Feasibility of a watermark application for real-time-encoding video-on-demand service

A previously developed system for embedding watermarks in video content in real time has been improved by incorporating real-time transcoding, which enables embedding of watermarks specific to the recipient. The system is targeted at services that distribute video content over the Internet. When a play command is received from a customer, the system decodes the requested video content into frame images in the server. The frame images are then watermarked, encoded, and streamed to the customer in real time. Testing of the improved system showed that its use is feasible for video-on-demand service; that is, up to 20 individually watermarked videos can be concurrently streamed to customers. Visibility testing showed that degradation in the quality of the watermarked images was almost imperceptible. Robustness testing showed that the embedded watermarks were robust against encoding. Use of this system should help deter the illegal copying and distribution of video content.