ONLINE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RESTORING ELECTRONIC MEDIA ON ELECTRONIC STORAGE DEVICES

• US 20070083814A1
• Filed: 10/07/2005
• Published: 04/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kelley, Edward, Wilbrink, Tijs
• Granted Patent: US 7,496,608 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/716
• 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 20/00927 wherein said defects or errors are generated on purpose, e.g. intended scratches
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/913 for scrambling ; for copy protection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/888 for signals recorded by pulse code modulation

Abstract

Copy protected materials are backed up or restored and made available for play on electronic media players through an online retrievable system. Corrupted segments of electronic media storage files are identified and located prior to being read, executed, or played. An uncorrupted copy from the network is then located, and software instructions provide for the storage of the uncorrupted segment of the file on electronic media player, merging the uncorrupted segment into the reading, executing, or playing of the electronic storage media file to seamlessly produce an output in real-time that is indistinguishable from the uncorrupted file.

Claims

1. A method for restoring material on an electronic media player, said method comprising:

identifying and locating corrupted file segments on an electronic storage media file played on said electronic media player;

accessing an online service provider having a master copy of said electronic storage media file;

downloading to said electronic media player uncorrupted file segments from said master copy, said uncorrupted file segments matching said corrupted file segments; and

substituting said uncorrupted file segments for said corrupted file segments during play of said electronic storage media file on said electronic media player.

2. The method of claim 1 further including dynamically identifying and locating said corrupted file segments during play of said electronic storage media file.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said steps of identifying and locating said corrupted file segments, accessing said online service provider, and downloading to said electronic media player are performed at a time subsequent to playing said storage media file.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said electronic storage media file includes compact discs, digital video discs, floppy discs, flash memory, or hard drives.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising locating said master copy by searching for a unique identifier assigned to said electronic storage media file.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of substituting said uncorrupted file segments includes loading said uncorrupted file segments in accessible memory of said electronic media player.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said master copy comprises a compressed audio or data file format.

8. The method of claim 7 further including:

decompressing said master copy;

identifying said uncorrupted file segments; and

converting said uncorrupted file segments to a format compatible with said electronic media player if said uncorrupted file segments are not in a compatible format.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of accessing said online service provider comprises accessing a network of peers with a similar data carrier.

10. The method of claim 1 including:

verifying that said master copy is available from said online service provider;

storing any request for said master copy when said master copy is not available but within an accessible database, and prompting a user when said master copy becomes available; and

verifying said electronic storage media file meets criteria for determining legitimacy prior to downloading.

11. The method of claim 10 including routing said user to another online location containing said master copy if said master copy is not available from said online service provider.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein said step of verifying said electronic storage media file meets criteria for legitimacy includes verifying a copy restriction of said electronic storage media file.

13. The method of claim 10 including sending said user a notification that an illegal copy is currently in use when said electronic storage media file does not meet said criteria for determining legitimacy.

14. The method of claim 13 further including:

locating a legitimate copy of said electronic storage media file;

offering said user an opportunity to purchase said legitimate copy; and

downloading said legitimate copy upon said user'"'"'s acceptance and payment.

15. The method of claim 1 including downloading said uncorrupted file segments from a designated online location by granting said user a specified URL, a password, or sharing a decryption algorithm with said user.

16. A method for restoring material on an electronic media player, said method comprising:

locating a master copy of an electronic storage media file by searching for a unique identifier assigned to said electronic storage media file;

identifying and locating corrupted file segments on said electronic storage media file by assigning identifying markers to beginning and end points of said corrupted file segments;

accessing an online service provider having a master copy of said electronic storage media file;

verifying that said master copy is available from said online service provider;

storing any request for said master copy when said master copy is not available but within an accessible database, and prompting a user when said master copy becomes available;

verifying said electronic storage media file meets criteria for determining legitimacy prior to downloading;

downloading to said electronic media player uncorrupted file segments from said master copy when said electronic storage media file is determined legitimate into accessible memory of said electronic media player, said uncorrupted file segments matching said corrupted file segments; and

substituting said uncorrupted file segments for said corrupted file segments during play of said electronic storage media file on said electronic media player.

17. The method of claim 16 further including:

decompressing said master copy when said master copy is in a compressed format;

identifying said uncorrupted file segments; and

converting said uncorrupted file segments to a format compatible with said electronic media player if said uncorrupted file segments are not in a compatible format.

18. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for restoring material on an electronic media player, said method steps comprising:

locating a master copy of an electronic storage media file by searching for a unique identifier assigned to said electronic storage media file;

identifying and locating corrupted file segments on said electronic storage media file by assigning identifying markers to beginning and end points of said corrupted file segments;

accessing an online service provider having a master copy of said electronic storage media file;

verifying that said master copy is available from said online service provider;

storing any request for said master copy when said master copy is not available but within an accessible database, and prompting a user when said master copy becomes available;

verifying said electronic storage media file meets criteria for determining legitimacy prior to downloading;

downloading to said electronic media player uncorrupted file segments from said master copy when said electronic storage media file is determined legitimate into accessible memory of said electronic media player, said uncorrupted file segments matching said corrupted file segments; and

substituting said uncorrupted file segments for said corrupted file segments during play of said electronic storage media file on said electronic media player.

19. The program storage device of claim 18 further including:

decompressing said master copy when said master copy is in a compressed format;

identifying said uncorrupted file segments; and

converting said uncorrupted file segments to a format compatible with said electronic media player if said uncorrupted file segments are not in a compatible format.

20. The program storage device of claim 18 further comprising:

locating a legitimate copy of said electronic storage media file;

offering said user an opportunity to purchase said legitimate copy; and

downloading said legitimate copy upon said user'"'"'s acceptance and payment.