While not visible or audible to human senses, the digital watermark is discernible when operated upon by common data and geometric manipulations such as digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversion, resampling, and requantization, including printing and compression, rotation, translation, cropping and scaling. To avoid this, a digital watermark is inserted into the spectral components of the data using techniques analogous to spread spectrum communications. Modification of these components can lead to perceptual degradation of the underlying data. Because the contents of the digital watermark are placed in perceptually significant components of the data, the removal of the watermark makes appreciation of the underlying data protected by the digital watermark virtually impossible.
Unlike cryptographic methods that do not have a mechanism for tracking reproduction of a file, digital watermarks, in the form of an invisible-identification code that can be permanently embedded in the data, have the capability to identify each authorized purchaser of a protected file.
Not only can an individual with a computing device and a printer violate an author's copyrights in a work, but the networking of computing devices permits an unscrupulous party to post the author's work on a publicly-accessible data-storage device for others to partake as well. Once the visible watermark is effectively removed from the digital representation, unscrupulous parties can make copies of, and/or generate derivative works from, the underlying image, possibly violating the author's copyrights in the original document or image.
Consequently, visible watermarks are no longer as heavily relied upon for identifying authors of documents and authenticating original documents because of the relative ease with which visible watermarks can be removed from a digital representation of an image. While watermarks are still used today to both identify the source and to authenticate a document (e.g., a bank draft), the proliferation of relatively low-cost high-quality printing and color-copying devices coupled with advances in computer technology, including the networking of computing devices, have significantly undermined the ability of a visible watermark to identify a particular source and/or authenticate a particular document. G06T1/00- General purpose image data processing.G06T- IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL.Assignors: HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY Publication of US20030165253A1 publication Critical patent/US20030165253A1/en Application granted granted Critical Publication of US7295677B2 publication Critical patent/US7295677B2/en Status Active legal-status Critical Current Adjusted expiration legal-status Critical Links ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). reassignment HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P. Assignors: FOSTER, WARD SCOTT, LIVINGSTON, KRIS R., SIMPSON, SHELL STERLING Assigned to HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.) Filing date Publication date Application filed by Hewlett Packard Development Co LP filed Critical Hewlett Packard Development Co LP Priority to US10/087,406 priority Critical patent/US7295677B2/en Assigned to HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY reassignment HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Original Assignee Hewlett Packard Development Co LP Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
( en Inventor Shell Simpson Ward Foster Kris Livingston Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.) Granted Application number US10/087,406 Other versions US7295677B2
Google Patents Systems and methods for adding watermarks using network-based imaging techniquesÄownload PDF Info Publication number US20030165253A1 US20030165253A1 US10/087,406 US8740602A US2003165253A1 US 20030165253 A1 US20030165253 A1 US 20030165253A1 US 8740602 A US8740602 A US 8740602A US 2003165253 A1 US2003165253 A1 US 2003165253A1 Authority US United States Prior art keywords watermark imaging composition service image Prior art date Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google Patents US20030165253A1 - Systems and methods for adding watermarks using network-based imaging techniques US20030165253A1 - Systems and methods for adding watermarks using network-based imaging techniques