Limited use data storing device

• US 7,770,028 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2005
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Ferren, Bran, Jung, Edward K. Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barron, Jr., Gilberto
• Assistant Examiner(s): ARMOUCHE, HADI S
• Application Number:
  US11/223,899
• Publication Number:
  US 20070058450A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,789 Days
• Field of Search: 713/189, 713/193, 726 26- 33, 380/201, 365/189, 365/189.05, 365/189.17, 369/13.01
• US Class Current: 713/193
• 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: 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 20/00152 involving a password
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00195 using a device identifier associated with the player or recorder, e.g. serial numbers of playback apparatuses or MAC addresses
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0021 involving encryption or decryption of contents recorded on or reproduced from a record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00253 wherein the key is stored on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00666 involving a step of erasing or nullifying data, e.g. data being overwritten with a random string
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00746 wherein the usage restriction can be expressed as a specific number
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00818 wherein the usage restriction limits the signal quality, e.g. by low-pass filtering of audio signals or by reducing the resolution of video signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0084 wherein the usage restriction can be expressed as a specific time or date
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00876 wherein physical copy protection means are attached to the medium, e.g. holograms, sensors, or additional semiconductor circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00927 wherein said defects or errors are generated on purpose, e.g. intended scratches
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/24 Memory cell safety or protection circuits, e.g. arrangements for preventing inadvertent reading or writing; Status cells; Test cells

Abstract

Embodiments of methods and systems for controlling access to information stored on memory or data storage devices are disclosed. In various embodiments, methods of retrieving information from a data storage device previously deactivated by modification or degradation of at least a portion of the data storage device are disclosed.

Claims

1. A memory device comprising:

a substrate;

a data storage medium on the substrate; and

machine readable data stored in the data storage medium, the machine readable data having a first readability, the readability of at least a portion of the machine readable data modifiable by a limited expected lifetime so that following modification of readability, the modified portion of machine readable data has a second readability; and

wherein data having the first readability is readable by a first type of data read system and wherein data having the second readability is not readable by the first type of data read system, and data having the second readability is readable by a second type of data read system.

2. The memory device of claim 1, wherein readability of at least one first portion of the machine readable data is modifiable by the limited expected lifetime, wherein readability of at least one second portion of the machine readable data is not modifiable by the limited expected lifetime, and wherein the at least one first portion contains read-support information needed for reading data of interest in the at least one second portion.

3. The memory device of claim 2, wherein machine readable data in the at least one first portion having the second readability is substantially unreadable, and wherein additional read-support information is stored in the at least one second portion and retrievable with a special purpose read system.

9. The memory device of claim 1, wherein machine readable data having the second readability has at least one of a reduced signal-to-noise ratio relative, an increased bit error rate, or a reduced redundancy relative to machine readable data having the first readability.

10. The memory device of claim 1, wherein the limited expected lifetime is defined by at least one of a limited number of readings of the machine readable data from the memory device, a limited number of uses of the memory device, or a limited time interval following an initial use of the device.

11. The memory device of claim 2, wherein machine readable data in the at least one first portion having the second readability has at least one of a reduced signal-to-noise ratio, an increased bit error rate or a reduced redundancy relative to machine readable data having the first readability.

12. The memory device of claim 2, wherein the read-support information includes at least one of a decryption key or index information.

13. The memory device of claim 3, wherein the data storage medium is an optical data storage medium, and wherein the additional read-support information is stored in at least one of the optical data storage medium at a different optical wavelength than the data of interest, the optical data storage medium at a different spatial frequency than the data of interest, a magnetic data storage medium included in the memory device, at least one resonant circuit included in the memory device, at least one RFID included in the memory device, or a bar code on the memory device.

14. The memory device of claim 3, wherein the data storage medium is a magnetic data storage medium, and wherein the additional read-support information is stored at least one of in the magnetic data storage medium at a different spatial frequency than the data of interest, an optical data storage medium included in the memory device, at least one resonant circuit included in the memory device, at least one RFID included in the memory device, or a bar code on the memory device.

