Methods and systems for verifying ownership of a physical work or facilitating access to an electronic resource associated with a physical work
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method for verifying ownership of a physical work, the method comprising:
- a) instructing a user to uniquely mark a first specified unmarked portion of the physical work in a specified way;
b) instructing the user to capture one or more camera images of one or more specified portions of the physical work, including the first specified portion subsequent to unique marking thereof;
c) providing data to a computer, said data including said one or more camera images in digital format;
d) analyzing the one or more camera images by the computer to determine whether one or more predetermined conditions have been fulfilled, wherein said one or more predetermined conditions include verification that the user has marked the first specified portion of the physical work in the specified way; and
e) upon determining that said one or more predetermined conditions have been fulfilled, verifying, by the computer, ownership of the physical work;
wherein said instructing the user to mark the first specified portion of the physical work and said instructing the user to capture one or more camera images is performed by a personal electronic device.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for allowing owners of a physical work, such as a book, to purchase an electronic version of the work by validating their ownership of the work using a personal electronic device, such as a smartphone, and marking the work. The owner is instructed to mark the work and to capture camera images of the work. The images are analyzed to identify the work, determine whether the work has been previously marked, and to verify that the work has been marked by the owner. Analysis may be performed remotely by a server in communication with the personal electronic device. Various means for authenticating ownership of the work are also disclosed, including 3D analysis, page curvature analysis, concurrent still image and video capture, detection of use of a video display to spoof the work, and geofencing.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method for verifying ownership of a physical work, the method comprising:
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a) instructing a user to uniquely mark a first specified unmarked portion of the physical work in a specified way; b) instructing the user to capture one or more camera images of one or more specified portions of the physical work, including the first specified portion subsequent to unique marking thereof; c) providing data to a computer, said data including said one or more camera images in digital format; d) analyzing the one or more camera images by the computer to determine whether one or more predetermined conditions have been fulfilled, wherein said one or more predetermined conditions include verification that the user has marked the first specified portion of the physical work in the specified way; and e) upon determining that said one or more predetermined conditions have been fulfilled, verifying, by the computer, ownership of the physical work; wherein said instructing the user to mark the first specified portion of the physical work and said instructing the user to capture one or more camera images is performed by a personal electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A computer implemented method for verifying ownership of a physical work, the method comprising:
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a) instructing a user to capture one or more camera images of one or more specified portions of the physical work, said one or more specified portions including a first specified portion, said first specified portion expected to have been previously uniquely marked in a specified way if the physical work had previously been used in a prior attempt to claim ownership of the physical work, said prior attempt having required unique marking of the first specified unmarked portion in the specified way; b) providing data to a computer, said data including the one or more camera images in digital format; c) analyzing the one or more camera images by the computer to determine whether one or more predetermined conditions have been fulfilled, wherein said one or more predetermined conditions include verification that the first specified portion of the physical work had not been previously marked in association with said prior attempt to claim ownership of the physical work; and d) upon determining that said one or more predetermined conditions have been fulfilled, verifying ownership by the user of the physical work by the computer; wherein said instructing the user to capture one or more camera images is performed by a personal electronic device.
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23. A system for verifying ownership of a physical work, the system comprising:
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a) a personal electronic device comprising a user interface module configured to;
instruct a user to uniquely mark a first specified unmarked portion of the physical work in a specified way; andinstruct the user to capture, using the personal electronic device, one or more camera images of one or more specified portions of the physical work, wherein one of said camera images captures the first specified portion subsequent to unique marking thereof; b) a server communicatively coupled to personal electronic device, the personal electronic device and the server collectively comprising one or more processing modules configured to; obtain data including the one or more camera images from the personal electronic device in digital format for analysis; analyze the one or more camera images to determine whether one or more predetermined conditions have been fulfilled, wherein said one or more predetermined conditions include verification that the user has uniquely marked the first specified unmarked portion of the physical work in the specified way; and verify the user'"'"'s ownership of the physical work upon determining that said one or more predetermined conditions have been fulfilled. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A system for verifying ownership of a physical work, the system comprising:
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a) a personal electronic device comprising a user interface module configured to;
instruct a user to capture, using the personal electronic device, one or more camera images of one or more specified portions of the physical work, said one or more specified portions including a first specified portion, said first specified portion having been previously uniquely marked in a specified way if the physical work had previously been used in a prior attempt to claim ownership of the physical work, said prior attempt having required unique marking of the first specified unmarked portion in the specified way;b) a server communicatively coupled to the personal electronic device, the personal electronic device and the server collectively comprising one or more processing modules configured to; obtain data including the one or more camera images from the personal electronic device in digital format for analysis; analyze the one or more camera images to determine whether one or more predetermined conditions of have been fulfilled, wherein said one or more predetermined conditions include verification that the first specified unmarked portion of the physical work had not been previously uniquely marked in association with said prior attempt to claim ownership of the physical work; and verify the user'"'"'s ownership of the physical work upon determining that said one or more predetermined conditions have been fulfilled.
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45. A computer implemented method for facilitating access by a user to an electronic resource associated with a physical work, the method comprising:
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a) instructing a user to uniquely mark a specified unmarked portion of the physical work in a specified way; b) instructing the user to capture a camera image of the specified portion of the physical work; c) providing the camera image in digital format to a computer; d) analyzing the camera image by the computer to determine whether the specified unmarked portion of the physical work has been previously uniquely marked by another user; e) upon determining that the specified portion has been previously uniquely marked by another user, denying, by the computer, the first user access to the electronic resource; f) upon determining that the specified unmarked portion has not been previously marked by another user, determining, by the computer, whether or not the specified portion was correctly marked by the user; g) upon determining that the specified portion has been marked by the user in the specified manner, granting, by the computer, the user access to an electronic resource via the computer or another computer; wherein said instructing the user to uniquely mark the specified unmarked portion of the physical work and said instructing the user to capture the camera image is performed by a personal electronic device.
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46. A system for facilitating access to an electronic resource associated with a physical work, the system comprising:
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a) a user interface module configured to instruct a user to uniquely mark a specified unmarked portion of a physical work in a specific manner, and to capture camera images of the specified portion of the physical work; b) an image capture module configured to obtain the camera images; c) a processing module configured to receive the camera images from the image capture module and analyze the camera images to determine whether the specified portion has been previously uniquely marked by another user; d) an access control module configured, upon determining that the specified portion has been previously marked by another user, to deny the user access to the electronic resource; e) a processing module that, upon determining that the specified portion has not been previously uniquely marked by another user, determines whether the specified portion has been marked in the specified manner; and f) an access control module that, upon determining that the specified portion has been uniquely marked in the specified manner, provides the user access to an electronic resource via a computer.
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Specification