DISTRIBUTION OF DIGITAL CONTENT PROTECTED BY WATERMARK-GENERATING PASSWORD

• US 20130318356A1
• Filed: 12/16/2011
• Published: 11/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ContentArmor
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Diehl, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 9,418,208 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1015 to users

Abstract

A receiver receives digital content scrambled using a control word and a user code for the scrambled content. A user inputs the user code that is forwarded to a code extractor that generates the control word and a user identifier from it. The control word is sent to a descrambler, a watermark information generator and a visible watermark insertion unit. The descrambler descrambles the scrambled content using the control word, an invisible watermark insertion unit inserts invisible watermark information obtained from the watermark information generator into the descrambled content and the visible watermark insertion unit inserts the user identifier as a visible watermark. Also provided are a corresponding method for processing digital content and a method and a device for generating the user code.

Claims

1. A method of processing digital content, the method comprising the steps, in a device comprising a processor, of:

receiving a content scrambled using a control word;

receiving, via a user interface, a user identifier and a user code;

processing the user identifier and the user code to obtain the control word;

descrambling the scrambled content using the control word;

inserting into the descrambled content a watermark based on the user identifier; and

outputting the watermarked content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the watermark is an invisible watermark.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of inserting the user identifier as a visible watermark.

2. A method of processing digital content, the method comprising the steps, in a device comprising a processor, of:

receiving a content scrambled using a control word;

receiving, via a user interface, a text string;

processing the text string to obtain the control word and a user identifier;

descrambling the scrambled content using the control word;

inserting into the descrambled content a watermark based on the user identifier; and

outputting the watermarked content.

3. The method of claim 10, wherein the intermediate code is obtained solely from the text string.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the processing step comprises:

processing the text string to obtain an intermediate code; and

processing the intermediate code to obtain the control word and a user identifier.

6. A device for processing digital content, the device comprising a processor to:

receive a content scrambled using a control word;

receive, via a user interface, a user identifier and a user code;

process the user identifier and the user code to obtain the control word;

descramble the scrambled content using the control word;

insert into the descrambled content a watermark based on the user identifier; and

output the watermarked content.

7. A device for processing digital content, the device comprising a processor configured to:

receive a content scrambled using a control word;

receive, via a user interface, a text string;

process the text string to obtain the control word and a user identifier;

descramble the scrambled content using the control word;

insert into the descrambled content a watermark based on the user identifier; and

output the watermarked content.

8. A method of generating a user code for accessing digital content, the method comprising the steps, in a device comprising a processor, of:

receiving a control word used to scramble the digital content;

receiving an identifier for a user;

generating an intermediate code from at least the control word and the identifier for the user;

generating a text string from the intermediate code; and

outputting the text string.

9. A device for generating a user code for accessing digital content, the device comprising a processor configured to:

receive a control word used to scramble the digital content;

receive an identifier for a user;

generate an intermediate code from at least the control word and the identifier for the user;

generate a text string from the intermediate code; and

output the text string.