Abstract: A kiosk for reading a digital watermark from a physical object (e.g., a printed document) can be used in various contexts, including retail systems designed to provide customers with product information; corporate greeting systems used to register or direct a visitor; computer terminals in public environments—such as cyber cafés—which can be used to access the Internet; and registration terminals at service centers, such as a copy center, that are used to request services or provide information. An illustrative kiosk may include a housing with a computer concealed inside. On the outside of the kiosk is an illuminated stage on which the user can place the object to be read. An image sensor (e.g., a webcam) captures an image of the object placed on the stage, and the computer processes the image to decode the watermark payload. The computer than responds to the user (e.g., via a display screen or audio transducer) with responsive information.

Abstract: A watermark embedded in a content (e.g., a printed document, digital audio, etc.) includes data that associates the content with a remote store of related data. For example, an image watermark may contain an index value that identifies a database record specifying (a) the owner's name; (b) contact information; (c) license terms and conditions, (d) copyright date, (e) whether adult content is depicted, etc., etc. Or a magazine advertisement may contain an index value that identifies a database record specifying a related URL. Sometimes there are several back-and-forth exchanges between the decoding device and the database. To speed response time, it is desirable that this traffic be exchanged with a database that is located close—in network proximity—to the device that decodes the watermark. In one embodiment this is accomplished by first querying a master database with the zip code, or other identifier, of the decoding device.

Abstract: The disclosure describes a method of segmenting a media signal for parallel watermarking operations. The method sub-divides the media signal into segments, distributes the segments to parallel processors, and performs parallel digital watermark operations on the segments in the parallel processors. These parallel processors may comprise separate threads of execution on a processing unit, or several execution threads distributed to several processing units. In one enhancement, the method prioritizes the segments for watermarking operations. This enables finite processing resources to be allocated to segments in order of their priority. Further, processing resources are devoted to segments where the digital watermark is more likely to be imperceptible and/or readable. The disclosure also describes a system for distributed watermark embedding operations including a watermark signal generator, a perceptual analyzer and a watermark applicator.

Abstract: The present invention relates to linking on-line data to printed documents, such as business cards, envelopes, stickers, stationary, letterhead, résumés, etc. In one embodiment, a card-user registers with an on-line database and receives a gallery item including a steganographically-embedded unique identifier. The gallery item, such as a graphical background, text, shading, graphic, etc., is integrated and then printed with a document. The printed document can then be presented an optical-scanner, which outputs data. The output data is decoded to identify the unique identifier. The unique identifier is then used to index into the on-line database to retrieve information related to the proprietor of the document. In one embodiment, the on-line database includes features such as providing an immediate contact number, translation and/or pronunciation ability, and storage of audio/video files.