PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem, wherein it is impossible for an electronic content information provider to provide commercially secure and effective method, for a configurable general-purpose electronic commercial transaction/distribution control system. SOLUTION: In this system, having at least one protected processing environment for safely controlling at least one portion of decoding of digital information, a secure content distribution method comprises a process for encapsulating digital information in one or more digital containers; a process for encrypting at least a portion of digital information; a process for associating at least partially secure control information for managing interactions with encrypted digital information and/or digital container; a process for delivering one or more digital containers to a digital information user; and a process for using a protected processing environment, for safely controlling at least a portion of the decoding of the digital information. COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a423264.pdf

Systems and Methods for Secure Transaction Management and Electronic Rights Protection

We review developments in transparent data embedding and watermarking for audio, image, and video. Data-embedding and watermarking algorithms embed text, binary streams, audio, image, or video in a host audio, image, or video signal. The embedded data are perceptually inaudible or invisible to maintain the quality of the source data. The embedded data can add features to the host multimedia signal, e.g., multilingual soundtracks in a movie, or provide copyright protection. We discuss the reliability of data-embedding procedures and their ability to deliver new services such as viewing a movie in a given rated version from a single multicast stream. We also discuss the issues and problems associated with copy and copyright protection and assess the viability of current watermarking algorithms as a means for protecting copyrighted data.

/pdf/multimedia-data-embedding-and-watermarking-technologies-1g3chssnv1.pdf

Multimedia data-embedding and watermarking technologies

Documents and other items can be delivered electronically from sender to recipient with a level of trustedness approaching or exceeding that provided by a personal document courier. A trusted electronic go-between can validate, witness and/or archive transactions while, in some cases, actively participating in or directing the transaction. Printed or imaged documents can be marked using handwritten signature images, seal images, electronic fingerprinting, watermarking, and/or steganography. Electronic commercial transactions and transmissions take place in a reliable, “trusted” virtual distribution environment that provides significant efficiency and cost savings benefits to users in addition to providing an extremely high degree of confidence and trustedness. The systems and techniques have many uses including but not limited to secure document delivery, execution of legal documents, and electronic data interchange (EDI).

Trusted and secure techniques, systems and methods for item delivery and execution

Watermarking of uncompressed and compressed video

Electronic steganographic techniques can be used to encode a rights management control signal onto an information signal carried over an insecure communications channel. Steganographic techniques ensure that the digital control information is substantially invisibly and substantially indelibly carried by the information signal. These techniques can provide end-to-end rights management protection of an information signal irrespective of transformations between analog and digital. An electronic appliance can recover the control information and use it for electronic rights management to provide compatibility with a Virtual Distribution Environment. In one example, the system encodes low data rate pointers within high bandwidth time periods of the content signal to improve overall control information read/seek times.

Steganographic techniques for securely delivering electronic digital rights management control information over insecure communication channels

The Internet revolution is now in full swing, and commercial interests abound. As with other maturing media technologies, the focus is moving from technology to content, as commercial vendors and developers try to use network technology to deliver media products for profit. This shift inevitably raises questions about how to protect ownership rights. Digital watermarking has been proposed as a way to identify the source, creator, owner, distributor, or authorized consumer of a document or image. Its objective is to permanently and unalterably mark the image so that the credit or assignment is beyond dispute. In the event of illicit use, the watermark would facilitate the claim of ownership, the receipt of copyright revenues, or successful prosecution. Watermarking has also been proposed for tracing images that have been illicitly redistributed. In the past, the infeasibility of large-scale photocopying and distribution often limited copyright infringement, but modern digital networks make large-scale dissemination simple and inexpensive. Digital watermarking allows each image to be uniquely marked for every buyer. If that buyer makes an illicit copy, the copy itself identifies the buyer as the source.

Protecting ownership rights through digital watermarking

For pt.1 see ibid., p.96-8, September 1994. Although advanced information customization-transforming information so that it is appropriate to a particular consumer at a particular time-shares some characteristics of other information science disciplines, it is set apart by a need for such capabilities as transformation of individual documents, interactivity, and nonprescriptive structuring. Information retrieval and filtering, hypertext and hypermedia, information extraction and knowledge discovery in databases, information analysis, and data interchange all embody some of the characteristics that will be needed to make the totality of human knowledge more accessible and useful. Additional tools and methods are being developed to help implement advanced information customization. Interactive, nonlinear, nonprescriptive document customization for browsing is but one component among many approaches that will be needed to effectively use information in tomorrow's world. Information is becoming increasingly available online, and digital libraries will eventually become so thoroughly interconnected as to make all such libraries elements in a single, distributed, worldwide digital library. Together with information-customizing interfaces, this will fulfil H.G. Wells' promise of making the whole human memory accessible to everyone. >

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel1/2/7673/00318600.pdf

Customizing information. 2. How successful are we so far

The World Wide Web Test Pattern is a Web site that was conceived as a general-purpose test bench so that users and developers can check for HTML compliance. While still under construction, it already includes a standard suite of tests for text, audio, graphics, meta-links, animations, forms and tables. The URL is http://www.uark.edu/∼wrg/. There is a tiled background to the WWW Test Pattern home page, which is rendered correctly by Netscape Version 1.2.b2 but not rendered at all by NCSA Mosaic Version 2.0.0b4. There can be gradations of compliance. Some of the tests are passive-the user merely loads the test document and views the result. Other tests require direct user involvement. Audio files provide a case in point because, unlike in-line image files, which are automatically displayed, audio files require an action on the user's part to be played. Most modern clients include user-configurable launch pads, so over time, the importance of the distinction between integrated and spawnable perusers will vanish. As it develops, the Web Test Pattern will attempt to include as rich a variety of media as there is on the Web, thereby enabling both users and developers to test for compliance with HTML levels.

H. Berghel

Papers

Protecting ownership rights through digital watermarking

Customizing information. 2. How successful are we so far

Using the WWW Test Pattern to check HTML client compliance