Various applications may benefit from embedding service information within an audio data, such as DRM watermarking of commercial music media. The major challenges of embedding this watermark data include capacity of embedded data and its resistance to data compression or other processing that may destroy a watermark.
Solution
The invention is a method for digitally watermarking audio signals. The major benefit of the method is extremely high capacity of data being encoded in the audio signal without signal degradation. The second major benefit is the ability of the embedded data to survive cutting and slicing, stereo synchronization attacks (L/R shifts), and downsampling or upsampling. These features make the technology attractive in comparison to existing digital watermarking algorithms.
Competitive Advantage
The invention provides very high capacity and robustness of encoded data.
Applications
The primary target market is Digital Rights Management within entertainment industry; however the present technology can be adapted to other audio authentication applications such as telecommunications or VoIP.
Patent Status
A U.S. Patent No.
US6996521
entitled, "AUXILIARY CHANNEL MASKING IN AN AUDIO SIGNAL" was granted on February 7, 2006.
Licensing Opportunity
We are seeking a commercialization partner with an interest in audio encoding technologies and with capabilities in product development, sales, and marketing. An exclusive license is available. A software code is available for demonstration.
About the Inventors
Michael Scordilis received his Ph.D. from Clemson University 1990. He is currently Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and directs the Digital Audio and Speech Processing Laboratory in the Department Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Miami. His research activities are in the areas of acoustics, speech and audio signal processing, in which he has published over fifty scientific articles. He is a Senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and member of the Audio Engineering Society and the International Speech Communication Association. Alexander Iliev obtained his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from the Ivan Rilski University, Sofia, Bulgaria in June 1996. Simultaneously with his study at the Ivan Rilski University, Mr. Iliev also studied at the Technical University, Sofia, Bulgaria, where his major was Multimedia Technologies. Hi took his, Second Major in Multimedia Technologies in June 1996. After Mr. Iliev was accepted as a student at the University of Miami where he obtained his Master of Science in Music Engineering Technology degree in December 1999. Mr. Iliev is currently a Ph. D. student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering program of the University of Miami.
Selected References
Iliev, I.A., Scordilis, M.S., "Multilevel High Capacity Data Hiding Technique for Stereo Audio", Proceedings of the 2004 Asilomar Conference, pp. TP8b3-2, Pacific Grove, California, November 7-10, 2004.
Jin, W., Scordilis, M.S., Iliev, I.A., "Comparison and Implementation of a 16-bit Fixed Point Audio Resampler," Proceedings of the 2004 Asilomar Conference, pp. TP8b3-3, Pacific Grove, California, November 7-10, 2004.
He, X., Iliev, I.A., Scordilis, M.S., A High Capacity Watermarking Technique for Stereo Audio, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing, ICASSP2004, pp. ITT-P3.7, Montreal, Canada, May 2004.
A.I. Iliev, M.S. Scordilis, Binaural Phase Masking Experiments In Stereo Audio, Proceedings of the First Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics, Cancun, Mexico, December 2-6, 2002
