Data protection systems and methods
First Claim
1. A method for protecting electronic content from unauthorized use, the method comprising:
- monitoring at least one system interface through which electronic data is transferred to a peripheral device, the monitoring comprising;
obtaining a first identifier associated with at least a portion of the electronic data, wherein the first identifier is a distillation of some part of the electronic data;
comparing the first identifier with a second identifier;
determining that the first identifier is related to the second identifier in a predefined manner and that the peripheral device is not permitted to receive the electronic data based on one or more rules associated with the electronic data; and
taking at least one action to protect the electronic content from unauthorized use based on the determination.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for protecting electronic content from the time it is packaged through the time it is experienced by an end user. Protection against content misuse is accomplished using a combination of encryption, watermark screening, detection of invalid content processing software and hardware, and/or detection of invalid content flows. Encryption protects the secrecy of content while it is being transferred or stored. Watermark screening protects against the unauthorized use of content. Watermark screening is provided by invoking a filter module to examine content for the presence of a watermark before the content is delivered to output hardware or software. The filter module is operable to prevent delivery of the content to the output hardware or software if it detects a predefined protection mark. Invalid content processing software is detected by a monitoring mechanism that validates the software involved in processing protected electronic content. Invalid content flows can be detected by scanning the information passed across system interfaces for the attempted transfer of bit patterns that were released from an application and/or a piece of content management software.
54 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method for protecting electronic content from unauthorized use, the method comprising:
monitoring at least one system interface through which electronic data is transferred to a peripheral device, the monitoring comprising; obtaining a first identifier associated with at least a portion of the electronic data, wherein the first identifier is a distillation of some part of the electronic data; comparing the first identifier with a second identifier; determining that the first identifier is related to the second identifier in a predefined manner and that the peripheral device is not permitted to receive the electronic data based on one or more rules associated with the electronic data; and taking at least one action to protect the electronic content from unauthorized use based on the determination. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable program instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computer system, are configured to cause the computer system to perform a method for protecting electronic content from unauthorized use, the method comprising:
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monitoring at least one system interface through which electronic data is transferred to a peripheral device, the monitoring comprising; comparing a first identifier associated with at least a portion of the electronic data with a second identifier, wherein the first identifier is a distillation of some part of the electronic data; determining that the first identifier is related to the second identifier in a predefined manner and that the peripheral device is not permitted to receive the electronic data based on one or more rules associated with the electronic data; and taking at least one action to protect the electronic content from unauthorized use based on the determination. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification