Dynamic watermarking of digital media content at point of transmission
Multimedia content, such as film or video, is streamed to a plurality of users with a unique watermark embedded for each user. The content is provided through asynchronous multicast transmission. Users may request the content at different times and receive a uniquely watermarked stream of the content upon request as a discrete, just-in-time transmission. Content is watermarked upon a request for the content by a user. In several embodiments, each user is associated with a unique user identifier that becomes associated with a unique watermark. Once a watermark is associated with a user, the association is stored so that the same unique watermark may be used for future content requested by the user.
1. A computer-implemented dynamic watermarking system comprising
a storage device configured to ingest and store media content thereon; and
one or more processors configured with instructions to
generate a first media file copy of the media content;
partition the first media file copy into a first plurality of sequential segments each having respective segment lengths defined by respective numbers of groups of pictures;
encode distinct forensic watermarks into each group of pictures in at least two segments of the first plurality of sequential segments of the first media file copy;
generate a second media file copy of the media content;
partition the second media file copy into a second plurality of sequential segments corresponding in number to the first plurality of sequential segments and each having respective segment lengths defined by respective numbers of groups of pictures, wherein the segment lengths of each of the second plurality of sequential segments are identical segment lengths to the segment lengths of corresponding segments of the first plurality of sequential segments in sequence;
encode distinct forensic watermarks into each group of pictures in at least two segments of the second plurality of sequential segments of the second media file copy;
store the first and second media file copies on the storage device;
receive a user request for transmission of the media file;
determine an identification of the user;
map a unique permutation of the media content by selecting a first subset of the first plurality of sequential segments with at least one watermark and a second subset of the second plurality of sequential segments with at least one different watermark to be combined in sequence; and
transmit the unique permutation of the media content to the user.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein all of the groups of pictures in all of the first plurality of sequential segments of the first media file copy and all of the groups of pictures in all of the second plurality of sequential segments of the second media file copy are encoded with forensic watermarks.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first media file copy and second media file copy are each partitioned based on at least one of time code, groups of pictures, and frame numbers.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein a number of media file copies generated is less than a number of users requesting the media content.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the mapping operation is performed by random selection of sequential segments from each of the first subset and the second subset.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the mapping operation is based on a unique forensic hash sequence identification associated with the user.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to translate the unique permutation to a unique hash value.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to
associate the unique hash value with the user; and
store the association between the unique hash value and the user in the storage device.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein a same unique hash value is used for all content requested by the user.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the encoding operation occurs at an edge interface of a network associated with the processor.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein a number of unique permutations of the media content increases as one or both of an amount of media file copies and an amount of sequential segments increases.
12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit by asynchronous multicast transmission two or more unique permutations of the media content to two or more respective users.
13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit the segments of the first subset and the segments of the second subset in series in real time in an interlaced order defined by the unique permutation.
14. A method implemented on a computer system for dynamically watermarking streaming media, wherein one or more processors in the computer system is particularly configured to perform a number of processing steps comprising
receiving a user request for media content from a user;
determining an identity of the user;
watermarking the media content by selecting a first plurality of forensically watermarked segments from a first stored watermarked copy of the media content and a second plurality of forensically watermarked segments from a second stored watermarked copy of the media content, wherein
a quantity of all segments in the second stored watermarked copy corresponds to a quantity of all segments in the first stored watermarked copy;
all segments in the first stored watermarked copy have respective segment lengths and are arranged in a sequence, wherein each segment in the first stored watermarked copy is defined by respective numbers of groups of pictures and each croup of pictures in each segment is encoded with a distinct forensic watermark;
all segments in the second stored watermarked copy each have respective segment lengths which are identical in length to the respective segment lengths of the first stored watermarked copy and are arranged in an identical sequence, wherein each segment in the second stored watermarked copy is defined by respective numbers of groups of pictures and each group of pictures in each segment is encoded with a distinct forensic watermark; and
the first plurality of segments and the second plurality of segments are selected to interlace together in the identical sequence;
associating the watermarked media content with the user; and
storing the association of the watermarked media content with the user.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to stream the watermarked media content to the user.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising watermarking the media content in real time as the media content is streamed to the user.
17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising watermarking the media content at a time of the user request.
18. The method of claim 14 , wherein each of the first plurality and the second plurality of watermarked segments from the first stored watermarked copy and the second stored watermarked copy, respectively, has an associated hash value, which are combined to ascribe the watermarked media content a unique forensic hash sequence.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the unique forensic hash sequence is associated with the user.
20. The method of claim 19 , wherein additional media content streamed to the user is watermarked using the same unique forensic hash sequence.
21. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions for instantiating a special purpose computer having a processor and a memory to dynamically watermark streaming media, wherein the instructions configure the processor to implement a computer process comprising the following operations:
generating a first copy of a media content;
dividing the first copy of the media content into a first plurality of portions arranged in a sequence, wherein each of the first plurality of portions has a respective length;
forensically watermarking the first plurality of portions of the first copy, wherein each portion in the first copy is defined by respective numbers of groups of pictures and each group of pictures in each portion is encoded with a distinct forensic watermark;
generating a second copy of the media content;
dividing the second copy of the media content into a second plurality of portions arranged in the sequence, wherein
a quantity of the second plurality of portions is equal to a quantity of the first plurality of portions; and
each portion of the second plurality of portions has a respective length which is identical in length to a respective length of a corresponding one of the first plurality of portions;
forensically watermarking a plurality of portions of the second copy, wherein each portion in the second copy is defined by respective numbers of groups of pictures and each group of pictures in each portion is encoded with a distinct forensic watermark; and
interlacing a watermarked subset of the first plurality of portions and a watermarked subset of the second plurality of portions to combine in the sequence and thereby generate a unique deliverable permutation of the media content.
22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21 containing further instructions for configuring the processor comprising
associating the unique deliverable permutation of the media content with a user upon receipt of a request for the media content; and
storing the association of the unique deliverable permutation of the media content with a user.
23. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22 containing further instructions for configuring the processor comprising
translating the unique deliverable permutation of the media content into a unique hash value;
associating the unique hash value with the user; and
storing the association between the unique hash value and the user in the memory.
24. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 23 containing further instructions for configuring the processor comprising forensically watermarking the first and second copies of the media content in real time as the unique deliverable permutation of the media content is streamed to the user.
25. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 23 containing further instructions for configuring the processor comprising transmitting by asynchronous multicast transmission two or more unique permutations of the media content to two or more respective users.
26. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21 containing further instructions for configuring the processor comprising streaming the unique deliverable permutation of the media content to the user.