Usage dependent ticket to protect copy-protected material

• US 20040004114A1
• Filed: 07/08/2003
• Published: 01/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Epstein, Michael A.
• Granted Patent: US 6,817,535 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/008 Public Key, Asymmetric Key, Asymmetric Encryption
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00123 the record carrier being identified by recognising some of its unique characteristics, e.g. a unique defect pattern serving as a physical signature of the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0021 involving encryption or decryption of contents recorded on or reproduced from a record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00557 wherein further management data is encrypted, e.g. sector headers, TOC or the lead-in or lead-out areas
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00695 said measures preventing that data are read from the recording medium
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00746 wherein the usage restriction can be expressed as a specific number
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00797 wherein the usage restriction limits the number of times a content can be reproduced, e.g. using playback counters
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00811 wherein said number is encoded as a cryptographic token or ticket
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00884 involving a watermark, i.e. a barely perceptible transformation of the original data which can nevertheless be recognised by an algorithm
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/10546 specifically adapted for audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/60 Solid state media details of solid state memory devices G11C

Abstract

A usage-limit is associated with each copy of copy-protected material. A conforming playback device determines how much usage has been made of the copy, and only plays the copy-protected material if the usage is within the associated usage-limit of the copy. In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the providing source of the copy contains a total-usage-measure that is allocated among each of the provided copies of the copy-protected material, thereby allowing for more than one copy of the copy-protected material to be produced, or “checked-out” from the providing source. When a copy of the copy-protected material is subsequently returned, or “checked-in” to the providing source, the usage allocation associated with this copy is returned to the total-usage-value. In this manner, if a particular copy, of the copy-protected material is lost, damaged, or misplaced, the loss of value to the purchaser is merely a reduction in the available total-usage. In a preferred embodiment, the parameters associated with the usage-limit are communicated via the copy of the material in a secure manner, so that an illicit provider cannot alter these parameters. Similarly, in a preferred embodiment, the parameters associated with the usage-limit are securely bound to the copy-protected material, so that an illicit provider cannot substitute illicit material for the copied material. Other security measures, such as an encryption of the copy-protected material, watermarking, ticketing, and the like, are also compatible with these aforementioned techniques, and are included in a preferred embodiment of this invention.

Claims

1. A recording medium comprising:

a memory that is configured to store content material,

a usage indicator that is configured to record a measure of usage associated with the content material of this recording medium, and

a baseline register that is configured to store at least one baseline-usage parameter that facilitates a determination of a validity period associate with the content material based on the usage indicator.

2. The recording medium of claim 1, wherein

the usage indicator includes a counter that is configured to be incremented by a playback device when the playback device accesses the content material.

3. The recording medium of claim 2, wherein

the at least one baseline-usage parameter includes

a copy of the measure of usage of the recording medium when the content material is stored in the memory.

4. The recording medium of claim 5, wherein

the at least One baseline-usage parameter also includes

a usage limit that facilitates the determination of the validity period.

5. The recording medium of claim 2, wherein

the at least one baseline-usage parameter is stored in the baseline register in a secure form that facilitates a determination of an authenticity of the at least one baseline-usage parameter.

6. The recording medium of claim 5, wherein

the at least one baseline-usage parameter is associated with the content material in secure form that facilitates a determination of an authorization of the content material.

7. The recording medium of claim 6, wherein

the content material contains a watermark, and

the at least one baseline-usage parameter further includes

a ticket that is based on a hash value of the watermark.

8. The recording medium of claim 2, wherein

the at least one baseline-usage parameter includes a security encoding that is based on a private key of a public-private key pair that is associated with a providing source of the content material, and

the security encoding includes at least one of:

a digital signature bound to the at least one baseline-usage parameter, and

an encryption of the at least one baseline-usage parameter.

9. A playback device that is configured to render content material that is contained on a recording medium, the playback device comprising:

a player that is configured to render the content material based on an authorization flag,

a usage determinator that is configured to determine a usage-measure associated with the recording medium,

a baseline determinator that is configured to determine at least one baseline-usage parameter that facilitates determination of a validity period associated with the content material, and

an authorization device that is configured to affect the authorization flag based on the usage-measure associated with the recording medium and the validity period associated with the content material.

