Patent · US Expired

Protecting images with an image watermark

US7130442B2 · kind B2 · utility

46Cited by
13References
72Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 16, 2001
Grant dateOct 31, 2006
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 12, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N2201/327
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A robust means of watermarking a digitized image with a highly random sequence of pixel brightness multipliers is presented. The random sequence is formed from ‘robust-watermarking-parameters’ selected and known only by the marker and/or the marking entity. A watermarking plane is generated having an element array with one-to-one element positional correspondence with the pixels of the digitized image being marked. Each element of the watermarking plane is assigned a random value dependent upon a robust random sequence and a specified brightness modulation strength. The so generated watermarking plane is imparted onto the digitized image by multiplying the brightness value or values of each pixel by its corresponding element value in the watermarking plane. The resulting modified brightness values impart the random and relatively invisible watermark onto the digitized image. Brightness modulation is the essence of watermark imparting. Detection of an imparted watermark requires knowing the watermarking plane with which the watermark was imparted. Regeneration of the watermarking plane requires knowledge of the robust-marking-parameters used in its formulation. This is generally onl…

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