Watermark detection using a multiplicity of predicted patterns

1. A method for detecting watermarks from a host content, comprising:

performing watermark extraction to obtain a first sequence of watermark symbols from the host content;

generating a plurality of predicted watermark templates, each template corresponding to a sequence of watermark symbols that is predicted based on the first sequence of watermark symbols;

processing a section of the host content to obtain a candidate sequence of watermark symbols from the section of the host content;

conducting correlation operations between the candidate sequence of watermark symbols and symbols of the predicted watermark templates until a correlation result that is indicative of a successful watermark detection is obtained; and

producing an indication that the candidate sequence of watermark symbol represents at least a portion of a reliably extracted watermark message.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of the predicted watermark templates is generated based on a predetermined change in the first sequence of watermark symbols.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined change is a change in a counter value that is incorporated as part of the first sequence of watermark symbols.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined change is a change in flag value that s incorporated as part of the first sequence of watermark symbols.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sequence of watermark symbols corresponds to a reliably extracted watermark message from another section of the host content.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the first sequence of watermark symbols corresponds to an extracted watermark message from the host content with an associated reliability that is below a predetermined level of reliability, and

the correlation result that is indicative of a successful watermark detection establishes that the first sequence of watermark symbols represents a reliably extracted watermark message.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first sequence of watermark symbols is produced using an error correction code or an error detection code that indicates the first sequence of watermark symbols is associated with a particular number of erroneous symbols that exceeds a specific threshold.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the correlation operations include comparing the symbols of the candidate sequence of watermark symbols to the symbols of the predicted watermark template to produce an error count that represents a number of mismatched symbols for each predicted watermark template that is subject to the correlation operations.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the correlation result that is indicative of a successful watermark detection is obtained upon a determination that the error count is below a particular threshold value.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the particular threshold value is determined based on a level of acceptable false positive detections, an expected amount of distortion in the host content, or an expected type of distortion in the host content.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the predicted watermark templates corresponds to only a fragment of a full watermark message.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein conducing correlation operations includes evaluating a plurality of correlation results to select which one of the plurality of correlation results is indicative of a successful watermark detection.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the section of the host content includes at least one partial watermark message, and

the indication that the candidate sequence of watermark symbols represents at least a portion of a reliably extracted watermark message confirms the presence of the partial watermark message in the section of the host content.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising: producing an indication that the section of the host content represents an end section of a marked content.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, based on the predicated watermark template that produced the correlation result indicative of a successful watermark detection, triggering a change in playback or presentation of another content or a service that is associated with the host content.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, based on the predicated watermark template that produced the correlation result indicative of a successful watermark detection, triggering a request for metadata associated with the host content.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

processing the section of the host content to obtain a second candidate sequence of watermark symbols from the section of the host content;

conducting correlation operations between the second candidate sequence of watermark symbols and symbols of the plurality of predicted watermark templates; and

upon a determination that none of the plurality of predicted watermark templates produces a correlation value that corresponds to a successful watermark detection, producing an indication that the second candidate sequence of watermark symbols does not represent a reliably extracted watermark message or a portion thereof.

18. A device, comprising:

a processor, and

a memory including processor executable code, the processor executable code, when executed by the processor configures the device to:

conduct watermark extraction operations to obtain a first sequence of watermark symbols from a host content;

generate a plurality of predicted watermark templates, each template corresponding to a sequence of watermark symbols that is predicted based on the first sequence of watermark symbols;

process a section of the host content to obtain a candidate sequence of watermark symbols from the section of the host content;

conduct correlation operations between the candidate sequence of watermark symbols and each of the predicted watermark templates until a correlation result that is indicative of a successful watermark detection is obtained; and

produce an indication that the candidate sequence of watermark symbols represents at least a portion of a reliably extracted watermark message.

19. The device of claim 18 , wherein the processor executable code, when executed by the processor configures the device to generate one or more of the plurality of the predicted watermark templates based on a predetermined change in the first sequence of watermark symbols.

20. The device of claim 19 , wherein the predetermined change is a change in a counter value that is incorporated as part of the first sequence of watermark symbols.

21. The device of claim 19 , wherein the predetermined change is a change in flag value that is incorporated as part of the first sequence of watermark symbols.

22. The device of claim 18 , wherein the first sequence of watermark symbols corresponds to a reliably extracted watermark message from another section of the host content.

23. The device of claim 18 , wherein:

the first sequence of watermark symbols corresponds to an extracted watermark message from the host content with an associated reliability that is below a predetermined level of reliability, and

the correlation result that is indicative of a successful watermark detection establishes that the first sequence of watermark symbols represents a reliably extracted watermark message.

24. The device of claim 23 , wherein the first sequence of watermark symbols is produced using an error correction code or an error detection code that indicates the first sequence of watermark symbols is associated with a particular number of erroneous symbols that exceeds a specific threshold.

25. The device of claim 18 , wherein the correlation operations include comparing the symbols of the candidate sequence of watermark symbols to the symbols of the predicted watermark template to produce an error count that represents a number of mismatched symbols for each predicted watermark template that is subject to the correlation operations.

26. The device of claim 25 , wherein the correlation result hat is indicative of a successful watermark detection is obtained upon a determination that the error count is below a particular threshold value.

27. The device of claim 26 , wherein the particular threshold value is determined based on a level of acceptable false positive detections, an expected amount of distortion in the host content, or an expected type of distortion in the host content.

28. The device of claim 18 , wherein at least one of the predicted watermark templates corresponds to only a fragment of a full watermark message.

29. The device of claim 18 , wherein correlation operations include evaluation of a plurality of correlation results to select which one of the plurality of correlation results is indicative of a successful watermark detection.

30. The device of claim 18 , wherein

the section of the host content includes at least one partial watermark message, and

the indication that the candidate sequence of watermark symbols represents at least a portion of a reliably extracted watermark message confirms the presence of the partial watermark message in the section of the host content.

31. The device of claim 30 , wherein the processor executable code, when executed by the processor further configures the device to produce an indication that the section of the host content represents an end section of a marked content.

32. The device of claim 18 , wherein the processor executable code, when executed by the processor further configures the device to, based on the predicated watermark template that produced the correlation result indicative of a successful watermark detection, trigger a change in playback or presentation of another content or a service that is associated with the host content.

33. The device of claim 18 , wherein the processor executable code, when executed by the processor further configures the device to, based on the predicated watermark template that produced the correlation result indicative of a successful watermark detection, trigger a request for metadata associated with the host content.

34. The device of claim 18 , the processor executable code, when executed by the processor further configures the device to:

process the section of the host content to obtain a second candidate sequence of watermark symbols from the section of the host content;

conduct correlation operations between the second candidate sequence of watermark symbols and symbols of the plurality of predicted watermark templates; and

upon a determination that none of the plurality of predicted watermark templates produces a correlation value that corresponds to a successful watermark detection, produce an indication that the second candidate sequence of watermark symbols does not represent a reliably extracted watermark message or a portion thereof.

35. A computer program product, embodied on one or more non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:

program code for conducting watermark extraction operations to obtain a first sequence of watermark symbols that is expected to be present in the host content;

program code for generating a plurality of predicted watermark templates, each template corresponding to a sequence of watermark symbols that is predicted based on the first sequence of watermark symbols;

program code for processing a section of the host content to obtain a candidate sequence of watermark symbols from the section of the host content;

program code for conducting correlation operations between the candidate sequence of watermark symbols and symbols of the predicted watermark templates until a correlation result that is indicative of a successful watermark detection is obtained; and

program code for producing an indication that the candidate sequence of watermark symbols represents at least a portion of a reliably extracted watermark message.