10. The playback device of claim 9, further including:

a usage incrementer that is configured to advance a usage indicator within the recording medium to facilitate determination of the usage-measure associated with the recording medium.

11. The playback device of claim 9, further including

a security device that is configured to verify the at least one baseline-usage parameter based on a public-key of a public-private key pair that is associated with a provider of the content material.

12. The playback device of claim 11, wherein

the security device is further configured to verify the at least one baseline-usage parameter based on at least one of:

a digital signature bound to the at least one baseline-usage parameter, and

an encryption of the at least one baseline-usage parameter.

13. The playback device of claim 11, wherein

the at least one baseline-usage parameter is bound to the content material in a secure form,

the security device is configured to verify an association between the at least one baseline-usage parameter and the content material, and

the authorization device is further configured to affect the authorization flag in dependence upon the association between the at least one baseline-usage parameter and the content material.

14. The playback device of claim 9, wherein

the at least one baseline-usage parameter is bound to a ticket that is based on a watermark of the content material, and

the authorization device is further configured to affect the authorization flag in dependence upon the ticket and the watermark.

15. A provider of content material comprising:

a recorder that is configured to record a copy of the content material on a recording medium,

an allocator that is configured to allocate a portion of a total-usage measure to the copy of the content material,

a baseline-usage determinator that is configured

to determine a measure of usage associated with the recording medium,

to provide at least one baseline-usage parameter based on the measure of usage associated with the recording medium and the portion of the total-usage measure allocated to the copy of the content material, and

to record the at least one baseline-usage parameter on the recording medium.

16. The provider of claim 15, further comprising

a security device that is configured to encode the at least one baseline-usage parameter in a secure form that includes at least one of:

a digital signature bound to the at least one baseline-usage parameter, and

an encryption of the measure of usage.

17. The provider of claim 16, wherein

the security device is further configured to bind the at least one baseline-usage parameter to the content material.

18. The provider of claim 16, wherein

the security device is further configured to bind the at least one baseline-usage parameter to a ticket that is a hashed value of a watermark that is associated with the content material.

19. The provider of claim 15, wherein

the allocator is further configured to de-allocate the portion of the total-usage measure when the recording medium is subsequently processed by the provider of the content material.

20. The provider of claim 15, wherein

the allocator is further configured to de-allocate the portion of the total-usage measure after a given time duration.

21. A method of providing content material, the method comprising:

recording the content material on a recording medium,

allocating a portion of a total-usage measure to the content material on the recording medium,

determining a measure of usage associated with the recording medium, and

recording at least one baseline-usage parameter on the recording medium based on the measure of usage associate with the recording medium and the portion of the total-usage measure, to facilitate a determination of a validity period associated with the content material on the recording medium.

22. The method of claim 21, further including

de-allocating the portion of the total-usage measure when the recording medium is subsequently processed.

23. The method of claim 21, further including

de-allocating the portion of the total-usage measure after a given time duration.

24. The method of claim 21, further including

binding the at least one baseline-usage parameter to the content material.

25. The method of claim 21, further including

encoding the at least one baseline-usage parameter in a secure form,

the secure form including at least one of:

a digital signature bound to the at least one baseline-usage parameter, and

an encryption of the at least one baseline-usage parameter.

26. The method of claim 21, further including

binding the at least one baseline-usage parameter to a ticket that is a hashed value of a watermark that is associated with the content material.

27. A method of rendering content material that is stored on a recording medium, the method comprising:

determining at least one baseline-usage parameter associated with the recording medium

determining a validity period associated with the content material based on the baseline-usage parameter,

determining a measure of usage associated with the recording medium and

rendering the content material in dependence upon the validity period and the measure of usage.

28. The method of claim 27, further including

determining an authenticity of the baseline-usage parameter and

wherein

the rendering of the content material is in further dependence upon the authenticity of the baseline-usage parameter.

29. The method of claim 27;

further including

decrypting the content material to facilitate said rendering.

30. The method of claim 27, further including

determining a ticket value associated with the content material,

determining a watermark associated with the content material,

comparing a hashed value of the watermark to the ticket value to determine an authorization associated with the content material, and

wherein

the rendering of the content material is in further dependence upon the authorization associated with the content material.