VLSI Architectures of Perceptual Based Video Watermarking for Real-Time Copyright Protection

Saraju Mohanty,  Elias Kougianos,  Manish Ratnani
University of North Texas


Abstract

For effective digital rights management (DRM) of multimedia in the framework of embedded systems, both watermarking and cryptography are necessary. In this paper, we present a watermarking algorithm and VLSI architecture that can insert a broadcaster's logo in video streams in real-time to facilitate copyrighted video broadcasting and internet protocol television (IP-TV). The VLSI architecture, when realized in silicon can be deployed in any multimedia producing appliance to enable DRM. The watermark is inserted in the video stream before MPEG-4 compression, resulting in simplified hardware requirements and superior video quality. The watermarking process is performed in the frequency (DCT) domain. The system is initially prototyped and validated in MATLAB/Simulink® and subsequently implemented on an Altera Cyclone-II FPGA. Its maximum throughput is $43 frames/sec$ at a clock speed of $100 MHz$ which makes it suitable for real-time digital video broadcasting emerging applications such as IP-TV.