System and method for the assertion and identification of rights information in an analog video signal

• US 7,162,146 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2004
• Issued: 01/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Warner Bros Entertainment Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Warner Bros Entertainment Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stephens, Spencer, Marks, Dean S., Cookson, Christopher J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Thai Q.
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUNN, MISHAWN N
• Application Number:
  US10/773,949
• Publication Number:
  US 20040240846A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,068 Days
• Field of Search: 360/15, 360/60, 380/201, 380/203, 380/210, 386/94, 382/100, 382/232
• US Class Current: 386/245
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4023 based on decimating pixels or lines of pixels; based on inserting pixels or lines of pixels
• 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 20/00173 wherein the origin of the content is checked, e.g. determining whether the content has originally been retrieved from a legal disc copy or another trusted source
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00768 wherein copy control information is used, e.g. for indicating whether a content may be copied freely, no more, once, or never, by setting CGMS, SCMS, or CCI flags
• 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: H04N 2005/91321 the copy protection signal being a copy protection control signal, e.g. a record inhibit signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/91328 the copy protection signal being a copy management signal, e.g. a copy generation management signal [CGMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43632 involving a wired protocol, e.g. IEEE 1394 high-speed IEEE 1394 serial bus H04L12/40052
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8355 involving usage data, e.g. number of copies or viewings allowed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/913 for scrambling ; for copy protection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/025 Systems for the transmission of digital non-picture data, e.g. of text during the active part of a television frame transmission of digital non-picture data during the vertical blanking interval only H04N7/088
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/08 Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band , e.g. by time division H04N7/007 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted. The signal includes a rights assertion mark (RAM) in the video portion of the signal within the visible picture such that capture of the picture will include the mark. The signal also includes copy control information (CCI) bits in the vertical blanking interval of the signal for representing copying and redistribution rules. If the RAM is present and the CCI bits are present, then the copying and redistribution rules represented by the CCI bits are applied. If the RAM is present but the CCI bits are not, then the most restrictive copying and redistribution rules that can be represented by the CCI bits are applied.

Claims

1. A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted, the signal including

a rights assertion mark (RAM) in the video portion of the signal within the visible picture such that capture of the picture will include the mark, and

copy control information (CCI) bits in the vertical blanking interval of the signal for representing copying and redistribution rules;

comprising the steps of;

determining if the RAM and CCI bits are present in the work,

if the RAM is present and the CCI bits are present, then applying the copying and redistribution rules represented by the CCI bits, and

if the RAM is present but the CCI bits are not, then applying the most restrictive copying and redistribution rules that can be represented by the CCI bits;

wherein the CCI bits are represented as CGMS-A information, the most restrictive copying rule is “

copy never”

, and the most restrictive redistribution rule is “

no redistribution”

.

2. A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted in accordance with claim 1 wherein the RAM is represented by VEIL modulation of the video signal.

3. A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted in accordance with claim 2 wherein the video signal further includes secondary copy control information (SCCI) that conforms with the CCI bits, and if the RAM and SCCI bits are present but the CCI bits are not, then the copying and redistribution rules represented by the SCCI bits are applied.

4. A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted in accordance with claim 3 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a watermark in the audio portion of the analog video signal.

5. A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted in accordance with claim 3 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a digital signature in the vertical blanking interval of the analog video signal, where the digital signature is a function of the CCI bits and selected pixels of the visible picture of the work.

6. A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted in accordance with claim 1 wherein the video signal further includes secondary copy control information (SCCI) that conforms with the CCI bits, and if the RAM and SCCI bits are present but the CCI bits are not, then applying the copying and redistribution rules represented by the SCCI bits.

7. A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted in accordance with claim 6 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a watermark in the audio portion of the work.

8. A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted in accordance with claim 6 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a digital signature in the vertical blanking interval of the analog video signal, where the digital signature is a function of the CCI bits and selected pixels of the visible picture of the work.

9. A method for asserting and identifying rights information in a work represented by an analog video signal, comprising the steps of:

inserting a rights assertion mark (RAM) in the video portion of the signal within the visible picture such that capture of the picture will include the mark, and

inserting copy control information (CCI) bits in the vertical blanking interval of the signal for representing copying and redistribution rules, wherein the CCI bits are represented as CGMS-A information, the most restrictive copying rule is “

copy never”

, and the most restrictive redistribution rule is “

no redistribution.”

,

where the signal is to be processed by a device that operates on it as follows;

(i) if the RAM is present and the CCI bits are present, then the copying and redistribution rules represented by the CCI bits are applied, and

(ii) if the RAM is present but the CCI bits are not, then the most restrictive copying and redistribution rules that can be represented by the CCI bits are applied.

10. A method for asserting and identifying rights information in a work represented by an analog video signal in accordance with claim 9 wherein the RAM is represented by VEIL modulation of the video signal.

11. A method for asserting and identifying rights information in a work represented by an analog video signal in accordance with claim 10 further including the step of inserting in the signal secondary copy control information (SCCI) that conforms with the CCI bits.

12. A method for asserting and identifying rights information in a work represented by an analog video signal in accordance with claim 11 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a watermark in the audio portion of the work.

13. A method for asserting and identifying rights information in a work represented by an analog video signal in accordance with claim 11 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a digital signature in the vertical blanking interval of the analog video signal, where the digital signature is a function of the CCI bits and selected pixels of the visible portion of the work.

14. A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted, the signal including

a rights assertion mark (RAM) presented by a Veil modulation of the video portion of the signal within the visible picture such that capture of the picture will include the mark, and

copy control information (CCD) bits for representing copying rules, said CCI bits being represented as CGMS-A information in the vertical blanking interval of the analog signal;

comprising the steps of;

determining if the RAM and CCI bits are present in the work,

if the RAM is present and the CCI bits are present, then applying the copying rules represented by the CCI bits, and

if the RAM is present but the CCI bits are not, then applying default copying rules;

wherein the video signal further includes secondary copy control information (SCCI) that conforms with the CCI bits, and if the RAM and SCCI bits are present but the CCI bits are not, then the copying and redistribution rules represented by the SCCI bits are applied.

15. A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted in accordance with claim 14 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a watermark in the audio portion of the work.

16. A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted in accordance with claim 14 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a digital signature in the vertical blanking interval of the analog video signal, where the digital signature is a function of the CCI bits and selected pixels of the visible picture portion of the work.

17. A method of controlling the processing of an analog video signal in a player device using Copy Control Information (CCI) rules, wherein said analog video signal includes CCI bits and a rights assertion mark (RAM) confirming the presence of CCI bits in the analog video signal, comprising the steps of:

checking said signal for said CCI bits and said RAM;

if both are present then operating said device in accordance with said CCI bits;

if said RAM is present but said CCI bits are absent then operating said device in a default mode; and

if said CCI bits are absent, said device is operated in a mode in which said analog video signal cannot be redistributed.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said CCI bits represent CGMS-A information.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein said video signal includes vertical blanking periods and said CCI bits are imbedded in said vertical blanking periods.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein said RAM is implemented using VEIL modulation of said analog video signal.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein in the absence of said CCI bits, said device is operated in a mode in which said analog video signal cannot be recorded.