An international organisation's business relies on a large library of valuable images, which it makes available to its customers. The organisation wanted to protect those images and be able to prove when they are used without permission. At the same time, they had to remain fully usable for the organisation's customers. Chief took on the entire project.
Digital watermark for an image library
Digital watermark service2core functions
Adding an invisible watermark and checking whether a suspected copy carries that watermark.
- Before
- valuable image assets
- Goal
- invisible and usable
- Outcome
- built into the workflow
- Client
- International organisation
- Platform
- Watermark service and image workflow
- Role
- Research, design, build and integration
- Custom software
- Research and design
- Workflow automation
- Quality control
Protect valuable images and be able to prove ownership
A valuable image library
The organisation manages a large library of valuable images and makes them available to its customers. These images play a central role in its services. If they turn up elsewhere without permission, the organisation wants to be able to prove it.
Protection that keeps images usable
The organisation was looking for a digital watermark that would keep its images fully usable for its customers. It also wanted to be able to check any suspected copy for its own watermark.
Part of image management
The solution had to fit into the environment in which the organisation already manages its images, so that protection fits into the work already done there.
From research to a custom-built digital watermark service
Research and approach
Chief started by researching the options for a digital watermark. Published approaches were compared and judged on the trade-off that matters here: the watermark must not be visible in the image, yet must still be findable in a copy. Chief worked out an approach on that basis, backed it with a prototype and a feasibility study, and then started the build.
The organisation's own watermark service
Chief then designed and built the organisation's own digital watermark service. It has two core functions: adding an invisible watermark to an image, and checking whether a suspected copy carries that watermark. That check also works on a screenshot of an image and on a crop of it.
Built into the image workflow
Chief connected the service to the organisation's image management environment and built the matching workflow there. Team members process images in batches. Every image then goes through an automatic quality check, and in a review step they keep the final say on the result.
Image protection as part of in-house image management
Protection within image management
With the workflow, the organisation can add an invisible digital watermark to images within its own image management. Every marked image is automatically compared with the original and checked for the presence of the watermark. If an image deviates, it goes to a team member, who sees both versions side by side and has the final say. This way the organisation keeps watch over the quality of its images.
Checking suspected misuse
If the organisation suspects that an image is being used without permission, it can check that suspected copy for its watermark. A screenshot or a crop of an image can be checked too, so those copies stand out as well. A watermark found in the copy helps the organisation prove its ownership.
One partner from research to integration
Chief handled the entire project, from researching the options to the design, the build and the integration into the image workflow. As a result, the organisation has one partner for a challenge where research, protection and usability meet.
The outcome
Chief designed and built the organisation's own digital watermark service and integrated it into its image workflow. With it, the organisation can mark images invisibly, guard the quality of each image and check suspected copies. From research to integration, the project was in Chief's hands.
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