Watermarking Techniques for DRM Applications

Abstract

The need to safeguard the property rights of multimedia content from unauthorized copying and the possibility to determine the true owners of the asset can be faced by resorting to efficient digital watermarking systems. This chapter presents a mathematical formulation to define a digital watermarking system and describes the general requirements to be satisfied, with more emphasis given to the aspects of security, robustness, and imperceptibility. After this general discussion, the two main classes of digital watermarking schemes, namely the spread-spectrum watermarking and the side-informed watermarking are explained by highlighting their main advantages and drawbacks. This analysis is completed by the description of a practical implementation of a digital image watermarking scheme. Finally, the use of watermarking systems in the framework of a DRM is deeply analyzed.