Anti-copy system
First Claim
1. A system for preventing the copying of original recordings comprising:
- means for generating a source material signal;
means for creating a degrade signal which will degrade any source material recorded from an original recording thereof, including a pair of oscillating means and mixingmeans connected to said oscillating means for mixing the outputs of said oscillating means;
means for combining the degrade signal with the source material signal to produce a combined signal; and
means for recording said combined signal on said original recording.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An anti-copy system which prevents copying of tapes and records and other source material by placing a degrade signal on an analog source signal to be recorded on a recording device. One embodiment of the system includes a pulse width modulation (PWM) circuit that generates a pulsed signal in a frequency range from near the upper end to well above the range of hearing. The PWM pulsed signal is modulated by the source signal to be recorded. The PWM signal becomes the degrade signal. This degrade signal is keyed so that it is combined with the source signal only when the frequency of the source signal exceeds a desired threshold. The combined source signal and degrade signal are recorded on the original recording. This original recording can be played back without the presence of the degrade signal impacting the audible quality of the reproduced source signal. However, attempts to make taped copies of the original recordings cause the degrade signal to beat against the bias oscillator frequency of the tape recording head, thereby creating harmonic signals that result in distortion and noticeable alteration of the reproduced source signal that are unpleasant and objectionable to the listener. The anti-copy system may be used with stereophonic recordings, monophonic recordings, or even digital recordings of the type wherein an audible tone burst is used to represent desired digital data.
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Citations
43 Claims
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1. A system for preventing the copying of original recordings comprising:
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means for generating a source material signal; means for creating a degrade signal which will degrade any source material recorded from an original recording thereof, including a pair of oscillating means and mixing means connected to said oscillating means for mixing the outputs of said oscillating means; means for combining the degrade signal with the source material signal to produce a combined signal; and means for recording said combined signal on said original recording. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system for preventing the copying of original recordings comprising:
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means for generating a source material signal; means for creating a degrade signal which will degrade any source material recorded from an original recording thereof, including a pulse width modulation (PWM) oscillator circuit for generating a pulsed output signal having variable pulse widths in response to a modulation signal; means for combining the degrade signal with the source material signal to produce a combined signal; and means for recording said combined signal on said original recording. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. An anti-copy system comprising:
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means for generating a degrade signal; means for combining said degrade signal with a source signal to produce a combined signal; and means for recording said combined signal on an original recording; said degrade signal having one or more frequencies selected to mix with the oscillator signals associated with the recording circuits of magnetic media recording devices so as to generate harmonic or beat frequency signals, the presence of said harmonic signals causing the source signals recorded on the magnetic media to be unacceptably distorted and degraded. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34)
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35. An anti-copy device comprising:
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means for generating a degrade signal having one or more frequencies selected to mix with the oscillator signals associated with the recording circuits of magnetic media recording devices so as to generate harmonic or beat frequency signals; and means for combining said degrade signal with a source signal to produce a combined signal. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38)
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39. A method of making an original recording from which acceptable copies cannot be made using conventional recording devices, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating a source signal representative of the original source material to be recorded; (b) generating a degrade signal having frequencies high enough to be substantially unnoticeable upon playback of said original recording; (c) combining said source signal with said degrade signal to form a combined signal; and (d) recording said combined signal on said original recording, one or more frequencies of said degrade signal having a value such that when mixed with a bias oscillator signal associated with a recording device used to copy said original recording, harmonic signals are generated that significantly and objectionably degrade the quality of the copied recording. - View Dependent Claims (40)
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41. A record comprising a disc having a groove formed therein, each side of said groove representing one channel of a recorded source signal combined with a degrade signal, said degrade signal being of a high enough frequency to be substantially inaudible upon playback of said record, said degrade signal further having one or more frequencies that will interact with the bias oscillator signals of magnetic media recording devices used to copy said record, said interaction causing harmonic signals to be generated, at least one of said harmonic signals causing the source signal recorded on the magnetic media to be distorted.
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42. In a record having a continuous V-shaped groove formed therein, each side of the groove having modulations formed therein representative of one channel of a source signal, the improvement comprising modulations of said source signal combined with additional modulations representative of a degrade signal said degrade signal having a lowest frequency greater than about 17 KHz, and said degrade signal having at least one frequency that interacts with the bias oscillator signals of the magnetic recording heads so as to generate harmonic signals that are discernible when said magnetic recording is made and played back.
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43. In a media for storing an audible source signal, the improvement comprising:
a degrade signal mixed with said source signal, said degrade signal being of a high enough frequency to be substantially inaudible upon playback of said media, said degrade signal further having one or more frequencies that will interact with the bias oscillator signals of magnetic recording devices used to copy said media, said interaction causing harmonic signals to be generated, at least one of said harmonic signals causing the source signal recorded by the magnetic recording device to be distorted upon playback.
Specification