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Destiny Files Watermarking Patent for Industry Standard Play MPE Media Distribution System
Friday, October 26, 2007
Vancouver, British Columbia -- Destiny Media is pleased to announce the filing of a US patent application entitled Methods For Watermarking Media Data. The filing date is October 18, 2007 and priority is claimed to October 18, 2006 when the original provisional USPTO application was filed. In addition, the company has filed a PCT application to protect the 2006 priority date outside of North America.
There is strong consumer demand to purchase unprotected media files that enable customers to make personal copies of media they've purchased online. A digital watermark is a high value solution for the content owner that holds the customer accountable if they also create unauthorized copies. Forensic watermarking is expected to be a common feature of online digital media sales in the future and Destiny's patent pending technology provides numerous advantages over other solutions.
A forensic watermark is a digital identifying trace that is embedded into a media file to identify where the file originated. This is Destiny's second pending patent. The first # 20020146122 Digital Media Distribution Method and System claims a foreign priority date of March 3, 2000. This invention recognizes authorized machines and locks content so that it will only play on that particular machine.
Destiny's PODDS online music store system and Play MPE pre-release media distribution system feature both patent pending technologies. Once the user is identified by user name and password, the machine is also authenticated and a media file is downloaded that only works on that machine. If the content owner enables it, the user can export the file into a format that can be copied. At that point, a forensic watermark is embedded into the file, so that the source of unauthorized copies can be identified.
Company CEO, Steve Vestergaard explains "When the labels approached us for a watermarking solution in 2005, we originally intended to license an existing technology. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a solution that met all of their requirements and were forced to design our own. By taking a brand new approach, we invented something we are quite proud of and consider extremely valuable."
Other watermarking techniques rely on transforms that can be extremely tedious and slow. Often, it can take ten seconds or more to embed the mark into a typical song. In an online sales environment, this loads the server, while limiting simultaneous access to content. Destiny's mark can be embedded in near real time, allowing a content owner to deliver the same encrypted file to every user, locking it to their machine, then embedding the mark as it is exported into any standard file format.
Competing solutions offer a trade off between sound quality and the robustness of the mark. Either the mark can be heard by audiophiles, or it is so light that it can be easily filtered. Major record labels have done tests with their best sound engineers in professional sound studios and the MPE mark was shown to be inaudible, even though it is nearly impossible to remove.
When a file is downsampled to a lower sampling rate or converted to another format, the mark is usually lost. Destiny's trace survives file conversion and compression to as low as 32 kbit/second with at least a 99% recovery rate.
Very few watermarks survive conversion to a non digital format, but an MPE mark can be recovered from an "on air" radio broadcast or other analog format. Even if a third or more of the watermark information is lost, the remaining MPE forensic information can still be rebuilt.
The major record labels use the Play MPE system to deliver pre-release music to trusted recipients such as radio, the media and buyers and it is imperative for them that recipients be held accountable. The Play MPE system was designed to enable detailed session information describing the creation of the file to be embedded as it is created then recovered in a few minutes in the case of a leak.
With more than 17,000 users and 62,000 songs from more than 1,000 record labels, Destiny's Play MPE™ system is the most widely used digital distribution system available to the music industry.
Destiny Media Technologies' Play MPE™ system features state-of-the-art encryption to protect content while delivering high definition audio to users in radio, marketing and media. Not only is Play MPE™ a powerful secure distribution system but it is also a strong promotional tool, as record companies can embed video, text and graphics into the Play MPE™ system, including music videos, CD covers, credits, lyrics, promotions, and other content. More information on Play MPE can be found at http://www.plaympe.com and http://www.myplaympe.com. Information on the PODDS online music store system can be found at http://www.podds.ca.
About Destiny Media Technologies
Destiny Media Technologies, Inc. (http://www.dsny.com) (DSNY.OB) is a leader in developing easy-to-use tools for distributing media through the Internet. The company's suite of streaming and downloadable products includes: Clipstream™, Destiny Media Player™, Radio Destiny™, and MPE™. The MPE™ suite of products includes online music store software and infrastructure, Internet jukebox software and a media distribution system for sending content securely through the Internet. Established in 1991, the company is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
Safe Harbor Statement
This release contains forward looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the impact of competitive products and pricing, product demand and market acceptance, new product development, reliance on key strategic alliances, availability of raw materials, the regulatory environment, fluctuations in operating results and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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