SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MEDIA AUTHENTICATION

• US 20100165812A1
• Filed: 03/15/2010
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SCA IPLA Holdings Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: SCA IPLA Holdings Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: HOWARD, Daniel G., Hart, John J. III, Lee, Andrew R., LeVine, Richard B., Merkle, James A. JR., Pagliarulo, Jeffrey A., Crowley, John R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,095,798 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 369/53.210
• 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 20/00173 wherein the origin of the content is checked, e.g. determining whether the content has originally been retrieved from a legal disc copy or another trusted source
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00927 wherein said defects or errors are generated on purpose, e.g. intended scratches
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 23/40 Identifying or analogous means applied to or incorporated in the record carrier and not intended for visual display simultaneously with the playing-back of the record carrier, e.g. label, leader, photograph

Abstract

A method and system for authenticating a digital optical medium, such as a CD-ROM, determine whether the medium is an unauthorized copy, or the original. The original media is created, or altered, so as to contain anomalous locations from which the transfer of data is accomplished at different rates than a standard digital copy would exhibit. One implementation of the process involves timing analysis of the differences in data transfer rates. Another implementation involves the determination of digital signatures during multiple read operations performed on a data segment. The process can be employed in systems that control access to unauthorized copies, or may be used for other informative purposes. Theft, distribution, and piracy of digital content on optical media, such as computer software (also games, video, audio, e-book content), is often accomplished by copying it directly to another disc using commonly available copy tools and recordable optical media, or the replication of media to another mass manufactured disc. The present invention, which helps to irrefutably identify a unit of optical media as the original, and can correspondingly identify any copy made by any currently available means as such a copy, may prevent an unauthorized individual from making use of any unauthorized copies. This offers significant advantages to content creators who wish to protect their products.

Claims

1. An apparatus for authenticating a digital medium comprising:

an interface that receives data symbols from a media reading device performing a read operation on the digital medium;

a monitor that monitors a transfer rate of data from the media reading device that results from reading data symbols stored on a physical location of the digital medium, said transfer rate being a rate in data elements per unit time at which data elements are returned from the media reading device in response to the read operation;

a transfer rate determination mechanism that determines a presence of an anomaly region on the digital medium corresponding to the physical location of the data symbols on the digital medium by identifying a modification in the transfer rate; and

an authentication mechanism configured to authenticate the digital medium based on a characteristic of the anomaly region.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said media reading device is in a same apparatus as said monitor, transfer rate determination mechanism, and authentication mechanism.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said media reading device is in a different device than said monitor, transfer rate determination mechanism, and authentication mechanism.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data symbols include data selected from user data, error data, sync data, parity data, header data and sub-channel data.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said monitor is configured to monitor the transfer rate during the read operation and determine whether the anomaly region is present in a data segment based on the transfer rate determined by the transfer rate determination mechanism.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

said monitor is configured to monitor a first transfer rate of first data during the read operation and further determine whether the anomaly region is present in a data segment based on the first transfer rate, and

when the authentication mechanism determines that an anomaly region is not present as a result of monitoring the first transfer rate, the monitor performs second monitoring of a second transfer rate of second data read during another read operation, and said determination mechanism determines whether the anomaly region is present based on the second transfer rate.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the reading of the data symbols is performed by the media reading device; and

the modification in the transfer rate results from the media reading device automatically reducing a rate at which the data symbols are read due to the presence of the anomaly region.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions that when executed by a processor authenticate a digital medium comprising:

monitoring a transfer rate of data read from a media reading device that results from reading data symbols stored on a physical location of the digital medium, said transfer rate being a rate in data elements per unit time at which data elements are returned from the media reading device in response to the read operation;

determining from the transfer rate, a presence of an anomaly region on the digital medium corresponding to the physical location of the data symbols on the digital medium by identifying a modification in transfer rate; and

authenticating the digital medium based on a characteristic of the anomaly region.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the data includes at least one of user data, error data, sync data, parity data, header data, and sub-channel data.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising monitoring the transfer rate during the read operation and further determining whether the anomaly region is present in a data segment based on the transfer rate monitored in the monitoring step.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein:

the reading of the data symbols is performed by the media reading device; and

the modification in the transfer rate results from the media reading device automatically reducing a rate at which the data symbols are read due the presence of the anomaly region.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising:

monitoring a first transfer rate of first user data during the read operation, and further determining whether the anomaly region is present based on the monitored first transfer rate; and

when the anomaly region is not determined to be present, performing second monitoring at a second transfer rate of second user data during another read operation and further determining whether the anomaly region is present based on the second transfer rate.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium comprises the digital medium.

14. A method of authenticating a digital medium comprising:

monitoring a transfer rate of data read from a media reading device that results from reading data symbols stored on a physical location of the digital medium, said transfer rate being a rate in data elements per unit time at which data elements are returned from the media reading device in response to the read operation;

determining with a processor from the transfer rate, a presence of an anomaly region on the digital medium corresponding to the physical location of the data symbols on the digital medium by identifying a modification in transfer rate; and

authenticating the digital medium based on a characteristic of the anomaly region.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the data includes at least one of user data, error data, sync data, parity data, header data, and sub-channel data.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising monitoring the transfer rate during the read operation and further determining whether the anomaly region is present in a data segment based on the transfer rate monitored in the monitoring step.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the reading of the data symbols is performed by the media reading device; and

the modification in the transfer rate results from the media reading device automatically reducing a rate at which the data symbols are read due the presence of the anomaly region.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

monitoring a first transfer rate of first user data during the read operation, and further determining whether the anomaly region is present based on the monitored first transfer rate; and

when the anomaly region is not determined to be present, performing second monitoring at a second transfer rate of second user data during another read operation and further determining whether the anomaly region is present based on the second transfer rate.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium comprises the digital medium.

20. A system for authenticating a digital medium by determining a presence of an anomaly region corresponding to a data segment of the digital medium comprising:

a read unit that performs multiple read operations on a data segment of the digital medium to generate multiple corresponding read data results;

a calculating unit configured to calculate corresponding digital signatures using actual data values of underlying data of the read data segment for each of the multiple read data results; and

a determining unit configured to determine whether an anomaly region is present in the data segment based on a comparison of the digital signatures by determining whether any of the digital signatures are equal in value, and if a predetermined number of the digital signals are not equal in value, determining the anomaly region to be present; and

an authentication mechanism configured to authenticate the digital medium in response to a determination of a presence of the anomaly region.