Systems and methods for media authentication
First Claim
1. A method for authenticating a digital medium comprising:
- requesting, at a computing device, a read operation of data symbols from a media reading device;
monitoring a transfer rate of read user data from an output of the media reading device to the computing device resulting from the reading of data symbols stored on a digital medium installed on the media reading device at a physical location of the digital medium, wherein the read user data is in a format that can be processed by the computing device and wherein the transfer rate is a rate, in data elements per unit time, at which read user data elements are returned from the media reading device to the computing device in response to the requesting of the read operation;
determining, at the computing device, from the monitored transfer rate, the presence of an anomaly region on the digital medium corresponding to the physical location of the data symbols on the digital medium by identifying a modification in the transfer rate of the read user data from the media device to the computing device; and
authenticating the digital medium based on a characteristic of the anomaly region.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for authenticating a digital optical medium, such as a CD-ROM, determine whether the medium is an unauthorized copy, or the original. The original media is created, or altered, so as to contain anomalous locations from which the transfer of data is accomplished at different rates than a standard digital copy would exhibit. One implementation of the process involves timing analysis of the differences in data transfer rates, and does not necessarily require the retrying of data reads, nor does the process require the media to exhibit fatal errors, as in conventional approaches. The process can be employed in systems that control access to unauthorized copies, or may be used for other informative purposes. Theft, distribution, and piracy of digital content on optical media, such as computer software (also games, video, audio, e-book content), is often accomplished by copying it directly to another disc using commonly available copy tools and recordable optical media, or the replication of media to another mass manufactured disc. The present invention, which helps to irrefutably identify a unit of optical media as the original, and can correspondingly identify any copy made by any currently available means as such a copy, may prevent an unauthorized individual from making use of any unauthorized copies. This offers significant advantages to content creators who wish to protect their products.
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Citations
110 Claims
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1. A method for authenticating a digital medium comprising:
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requesting, at a computing device, a read operation of data symbols from a media reading device; monitoring a transfer rate of read user data from an output of the media reading device to the computing device resulting from the reading of data symbols stored on a digital medium installed on the media reading device at a physical location of the digital medium, wherein the read user data is in a format that can be processed by the computing device and wherein the transfer rate is a rate, in data elements per unit time, at which read user data elements are returned from the media reading device to the computing device in response to the requesting of the read operation; determining, at the computing device, from the monitored transfer rate, the presence of an anomaly region on the digital medium corresponding to the physical location of the data symbols on the digital medium by identifying a modification in the transfer rate of the read user data from the media device to the computing device; and authenticating the digital medium based on a characteristic of the anomaly region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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56. A system for authenticating a digital medium comprising:
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a computing device that requests a read operation of data symbols from a media reading device; a monitor that monitors a transfer rate of read user data from an output of the media reading device to the computing device resulting from the reading of data symbols stored on a digital medium installed on the media reading device at a physical location of the digital medium, wherein the read user data is in a format that can be processed by the computing device and wherein the transfer rate is a rate, in data elements per unit time, at which read user data elements are returned from the media reading device to the computing device in response to the requesting of the read operation; an anomaly detector at the computing device that determines, from the monitored transfer rate, the presence of an anomaly region on the digital medium corresponding to the physical location of the data symbols on the digital medium by identifying a modification in the transfer rate of the read user data from the media reading device to the computing device; and an authenticator that authenticates the digital medium based on a characteristic of the anomaly region. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110)
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Specification