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

• US 7,720,224 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2006
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• 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: Marks, Dean S., Cookson, Christopher J., Stephens, Spencer
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUNN, MISHAWN N
• Application Number:
  US11/560,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20070092079A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,279 Days
• Field of Search: 386/46, 386/94, 386/95, 360/15, 360/60, 380/201, 380/203, 380/210
• US Class Current: 380/203
• 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. In a system utilizing a right assertion mark (RAM) and copy control information (CCI) data for managing the copying and distribution of content, wherein the CCI data can have at least a first value and a second value, said first and second values representing a first and a second copy control rule, respectively, a method for processing a video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted, comprising:

checking the video signal for a (RAM) and CCI data;

if the RAM is present and the CCI data is present, then applying the copying control rule represented by the CCI data, and,

if the RAM is present but the CCI data is not, then applying a preselected copy control rule as a default rule, said preselected copy control rule being selected from said first and said second copy control rules.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the RAM is represented by VEIL modulation of the video signal.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the video signal further includes secondary copy control information (SCCI) that conforms with the CCI data, and if the RAM and SCCI are present but the CCI data is are not, then the copy control rule represented by the SCCI is applied.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a watermark in the audio portion of the video signal.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a digital signature, where the digital signature is a function of the CCI data bits and selected pixels of a visible portion of the video signal.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a digital signature in the video signal, where the digital signature is a function of the CCI data and selected pixels of a visible portion of the video signal.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein said CCI data define copy control rules having various restrictions and include a most restrictive rule, and wherein said preselected rule is said most restrictive rule.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the most restrictive copy control rule is “

copy never”

.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the CCI data includes CGMS-A information, wherein said CCI data further defines at least a first and a second redistribution rule, and wherein if said RAM is present and said CCI data is not present, then further applying a preselected redistribution rule, said preselected redistribution rule being selected from said first and second redistribution rules.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein said preselected redistribution rule is“

no redistribution.”

7. A method for asserting copy rights management to a work represented by a 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) data in said video signal, said CCI data defining selectively a first copy control rule and a second copy control rule;

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

(i) (a) if the RAM is present and the CCI data defining the first copy control rule is present, then the first copy control rule is applied;

(b) if the RAM is present and the CCI data defining the second copy control rule is present, then the second copy control rule is applied; and

(ii) if the RAM is present but the CCI data is not, then a predetermined copy control rule is applied.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said predetermined copy control rule is the strictest of the first and second copy control rules.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the CCI data includes bits that are represented as CGMS-A information and further define copy redistribution rules, and wherein in the absence of the CCI data, the most restrictive copying rule selected is “

copy never”

, and the most restrictive redistribution rule selected is “

no redistribution.”

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the RAM is represented by VEIL modulation of the video signal.

11. The method of claim 7 further including the step of inserting in the video signal secondary copy control information (SCCI) that conforms with the CCI data including CCI bits.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a watermark in the audio portion of the signal.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a digital signature and, where the digital signature is a function of the CCI bits and selected pixels of the visible portion of the signal.

14. A method for processing a 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 various combinations, each bit combination representing a respective copying rule, 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 specific copying rule represented by the CCI bits; and

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

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the CCI bits are represented as CGMS-A information.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the RAM is represented by VEIL modulation of the video signal.

17. The method of claim 16 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.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the SCCI bits are in the form of a watermark in the audio portion of the work.

19. The method of claim 17 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.