Non-intrusive digital rights enforcement

• US 7,167,925 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2001
• Issued: 01/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Netmask Internet Technologies Limited
• Inventors: Marmor, Eliyahu
• Primary Examiner(s): Barot, Bharat
• Application Number:
  US09/941,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20020026475A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,974 Days
• Field of Search: 709225-229, 709202-203, 709217-219, 709/213, 709/246, 709238-239, 705/51, 705/57
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561

Abstract

A method for transferring information between a server (24) and a client (28), through a converter (22), comprising:

• • analyzing at least a portion the information by the converter (22), to determine a standard used by the server (24) to encode the information in the portion; and
  • replacing at least a portion of the analyzed information with other information, which other information uses a second standard,
  • wherein, analyzing comprises parsing the information on a syntactic level and wherein the information comprises at least one Internet hypertext document.

Claims

1. A method for controlling the viewing of copyrighted information, transmitted from a data source, on the Internet, comprising:

receiving, by a data source, a request for information from a client;

transmitting information in an original format, from the data source to a proxy server, responsive to the request;

converting the information, at the proxy server, from the original format to a modified form, wherein converting to the modified form comprises temporally modulating a display of the information in a manner which hinders copying of the information;

transmitting the modified form of the information to the client; and

displaying the modified form of the information at the client so that the displayed information differs from the original format in such a manner that the information is less available for copying than in the original format.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said original format of said information is a format used on the Internet.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said original format is a HTML format.

4. A method according claim 1, wherein displaying comprises displaying by a server-provided program.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein said server-provided program requires a live connection with said server.

6. A method according to claim 4, wherein said server-provided program is downloaded from the server.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein said server-provided program is downloaded from the server without user intervention.

8. A method according to claim 4, comprising authenticating the server-provided program to the server.

9. A method according to claim 4, wherein converting comprises converting said information to a four unusable by said client without said server-provided program.

10. A method according to claim 4, wherein said server-provided program comprises an applet.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein converting the information to the modified form comprises converting at least one text object to at least one non text object.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein converting the information to the modified form comprises converting at least part of one static to a dynamic object.

13. A method according to claim 10, wherein said applet is a Java applet.

14. A method according to any of claims 1–

3, wherein converting comprises additionally encrypting.

15. A method according to any of claims 1–

3, wherein converting the information comprises converting only a portion of the information.

16. A method according to any of claims 1–

3, wherein said converting comprises additionally encoding the information and wherein said encoded information is at least partially decoded before displaying it.

17. A method according to claim 1, wherein said converting comprises modifying some of the information so that the displayed information differs from the original in content.

18. A method according to claim 1, wherein said proxy server is configured to act as a proxy server which transparently converts and transmits information to the client without requiring substantial changes to said data source.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein said proxy server does not require substantial changes in said client.

20. A method according to claim 1, wherein said proxy server performs conversion on demand by the data source.

21. A method according to claim 20, wherein said information is compiled from multiple sources at the data source.

22. A method according to claim 21, wherein said data source is a web server.

23. A method according to claim 1, wherein said conversion modifies at least one text object to at least one non text object.

24. A method according to claim 1, wherein said conversion modifies at least part of one static object to a dynamic object.

25. A method according to claim 1, wherein said conversion reduces the ease of interception said information.

26. A method according to claim 1, wherein said proxy server is located at said data source.

27. A method according to claim 1, wherein said proxy server is located at said client.

28. A method according to claim 1, wherein said proxy server is located at a location in the network different than the location of said data source and said client.

29. A method according to claim 1, wherein converting the information to the modified form comprises inserting advertisements into said displayed information.

30. A method according to claim 1, wherein said displaying uses software which is of a type inherently incapable of interaction with the client station other than input handling and display.

32. A method according to claim 1, wherein transmitting the information in the original format, from the data source to the proxy server comprises transmitting in a format suitable for display by the client using a standard browser.

33. A method according to claim 1, wherein converting the information to the modified form, in which the information is less available for copying comprises converting to a format in which display of the information is easily accessible to the senses of a consumer, but is less accessible to data manipulation tools on a computer performing the display.

34. A method according to claim 1, wherein converting the information to the modified form comprises converting to a format not supported by a simple browser.

35. A method according to claim 34, wherein displaying the modified form comprises displaying by the simple browser using an applet.

31. A method according to clan 30, wherein converting the information comprises converting said information to a form unusable by said client without said software.

36. A method of providing copyright information by a server between a data source and a client computer, comprising:

receiving information in a first format;

determining that the received information requires format conversion for copyright protection;

converting the information in to a second format, in which display of the information is easily accessible to the senses of a consumer, but is less accessible to data manipulation tool on a computer performing the display, than in the first format; and

displaying the information in the second format, by the client computer so that the displayed information differs from the first format in such a manner that the information is less available for copying than in the first format.

37. A method according to claim 36, wherein the received information in the first format comprises a page and wherein the second format comprises a temporally modulation of the information, such that only small parts of the information are displayed at any instant.

38. A method according to claim 37, wherein in displaying the information only a small portion of the information of the displayed page is on the client computer at any given moment.

39. A method according to claim 37, wherein in displaying the information each small part is displayed in a flashing manner at a rate of at least 30 Hz.

40. A method according to claim 36, wherein the received information in the first format comprises both data and advertisements and wherein in the second format the advertisements and data are displayed in a manner which allows easy separation by humans but not by standard data manipulations programs.

41. A method according to claim 36, wherein the first format is a text format supported by the client computer and the second format is a graphical display format.