Usage dependent ticket to protect copy-protected material

• US 6,601,046 B1
• Filed: 12/03/1999
• Issued: 07/29/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Epstein, Michael A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes, John W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Winter, John M
• Application Number:
  US09/454,350
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• Field of Search: 705/57, 705/52, 360/55, 713/176
• US Class Current: 705/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/008 Public Key, Asymmetric Key, Asymmetric Encryption
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• 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 20/00123 the record carrier being identified by recognising some of its unique characteristics, e.g. a unique defect pattern serving as a physical signature of the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0021 involving encryption or decryption of contents recorded on or reproduced from a record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00557 wherein further management data is encrypted, e.g. sector headers, TOC or the lead-in or lead-out areas
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00695 said measures preventing that data are read from the recording medium
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00746 wherein the usage restriction can be expressed as a specific number
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00797 wherein the usage restriction limits the number of times a content can be reproduced, e.g. using playback counters
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00811 wherein said number is encoded as a cryptographic token or ticket
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00884 involving a watermark, i.e. a barely perceptible transformation of the original data which can nevertheless be recognised by an algorithm
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/10546 specifically adapted for audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/60 Solid state media details of solid state memory devices G11C

Abstract

A usage-limit is associated with each copy of copy-protected material. A conforming playback device determines how much usage has been made of the copy, and only plays the copy-protected material if the usage is within the associated usage-limit of the copy. In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the providing source of the copy contains a total-usage-measure that is allocated among each of the provided copies of the copy-protected material, thereby allowing for more than one copy of the copy-protected material to be produced, or “checked-out” from the providing source. When a copy of the copy-protected material is subsequently returned, or “checked-in” to the providing source, the usage allocation associated with this copy is returned to the total-usage-value. In this manner, if a particular copy of the copy-protected material is lost, damaged, or misplaced, the loss of value to the purchaser is merely a reduction in the available total-usage. In a preferred embodiment, the parameters associated with the usage-limit are communicated via the copy of the material in a secure manner, so that an illicit provider cannot alter these parameters. Similarly, in a preferred embodiment, the parameters associated with the usage-limit are securely bound to the copy-protected material, so that an illicit provider cannot substitute illicit material for the copied material. Other security measures, such as an encryption of the copy-protected material, watermarking, ticketing, and the like, are also compatible with these aforementioned techniques, and are included in a preferred embodiment of this invention.

Claims

1. A provider of content material comprising:

a recorder for recording a copy of the content material on a recording medium;

an allocator for allocating a portion of a total-usage measure to the copy of the content material; and

a baseline-usage determinator for determining a measure of usage associated with the recording medium, for providing at least one baseline-usage parameter based on the measure of usage associated with the recording medium and the portion of the total-usage measure allocated to the copy of the content material, and for recording the at least one baseline-usage parameter on the recording medium,

wherein the provider of content material further comprises;

a security device for encoding the at least one baseline-usage parameter in a secure form, the security device binding the at least one baseline-usage parameter to a ticket that is a hashed value of a watermark that is associated with the content material.

2. The provider as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the security device is further configured to bind the at least one baseline-usage parameter to the content material.

3. The provider as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the allocator is configured to de-allocate the portion of the total-usage measure when the recording medium is subsequently processed by the provider of the content material.

4. The provider as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the allocator is configured to de-allocate the portion of the total-usage measure after a given time duration.

5. The provider as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the security device further encodes the at least one baseline-usage parameter in a secure form, the secure form including at least one of;

a digital signature bound to the at least one baseline-usage parameter, and

an encryption of the at least one baseline-usage parameter.

6. A method of providing content material, the method comprising the steps:

recording the content material on a recording medium;

allocating a portion of a total-usage measure to the content material on the recording medium;

determining a measure of usage associated with the recording medium; and

recording at least one baseline-usage parameter on the recording medium based on the measure of usage associate with the recording medium and the portion of the total-usage measure, to facilitate a determination of a validity period associated with the content material on the recording medium, wherein said method further comprises the step;

binding the at least one baseline-usage parameter to a ticket that is a hashed value of a watermark that is associated with the content material.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the method further comprises the step:

de-allocating the portion of the total-usage measure when the recording medium is subsequently processed.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the method further comprises the step:

de-allocating the portion of the total-usage measure after a given time duration.

9. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the method further comprises the step:

binding the at least one baseline-usage parameter to the content material.

10. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the method further comprises the step:

encoding the at least one baseline-usage parameter in a secure form, the secure form including at least one of;

a digital signature bound to the at least one baseline-usage parameter, and

an encryption of the at least one baseline-usage parameter.