Copyright 2002 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. This paper was (will be) published in and is made available as an electronic reprint [preprint] with permission of SPIE. Single print or electronic copies for personal use only are allowed. Systematic or multiple reproduction, distribution to multiple locations through an electronic listserver or other electronic means, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commericial purposes, or modification of the content of the pater are all prohibited. By choosing to view or print this document, you agree to all the provisions of the copyright law protecting it.
Earlier, we presented a highly robust invisible watermarking technique for digitized images 1 having a payload of one bit --indicating the presence or absence of the watermark. Other invisible watermarking techniques also possess this property. This family of techniques may be used to watermark a source image with distinct marks, perhaps to indicate the identity of the recipient, resulting in a set of many near-copies of the source image. Then, the problem of detecting a distinct watermark in an image from the set may imply attempting detection of all possible watermarks. In this paper we will present a technique using composite watermarks which reduces the number of attempts necessary for distinct watermark detection. If the number of images in the set is m to the power n , then the number of attempted detections is never more than m times n. Thus, for m =10 and n = 3, a set of 1000 distinctly watermarked near-copies can be produced, but instead of 1000 attempted detection’s to insure identification of a particular watermark, only thirty are required. The techniques used for constructing composite water-marks will be detailed and limitations of this approach will be discussed. Results of a successful detection of a distinct water-mark from a large set will be presented.
By: Gordon W. Braudaway, Fred Mintzer
Published in: SPIE Proceedings, volume 4675, (no ), pages 555-62 in 2002
LIMITED DISTRIBUTION NOTICE:
This Research Report is available. This report has been submitted for publication outside of IBM and will probably be copyrighted if accepted for publication. It has been issued as a Research Report for early dissemination of its contents. In view of the transfer of copyright to the outside publisher, its distribution outside of IBM prior to publication should be limited to peer communications and specific requests. After outside publication, requests should be filled only by reprints or legally obtained copies of the article (e.g., payment of royalties). I have read and understand this notice and am a member of the scientific community outside or inside of IBM seeking a single copy only.
Questions about this service can be mailed to reports@us.ibm.com .