Content protection system for optical data storage disc

• US 20040177259A1
• Filed: 03/05/2003
• Published: 09/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Vmedia Research, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Vmedia Research, Inc.
• Inventors: Volk, Steven B.
• Application Number:
  US10/383,193
• Publication Number:
  US 20040177259A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/193
• 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: 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

Abstract

An optical data storage disc contains at least an “X data area” and a user data area, the latter of which may include for example a video game or a movie. The disc drive internally loads and runs a program (the “X program”) resident in the X data area before the user data is accessed. The X program may operate on data that are read from the disc or delivered by host device to the disc drive. The X program generates a result that is delivered to the interface between the disc drive and a host device (e.g., a cell phone or a PDA), and the host device reads the result and compares it with an expected result. If a predetermined correspondence exists, the disc drive is authorized to read the user data. If the predetermined correspondence does not exist, the user data cannot be read. The content of the X data area, including the X program, never appears at an interface between the disc drive and a host device (e.g., a cell phone or PDA). Thus even if the user data are copied onto another media, that media will not contain the X program, thereby preventing the user data from being read.

Claims

1. A method for reading data from an optical data storage disc, said disc being mounted to a disc drive, said disc drive being connected to a host device, wherein said disc comprises a user data area and an X data area, said user data area containing entertainment content, said X data area containing at least one X program, said method comprising:

providing an X data execute command in said host device;

causing said host device to present said X data execute command to said disc drive; and

in response to said X data execute command, causing a microprocessor within said disc drive to read said at least one X program from said X data area and to execute said at least one X program, thereby generating a result.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing an expected result in said host device;

causing said disc drive to present said result to said host device;

determining whether a predetermined relationship exists between said result and said expected result; and

allowing said host device to read said entertainment content if and only if said preselected relationship exists.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein causing said microprocessor to execute said at least one X program comprises causing said at least one X program to operate on input data.

4. The method of claim 3 comprising causing said microprocessor to read said input data from at least one of said user data area, said X data area and a vendor-specific area of said disc.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said input data comprises an argument presented to said disc drive by said host device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of said input data is encrypted.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of said entertainment content is encrypted.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said X data execute command is resident in an application in said host device.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein said X data execute command is present on said disc and said method comprises reading said X data execute command from said disc to said application.

10. The method of claim 1 comprising:

presenting an argument to said disc drive; and

causing said microprocessor to execute said at least one X program using said argument.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said entertainment content comprises a video game.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said entertainment content comprises a movie.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein said entertainment content comprises a recorded television program.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein said entertainment content comprises an audio book or viewable book.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein said host device is a personal digital accessory (PDA).

16. The method of claim 1 wherein said host device is cell phone.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein said host device is a laptop personal computer (PC).

18. The method of claim 1 wherein said disc comprises a vendor-specific data area.

19. The method of claim 1 comprising causing said microprocessor to read a ROM-based code to implement a virtual machine.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said virtual machine includes an interpreter selected from the group consisting of AWK, Basic, JAVA, Perl and Visual Basic interpreters.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein said at least one X program is never present at an interface between said host and said disc drive.

22. The method of claim 1 comprising:

causing said host device to generate a random number;

causing said host device to deliver said random number to said disc drive; and

causing said X program to operate on said random number as input data.

23. The method of claim 1 comprising:

causing said host device to generate a first random number;

causing said drive to generate a second random number;

delivering a host public key to said drive;

delivering a drive public key to said host;

causing said host to encrypt said first random number with said drive public key, thereby generating an encrypted first random number;

causing said drive to encrypt said second random number with said host public key, thereby generating an encrypted second random number;

causing said host to deliver said encrypted first random number to said drive;

causing said drive to deliver said encrypted second random number to said host; and

causing said host to decrypt said encrypted second random number;

causing said drive to decrypt said encrypted first random number; and

combining said first and second random numbers to form a session key.

24. The method of claim 1 comprising establishing a secure session between said host device and said disc drive.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein establishing a secure session comprises;

causing said host device and said disc drive to generate first and second random numbers, respectively;

causing said host device to transmit a host public key to said disc drive and causing said disc drive to transmit a drive public key to said host device;

causing said host device to encrypt said first random number with said drive public key to produce a first encrypted random number;

causing said disc drive to encrypt said second random number with said host public key to produce a second encrypted random number; and

causing said host to transmit said first encrypted random number to said disc drive and causing said disc drive to transmit said second encrypted random number to said host device.

26. The method of claim 25 comprising:

causing said host device to decrypt said second encrypted random number using the host device'"'"'s private key so as to obtain said second random number; and

causing said disc drive to decrypt said first encrypted random number using the disc drive'"'"'s private key so as to obtain said first random number.

27. The method of claim 26 comprising causing each of said host device and said disc drive to combine said first and second random numbers so as to generate a shared secret for the secure session.

28. A method for reading data from an optical data storage disc, said disc being mounted to a disc drive, said disc drive being connected to a host device, wherein said disc comprises a user data area and an X data area, said user data area containing entertainment content, said X data area containing at least one X program, said method comprising:

causing a microprocessor within said disc drive to read said at least one X program from said X data area;

causing said microprocessor to execute said at least one X program, thereby generating a result;

causing said disc drive to present said result to said host device;

determining whether a predetermined relationship exists between said result and said expected result; and

allowing said host device to read said entertainment content if and only if said preselected relationship exists.