Method and apparatus for content protection

• US 7,886,337 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2003
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation, Rio Brands Incorporated
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: Diamond, Michael B., Williams, Ian M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu; Kimyen
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRUVAN, LEYNNA THANH
• Application Number:
  US10/690,860
• Publication Number:
  US 20050091498A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,666 Days
• Field of Search: 726 1- 6, 726/17, 726/21, 726 22- 27, 726/30, 726/32, 380/168, 380/54, 705 57- 59, 705/19, 382115-118, 382173-178, 382/254, 382/260, 713/168, 713/176, 713/186, 709223-225, 345619-626, 345/618, 345/418, 345/501, 345/538, 345/212, 345/3.2, 345/601, 345/602, 348/207.99, 348/207, 348/211.99, 348/143, 348/461, 348/467, 725/32, 725/40, 725/93
• US Class Current: 726/2
• 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 20/00826 wherein a spoiler signal is added to degrade the signal quality
• 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 2005/91335 the copy protection signal being a watermark
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/91357 by modifying the video signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/91364 the video signal being scrambled
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/91385 the video frame number being modulated
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/91392 using means for preventing making copies of projected video images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41415 involving a public display, viewable by several users in a public space outside their home, e.g. movie theatre, information kiosk
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42653 for processing graphics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4318 by altering the content in the rendering process, e.g. blanking, blurring or masking an image region image enhancement or restoration in general G06T5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440254 by altering signal-to-noise parameters, e.g. requantization
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4405 involving video stream decryption
• 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 21/8453 by locking or enabling a set of features, e.g. optional functionalities in an executable program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/445 for displaying additional information H04N5/50 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/913 for scrambling ; for copy protection

Abstract

Method and apparatus for protecting image content. In an embodiment, tags are used to identify how to alter image content. A graphics processor is configured to process the tags and to alter the image responsive to the tags. In another embodiment, a graphics processor is configured to alter image content unless a key is provided to the graphics processor.

Claims

1. A method for altering source digital image content, comprising:

providing source digital image content organized as a sequence of frames to a rendering unit, wherein rendering of the source digital image content produces a first sequence of rendered frames for real-time display;

altering the source digital image content within the rendering unit in response to tags in a data stream that provide tagged commands to the rendering unit to remove, add, or modify an item in the source digital image content using three-dimensional processing to produce a second sequence of rendered frames that is different than the first sequence of rendered frames, wherein the item is within a portion of the first sequence of rendered frames that is visible to a viewer,

the step of altering the source digital image content further including detecting one of the tags in the data stream associated with a frame in the sequence of frames, a portion of the frame being altered to generate an altered frame in the second sequence of rendered frames; and

utilizing the tag to access an action table and find the tagged commands, to cause the first sequence of rendered frames to be displayed and the second sequence of rendered frames to be recorded.

2. The method, according to claim 1, wherein the step of altering comprises randomly selecting frames for alteration.

3. The method, according to claim 1, wherein altering comprises distorting at least one object visible to the viewer in a frame.

4. The method, according to claim 1, wherein altering comprises relocating at least one object visible to the viewer in a frame.

5. The method, according to claim 1, wherein altering comprises adding at least one object visible to the viewer to a frame.

6. The method, according to claim 5, wherein the rendering unit is a graphics processing unit.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendering unit causes display of the altered frame upon detection of the tag unless a proper response is entered by the user.

8. The method of claim 7 including the step of applying the tag to a randomizer to randomly apply or ignore the tag or send the tag to the action table.

9. The method of claim 1 including the step of, in response to the detection of the tag, invoking a graphical user interface (GUI) to allow a user to enter a key to prevent the action table from being accessed so that the unaltered frames are not displayed.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the tagged commands are associated with texture and include blending commands for altering the source digital image content.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the tag is determined as a dot product of multiple vertices in a row.

12. A device for altering source digital image content, comprising:

a rendering unit configured to;

produce a first sequence of rendered frames for real-time display by rendering the source digital content that is organized as a sequence of frames,

detect tags in a data stream, and

associate the detected tags with tagged commands for altering the source digital image content to remove, add, or modify an item in the source digital image content using three-dimensional processing to produce a second sequence of rendered frames that is different than the first sequence of rendered frames, wherein the item is within a portion of the first sequence of rendered frames that is visible to a viewer and the rendering unit includes a tag detector for detecting the tags in the data stream, one of the tags being associated with one frame in the sequence of frames, a portion of the one frame being altered to generate an altered frame in the second sequence of rendered frames; and

an action table that is accessed utilized to find the tagged commands and cause the first sequence of rendered frames to be displayed and the second set of rendered frames to be recorded.

13. The device, according to claim 12, wherein the rendering unit comprises memory for storing overlays for alteration of the image content.

14. The device, according to claim 12, wherein the rendering unit comprises a random number generator for randomly selecting when to apply the commands.

15. The device, according to claim 14, wherein the random number generator randomly selects when to apply overlays.

16. The device, according to claim 14, wherein the rendering unit comprises a decryptor.

17. The device, according to claim 14, wherein the rendering unit is configured to detect watermarks and to alter image frames in response to detected watermarks.

18. The device, according to claim 14, wherein the rendering unit detects watermarks and provides a graphical user interface in response to at least one detected watermark.

19. The device, according to claim 18, wherein the graphical user interface is provide after detecting a threshold number of watermarks.

20. The device, according to claim 19, wherein the graphical user interface provides a data entry block for entry of a key.

21. The device, according to claim 20, wherein the rendering unit is configured to down sample in response to a failure to enter an acceptable key.

22. The device, according to claim 20, wherein the rendering unit is configured to disable recording in response to a failure to enter an acceptable key.

23. The device, according to claim 20, wherein the rendering unit is configured to randomly alter the selected frames in response to a failure to enter an acceptable key.

24. The device, according to claim 14, wherein the device is a digital video camera.

25. The device, according to claim 14, wherein the device is a digital video disc recorder.

26. The device, according to claim 14, wherein the device is a compact disc recorder.

27. The recording device, according to claim 14, wherein the device is a hard disk drive recorder.

28. The device, according to claim 14, wherein the device is a digital tape drive recorder.

29. The device, according to claim 14, wherein the device is a floppy disk drive recorder.

30. The device, according to claim 12, wherein the tagged commands are associated with texture and include blending commands for altering the source digital image content.

31. The device, according to claim 12, wherein the tag is determined as a dot product of multiple vertices in a row.