Verimatrix Awarded Key Patents for VideoMark Forensic Watermarking

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued patent number 7,430,302 for unique features in VideoMark, Verimatrix’s user-specific, forensic watermarking technology. The new patent, the first of several pending for VideoMark, protects key processes where the forensic mark is invisibly and robustly embedded in video content, and converted to a human recognisable image during extraction. As has been proven in multiple system evaluations, a human readable mark withstands more sophisticated video manipulations such as cropping and geometric distortions, than those which rely on machine extraction alone.

Verimatrix’s end-to-end VideoMark solution includes the recovery of the unique client identification from all unauthorised analog and digital distribution formats. The mark extracted from pirated content, which never contains personal subscriber data, can be traced back to the last legal recipient of the content by the operator. A second patent, number 7,426,750 related to aspects of this tracking process, was also recently granted to Verimatrix.

VideoMark is the industry’s first secure and invisible content tracking solution that enables forensic, user-specific marking of video at each set-top box or PC client in a pay-TV system. A range of worldwide operators have deployed VideoMark to enable them to offer differentiated services including early release windows for HD and super premium content. VideoMark is a powerful security layer that complements encryption, conditional access (CA) and digital rights management (DRM) technologies and is being required by more content owners. VideoMark complies with the rigorous requirements of the Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI).

Source: BroadcastBuyer