Method and apparatus for automatic ID management

• US 6,868,497 B1
• Filed: 03/09/2000
• Issued: 03/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Levy, Kenneth L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Morse, Gregory
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lipman, Jacob
• Application Number:
  US09/522,312
• Time in Patent Office: 1,832 Days
• Field of Search: 713/182, 713/185, 713/200, 713/177, 713/157, 380/277
• US Class Current: 726/31
• 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: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32128 attached to the image data, e.g. file header, transmitted message header, information on the same page or in the same computer file as the image for information embedded in the image H04N1/32144
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3246 of data relating to permitted access or usage, e.g. level of access or usage parameters for digital rights management [DRM] related to still images

Abstract

To stop illegal digital content distribution, IDs will be included in the content. However, current ideas of how to use the IDs are unacceptable. The automatic ID management process and apparatus increases the ease of access to protected content for the consumer, with desired content protection and minimal implementation costs. The process includes tracking the IDs of the previously accessed content of a rendering device, reviewing rules contained within the new content and rendering device, and restricting access if the new content does not meet the rules. For example, devices may be limited to accessing content with N different IDs over a specific time period, where the time period is influenced by the number of times content with a specific ID is accessed. The apparatus includes a logic processor and memory that implements the automatic ID management process.

Claims

1. A process to allow a legitimate consumer access to protected content while controlling piracy on a system, said process comprising:

determining an ID associated with new content accessed on the system; and

reviewing rendering rules before allowing access to the new content,

wherein the rendering rules include allowing access to the new content only if;

i) the new content'"'"'s ID is an ID associated with previously accessed content, or ii) a total number of content items accessed on the system within a time period is less than N, where N is an integer.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the new content includes the rendering rules associated therewith, and wherein N is decided by the rendering rules.

3. The process of claim 1 where N is decided by the system.

4. The process of claim 1 where N comprises 10.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein each of the content items is associated with an ID, and wherein N is a total number of IDs associated with the content items, and wherein one of the N IDs is replaced if content containing the one ID has not been accessed for a specific period of time.

6. The process of claim 5 wherein the new content includes the rendering rules associated therewith, and wherein the specific period of time is decided by the rendering rules.

7. The process of claim 5 in which the specific period of time is decided by the system.

8. The process of claim 5 in which the specific period of time comprises one week.

9. The process of claim 5 where the specific period of time is influenced by a number of times content with the one ID to be replaced has been accessed.

10. The process of claim 9 in which if content has been accessed at least seven times by the system, it must be stored for at least a month since its last accessed date.

11. The process of claim 5 in which, in addition to replacement based upon the specific period of time, the one ID can be replaced dependent upon a difference equation using its access count.

12. The process of claim 11 in which the access count for stored IDs is reduced by one each day, and the one ID can be replaced if it has an access count of zero.

13. An apparatus including:

a logic processor; and

memory,

wherein said memory includes instructions stored thereon for execution by said logic processor, said instructions controlling the apparatus to review rules associated with new audio or video content, and to control rendering of the new audio or video content based at least in part on past rendering of other audio or video content rendered by said apparatus.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 in which the logic processor comprises a digital processor.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 in which the logic processor comprises a combination of analog and digital circuitry.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the audio or video content consists of audio.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said memory comprises past rendering information stored therein, the past rendering information comprising at least one of content IDs, dates, and an access count.

18. A device comprising:

electronic processing circuitry;

a communication bus; and

memory, wherein said memory comprises instructions stored thereon, said instructions controlling access to new content according to usage rules, wherein the new content includes an ID associated therewith, and wherein the usage rules allow access to the new content based on past usage of content by the device, wherein factors of past usage comprise;

i) whether the new content'"'"'s ID is an ID associated with previously accessed content, and ii) whether a total number of content items accessed on the device within a set time period is less than N, where N is an integer.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein said memory comprises past usage information stored therein, the past usage information comprising at least one of content IDs, dates and an access count.

20. A method to control rendering of audio or video content by an apparatus, said method comprising:

receiving first audio or video content for rendering by an apparatus;

determining previous renderings of other audio or video content; and

controlling rendering of the first audio or video content by the apparatus based at least in part on the previous renderings of the other audio or video content.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first audio or video content consists of audio.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

obtaining rendering rules associated with the first audio or video content, wherein said controlling rendering of the first audio or video controls rendering based at least in part on the rendering rules.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the apparatus includes electronic circuitry to carry out said receiving, determining and controlling.