Patent · US Expired

Efficient watermark method and apparatus for digital signals

US6219634A · kind A · utility

91Cited by
19References
78Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateOct 14, 1998
Grant dateApr 17, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 14, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG10L19/018
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Watermark data is encoded in a digitized signal by forming a noise threshold spectrum which represents a maximum amount of imperceptible noise, spread-spectrum chipping the noise threshold spectrum with a relatively endless stream of pseudo-random bits to form a basis signal, dividing the basis signal into segments, and filtering the segments to smooth segment boundaries. The data encoded in the watermark signal is precoded to make the watermark data inversion robust and is convolutional encoded to further increase the likelihood that the watermark data will subsequently be retrievable notwithstanding lossy processing of the watermarked signal. The basis signal fits noise thresholds determined by constant-quality quantization approximation. Noise introduced by quantization is estimated by determining a continuously differentiable function which approximates noise introduced by such quantization and using the function to solve for a relatively optimal gain to be applied during such quantization. The continuously differentiable function includes a local quantization stepsize. A local quantization stepsize is determined by first determining widths of quantization steps at respective p…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.