DIGITAL

WATERMARKING

Submitted
by,
Anirudh J Nair

Roll No : 10

Branch : C S

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 DIGITAL WATERMARKING

Description

A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various

shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by
reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness variations in the paper.

A watermark stored in a data file refers to a method for ensuring data integrity which
combines aspects of data hashing and digital watermarking. Both are useful for tamper
detection, though each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Digital watermarking is the process of possibly irreversibly embedding information into

a digital signal. The signal may be audio, pictures or video, for example. If the signal is
copied, then the information is also carried in the copy.

Digital watermarking is distinctly different from data hashing. It is the process of altering
the original data file, allowing for the subsequent recovery of embedded auxiliary data
referred to as a watermark.

A subscriber, with knowledge of the watermark and how it is recovered, can determine
(to a certain extent) whether significant changes have occurred within the data file.
Depending on the specific method used, recovery of the embedded auxiliary data can be
robust to post-processing (such as lossy compression).

If the data file to be retrieved is an image, the provider can embed a watermark for
protection purposes. The process allows tolerance to some change, while still maintaining
an association with the original image file. Researchers have also developed techniques
that embed components of the image within the image. This can help identify portions of
the image that may contain unauthorized changes and even help in recovering some of
the lost data.

A disadvantage of digital watermarking is that a subscriber cannot significantly alter

some files without sacrificing the quality or utility of the data. This can be true of various
files including image data, audio data, and computer code.

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In visible watermarking, the information is visible in the picture or video. Typically, the
information is text or a logo which identifies the owner of the media. The image on the
right has a visible watermark. When a television broadcaster adds its logo to the corner of
transmitted video, this is also a visible watermark.

In invisible watermarking, information is added as digital data to audio, picture or

video, but it cannot be perceived as such (although it is possible to detect the hidden
information). An important application of invisible watermarking is to copyright
protection systems, which are intended to prevent or deter unauthorized copying of
digital media. Steganography is an application of digital watermarking, where two parties
communicate a secret message embedded in the digital signal. Annotation of digital
photographs with descriptive information is another application of invisible
watermarking. While some file formats for digital media can contain additional
information called metadata, digital watermarking is distinct in that the data is carried in
the signal itself.

The use of the word of watermarking is derived from the much older notion of placing a
visible watermark on paper.

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Scope
The watermarking system can localize the portions of image that have been
tampered maliciously, with high accuracy. In particular, the watermarking scheme is very
sensitive to any texture alteration in the watermarked images, which is crucial for crime
scene image authentication. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the
effectiveness of the proposed method and its possible applications in the field of crime
scene analysis. The proposed method of watermarking authentication could potentially
prove useful when digital photographs are presented as evidence in the court of law

Digital Watermarking can be used for a wide range of applications such as:

• Copyright protection
• Fingerprinting (Different recipients get differently watermarked content)
• Broadcast Monitoring (Television news often contains watermarked video from
international agencies)
• Covert Communication (steganography)

REFERENCES

1. Google search engine

2. IEEE site
3. Wikipedia