System, method and client user interface for a copy protection service

• US 20050198535A1
• Filed: 02/28/2005
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rovi Solutions Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Macrovision Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Srinivasan, Usha, Patterson, James, Basche, Todd, Pancholy, Mitesh
• Granted Patent: US 7,877,810 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/5
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks

Abstract

A system, method and client user interface for a copy protection service employs software agents masquerading as nodes in decentralized networks for monitoring and interdicting file sharing activities of protected files in the networks. A control center communicates with the software agents and subscriber client computers through user interfaces, so as to provide monitoring information to users of the client computers and control the monitoring and interdiction of protected files according to instructions received from the client computers. A one-click method for requesting protection of a file, providing the terms of such protection, and updating billing information for the user is implemented through the user interface to simplify user interaction with the copy protection service.

Claims

1. A system for providing a copy protection service, comprising:

a plurality of software agents masquerading as nodes in a decentralized network for monitoring and interdicting file sharing activities of a protected file; and

a control center configured to communicate with the plurality of software agents and a client computer, so as to provide information of such monitoring to the client computer and control such monitoring and interdicting according to instructions received from the client computer.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the control center includes an instrumentation system configured to generate the monitoring information by estimating characteristics of the decentralized network.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the estimated characteristics include a size of the decentralized network.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the estimated characteristics include a growth rate of the decentralized network.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the estimated characteristics include a growth acceleration of the decentralized network.

6. The system according to claim 2, wherein the estimated characteristics include a number of instances of the protected file in the decentralized network.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the estimated characteristics include a rate of propagation of the number of instances of the protected file in the decentralized network.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the estimated characteristics include an acceleration of propagation of the number of instances of the protected file in the decentralized network.

9. The system according to claim 2, wherein the estimated characteristics include a number of search requests for the protected file over a period of time in the decentralized network.

10. The system according to claim 2, wherein the estimated characteristics include a number of downloads of the protected file over a period of time in the decentralized network.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the control center includes an interdiction system configured to control the plurality of software agents so as to perform such interdicting.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the client computer is configured with a user interface for communicating with the control center.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the monitoring information is presented to a user of the client computer through the user interface.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the monitoring information is emailed to a user of the client computer.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the monitoring information is emailed to the user according to criteria established by the user.

16. The system according to claim 12, wherein the interdiction instructions are transmitted from the client computer to the control center through the user interface.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein a protection icon is displayed adjacent the monitoring information by the user interface on a display screen of the client computer, and generation of the interdiction instructions is initiated by the user selecting the protection icon.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the user selects the protection icon by clicking on it with a pointing device.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein a pop-up menu is displayed on the display screen in response to the user clicking on it, and the user specifies duration of interdiction through the pop-up menu.

20. The system according to claim 18, wherein a pop-up menu is displayed on the display screen in response to the user clicking on it, and the user specifies a level of interdiction through the pop-up menu.

21. The system according to claim 20, further comprising a billing system so that the user is appropriately charged for the level of interdiction selected by the user through the pop-up menu.

22. The system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of software agents masquerade as nodes in a plurality of decentralized networks for monitoring and interdicting file sharing activities of the protected file.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the plurality of software agents masquerade as nodes in the plurality of decentralized networks for monitoring and interdicting file sharing activities of a plurality of protected files.

24. The system according to claim 23, wherein the control center is configured to communicate with the plurality of software agents and a plurality of client computers individually associated with one or more of the plurality of protected files so as to provide information of such monitoring to associated ones of the plurality of client computers, and control such interdicting according to instructions received from the plurality of client computers.

25. A method for providing a copy protection service, comprising:

receiving file information for one or more protected files in one or more decentralized networks from a plurality of software agents masquerading as nodes in the one or more decentralized networks;

providing the file information to one or more client computers respectively associated with individual of the one or more protected files;

receiving interdiction instructions from the one or more client computers; and

commanding the plurality of software agents to interdict file sharing activities in the one or more decentralized networks for the one or more protected files according to the interdiction instructions.

26. The method according to claim 25, further comprising:

monitoring file sharing activity in the one of more decentralized networks for the one or more protected files to generate the file information.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the monitoring of file sharing activity comprises:

estimating a number of instances of individual of the one or more protected files in individual of the one or more decentralized networks.

28. The method according to claim 26, wherein the monitoring of file sharing activity comprises:

estimating a number of search requests over a period of time for individual of the one or more protected files.

29. The method according to claim 26, wherein the monitoring of file sharing activity comprises:

estimating a number of downloads over a period of time for individual of the one or more protected files.

30. The method according to claim 25, wherein the providing of the file information comprises:

presenting file information for individual of the one or more protected files to users through user interfaces of the associated one or more client computers.

31. The method according to claim 25, wherein the providing of the file information comprises:

emailing file information for individual of the one or more protected files to users of the associated one or more client computers according to pre-established criteria.

32. The method according to claim 25, further comprising:

providing a selectable protection option along with the file information to the one or more client computers respectively associated with the individual of the one or more protected files so that users of the one or more client computers initiate generation of the interdiction instructions by selecting the selectable protection option.

33. The method according to claim 32, wherein a pop-up menu is displayed on a display screen of individual of the one or more client computers upon a user selecting the selectable protection option, and the user specifies duration of interdiction through the pop-up menu.

34. The method according to claim 32, wherein a pop-up menu is displayed on a display screen of individual of the one or more client computers upon a user selecting the selectable protection option, and the user specifies a level of interdiction through the pop-up menu.

35. The method according to claim 34, further comprising:

charging individual users according to levels of interdiction selected by those users through respectively provided pop-up menus.

36. A one-click method for providing a copy protection service, comprising:

receiving a protection command associated with a protected file from a client computer;

updating billing information associated with the client computer to reflect the protection command; and

interdicting file sharing activities for the protected file in a decentralized network according to the protection command.

