CONTINUOUS DIGITAL CONTENT PROTECTION

• US 20140366159A1
• Filed: 06/08/2013
• Published: 12/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cohen, Yair
• Granted Patent: US 9,626,493 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/28
• 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: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2117 User registration

Abstract

Data from one or more sensors of a computing device can be employed to provide continuous protection of digital content. After user authentication and authorization, sensor data can be utilized to control access to protected content. More specifically, sensor data can be employed as a basis for initially providing an authorized user access to protected content and subsequently terminating access to the protected content. For additional security, content can be embedded with user identifying information in the form of a watermark. Further, such user identifying information can be provided to a content owner identifying one or more users who viewed the content.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

monitoring one or more sensors of a computing device during presentation of protected digital content with the computing device; and

halting presentation of the protected digital content in response to detecting a change in number of users of the protected digital content detected as a function of data from the one or more of the sensors.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein halting presentation comprises halting presentation in response to detecting an increase in the number of users from one to greater than one.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting the protected digital content with a watermark indicative of a user authorized to access the protected digital content.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising presenting the protected digital content with a watermark including an image of the user.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising after halting presentation of the protected digital content, initiating presentation of the protected digital content upon successful authentication and authorization of a user.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprises initiating presentation after detecting presence of a single user.

7. The method of claim 1 detecting the change in number of user based on a number of faces detected in an image by a face detection algorithm.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprises halting presentation based on a preselected level of protection associated with the protected digital content.

9. A system, comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory, the processor configured to execute the following computer-executable components stored in the memory;

a first component configured to initiate authorization of a user seeking access to protected content with one or more user credentials;

a second component configured to analyze data from one or more sensors accessible by a computing device of the user; and

a third component configured to unlock protected content for presentation by the computing device after successful authorization and detection of a single user of the computing device by the second component.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the third component is further configured to unlock the protected content after the user confirms an authenticated identity.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the third component is further configured to unlock the protected content after logging an image of the user captured by a camera.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprises a fourth component configured to inject the image into the protected content as a watermark.

13. The system of claim 11 further comprises a fourth component configured to make the image available to an owner of the protected content.

14. The system of claim 9 further comprises a fourth component configured to inject a video feed from a front-facing camera into the protected content as a watermark.

15. The system of claim 9, the third component is configured to unlock protected content after detection of a single user based on data from an accelerometer.

16. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that enable at least one processor to perform a method upon execution of the instructions, the method comprising:

acquiring a first image of a user seeking to open a protected content on a computing device from a camera of the computing device after successful authentication and authorization of the user;

determining how many faces are present in the image; and

opening the protected content if solely one face is present in the image.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprises:

capturing a series of images while the protected content is open; and

closing the protected content automatically based on detection of more than one face in one of the series of images.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprises closing the protected content automatically based on detection of less than one face.

19. The method of claim 16 further comprises embedding the first image into the protected content as a watermark.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising providing the first image to an auditing component assessable by the document owner.