Copy detection for digitally-formatted works

• US 7,177,845 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2004
• Issued: 02/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: DeTreville, John D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Reagan; James A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Winter; John M.
• Application Number:
  US11/018,022
• Publication Number:
  US 20050108174A1
• Time in Patent Office: 785 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/56, 705/57, 705/58, 380/293, 713/1
• 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 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]

Abstract

An electronic book reader has a processor, a display surface, and access to a memory card upon which is stored a digitally-formatted creative work such as a book. In addition, the reader has access to a plurality of precompiled condensed content descriptions of respective books that are subject to copy restrictions. Before reading a given book, the reader creates a condensed content description of the book and compares it to the stored descriptions to determine whether the book is subject to copy restrictions. If it is, the reader checks for a valid license before allowing the user to read the book.

Claims

1. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving precompiled condensed content descriptions of digitally-formatted works that are subject to copy restrictions;

in conjunction with reading a particular digitally-formatted work for perception by a user, creating a condensed content description of said particular digitally-formatted work; and

comparing the created condensed content description to the precompiled condensed content descriptions to determine whether said particular digitally-formatted work is subject to copy restrictions.

2. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the condensed content description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values, each hash value being calculated from a portion of the given digitally-formatted work using a hash function, the method further comprising changing the hash function over time.

3. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the digitally-formatted works contain grammatical text;

the condensed content;

description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values; and

each hash value is calculated from a sequence of words that occurs in the given digitally-formatted work.

4. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the digitally-formatted works contain grammatical text;

the condensed content description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values;

each hash value is calculated from a sequence of words that occurs in the given digitally-formatted work; and

each sequence of words contains at least 100 characters.

5. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the digitally-formatted works contain grammatical text;

the condensed content description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values; and

the hash values are calculated in a way that allows comparison of ordered word sequences in the digitally-formatted works.

6. A computing system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more computer-readable media;

computer-readable instructions on the one or more computer-readable media which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

receive precompiled condensed content descriptions of digitally-formatted works that are subject to copy restrictions;

in conjunction with reading a particular digitally-formatted work for perception by a user, create a condensed content description of said particular digitally-formatted work; and

compare the created condensed content description to the precompiled condensed content descriptions to determine whether said particular digitally-formatted work is subject to copy restrictions.

7. The computing system of claim 6, wherein the condensed content description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values, each hash value being calculated from a portion of the given digitally-formatted work using a hash function, wherein the computer-readable instructions on the one or more computer-readable media cause the one or more processors to change the hash function over time.

8. The computing system of claim 6, wherein:

the digitally-formatted works contain grammatical text;

the condensed content description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values; and

each hash value is calculated from a sequence of words that occurs in the given digitally-formatted work.

9. The computing system of claim 6, wherein:

the digitally-formatted works contain grammatical text;

the condensed content description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values;

each hash value is calculated from a sequence of words that occurs in the given digitally-formatted work; and

each sequence of words contains at least 100 characters.

10. The computing system of claim 6, wherein:

the digitally-formatted works contain grammatical text;

the condensed content description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values; and

the hash values are calculated in a way that allows comparison of ordered word sequences in the digitally-formatted works.

11. A system comprising means for performing acts comprising:

means for receiving precompiled condensed content descriptions of digitally-formatted works that are subject to copy restrictions;

in conjunction with reading a particular digitally-formatted work for perception on by a user, means for creating a condensed content description of said particular digitally-formatted work; and

means for comparing the created condensed content description to the precompiled condensed content descriptions to determine whether said particular digitally-formatted work is subject to copy restrictions.

12. A system comprising means as recited in claim 11, wherein the condensed content description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values, each hash value being calculated from a portion of the given digitally-formatted work using a hash function, the system further comprising means for changing the hash function over time.

13. A system comprising means as recited in claim 11, wherein:

the digitally-formatted works contain grammatical text;

the condensed content description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values; and

each hash value is calculated from a sequence of words that occurs in the given digitally-formatted work.

14. A system comprising means as recited in claim 11, wherein:

the digitally-formatted works contain grammatical text;

the condensed content description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values;

each hash value is calculated from a sequence of words that occurs in the given digitally-formatted work; and

each sequence of words contains at least 100 characters.

15. A system comprising means as recited in claim 11, wherein:

the digitally-formatted works contain grammatical text;

the condensed content description corresponding to any given digitally-formatted work is a list of hash values; and

the hash values are calculated in a way that allows comparison of ordered word sequences in the digitally-formatted works.