Copyright Protection Schemes for On-Line Media Distribution E-Services

Copyright protection is a necessity for on-line media distribution e-services. Watermarking technology enables copyright protection for e-services but delays the packaging process and delivery. Instant delivery is a primary requirement for on-line businesses. The imperceptibility and robustness of watermarking has been studied extensively, but its impact on the performance of e-services, such as deferring delivery and requiring extra storage, has not yet been addressed. This paper investigates four watermarking schemes based on one-bit watermarking, multiple-bit watermarking, and their combinations, and explores such performance issues as preparation time, delivery time, and storage requirements. The paper derives equations that describe the performance of watermarking schemes. It proves that schemes with multiple-bit watermarking can ensure instant delivery with the penalty of some extra storage requirements in the on-line media e-service setup.