Dynamic Steganography for Source Tracking in Digital Content

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Legacy techniques for securing documents fail to track the source of unauthorized content dissemination, as they are perceivable by humans and can be easily removed, lacking the ability to embed identifying information that remains intact in leaked content.

Innovation Solution

Dynamic steganography is used to encode user-specific attributes into content objects, making them undetectable to humans but recoverable by computerized methods, allowing the detection of the source of unauthorized disclosure from screen captures.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If legacy watermarking techniques are used to indicate security levels, then document security is improved, but the ability to track source of unauthorized dissemination is lost because watermarks are perceivable and easily removed

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedocument securityVSAvoidsource tracking capability

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the identifying information from visible watermarks and embeds it as invisible steganographic data within the content itself. This allows the source tracking information to be separated from the visual presentation, making it imperceptible to human viewers while remaining recoverable by computerized techniques for source identification.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces the mechanical/optical approach of visible watermarks with a digital steganographic system. Instead of relying on human-perceivable visual markers, the system uses computerized embedding and recovery techniques to hide and retrieve source identifying information, substituting human visual detection with automated digital processing.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Reliability

If visible watermarks are embedded in content, then security indication is improved, but the watermarks can be readily removed using imaging editing tools

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity indicationVSAvoidwatermark resistance

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSStrength

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces visible optical watermarks with invisible digital steganographic embedding. The identifying information is integrated into the digital content at a level imperceptible to human viewers and resistant to traditional imaging editing tools, while remaining recoverable through specialized computerized extraction techniques.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces computerized recovery techniques as an intermediary between the embedded identifying information and the source identification process. This intermediary layer protects the information by making it inaccessible through conventional means while allowing authorized recovery through specific computational methods.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Loss of information

If steganographic information is embedded in content objects, then source tracking capability is improved, but computational resources and storage capacity are increased

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesource tracking capabilityVSAvoidcomputational resource requirement

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies steganographic embedding only to specific identifying information rather than the entire content object. By embedding only the necessary source tracking data (such as user identifiers) rather than processing or protecting the full content, the system achieves source tracking capability while minimizing the additional computational and storage overhead.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

4Reliability

If embedded identifying information is made hard-to-remove, then source tracking reliability is improved, but the embedded information may impact visual quality of the image

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesource tracking reliabilityVSAvoidvisual quality

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSShape

Solution Approach 1:

The patent embeds identifying information in localized regions or at specific bit planes of the digital content where the modifications are imperceptible to human vision. By concentrating the steganographic embedding in areas that do not affect overall visual quality, the system maintains both source tracking reliability and visual fidelity of the content.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS10771440B2Detecting disclosed content sources using dynamic steganography

Publication Date: 2020.09.08 BOX INC

AI summary

Systems for forensic steganography. A server is interfaced with storage facilities that store an object accessible by two or more users, each of which users are associated with respective profiles comprising one or more user-specific attributes. A method detects a user request to view the object. User-specific attributes are encoded into a steganographic message, which is formatted for saving into one or more locations in the object, thus generating a protected object. The protected object is delivered to the requesting user. Encoding, application and formatting techniques are configured to make the steganographic message undetectable by human viewing of the protected object. A web crawler or other policing technique can detect misappropriation in the form of unauthorized dissemination by detecting the presence of the encoded steganographic message embedded in the protected object. Decoding the steganographic message reveals the user-specific attributes so as to identify the user who disseminated the protected object.