On Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Digital watermarking and fingerprinting continue to be relatively hot topics. Assigned to Kaleidescape, the first of today's Spotlight Patents concerns parallel distribution and fingerprinting of digital content. Assigned to Digimarc, the second patent concerns digital watermarking of low bit rate video.
7,568,105, "Parallel distribution and fingerprinting of digital content," assigned to Kaleidascape.
Abstract
Distributing information, including the steps of watermarking the digital content, distributing the digital content using a multi-source system, and partially fingerprinting digital content at each stage of moving information from a point of origin to the viewer. "Adaptation" of the digital content to the recipient includes maintaining the digital content in encrypted form at each such intermediate device, including decrypting the digital content with a key unique to both the device and the specific movie, selecting a portion of the watermark locations into which to embed information, embedding fingerprinting information into those locations sufficient to identify the recipient, and encrypting the fingerprinted digital content with a new such key.
7,567,721, "Digital watermarking of low bit rate video," assigned to Digimarc.
Abstract
Methods for embedding digital watermarks in compressed video include perceptual adapting a digital watermark in predicted and non-predicted data based on block activity derived from the compressed video stream, embedding in predicted objects in a video stream having separately compressed video objects, and bit rate control of watermarked video.