Process and device for securing the transmission, recording and viewing of digital, audiovisual packetized streams

• US 20060072559A1
• Filed: 11/02/2005
• Published: 04/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OL Security LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Medialive (Kudelski SA)
• Inventors: LeComte, Daniel, Lamtouni, Mohammed
• Granted Patent: US 7,613,181 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/386
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23476 by partially encrypting, e.g. encrypting the ending portion of a movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44055 by partially decrypting, e.g. decrypting a video stream that has been partially encrypted
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/835 Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A process for secure distribution of original digital audiovisual streams including audio, video components or other data, including packetizing the original stream into packets that can be manipulated and have a flexible size, wherein each packet includes a header containing information about the packet and a useful load including part of the data of the stream, analyzing the packetized stream prior to transmission to client equipment to generate a main stream in conformity with a packetized format of the original stream, modified in that all or part of the packets were substituted by packets of the same structure, but whose content was modified, and generating complementary information with any format suitable to permit reconstruction of the original stream, and separately transmitting the modified main stream and complementary information generated from the server to addressed equipment.

Claims

1. A process for secure distribution of original digital audiovisual streams comprising audio, video components or other data, comprising:

packetizing the original stream into packets that can be manipulated and have a flexible size, wherein each packet comprises a header containing information about the packet and a useful load comprising part of the data of the stream,

analyzing the packetized stream prior to transmission to client equipment to generate a main stream in conformity with a packetized format of the original stream, modified in that all or part of the packets were substituted by packets of the same structure, but whose content was modified, and

generating complementary information with any format suitable to permit reconstruction of the original stream, and

separately transmitting the modified main stream and complementary information generated from the server to addressed equipment.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the substituted packets contain information relative to one or several audio or visual streams included in the packetized stream.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein analysis of the stream comprises a stage for selection of the packets to be substituted.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein each packet incorporates all or part of one (or several) access unit(s).

5. The process according to claim 1, wherein the complementary information contains substituted packets stemming from the original nominal stream.

6. The process according to claim 4, wherein the complementary information contains packets representing the access units.

7. The process according to claim 1, wherein the complementary information further comprises synchronization data containing temporal references and metadata associated with the modified or substituted packets.

8. The process according to claim 1, wherein the complementary information further comprises instructions describing actions to be performed on the packets following the processed packet.

9. The process according to claim 1, wherein the packets used for substituting the packets of the original stream are selected such that the modified mainstream has the same size in bytes as the original stream.

10. The process according to claim 1, wherein a synthesis is calculated on the addressed equipment of a stream with a nominal format as a function of the modified main stream and the complementary information.

11. The process according to claim 1, wherein original stream to be protected is encoded according to a proprietary norm or standard supporting the packetized format.

12. Apparatus for production of an audiovisual stream according to the process of claim 1, comprising at least one multimedia server containing original audiovisual sequences and a device that analyzes the audiovisual stream from the server to generate the modified main stream and complementary information.

13. Apparatus for exploitation of an audiovisual stream according to the process of claim 1, comprising a standard reader of packetized streams, at least one recording interface that stores the content of the modified main stream, at least one decoder element that processes the packetized format and at least one interface that displays and listens, and means for recomposition of the original stream from the modified main stream and the complementary information.

14. A system for the transmission of an audiovisual stream comprising apparatus comprising at least one multimedia server containing original audiovisual sequences and a device that analyzes the audiovisual stream from the server to generate the modified main stream and the complementary information, at least one piece of equipment for exploiting an audiovisual stream comprising a standard reader of packetized streams, at least one recording interface that stores the contents of the modified main stream, at least one decoder element that processes the packetized format and at least one interface that displays and listens, and means for recomposition of the original stream from the modified main stream and the complementary information, and at least one communication network between the production equipment and the piece(s) of exploitation equipment.