Simple non-autonomous peering environment watermarking, authentication and binding

Abstract

A Secure Non-autonomous Peering (SNAP) system includes a hierarchical digital watermarking scheme, a central licensing authority, licensed fabricators and assemblers.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of watermarking a digital file, comprising:
 digitally watermarking a digital media file using at least two different watermarks, producing at least a first and second watermarked files;   segmenting the watermarked files into second order segments;   combining the second order segments into first order segments, such that the first order segments contain a combination of second order segments from the first and second watermarked files according to a unique instance pattern;   combining the first order segments into global segments, such that the global segments contain a combination of first order segments from the first and second globally watermarked files according to the unique instance pattern; and   generating a unique media instance from the global segments, wherein the global segments make up elements of the unique instance pattern for the unique media instance.