An example method is described in which a processor receives a first plurality of symbols selected from a first set of symbols, translates the first plurality of symbols into a second plurality of symbols selected from an M-ary cyclic symbol set, and writes the second plurality of symbols to a surface. An additional example method is described in which a processor captures an image of at least a portion of a surface, detects a first plurality of symbols from the image, where the first plurality of symbols comprises symbols selected from an M-ary cyclic symbol set, translates the first plurality of symbols into a second plurality of symbols selected from a second set of symbols, and performs at least one task responsive to the second plurality of symbols.

In one embodiment, a command is received from a video provider at a media rendering device, the command being a command to embed a subscriber ID in at least one video frame in a video stream. A random key, k is also received from the video provider at the media rendering device. An injective transformation is invoked for k and the subscriber ID, the injective transformation generating a sequence of pairs of: near-transparent patterns and corresponding time periods. Logical blocks of the at least one video frame in the video stream are overlaid with one of the near-transparent patterns for its one of the corresponding time periods. Related apparatus, systems, and methods are also described.

Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture (e.g., computer readable media) to detect watermark modifications are disclosed. Example apparatus disclosed herein include means for encoding a first watermark in a first media signal obtained from an output of a media device to obtain a second media signal encoded with the first watermark and a second watermark, the second watermark already encoded in the first media signal obtained from the output of the media device. Disclosed example apparatus also include means for decoding the first watermark and the second watermark from the second media signal to determine a first metric corresponding to the first watermark and a second metric corresponding to the second watermark. Disclosed example apparatus further include means for outputting, based on the first metric and the second metric, an indication of whether the second watermark has been modified.

Embodiments are described for placing a watermark over application windows in a desktop. For each application window that is opened in the desktop, the system can determine whether the application requires a watermark, for example, based on a predefined list that specifies which applications require watermarks. For each application window that requires a watermark, a uncovered watermark region can be calculated where the watermark will appear. An overlay can be placed over the application windows, for example in a top-level window that does not receive mouse and keyboard inputs, and the watermark can be drawn in the overlay over the location of the uncovered watermark region of each application. As a result, watermarks can be placed over a plurality of specified application windows in an efficient and convenient manner.

In an electronic device that embeds information in content, copyright protection and prevention of falsification are achieved at the same time. The electronic device includes a content generation unit, a first embedding processing unit, and a second embedding processing unit. In this electronic device, the content generation unit generates content. Furthermore, in the electronic device, the first embedding processing unit embeds, in the content, first embedded information related to the content. The second embedding processing unit embeds second embedded information in the content.

Provided is a computer-implemented video processing method. The method comprises receiving a stream of original images related to a video access event and creating a stream of output images corresponding to the original images. The output images include first images comprising a hidden digital forensic marker and second images comprising a visible digital forensic marker. The hidden marker and the visible marker each encode information related to the video access event. The stream of output images is output onto a network or caused to be displayed on a screen. The visible marker serves as a deterrent for distribution or recording, and if an attempt is made to remove it, the hidden marker remains in the image, allowing the information relevant to the video access event to be recovered. Also provided are a method of integrity detection for a stream of images containing markers, and a method of embedding a dynamic marker.

Systems and methods for encoding multiple video streams with digital watermarking for adaptive bitrate streaming in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for preprocessing multimedia content into streams with watermark information includes receiving a source content media stream, generating at least two variant preprocessed streams for each received source content media stream, where each variant preprocessed stream includes different watermark information in the same locations as the other variant preprocessed streams and where marked locations are spaced apart at least a distance equal to a predetermined maximum segment size, generating a set of embed location information describing marked locations in the variant preprocessed streams, generating at least one variant output stream from each variant preprocessed stream using video compression, partitioning each variant output stream into a set of segments, where each segment is no longer than the predetermined maximum segment size and contains at most one copy of the watermark information, generating a set of segment boundary information describing the boundaries of segments within the variant output streams and the boundaries are the same between variant output streams, and generating a segment selection list using the set of embed location information and the set of segment boundary information, where the segment selection list includes only one variant segment for each segment according to a watermark sequence and the digits of the watermark sequence correspond to the watermark information applied to each variant preprocessed stream.

Apparatus, systems, articles of manufacture, and methods are disclosed for multiple scrambled layers for audio watermarking. An example system includes a processor to execute instructions to: divide the watermark into a plurality of watermark symbols; map the watermark symbols to a plurality of frequency bins according to a first distribution scheme to create a first watermark layer having a first combination of the frequency bins and a second watermark layer having a second combination of the frequency bins, subsets of adjacent ones of the plurality of frequency bins grouped into a corresponding plurality of frequency clumps; determine a sequence for shifting watermark symbols between the frequency clumps to cause different combinations of watermark symbols that include one watermark symbol from each watermark layer to share up to a first number of frequency bins, the first number of frequency bins to be less than a number of watermark symbols in respective ones of the different combinations; and generate a second distribution scheme to map the watermark symbols in accordance with the sequence.

Artwork carrying machine readable data is generated by editing artwork according to a data signal or transforming the data signal into artwork. The machine-readable data signal is generated from a digital payload and converted into an image tile. Artwork is edited according to the image tile by moving graphic elements, adapting intersections of lines, or altering line density, among other techniques. Artwork is generated from the data signal by skeletonizing it and applying morphological operators to a skeletal representation, such as a medial axis transform. Artistic effects are introduced by filtering the data signal with directional blurring or shape filters.

An example implementation includes an apparatus including a processor to divide a digital image into a grid including a first grid region and a second grid region. The processor is also to generate a first grid-based watermark using shared watermark information and a first set of grid coordinates associated with the first grid region. The processor is further to generate a second grid-based watermark using the shared watermark information and a second set of grid coordinates associated with the second grid region. The processor is further to embed the first grid-based watermark into a first region of the digital image corresponding to the first grid region and to embed the second grid-based watermark into a second region of the digital image corresponding to the second grid region. The processor is further to generate a machine-readable digital image including the embedded first grid-based watermark and the embedded second grid-based watermark.