WATERMARK EMBEDDING AND RETRIEVAL

摘要

Fingerprinting is a technique to identify multimedia signals by extracting robust perceptual features of the signal contents and searching the extracted features in a database where titles, artists, etc. are stored. Watermarking is a technique of embedding payload data in a signal in an unobtrusive manner. The invention combines both techniques. A fingerprint (M(i)) is extracted (1) from a host signal (x) and stored in a database (5). A watermark (w(i)) is embedded (2) in the host signal by modifying (21) the signal, such that the fingerprint (M'(i)) of the modified signal (x') differs slightly from the original fingerprint. The difference is so small that the database considers them tobe similar. At the receiver end, the fingerprint is extracted (3) from the watermarked signal and applied to the database, which responds by returning the original fingerprint of the signal. The embedded watermark is retrieved by subtracting (4) the original fingerprint supplied by the database from the fingerprint extracted from the host signal.