Audio scrambler

• US 4,638,357 A
• Filed: 01/20/1984
• Issued: 01/20/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/1984
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Warner Bros Entertainment Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Home Box Office Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Heimbach, Paul A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Buczinski, Stephen C.
• Application Number:
  US06/572,445
• Time in Patent Office: 1,096 Days
• Field of Search: 358/118, 358/121, 179/1.5 S, 179/1.5 M
• US Class Current: 380/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 1/02 by adding a second signal to make the desired signal unintelligible
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/171 Systems operating in the amplitude domain of the television signal

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed for scrambling and descrambling an audio signal. An interference signal is generated and is intermittently, preferably pseudo-randomly, added to the program audio as a function of control information generated either by means of hardware alone or by means of software. The scrambled audio and the interference signal are preferably transmitted on two carriers, e.g., two standard subcarriers used in TV broadcasting, together with the control information. A decoder descrambles the audio by substracting the interference signal from the scrambled audio at the proper times as indicated by the control information. Preferably, the interference signal, comprising a series of noise bursts, is transmitted on the same carrier as the control information, time-multiplexed with the latter. Alternatively, the program audio itself, subjected to a time delay, is used as the interference signal, in which case the second carrier bears only the control information.

Claims

1. A method for secure transmission of an audio signal, comprising the steps of:

generating a program audio signal;

generating an interference signal;

generating control information;

varying the level of said interference signal as a function of said program audio signal;

intermittently adding said interference signal to said program audio signal during predetermined periods of time to produce a scrambled signal;

transmitting said scrambled signal on one carrier;

simultaneously transmitting said interference signal on a second carrier; and

transmitting said control information on said second carrier during at least one interval between the predetermined periods the interference signal is added to the program audio signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said interference signal is added to said program audio signal as a pseudo-random function of time during said predetermined periods.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of phase-reversing said interference signal from time to time as a function of said control information, before adding said interference signal to said program audio signal.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said interference signal is phase-reversed as a pseudo-random function of time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said interference signal is intermittently added to said program audio signal as a function of two predetermined numbers neither of which is selected as a function of the other, and wherein said step of transmitting said control information includes transmitting one of said two numbers together with an address identifying one decoder, for enabling that decoder to unscramble said scrambled signal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of transmitting said control information comprises transmitting said control information together with an address identifying one decoder, for enabling that decoder to unscramble said scramble signal.

7. An apparatus for scrambling an audio signal, comprising:

means for generating an interference signal;

means for generating control information;

means for producing a scrambled signal by intermittently adding said interference signal to a program audio signal as a function of said control information;

means for time-multiplexing said interference signal and said control information; and

means for simultaneously transmitting the scrambled signal on one carrier, and the time-multiplexed interference signal and control information on a second carrier.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising means for phase-reversing the interference signal as a function of such control information.

9. A decoder for descrambling a scrambled audio signal, said decoder comprising:

means for identifying time-multiplexed first and second portions of a first signal;

means for processing the first portion of the first signal to produce control signals; and

means for subtracting the second portion of the first signal from a scrambled signal at times determined as a function of the control signals.

10. The decoder of claim 9, further comprising memory means storing an authorization code, said means for processing the first portion of the first signal producing control signals as a function both of the authorization code and of information contained in the first portion of the first signal.