Method for copy protecting a record carrier, copy protected record carrier and means for detecting access control information

• US 7,765,605 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2006
• Issued: 07/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Rovi Europe Limited (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rovi Solutions Ltd (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Newman, Peter A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Arani; Taghi T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Darrow; Justin T
• Application Number:
  US11/442,057
• Publication Number:
  US 20060218645A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,523 Days
• Field of Search: 713/176, 713/179, 713/193, 726/29, 726/30, 726/33, 380/201, 380/203, 714/48, 714/49, 714/755, 714/756, 375/240.24, 375/240.27
• US Class Current: 726/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/00 Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/80 in storage media based on magnetic or optical technology, e.g. disks with sectors preventing unauthorised reproduction or copying of disc-type recordable media G11B20/00
• 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 20/00101 the original record carrier having a larger recording capacity than the potential target medium
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00123 the record carrier being identified by recognising some of its unique characteristics, e.g. a unique defect pattern serving as a physical signature of the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00166 involving measures which result in a restriction to authorised contents recorded on or reproduced from a record carrier, e.g. music or software
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0021 involving encryption or decryption of contents recorded on or reproduced from a record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00557 wherein further management data is encrypted, e.g. sector headers, TOC or the lead-in or lead-out areas
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00659 involving a control step which is implemented as an executable file stored on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00927 wherein said defects or errors are generated on purpose, e.g. intended scratches
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00949 said intentional errors occurring due to bad sectors, which are either physically destroyed or which are declared defective in the defect management information
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00963 wherein said defects or errors are not generated on purpose, e.g. random defect patterns occurring during the normal manufacture
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1866 by interleaving G11B20/1809 takes precedence

Abstract

A method for copy protecting a record carrier is disclosed, in which method the copy protected record carriers are provided with a pattern of logical errors which cannot be corrected by the error correcting rules predefined for said record carrier. The pattern of logical errors represents access control information. The logical errors are generated during decoding the bit sequence read from the record carrier. Bit errors may be positioned in the bit sequence so as to counteract de-interleaving which is part of an error decoding process in a reading device and accumulate in error words which are uncorrectable. Also a method for detecting access control information and a retrieval arrangement are disclosed, which retrieval arrangement serves to detect the access control information by selecting at least one error location, but not all error locations on the record carrier, and verifying the presence of an error by reading the selected error location via the reading means.

Claims

1. A transmitting device, comprising:

means for receiving main information;

processing means for error encoding the main information into error words using error correcting rules, and cross interleaving the error words, and representing auxiliary information as a pattern including error words containing uncorrectable errors that are not correctable using the error correcting rules; and

means for transmitting cross interleaved information containing the uncorrectable errors representing the auxiliary information, the means for transmitting including means for writing the cross interleaved information containing the uncorrectable errors onto an optical record carrier, the pattern also including error words that are correct or correctable using the error correcting rules, the auxiliary information being capable of affecting the control of the operation of a record carrier reading device.

2. A transmitting device, comprising:

means for receiving main information;

processing means for error encoding the main information into error words using error correcting rules, and cross interleaving the error words, and representing auxiliary information as a pattern including error words containing uncorrectable errors that are not correctable using the error correcting rules; and

means for transmitting cross interleaved information containing the uncorrectable errors representing the auxiliary information, wherein transmitted cross interleaved information includes an indication of the presence of the auxiliary information, wherein the processing means encrypts the main information depending on the auxiliary information, wherein the transmitted cross interleaved information includes padding in addition to the main information, and wherein the uncorrectable errors representing the auxiliary information are contained in the padding.

3. A non-transitory record carrier comprising:

main information recorded on the non-transitory record carrier that is error encoded into error words based on error correction rules, the error words being cross interleaved in the non-transitory record carrier, and

auxiliary information recorded on the non-transitory record carrier represented by a pattern including error words containing errors that are uncorrectable using the error correcting rules, the auxiliary information being capable of affecting the control of the operation of a computing device.

4. The non-transitory record carrier of claim 3 wherein information is recorded as detectable variations in an optically readable pattern of the non-transitory record carrier, the optically readable pattern also including error words that are correct or correctable using the error correcting rules, and wherein the auxiliary information affects the determination in a reading device of whether the main information is allowed to be read from the non-transitory record carrier and/or transmitted by the reading device.

5. The non-transitory record carrier of claim 3 wherein the non-transitory record carrier contains an indication of the presence of the auxiliary information, and the main information is encrypted depending on the auxiliary information, and the non-transitory record carrier includes padding in addition to the main information and the uncorrectable errors representing the auxiliary information are contained in the padding.

6. A receiving device, comprising:

means for receiving information, the received information including main information and auxiliary information;

processing means for deinterleaving the received information to produce error words, and error decoding the error words using predetermined error correction rules to retrieve the main information and the auxiliary information, the auxiliary information being represented as a pattern including error words which have errors that are uncorrectable using the predetermined error correction rules, the auxiliary information being capable of affecting the control of the operation of a computing device; and

means for transmitting the main information.

7. The receiving device of claim 6 wherein the means for receiving includes means for reading the information as sectors from an optical record carrier to receive the information, the pattern also including error words that are correct or correctable using the predetermined error correcting rules, the means for reading including means for preliminary reading a predetermined pattern of sectors from the record carrier to obtain the auxiliary information before reading further portions of the information, the auxiliary information being capable of affecting the control of the operation of a record carrier reading device, the control including whether the main information is read and/or transmitted depending on the auxiliary information.

8. The receiving device of claim 6 wherein the received information contains an indication of the presence of the auxiliary information, and the main information is encrypted depending on the auxiliary information, and the pattern includes error words of the pattern that are correct or are correctable that are interleaved with other error words of the pattern that are uncorrectable.