15. The memory device of claim 3, wherein the additional read-support information is retrievable by a special purpose read system including one or more of special purpose software or special purpose hardware.

16. The memory device of claim 3, wherein the additional read-support information includes at least one copy of at least a portion of the read-support information in the at feast one first portion.

17. The memory device of claim 3, wherein the additional read-support information is stored in the at least one second portion in encrypted form or distributed among multiple locations in the at least one second portion.

18. The memory device of claim 17, wherein the additional read-support information is encrypted by at least one of public key encryption method, a private key encryption method, a Diff-Hellman encryption method, an RSA encryption method, an EIGaml encryption method, a DSS encryption method, an Elliptic curve encryption method, a Paillier cryptosystem encryption method, a Password-authenticated Key agreement encryption method, or a DES encryption method.

19. The memory device of claim 1, wherein readability of the machine readable data is modifiable through one or more of degradation of the data storage medium, degradation of the substrate, or erasure or writing over of at least a portion of the machine readable data.

4. A memory device comprising:

a data storage medium; and

machine readable data stored in the data storage medium, at least one first portion of the machine readable data having a limited expected lifetime after an initial read of data, during which the machine readable data can be read from the data storage medium by a first type of data read system, and following which the readability of the at least one first portion of the machine readable data is modified so that it is unreadable by the first type of data read system,

wherein following the limited expected lifetime, the at least one first portion of the machine readable data is readable by a second type of data read system.

5. The memory device of claim 4, wherein the at least one first portion of the machine readable data contains read-support information necessary for reading data of interest in at least one second portion of machine readable data.

6. The memory device of claim 5, wherein the read-support information includes at least a portion of a decryption key.

7. The memory device of claim 5, wherein the at least one second portion includes additional read-support information needed for reading data of interest in the at least one second portion.

20. The memory device of claim 4, wherein during the limited expected lifetime, the at least one first portion of the machine readable data is readable by an optical data read system or a magnetic data read system.

21. The memory device of claim 20, wherein following the limited expected lifetime, the at least one first portion of the machine readable data is readable by an optical data read system operating at a reduced scan speed relative to a general purpose optical data read system or an optical data read system performing signal averaging on the data signal.

22. The memory device of claim 20, wherein following the limited expected lifetime, the at least one first portion of the machine readable data is readable by a magnetic data read system operating at a reduced scan speed relative to a general purpose magnetic data read system or a magnetic data read system performing signal averaging on the data signal.

23. The memory device of claim 6, wherein the decryption key is a private key or a public key.

24. The memory device of claim 5, wherein one or more copies of the read-support information are stored on the memory device in a form retrievable from the at least one first portion through the use of special purpose software or special purpose hardware.

25. The memory device of claim 24, wherein the special purpose software includes a function, a HASH function, a table lookup function, or a decryption algorithm.

8. A data storage device comprising:

a data storage medium configured to have machine readable data stored therein, the data storage medium configured to produce a data signal in a data read device in response to an interrogation activity by the data read device, the data storage medium including;

at least one modifiable portion configured to produce a data signal within a first signal range at the start of a limited read period characterized by a limited expected lifetime or limited temporal duration, and modifiable to produce a read signal falling within a second signal range subsequent to the limited read period,

wherein a data signal within the first signal range is readable by a general purpose read device and wherein a data signal within the second signal range is readable by a special purpose read device but not by a general purpose read device.

26. The data storage device of claim 8, wherein data signals within the first signal range are characterized by a first signal-to-noise ratio or first bit data error rate and data signals within the second signal range are characterized by a second signal-to-noise ratio or second bit data error rate.

27. The data storage device of claim 8, including a data storage medium configured to produce a data signal in at least one of an optical data read device or a magnetic data read device.