Systems, methods, and program applications for selectively restricting the placeshifting of copy protected digital media content

• US 8,966,658 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2013
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Network Technologies India Private Limited
• Original Assignee: Sling Media Incorporated (Dish Network Corporation), Sling Media Pvt Ltd. (Dish Network Corporation)
• Inventors: Gangotri, Arun L., Gurzhi, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Jung
• Assistant Examiner(s): PARSONS, THEODORE C
• Application Number:
  US13/768,465
• Publication Number:
  US 20130160148A1
• Time in Patent Office: 739 Days
• Field of Search: 726/30, 726/32
• US Class Current: 726/30
• 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: 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 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources

Abstract

Systems, methods, and program products are provided for selectively restricting the transmission of copy protected digital media content from a computer system, over a network, and to a remote display. In one embodiment, a method includes the steps of capturing digital media content rendered on the local display by a media player application executed by the computer system; determining whether the media player application is accessing copy protected digital media content; and, if the media player application is not accessing copy protected digital media content, converting the captured digital media content to a media stream and transmitting the media stream over a network for presentation on a remote display.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a computer system configured to execute a media player application rendering digital video content obtained from a digital versatile disc (DVD) on a local display coupled to the computer system, the computer system coupled to a digital media playback receiver over a network, the method comprising:

determining whether the media player application is accessing copy protected digital video content stored on the DVD, determining comprising;

parsing the DVD file structure to find information regarding titles contained within the DVD file structure;

selecting at least one title based, at least in part, upon title duration; and

searching the selected title to determine if the selected title contains instructions to activate copy protection;

if it is determined that the selected title does not contain instructions to activate copy protection, transmitting the digital video content over the network to the digital media playback receiver for presentation on a remote display coupled to the digital media playback receiver; and

if it is determined that the selected title contains instructions to activate copy protection, blocking transmission of the digital video content over the network to the digital media playback receiver.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising capturing digital video content rendered on the local display by the media player application, the digital video content captured from video memory while being rendered on the local display by the media player application.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein searching comprises searching the selected title to determine if the selected title contains instructions to activate analog copy protection;

wherein the digital video content is converted to a media stream and transmitted over a network for presentation on a remote display if it is determined that the selected title does not contain instructions to activate analog copy protection; and

wherein transmission of the media stream is blocked if it is determined that the selected title contains instructions to analog activate copy protection.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein searching comprises searching at least one video object file stored on the DVD for instructions to activate analog copy protection, as related by one or more bits contained within a particular sector of the DVD file structure.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising causing a visual copy protection alert to be displayed on the remote display if it is determined that the selected title contains instructions to copy protection.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein causing a visual copy protection alert to be displayed on the remote display comprises transmitting an image of a text message over the network for presentation on the remote display.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

compiling a wide list of processes currently executed by the computer system; and

narrowing the wide list to yield a narrow list of processes currently executed by the computer system and potentially comprising media player applications.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the determining comprises determining whether each process in the narrow list comprises a media player application accessing copy protected digital media content.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the narrowing comprises eliminating from the wide list any known non-player process capable of accessing digital media files.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the narrowing comprises determining which processes to select from the wide list based at least in part upon which, if any, process file names include a predetermined alphanumeric grouping.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the narrowing comprises determining which processes to select from the wide list based at least in part upon which, if any, process file names include the letter grouping “

DVD”

.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the narrowing comprises determining which processes to select from the wide list based at least in part upon which, if any, processes are currently utilizing a module supportive of digital media playback.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the narrowing comprises determining which processes to select from the wide list based at least in part upon which, if any, processes are currently utilizing at least one type of shared library.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining further comprises:

establishing if the media player application is accessing a predetermined file type supported by the media player application and containing digital rights management (DRM) protected content; and

blocking transmission of the media stream if the media player application is accessing a predetermined file type supported by the media player application and containing DRM-protected content.