System and method for protection of digital works

• US 7,068,787 B1
• Filed: 03/24/2000
• Issued: 06/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ContentGuard Holdings, Inc. (Pendrell Corporation)
• Original Assignee: ContentGuard Holdings, Inc. (Pendrell Corporation)
• Inventors: Ramanujapuram, Arun, Ram, Prasad, Schuler, Robert E., Wang, Xin, Ta, Thanh T., Lao, Guillermo
• Primary Examiner(s): Darrow, Justin T.
• Application Number:
  US09/534,756
• Time in Patent Office: 2,286 Days
• Field of Search: 713/176, 713/193, 380/44, 380/46, 380/53, 380/54, 380/200, 380/201, 380/202, 380/203, 380/205, 380/207, 380/209, 380/210, 380/212, 380/237, 380/239, 380/240, 380/252, 380/262, 380/263, 705/57, 705/58
• US Class Current: 380/240
• 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: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3257 using blind signatures

Abstract

A digital work and a system context (or resource information or system resource) are polarized enabling trusted rendering or replay of the digital work without depolarization of the digital content. The digital work includes digital content and resource information. Resource information may include information used by a replay application to format or process the digital content. The digital work and system context are polarized using a polarization scheme which relies on a polarization seed to initialize and customize the polarization. Different types of polarization seeds may be used, including a random number, a user'"'"'s system'"'"'s state or characteristic and a dynamic state-based polarization seed based on a dynamic system state or characteristic.

Claims

1. A method of creating a polarized digital work, wherein the digital work includes digital content and resource information for use by an application that transforms digital content into presentation data, comprising:

generating a polarization seed for use in a polarization scheme;

generating a system resource by copying a portion of the digital work'"'"'s resource information, wherein the system resource includes resource information specific to the digital work for use by the application;

polarizing the digital work in accordance with a first polarization scheme which polarizes the digital content while preserving the resource information, using the polarization seed; and

polarizing the system resource in accordance with a second polarization scheme using the polarization seed,

wherein the application uses the polarized system resource to transform the polarized digital work into clear presentation data without depolarizing the digital content, and

the polarization seed comprises an authorization code for a user received from a trusted source.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital work comprises a document comprising digital content and format information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource information comprises an environment of resource elements including display coordinates, volume, color palette and font tables.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital work comprises a digital audio work comprising an audio stream and resource information comprising sample rate, sample type and sample form.

5. A method of creating a polarized digital work, wherein the digital work includes digital content and resource information for use by an application that transforms digital content into presentation data, comprising:

generating a polarization seed for use in a polarization scheme;

generating a system resource by copying a portion of the digital work'"'"'s resource information, wherein the system resource includes resource information specific to the digital work for use by the application;

polarizing the digital work in accordance with a first polarization scheme which polarizes the digital content while preserving the resource information, using the polarization seed; and

polarizing the system resource in accordance with a second polarization scheme using the polarization seed,

wherein the application uses the polarized system resource to transform the polarized digital work into clear presentation data without depolarizing the digital content, and

wherein the digital work comprises a digital video work comprising a video steam and resource information comprising sample rate, sample type and sample form.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first polarization scheme and the second polarization scheme are the same.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the polarization seed comprises a random number.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the polarization seed comprises a system characteristic of a user'"'"'s system.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the polarization seed comprises a dynamic system characteristic of a use'"'"'s system which varies as a function of time, and further comprising repolarizing the polarized digital work and the polarized system context wing the dynamic system characteristic each time the application is accessed for transformation of the digital work into presentation data.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the polarization seed comprises a dynamic system characteristic of an intended user system.

11. A method of creating a polarized digital work, wherein the digital work includes digital content and resource information for use by an application that transforms digital content into presentation data, comprising:

generating a polarization seed for use in a polarization scheme;

generating a system resource by copying a portion of the digital work'"'"'s resource information, wherein the system resource includes resource information specific to the digital work for use by the application;

polarizing the digital work in accordance with a first polarization scheme which polarizes the digital content while preserving the resource information, using the polarization seed; and

polarizing the system resource in accordance with a second polarization scheme using the polarization seed,

wherein the application uses the polarized system resource to transform the polarized digital work into clear presentation data without depolarizing the digital content, and

wherein the digital work comprises a first audio/video stream and a second audio/video stream and wherein the first audio/video stream is polarized and further comprising mixing the polarized first audio/video stream with the second audio/video stream.

12. A computer readable medium for storing a protected digital work, said computer readable medium comprising:

a digital work for use by an application which transforms digital content into presentation data, the digital work comprising digital content and resource information, wherein the digital content has been polarized in accordance with a first polarization scheme which polarizes the digital content using a polarization seed while preserving the resource information, and wherein the resource information is used by the application for transforming the digital content into presentation data; and

a system resource comprising a copy of a portion of the resource information, wherein the system resource has been polarized in accordance with a second polarization scheme using the polarization seed; and

wherein the application uses the polarized system resource to transform the polarized digital work into clear presentation data without depolarizing the digital content, and

the polarization seed comprises an authorization code for a user received from a trusted source.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the first polarization scheme and the second polarization scheme are the same.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the digital work comprises a document comprising digital content and format information.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the resource information comprises an environment of resource elements including display coordinates, volume, color palette and font tables.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the digital work comprises a digital audio work comprising an audio stream and resource information comprising sample rate, sample type and sample form.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the digital work comprises a digital video work comprising a video stream and resource information comprising sample rate, sample type and sample form.

18. A method of protecting a digital work during replay, wherein the digital work comprises digital content and resource information, comprising:

providing a replay application, wherein the replay application uses resource information to transform digital content into presentation data;

providing a polarization seed;

providing a polarized digital work, wherein the digital content has been polarized in accordance with a first polarization scheme which polarizes the digital content using the polarization seed while preserving the resource information, wherein the resource information is used by the application for transforming the digital content into presentation data;

providing a polarized system resource, wherein the system resource has been polarized in accordance with a second polarization scheme using the polarization seed, and

executing the replay application, wherein the replay application uses the polarized system resource to transform the polarized digital work into presentation data without depolarizing the digital content,

wherein the polarization seed comprises an authorization code received from a trusted source.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first and second polarization schemes are the same.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising providing the presentation data to an output device.

21. A method of protecting a digital work during replay, wherein the digital work comprises digital content and resource information, comprising:

providing a first replay application, wherein the first replay application uses resource information to transform digital content into presentation data;

providing a second replay application, wherein the second replay application uses resource information to transform presentation data into image data for display on an output device;

providing a polarization seed;

providing a polarized digital work, wherein the digital content has been polarized in accordance with a first polarization scheme which polarizes the digital content using the polarization seed while preserving the resource information, wherein the resource information is used by the application for transforming the digital content into presentation data;

providing a polarized system resource, wherein the system resource has been polarized in accordance with a second polarization scheme using the polarization seed;

executing the first replay application, wherein the first replay application uses the polarized system resource to transform the polarized digital work into partially unpolarized presentation data; and

executing the second replay application, wherein the second replay application uses the polarized system resource to transform the partially unpolarized presentation data into image data without depolarizing the digital content,

wherein the polarization seed comprises an authorization code received from a trusted source.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising providing the image data to an output device.