Digital watermark mobile agents

Digital watermarking has emerged as an enabling technology for capably protecting the intellectual property rights of digital information. However, digital watermarking is effective only if the watermarks can be efficiently detected within the vast number of documents in cyberspace. To meet this challenge, researchers at Fraunhofer CRCG have developed an extremely efficient solution the digital watermark agent. This agent travels from host to host on a network and acts like a "detective," scanning each file and seeking out the watermarks it has been directed to find. If the agent detects the specified watermarks, it collects evidence of any misuse and notifies the proper authorities. In addition to this travelling agent, we have also developed a state-of-the-art active watermark method that allows the watermarked documents themselves to report to an authority if any unauthorized usage occurs.