Usage dependent ticket to protect copy-protected material

• US 6,817,535 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2003
• Issued: 11/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Epstein, Michael A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thien M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Labaze, Edwyn
• Application Number:
  US10/615,154
• Publication Number:
  US 20040004114A1
• Time in Patent Office: 497 Days
• Field of Search: 235/492, 235/375, 235/380-382, 705/51, 705/57-59, 713/176, 713/187, 713/165, 713/200, 380/227, 380/228, 380/281
• US Class Current: 235/492
• 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 recording medium for removably cooperating with any one of a plurality of playback devices, said recording medium comprising:

a memory portion for storing content material;

a usage indicator for recording a measure of usage associated with the content material stored in said memory portion; and

a baseline register for storing at least one baseline-usage parameter for facilitating a determination of a validity period associated with the content material based on the usage indicator.

2. The recording medium as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the usage indicator includes a counter, said counter being incremented by a playback device when the playback device accesses the content material.

3. The recording medium as claimed in claim 2, wherein:

the at least one baseline-usage parameter includes a copy of the measure of usage of the recording medium when the content material is stored in the memory portion.

4. The recording medium as claimed in claim 3, wherein:

the at least one baseline-usage parameter also includes a usage limit for facilitating the determination of the validity period.

5. The recording medium as claimed in claim 2, wherein:

the at least one baseline-usage parameter is stored in the baseline register in a secure form for facilitating a determination of an authenticity of the at least one baseline-usage parameter.

6. The recording medium as claimed in claim 5, wherein:

the at least one baseline-usage parameter is associated with the content material in a secure form for facilitating a determination of an authorization of the content material.

7. The recording medium as claimed in claim 6, wherein:

the content material contains a watermark, and the at least one baseline-usage parameter further includes a ticket based on a hash value of the watermark.

8. The recording medium as claimed in claim 2, wherein:

the at least one baseline-usage parameter includes a security encoding based on a private key of a public-private key pair associated with a providing source of the content material,

the security encoding 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.

9. A method of rendering content material stored on a recording medium, the method comprising the steps:

determining at least one baseline-usage parameter associated with the recording medium;

determining a validity period associated with the content material based on the baseline-usage parameter;

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

rendering the content material in dependence upon the validity period and the measure of usage.

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

determining an authenticity of the baseline-usage parameter; and

wherein the rendering of the content material is in further dependence upon the authenticity of the baseline-usage parameter.

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

decrypting the content material to facilitate said rendering.

12. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said method further comprises the steps:

determining a ticket value associated with the content material;

determining a watermark associated with the content material; and

comparing a hashed value of the watermark to the ticket value to determine an authorization associated with the content material, and

wherein the rendering of the content material is in further dependence upon the authorization associated with the content material.