UMID Watermarking for Managing Metadata in Content Production

J. Pelly, D. Tapson, J. Stone, S. Keating

Watermarking is a technique for embedding data within images or audio and is best known in copyright protection. This paper explains how watermarking can be used to embed a unique material identifier (UMID) into every frame of video material to enable tracking throughout the production chain. As the UMID is embedded into the image itself it cannot be separated and then lost. It is embedded at the point of acquisition and enables linking of video material to its associated metadata for rights tracking, technical information, or added-value data services in digital broadcasting. In order to allow a change of UMID, the watermark may be removed or “washed” and a new UMID embedded with no significant generation loss.

Print ISSN
Published
2001-07
Content type
Original Research
DOI
10.5594/J11582