A plastic item, such as a beverage bottle, conveys two distinct digital watermarks, encoded using two distinct signaling protocols. A first, printed label watermark conveys a retailing payload, including a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) used by a point-of-sale scanner in a retail store to identify and price the item when presented for checkout. A second, plastic texture watermark conveys a recycling payload, including data identifying the composition of the plastic. The use of two different signaling protocols assures that a point-of-sale scanner will not spend its limited time and computational resources working to decode the recycling watermark, which lacks the data needed for retail checkout. In some embodiments, a recycling apparatus makes advantageous use of both types of watermarks to identify the plastic composition of the item (e.g., relating GTIN to plastic type using an associated database), thereby increasing the fraction of items that are correctly identified for sorting and recycling. A great number of other features and arrangements are also detailed.

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed for scalable architectures for reference signature matching and updating. An example method for scalable architectures for reference signature matching and updating includes accessing site signatures to be compared to reference signatures from a first group of media sources. The example method also include determining if a first reference node is an owner of a first one of the site signatures, comparing a neighborhood of site signatures including the first site signature to reference signatures in a first subset of reference signatures when the first reference node is the owner of the first site signature, the first subset of references signatures stored in a first memory partition associated with the first reference node, and not comparing site signature to reference signatures when the first reference node is not the owner of the first one of the site signatures.

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture to extend a time range supported by a watermark are disclosed. Example watermark encoding apparatus disclosed herein determine which one of a plurality of timestamp cycles is to be represented by a timestamp of a watermark, the timestamp including a set of timestamp symbols, a first subset of data symbols and a second subset of data symbols. Disclosed example apparatus also modify the first subset of data symbols of the watermark based on a further timestamp symbol not included in the set of timestamp symbols of the timestamp, but not modify the second subset of data symbols based on the further timestamp symbol, the further timestamp symbol to identify the one of the plurality of timestamp cycles to be represented by the timestamp of the watermark. Disclosed example apparatus further embed the watermark in a piece of media.

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture to extend a time range supported by a watermark are disclosed. Example watermark encoding apparatus disclosed herein determine which one of a plurality of timestamp cycles is to be represented by a timestamp of a watermark, the timestamp including a set of timestamp symbols, a first subset of data symbols and a second subset of data symbols. Disclosed example apparatus also modify the first subset of data symbols of the watermark based on a further timestamp symbol not included in the set of timestamp symbols of the timestamp, but not modify the second subset of data symbols based on the further timestamp symbol, the further timestamp symbol to identify the one of the plurality of timestamp cycles to be represented by the timestamp of the watermark. Disclosed example apparatus further embed the watermark in a piece of media.

In one embodiment, a processing device receives a first digital fingerprint of a media item along with a first content management rule. The processing device separately receives a second digital fingerprint of the media item along with a second content management rule. The processing device determines that the received digital fingerprints are for the same media item based upon a match between the first digital fingerprint and the second digital fingerprint. The processing device determines that all rights to the media item have been accounted for, and then determines a set of actions to be performed for hosted media items comprising the media item based at least in part upon the first content management rule and the second content management rule. Processing logic may also perform a conflict resolution process for conflicting rights claims to the media item.

In one embodiment, a processing device receives a first digital fingerprint of a media item along with a first content management rule. The processing device separately receives a second digital fingerprint of the media item along with a second content management rule. The processing device determines that the received digital fingerprints are for the same media item based upon a match between the first digital fingerprint and the second digital fingerprint. The processing device determines that all rights to the media item have been accounted for, and then determines a set of actions to be performed for hosted media items comprising the media item based at least in part upon the first content management rule and the second content management rule. Processing logic may also perform a conflict resolution process for conflicting rights claims to the media item.

The disclosed embodiments relate to media devices implementing new television standards, such as ATSC 3.0, which includes audio/video essence and metadata/signaling. The disclosed embodiments include techniques for confirming an association between two media devices by augmenting media content with a watermark using an upstream device, wherein the watermark conveys an identifier. The media content is sent from the upstream device to a downstream device and the watermark is detected using the downstream device. The identifier is transmitted to a server upon the detection of the watermark using the downstream device. The server identifies an association between the upstream and downstream devices upon receipt of the identifier from the downstream device.

The disclosed embodiments relate to media devices implementing new television standards, such as ATSC 3.0, which includes audio/video essence and metadata/signaling. The disclosed embodiments include techniques for confirming an association between two media devices by augmenting media content with a watermark using an upstream device, wherein the watermark conveys an identifier. The media content is sent from the upstream device to a downstream device and the watermark is detected using the downstream device. The identifier is transmitted to a server upon the detection of the watermark using the downstream device. The server identifies an association between the upstream and downstream devices upon receipt of the identifier from the downstream device.

Techniques for reducing piracy of media content are described. In some embodiments, a collusion resistant method is performed at a device, where the device receives a first request for a base copy of a media content item. In response, the device determines a first transformation based on a statistical performance criterion and a viewing performance criterion. The device further generates a first copy of the media content item by replicating and applying a first transformation to the base copy, where the first copy of the media content item satisfies the viewing performance criterion, and the first copy of the media content item is statistically different from the base copy or other copies in accordance with the statistical performance criterion. The device then causes transmission of the first copy of the media content item in combination with a first watermark for the base copy of the media content item.

Techniques for reducing piracy of media content are described. In some embodiments, a collusion resistant method is performed at a device, where the device receives a first request for a base copy of a media content item. In response, the device determines a first transformation based on a statistical performance criterion and a viewing performance criterion. The device further generates a first copy of the media content item by replicating and applying a first transformation to the base copy, where the first copy of the media content item satisfies the viewing performance criterion, and the first copy of the media content item is statistically different from the base copy or other copies in accordance with the statistical performance criterion. The device then causes transmission of the first copy of the media content item in combination with a first watermark for the base copy of the media content item.