Watermark extraction and content screening in a networked environment

• US 8,838,977 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2011
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Verance Corporation
• Original Assignee: Verance Corporation
• Inventors: Winograd, Joseph M., Petrovic, Rade, Zhao, Jian
• Primary Examiner(s): MOORTHY, ARAVIND K
• Application Number:
  US13/080,593
• Publication Number:
  US 20120072729A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,260 Days
• Field of Search: 713/176, 713/156, 713/165, 713/168, 726/4, 726/6, 726/26, 726/27, 380/201, 380/229, 380/233, 386/260
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1063 Personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1078 Logging; Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/445 by mutual authentication, e.g. between devices or programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2129 Authenticate client device independently of the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G09C 5/00 Ciphering apparatus or methods not provided for in the preceding groups, e.g. involving the concealment or deformation of graphic data such as designs, written or printed messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/608 Watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/103 applying security measure for protecting copy right protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment, e.g. protection the software providers copyright G06F21/10; data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; secrecy systems or subscription systems H04N7/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0897 involving additional devices, e.g. trusted platform module [TPM], smartcard or USB
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3236 using cryptographic hash functions

Abstract

Methods, devices, and computer program products facilitate the application of a content use policy based on watermarks that are embedded in a content. Watermark extraction and content screening operations, which can include the application of content usage enforcement actions, may be organized such that some or all of the operations can be conducted at different times by different devices. The watermark extraction results can be stored in a secure location and accessed by other devices at different times. These operations can be conducted by one or more trusted devices that reside in a home network. The home network can also include a gateway device that can coordinate the operations of the various network devices and/or delegate the various watermark extraction and content screening operations.

Claims

1. A method for conducting cooperative content management operations using two or more devices in a networked environment, the method comprising:

receiving a request for access to a content at a first device from a second device, the first device, the second device, and at least one of a trusted delegated device or a trusted slave device residing in the networked environment;

performing device authentication to ascertain a trusted status associated with one or both of the first and second devices;

ascertaining capabilities of the second device to conduct one or both of watermark extraction or content screening operations; and

based on at least the ascertained capabilities of the second device and trusted status of the first or the second devices, determining an operational configuration for conducting cooperative content management operations by designating one of the first device, the second device, the trusted delegated device or the trusted slave device to conduct watermark extraction operations and designating one of the first device, the second device or the trusted delegated device to conduct content screening operations, wherein;

the watermark extraction operations exclude the content screening operations and include examination of the content to determine a presence or a value of a watermark embedded in the content,

the content screening operations exclude the watermark extraction operations and include determining, based at least on a result of the watermark extraction operations, whether or not the request to access the content conforms to a content use policy prior to allowing or denying access to the content,

the trusted delegated device is a device in the networked environment that is invoked by a delegating device within the networked environment and is capable of conducting one or both of the watermark screening or the content screening operations and deciding whether or not to present the content to another device in the networked environment based at least on a result of the content screening operations, and

the trusted slave device is a device in the networked environment that is invoked by a master device within the networked environment to conduct the watermark extraction operations and provide a result of the watermark extraction operations to the master device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the determined operational configuration, selecting the trusted slave device to perform the watermark extraction operations, and

selecting the second device to perform the content screening operations, and wherein the second device is a trusted content client device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the determined operational configuration, selecting the trusted slave device to perform the watermark extraction operations, and

selecting the first device to perform the content screening operations.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the determined operational configuration, selecting the trusted delegated device to perform the watermark extraction and screening operations, wherein the first device is a trusted content server that operates as the delegating device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the determined operational configuration, selecting the first device to perform the watermark extraction operations, and

selecting the second device is configured to perform the content screening operations, wherein;

the first device is a trusted content server;

the second device is a trusted content client device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the determined operational configuration, selecting the second device to perform the watermark extraction operations, and

selecting the first device to perform the content screening operations, wherein;

the first device is a trusted content server;

the second device is a trusted content client device.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein performing device authentication comprises:

receiving a device authentication certificate at the first device from the second device, and

verifying an authenticity of the certificate.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein

the device authentication certificate comprises information indicative of at least a portion of the capabilities of the second device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the device authentication certificate is a digital transmission content protection over Internet protocol (DTCP-IP) certificate; and

information regarding the capabilities of the second device is carried as part of the DCTP-IP certificate.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the ascertained capabilities of the second device comprises a capability to grant computational and memory resources to other devices.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting one of the first, the second device, the trusted delegated device or the trusted slave device to conduct the watermark extraction operations and selecting one of the first device, the second device or the trusted delegated device to conduct content screening operations based on a factor selected from the group consisting of;

availability of computational resources;

availability of watermark extraction and screening capabilities;

an integration for a device manufacture;

a consumer experience;

a processing performance; and

an overall preference ranking.

12. The method of claim 1 comprising

wherein the request for access to the content is initially received at a gateway device configured to:

coordinate device authentication to ascertain a trusted status associated with one or both of the first and second devices; and

determine the operational configuration; and

select one or more of the first device, the second device, the trusted delegated device and the trusted slave device to perform the watermark extraction operations and select one or more of the first device, the second device or the trusted delegated device to perform the content screening operations.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the gateway device is configured to communicate with the one or more of the first device, the second device, the trusted delegated device or the trusted slave device to commence the watermark extraction and/or content screening operations.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the gateway device is configured to revoke a trusted status of a device within the network.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the gateway device is configured to retain the content use policy associated with embedded watermarks.

16. A device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, including processor executable code, the processor executable code when executed by the processor configures the device to;

receive a request for access to a content at a first device from a second device, the first device, the second device, and at least one of a trusted delegated device or a trusted slave device residing in a networked environment;

perform device authentication to ascertain a trusted status associated with one or both of the first and the second devices using

a device authentication certificate;

ascertain capabilities of the second device to conduct one or both of watermark extraction or content screening operations;

based on at least the ascertained capabilities of the second device and trusted status of the first or the second devices, determine an operational configuration for conducting cooperative content management operations by designating one of the first device, the second device, the trusted delegated device or the trusted slave device to conduct watermark extraction operations and designating one of the first device, the second device or the trusted delegated device to conduct content screening operations, wherein;

the watermark extraction operations exclude the content screening operations and include examination of the content to determine a presence or a value of a watermark embedded in the content,

the content screening operations exclude the watermark extraction operations and include determining, based at least on a result of the watermark extraction operations, whether or not the request to access the content conforms to a content use policy prior to allowing or denying access to the content,

the trusted delegated device is a device in the networked environment that is invoked by a delegating device within the networked environment and is capable of conducting one or both of the watermark screening or the content screening operations and deciding whether or not to present the content to another device in the networked environment based at least on a result of the content screening operations, and

the trusted slave device is a device in the networked environment that is invoked by a master device within the networked environment to conduct the watermark extraction operations and provide a result of the watermark extraction operations to the master device.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein:

the device authentication certificate comprises information indicative of at least a portion of the capabilities of the second device.

18. The device of claim 16, wherein:

the device authentication certificate is a digital transmission content protection over Internet protocol (DTCP-IP) certificate; and

information regarding the capabilities of the second device is carried as part of the DCTP-IP certificate.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the ascertained capabilities of the second device comprises a capability to grant computational and memory resources to other devices.