Interactive television security through transaction time stamping
First Claim
1. A method for providing security through time stamping, comprising the steps of:
- receiving, at a receiving location, data having a time stamp based on a first clock;
computing a first difference between a time represented by said time stamp and a first time generated by a second clock;
calculating a second difference between a second time generated by said second clock and a time generated by an operations clock; and
comparing said first difference to said second difference.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for providing security on an interactive television system. Two sets of interactive data, with time stamps, are separately sent to a remote location. At the remote location, the time stamps are checked against a remote clock, a time difference being noted for both sets of data. The two time differences are compared to determine if one set of data has been delayed as compared to the other. Non-delayed data can be used to update a game score for an interactive game. After the game is completed, the remote clock is compared to a central clock. The difference between the two clocks are compared to the time difference for non-delayed data to determine whether the entire aggregate of interactive data was delayed.
360 Citations
54 Claims
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1. A method for providing security through time stamping, comprising the steps of:
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receiving, at a receiving location, data having a time stamp based on a first clock; computing a first difference between a time represented by said time stamp and a first time generated by a second clock; calculating a second difference between a second time generated by said second clock and a time generated by an operations clock; and comparing said first difference to said second difference. - View Dependent Claims (2, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 54)
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3. A method for providing security through time stamping, comprising the steps of:
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receiving, at a receiving location, a first set of data having a first time stamp based on a first clock; computing a first difference between a time represented by said first time stamp and a first time generated by a second clock; receiving a second set of data having a second time stamp based on said first clock; computing a second difference between a time represented by said second time stamp and a second time generated by said second clock; and comparing said first difference with said second difference to determine whether said second set of data is delayed as compared to said first set of data. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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9. A method for providing security, comprising the steps of:
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receiving, at a receiving location, a first set of data having a first time stamp based on a first clock; computing a first difference between a time represented by said first time stamp and a time generated by a second clock; receiving a second set of data having a second time stamp based on said first clock; computing a second difference between a time represented by said second time stamp and a time generated by said second clock; comparing said first difference with said second difference to determine whether said second set of data is delayed as compared to said first set of data and whether said first set of data is delayed as compared to said second set of data; calculating a third difference between a time generated by said second clock and a time generated by an operations clock; testing whether said first set of data is valid by comparing said third time difference to said first time difference if said first set of data was determined not to be delayed as compared to said second set of data; and testing whether said second set of data is valid by comparing said third time difference to said second time difference if said second set of data was determined not to be delayed as compared to said first set of data. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 51)
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13. A system for securing interactive television using time stamps, comprising:
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a receiver capable of receiving at least two sets of interactive data, each set of interactive data having a time stamp based on a first clock; a second clock; comparison means for comparing times represented by said time stamps to times generated by said second clock; delay means, based on said comparing performed by said comparison means, for determining whether a first set of said interactive data is delayed as compared to a second set of said interactive data; presentation means, based on said second set of interactive data, for presenting a transaction to a viewer; verification means, based on said second clock and said comparing performed by said comparison means, for determining if said sets of interactive data were delayed. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A system for preventing cheating using time stamps, comprising:
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means for receiving interactive data over a period of time, said interactive data including a first set of interactive data having a first time stamp and a second set of interactive data having a second time stamp, said first and said second time stamps based on a first clock; a second clock; delay comparison means for comparing times generated by said second clock to times represented by said first and second time stamps and for determining if said first set of data is delayed as compared to said second set of data and if said second set of data is delayed as compared to said first set of data; and means for determining whether at least one set of said interactive data was delayed. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 52)
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19. A method for preventing cheating using time stamps, comprising:
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inserting a time stamp, based on a first clock, into a first set of interactive data; sending said first set of interactive data to a remote location, said remote location having a remote clock so that a first delta can be determined for said first set of interactive data, said first delta being equal to a difference between a time represented by said time stamp and a time generated by said remote clock so that said first delta of said first set of interactive data can be compared to a second delta of a second set of interactive data to determine if said first set of interactive data is delayed as compared to said second set of interactive data; receiving remote data from said remote location, said remote data including a reading of said remote clock and a remote delta, said remote delta being equivalent to said delta of said second set of interactive data if said second set of interactive data was not delayed as compared to said first set of interactive data else said remote delta being equivalent to said delta of said first set of interactive data; determining a time difference between said first clock and said reading of said remote clock; and comparing said time difference with said remote delta. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A method for providing security, comprising the steps of:
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time stamping a first set of data based on a first time generated by a first clock; transmitting said data to a remote location; determining a first difference between the time represented by the time stamp in said first set of data and a first time generated by a second clock; time stamping a second set of data based on a second time generated by said first clock; transmitting said second set of data to said remote location; determining a second difference between the time represented by said time stamp in said second set of data and a second time generated by said second clock; determining a discrepancy equal to said first difference subtracted from said second difference; storing a differential value, said stored differential value being equal to said first difference if said discrepancy is greater than a first time drift constant, said differential value being equal to said second difference if said discrepancy is not greater than said first time drift constant; determining a time difference between a time generated by an operations clock and a time generated by said second clock; determining an offset equal to a difference between said time difference and said stored differential value so that said first set of data is valid if said offset is less than a second time drift constant and said discrepancy is greater than a negative of said first time drift constant, and said second set of data is valid if said offset is less than said second time drift constant and said discrepancy is less than said first time drift constant. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A security system for interactive presentations, comprising:
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a receiver, adapted to receive a communication signal and read interactive data from said communication signal, said interactive data including a first set of data and a second set of data, said first set of data includes a first time stamp, said second set of data includes a second time stamp; a first clock; at least one processor, in communication with said receiver and said first clock, said at least one processor capable of computing a first difference between a time represented by said first time stamp and a first time generated by said first clock and computing a second difference between a time represented by said second time stamp and a second time generated by said first clock and to compute a third difference between said first difference and said second difference so that said at least one processor determines that said first set of data and said second set of data are not delayed with respect to each other if said third difference is less than a constant. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 53)
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34. A security system for interactive presentations, comprising:
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a receiver capable of receiving interactive data, said interactive data including a plurality of transactions, each transaction including a time stamp; a clock; a first processor, in communication with said receiver and said clock, programmed to present said transactions to a viewer;
said first processor creates a plurality of deltas by comparing times represented by said time stamps to times generated by said clock when said transaction is received by said receiver, said first processor compares deltas to determine if one transaction is delayed as compared to a second transaction;a memory, in communication with said first processor, said memory adapted to store a cumulative score for said transactions; and a transmitting unit, in communication with said memory and said clock and said first processor, said transmitting unit adapted to transmit said cumulative score to another location. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification