Digimarc , digital watermarking technology developer, has received a U.S. patent for digital watermarking in wireless communications.
Patent number 6,278,781 covers technology and methods for embedding and decoding digital watermarks within wireless communications.
These techniques allow audio content to be tagged for a variety of security and content delivery purposes.
Possible applications might include combating fraudulent use of wireless voice communications, authenticating the identity of cell phones, field reprogramming of cell phone memories and features, administration of traffic between cell phones and transmission stations, and secure delivery of music and other audio content over wireless devices.
"The issuance of this patent for cellular telephone applications marks another step in Digimarc's goal to become a standard feature of all media content" says Reed Stager, vice president and general manager of Digimarc's MediaCommerce business.
"Wireless communication is a rapidly growing technology that offers an increasing list of benefits to users. It is a fertile area for innovation in which we look forward to working with industry leaders to develop digital watermarking applications that will enhance the security and delivery of content to cellular phone users."