to the key.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
82 words
A method for using a steganographic control signal to limit use of an audio appliance, the method comprising: receiving audio information in the appliance; decoding a control signal steganographically embedded in the audio information to limit use of the appliance, the control signal being detected by performing correlation on the audio information; and receiving as one input a noise-like reference signal, the control signal being repeated throughout the audio information and being represented differently in the audio information according to the key.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
82 words
A method for using a steganographic control signal to limit use of an audio appliance, the method comprising: receiving audio information in the appliance; decoding a control signal steganographically embedded in the audio information to limit use of the appliance, the control signal being detected by performing correlation on the audio information; and receiving as one input a noise-like reference signal, the control signal being repeated throughout the audio information and being represented differently in the audio information according to the key.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 11 in which the correlation is performed on a second input comprising a high-pass filtered version of the audio information.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 11 in which performing the correlation includes a dot product operation between two sets of data, a first of said sets being said noise-like reference signal, the second of said sets corresponding to the audio information.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
94 words
A method of monitoring audio for a steganographic control signal comprising: receiving audio information; decoding a control signal steganographically embedded in the audio information, the control signal taking the form of an auxiliary signal derived in part from the audio information that has been summed with the audio information; and wherein decoding the control signal includes measuring statistical characteristics of corresponding segments of audio samples of the audio information, estimating from the measure of the statistical characteristic for each segment an embedded symbol corresponding to the measure of the statistical characteristic for the segment.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
94 words
A method of monitoring audio for a steganographic control signal comprising: receiving audio information; decoding a control signal steganographically embedded in the audio information, the control signal taking the form of an auxiliary signal derived in part from the audio information that has been summed with the audio information; and wherein decoding the control signal includes measuring statistical characteristics of corresponding segments of audio samples of the audio information, estimating from the measure of the statistical characteristic for each segment an embedded symbol corresponding to the measure of the statistical characteristic for the segment.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the statistical characteristic is computed for delayed segments of the audio information.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the segments of audio samples comprise time domain samples of the audio information.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the statistical characteristic comprises entropy of the audio segment.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the statistical characteristic comprises time averaged power of the audio segment.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
16 words
A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for performing the method of claim 14 .
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
99 words
A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for performing a method for using a steganographic control signal to limit use of an audio appliance, the method comprising: receiving audio information in the appliance; and decoding a control signal steganographically embedded in the audio information to limit use of the appliance, the control signal taking the form of a low level noise-like signal that has been summed with the audio information, the noise signal encoding the control signal, the control signal being repeated throughout the audio information and being represented differently in the audio information according to the key.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
99 words
A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for performing a method for using a steganographic control signal to limit use of an audio appliance, the method comprising: receiving audio information in the appliance; and decoding a control signal steganographically embedded in the audio information to limit use of the appliance, the control signal taking the form of a low level noise-like signal that has been summed with the audio information, the noise signal encoding the control signal, the control signal being repeated throughout the audio information and being represented differently in the audio information according to the key.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US2630525A
Cited
US3004104A
Cited
US4358857A
Cited
US4245346A
Cited
US3406344A
Cited
US3845391A
Cited
US3894190A
Cited
US3885217A
Cited
US4025851A
Cited
US4238849A
Cited
US4225967A
Cited
US4237494A
Cited
US4379947A
Cited
US4230990A
Cited
US4230990C1
Cited
US4333113A
Cited
GB2063018A
Cited
DE2943436A1
Cited
GB2067871A
Cited
US4313197A
Cited
US4528588A
Cited
US4395600A
Cited
EP0058482A1
Cited
GB2104701A
Cited
US4425661A
Cited
US4425642A
Cited
US4495620A
Cited
US4512013A
Cited
US4523311A
Cited
US4703476A
Cited
US4593389A
Cited
US4921278A
Cited
US4750173A
Cited
US4775901A
Cited
US5719984A
Cited
US4876617A
Cited
US4718106A
Cited
GB2196167A
Cited
US4866771A
Cited
GB2204984A
Cited
US4979210A
Cited
US4777529A
Cited
US4855827A
Cited
US4807031A
Cited
US4811357A
Cited
US5394274A
Cited
DE3806411A1
Cited
WO1989008915A1
Cited
US4963998A
Cited
US5079648A
Cited
US4920503A
Cited
US4945412A
Cited
US5213337A
Cited
US5073899A
Cited
US5146457A
Cited
US4969041A
Cited
US4939515A
Cited
EP0366381A2
Cited
US5161210A
Cited
EP0372601A1
Cited
US5010405A
Cited
US4943973A
Cited
US4972471A
Cited
US5134496A
Cited
US5530655A
Cited
US5319453A
Cited
EP0411232A2
Cited
EP0418964A1
Cited
US5453968A
Cited
US5212551A
Cited
EP0441702A1
Cited
US5907443A
Cited
US5103459B1
Cited
US5103459A
Cited
EP0493091A1
Cited
US5315098A
Cited
US5537216A
Cited
JPH04248771A
Cited
US5257119A
Cited
US5200822A
Cited
WO1992019073A1
Cited
US5642397A
Cited
US5479168A
Cited
US5243411A
Cited
US5387941A
Cited
US5572247A
Cited
US5559559A
Cited
US5327237A
Cited
US5510900A
Cited
US5581800A
Cited
US5450122A
Cited
US5319735A
Cited
US5243423A
Cited
EP0551016A1
Cited
JPH05242217A
Cited
EP0565947B1
Cited
US5436653A
Cited
US5960151A
Cited
WO1993025038A1
Cited
US5987127A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2006-11-24 | 2007-05-26 | 2007-11-25 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2010-11-24 | 2011-05-26 | 2011-11-25 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2014-11-24 | 2015-05-26 | 2015-11-25 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |