Abstract: The present disclosure relates to various methods and systems to provide substitute sound (e.g., audio). One claim includes an apparatus comprising: electronic memory for storing identifying information obtained from steganographically encoded sound; an electronic processor programmed for: providing the identifying information to a remote computer, the remote computer including substitute sound corresponding to the identifying information; providing format information to the remote computer, the format information identifying a format in which the substitute sound should be formatted prior to communication of the substitute sound; and controlling receipt of substitute sound corresponding to the identifying information. Of course, other apparatus, methods and combinations are provided as well.

Abstract: The present invention relates to data transmission, and more particularly relates to use of extracted or calculated identifying data as proxies in transmission. One claim recites a method including: receiving identifying data and information from a handheld device, the identifying data having been calculated from audible portions or video portions of first content utilizing at least a programmed electronic processor housed within the handheld device, in which the handheld device comprises a media player for rendering audio or video content to a user of the handheld device, and the information comprises capabilities associated with the handheld device; with reference to a database, determining additional content, enhanced or improved relative to the first content, that is associated with: i) the identifying data, and ii) the information; and providing metadata associated with the additional content to the handheld device. These techniques could be advantageously applied to cell phones.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to various methods and systems to provide substitute sound (e.g., audio). One claim includes an apparatus comprising: electronic memory for storing identifying information obtained from steganographically encoded sound; an electronic processor programmed for: providing the identifying information to a remote computer, the remote computer including substitute sound corresponding to the identifying information; providing format information to the remote computer, the format information identifying a format in which the substitute sound should be formatted prior to communication of the substitute sound; and controlling receipt of substitute sound corresponding to the identifying information. Of course, other apparatus, methods and combinations are provided as well.

Abstract: The application discloses various methods and systems to provide substitute or replacement components for media objects (e.g., audio, video or images). The substitute or replacement components can be substituted for or to replace corresponding components when making copies of media objects. One claim includes: an apparatus comprising: a processor; and memory. The memory includes instructions for execution by said processor. The instructions include instructions to: upon receipt of a copy request, determine whether an object to be copied comprises a steganographic signal hidden within at least one component of the object; if the object comprises a steganographic signal hidden therein, obtain a substitute or replacement component corresponding to the steganographic signal; and execute the copy request of the object to yield a copy object including providing in the copy object the substitute or replacement component for the at least one component of the object.

Abstract: The present invention relates to data transmission, and more particularly relates to use of extracted or calculated identifying data as proxies in transmission. One claim recites a method including: receiving identifying data and information from a handheld device, the identifying data having been calculated from audible portions or video portions of first content utilizing at least a programmed electronic processor housed within the handheld device, in which the handheld device comprises a media player for rendering audio or video content to a user of the handheld device, and the information comprises capabilities associated with the handheld device; with reference to a database, determining additional content, enhanced or improved relative to the first content, that is associated with: i) the identifying data, and ii) the information; and providing metadata associated with the additional content to the handheld device. These techniques could be advantageously applied to cell phones.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to methods usable with handheld devices (e.g., music players or cell phones) and cell phones. One claim recites a cell phone including: an input or interface to receive first content corresponding to audio or video; a media player to render audio or video; an analyzer to derive a plural-bit identifier from portions of the first content representing audio elements of the audio or video picture elements of the video; data indicating at least some capabilities of the media player; and a controller to control: i) communicating the plural-bit identifier and the data indicating the at least some capabilities of the media player to a network resource to obtain enhanced content therefrom, the enhanced content being enhanced relative to the first content, and the enhanced content being associated with the plural-bit identifier and the media player; and ii) obtaining the enhanced content from the network resource. Of course, other claims and combinations are provided as well.

Abstract: Media objects are transformed into active, connected objects via identifiers embedded into them or their containers. In the context of a user's playback experience, a decoding process extracts the identifier from a media object and possibly additional context information and forwards it to a server. The server, in turn, maps the identifier to an action, such as returning metadata, re-directing the request to one or more other servers, requesting information from another server to identify the media object, etc. The server may return a higher fidelity version of content from which the identifier was extracted. In some applications, the higher fidelity version may be substituted for the original media object and rendered to provide higher quality output. The linking process applies to broadcast objects as well as objects transmitted over networks in streaming and compressed file formats.

Abstract: The application discloses various methods and systems to provide substitute or replacement components for media objects (e.g., audio, video or images). The substitute or replacement components can be substituted for or to replace corresponding components when making copies of media objects. One claim includes: an apparatus comprising: a processor; and memory. The memory includes instructions for execution by said processor. The instructions include instructions to: upon receipt of a copy request, determine whether an object to be copied comprises a steganographic signal hidden within at least one component of the object; if the object comprises a steganographic signal hidden therein, obtain a substitute or replacement component corresponding to the steganographic signal; and execute the copy request of the object to yield a copy object including providing in the copy object the substitute or replacement component for the at least one component of the object.

Abstract: The application discloses various methods and systems to provide substitute information or objects for, e.g., substitution when making copies of media objects (e.g., audio, video or images). One method includes: receiving i) an identifier obtained from a steganographic encoding encoded in a media object, and ii) state information associated with the steganographic encoding or associated with the media object; obtaining—from a storage location—a substitute media object corresponding to the identifier; adjusting the substitute media object in accordance with the state information; providing the adjusted, substituted media object.

Abstract: Digital watermarking is provided in a printed photograph. The digital watermarking includes an identifier. The printed photograph is scanned and the digital watermark is decoded to obtain the identifier. The identifier is used to obtain a substitute image for use when generating a copy of the printed photograph. A user interface can be provided to allow a user to select options prior to printing the copy.

Abstract: Media objects are transformed into active, connected objects via identifiers embedded into them or their containers. In the context of a user's playback experience, a decoding process extracts the identifier from a media object and possibly additional context information and forwards it to a server. The server, in turn, maps the identifier to an action, such as returning metadata, re-directing the request to one or more other servers, requesting information from another server to identify the media object, etc. The server may return a higher fidelity version of content from which the identifier was extracted. In some applications, the higher fidelity version may be substituted for the original media object and rendered to provide higher quality output. The linking process applies to broadcast objects as well as objects transmitted over networks in streaming and compressed file formats.

Abstract: A media object sensed at one location is delivered at a second remote location, or an application associated with the object is made available at the second location. In some embodiments, the delivered object is of a higher quality than the sensed object. In other embodiments, larger objects requiring higher bandwidth for effective transmission are delivered notwithstanding low bandwidth bottlenecks between the first and second locations. Such advantages are achieved by employing watermark data as proxies for media objects and associated applications.

Abstract: OLE-like principles are implemented using watermark data in digital objects in order to effect object linking or embedding. In one embodiment, a photocopier scans an original paper document to produce image data. This image data is analyzed for the presence of watermark data identifying a graphic on the document. With this watermark identifier, the photocopier can query a remote image database for pristine image data corresponding to the scanned graphic. This pristine data can be relayed from the remote database to the photocopier and substituted into the scanned image data. Output printed from the photocopier is thus based, at least in part, on pristine image data, rather than on image data that has been subjected to various corruption mechanisms (e.g., degradation of the original paper document, artifacts due to scanning, etc.). A “photocopy” better than the “original” can thereby be achieved.

Abstract: OLE-like principles are implemented using watermark data in digital objects in order to effect object linking or embedding. In one embodiment, a photocopier scans an original paper document to produce image data. This image data is analyzed for the presence of watermark data identifying a graphic on the document. With this watermark identifier, the photocopier can query a remote image database for pristine image data corresponding to the scanned graphic. This pristine data can be relayed from the remote database to the photocopier and substituted into the scanned image data. Output printed from the photocopier is thus based, at least in part, on pristine image data, rather than on image data that has been subjected to various corruption mechanisms (e.g., degradation of the original paper document, artifacts due to scanning, etc.). A “photocopy” better than the “original” can thereby be achieved.

Abstract: OLE-like principles are implemented using watermark data in digital objects in order to effect object linking or embedding. In one embodiment, a photocopier scans an original paper document to produce image data. This image data is analyzed for the presence of watermark data identifying a graphic on the document. With this watermark identifier, the photocopier can query a remote image database for pristine image data corresponding to the scanned graphic. This pristine data can be relayed from the remote database to the photocopier and substituted into the scanned image data. Output printed from the photocopier is thus based, at least in part, on pristine image data, rather than on image data that has been subjected to various corruption mechanisms (e.g., degradation of the original paper document, artifacts due to scanning, etc.). A “photocopy” better than the “original” can thereby be achieved.

Abstract: Media objects are transformed into active, connected objects via identifiers embedded into them or their containers. In the context of a user's playback experience, a decoding process extracts the identifier from a media object and possibly additional context information and forwards it to a server. The server, in turn, maps the identifier to an action, such as returning metadata, re-directing the request to one or more other servers, requesting information from another server to identify the media object, etc. The server may return a higher fidelity version of content from which the identifier was extracted. In some applications, the higher fidelity version may be substituted for the original media object and rendered to provide higher quality output. The linking process applies to broadcast objects as well as objects transmitted over networks in streaming and compressed file formats.