Microsoft licenses audio watermarking

Audio watermarking plays an important role in tracking digital content or protecting media files from piracy, but Activated Content will offer the technology to advertisers that want to connect with consumers through broadcast, streaming or downloadable media. The watermarking technology developed by Microsoft's research lab lets Activated Content insert advertisements and promotions in digital audio content.

Software tools embedded in portable devices, such as Apple's iPhone or Palm's Treo, encode and extract the data embedded in audio files that run either on open source or Windows operating systems.

The technology listens to the audio, recognizes the encoded watermark and directs the listener through a link to an advertisement or promotional offering without interrupting or disrupting the audio or video content in movies, videos or high-definition radio on mobile devices, laptops or IPTV.

In a statement made :

"We are excited about this agreement with Activated Content because they are uniquely positioned to extend this audio watermarking technology to new, emerging applications, and we feel great about supporting the development of a company based in our own backyard," said Louis Carbonneau, general manager of the Intellectual Property Licensing Group at Microsoft. "Microsoft is committed to licensing its intellectual property portfolio to benefit customers and the IT ecosystem as a whole. Agreements like this allow companies to Microsoft AE ACCESS 2007 COMPLETE PACKAGE