37. The method according to claim 36, further comprising:

providing information of the protected file in the decentralized network prior to receiving the protection command.

38. The method according to claim 37, wherein the information includes an estimate of a number of instances of the protected file in the decentralized network.

39. The method according to claim 37, wherein the information includes an estimate of a number of search requests over a period of time for the protected file in the decentralized network.

40. The method according to claim 37, wherein the information includes an estimate of a number of downloads over a period of time for the protected file in the file sharing network.

41. The method according to claim 37, wherein the information is provided to a user of the client computer through a user interface residing on the client computer.

42. The method according to claim 37, wherein the information is provided to a user of the client computer by email according to pre-established criteria.

43. The method according to claim 42, wherein the pre-established criteria is specified by the user through the user interface.

44. The method according to claim 37, further comprising:

providing a protection option along with the information to the client computer so that the user initiates the protection request by selecting the protection option.

45. The method according to claim 44, wherein the protection option is a clickable button positioned proximate to the information on a display screen of the client computer by the user interface.

46. The method according to claim 45, wherein a pop-up is displayed on the display screen when the user clicks on the clickable button.

47. The method according to claim 46, wherein the pop-up facilitates specification by the user of duration of the interdiction of file sharing activities for the protected file.

48. The method according to claim 46, wherein the pop-up facilitates specification by the user of a level of the interdiction of file sharing activities for the protected file.

49. The method according to claim 36, wherein the billing information includes an identification of the protected file and a level of the interdiction of file sharing activities for the protected file.

50. A user interface method associated with a copy protection service, comprising:

displaying information of a protected file in a decentralized network on a display screen of a client computer; and

displaying a user selectable protection option on the display screen so that upon selection of the user selectable protection option and specification of interdiction terms by a user of the client computer, a protection request to interdict file sharing activity of the protected file in the decentralized network is transmitted to a control center providing a copy protection service.

51. The method according to claim 50, further comprising:

receiving the information of the protected file from the control center.

52. The method according to claim 51, wherein the information includes an estimate of a number of instances of the protected file in the decentralized network.

53. The method according to claim 52, wherein the information further includes an estimate of a rate of propagation of the number of instances of the protected file in the decentralized network.

54. The method according to claim 53, wherein the information further includes an estimate of an acceleration of propagation of the number of instances of the protected file in the decentralized network.

55. The method according to claim 50, wherein the information includes an estimate of effectiveness of the interdiction of the file sharing activity of the protected file in the decentralized network.

56. The method according to claim 50, wherein the displaying of information comprises:

displaying the information in a user specified graph on the display screen of the client computer.

57. A system for providing a copy protection service, comprising:

a control center configured to perform instrumentation and interdiction functions for subscriber specified files in at least one file sharing network; and

a subscriber operated client computer configured to communicate with the control center so as to facilitate selection of the instrumentation and interdiction functions to be performed by the control center.

58. The system according to claim 57, wherein the subscriber specified files include subscriber specified objects.

59. The system according to claim 57, wherein the instrumentation functions include estimation of a number of instances, a rate of propagation, and an acceleration of propagation of the subscriber specified files in the at least one file sharing network.

60. The system according to claim 57, wherein the instrumentation functions include estimation of search and download activities for and of the subscriber specified files in the at least one file sharing network.

61. The system according to claim 57, wherein the subscriber operated client computer is configured with a client user interface running as an application launched in a web browser to facilitate subscriber selection of the instrumentation and interdiction functions to be performed by the control center.

62. The system according to claim 61, wherein the client user interface facilitates subscriber selection of an instrumentation function to estimate a number of copies of a subscriber specified file in the at least one file sharing network.

63. The system according to claim 61, wherein the client user interface facilitates subscriber selection of the subscriber specified file.

64. The system according to claim 61, wherein the client user interface facilitates subscriber selection of an instrumentation function to estimate a change in a number of copies of a subscriber specified file in the at least one file sharing network over a subscriber specified period of time.

65. The system according to claim 64, wherein the client user interface facilitates subscriber selection of the subscriber specified file.

66. The system according to claim 64, wherein the client user interface facilitates subscriber selection of the period of time over which the change in the number of copies of the subscriber specified file is to be estimated in the at least one file sharing network.

67. The system according to claim 61, wherein the client user interface facilitates subscriber selection of a file sharing network for estimating the number of copies of the subscriber specified file in.

68. The system according to claim 57, wherein the subscriber operated client computer is further configured to provide subscriber specified reports resulting from performance of the instrumentation and interdiction functions by the control center.

69. The system according to claim 68, wherein the subscriber operated client computer is configured with a client user interface running as an application launched in a web browser to facilitate subscriber selection of the instrumentation and interdiction functions to be performed by the control center.

70. The system according to claim 69, wherein the subscriber specified reports are displayed as graphs in the client user interface according to subscriber specified graph attributes.

71. The system according to claim 70, wherein the subscriber specified graph attributes include penetration of copies of a subscriber specified file in the at least one file sharing network.

72. The system according to claim 70, wherein the subscriber specified graph attributes include a supply index for copies of a subscriber specified file in the at least one file sharing network.

73. The system according to claim 70, wherein the subscriber specified graph attributes include a demand index for copies of a subscriber specified file in the at least one file sharing network.

74. The system according to claim 70, wherein the subscriber specified graph attributes include an effectiveness of interdiction for copies of a subscriber specified file in the at least one file sharing network.

75. The system according to claim 70, wherein the subscriber specified graph indicates an attribute value over subscriber specified time increments.

76. The system according to claim 70, wherein the subscriber specified graph indicates attribute values for subscriber specified file sharing networks.