Patent · US Expired

Data processing apparatus and method

US7369675B2 · kind B2 · utility

7Cited by
4References
30Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 26, 2003
Grant dateMay 6, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 8, 2025

Classification

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

Abstract

A system for watermarking and distributing material includes a data processing apparatus, which operates as a watermark encoder. The data processing apparatus is operable to process an original material item to form a reduced-bandwidth-version of the material item, marked with a code word from a predetermined set of code words. The data processing apparatus is operable to form an impaired version of the material item from which a marked representation of the original material item can be formed. The impaired version is formed by subtracting the reduced-bandwidth-version of the material item from a copy of the original material item. As such, the impaired version can be mass distributed, but a representation of the original material item cannot be formed without the reduced-bandwidth-version of the material item. By watermarking the reduced-bandwidth-versions, a representation of the material item, formed by combining one of the marked reduced-bandwidth-versions with the impaired material item, can be uniquely identified. However, only a low bandwidth part of the material item need be watermark encoded, which is more easily distributable to individual recipients than watermarked cop…

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