Systems and methods for preventing unauthorized use of digital content

• US 7,565,697 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2001
• Issued: 07/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SCA IPLA Holdings Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: ECD Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Hart, John J. III, Howard, Daniel G., Lee, Andrew R., LeVine, Richard B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Revak; Christopher A
• Application Number:
  US09/960,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20020120854A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,860 Days
• Field of Search: 713/193, 726/27, 711/170
• US Class Current: 726/26
• 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 21/14 against software analysis or reverse engineering, e.g. by obfuscation

Abstract

Theft, distribution, and piracy of digital content (software, video, audio, e-books, any content of any kind that is digitally stored and distributed) is generally accomplished by copying it, if possible, or, if it is protected from being copied in any fashion, such piracy is based upon a number of reverse engineering techniques. Aside from the straightforward copying of unprotected content, all of these other methods require first an understanding of the protective mechanism(s) guarding the content, and finally an unauthorized modification of that protection in order to disable or subvert it. Methods which prevent a skilled individual from using reverse engineering tools and techniques to attain that level of understanding and/or prevent anyone from performing such modifications can offer significant advantages to content creators who wish to protect their products.

Claims

1. A method for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data comprising:

subdividing the digital content data into data segments;

modifying the data segments with second data to generate modified data, wherein modifying the data segments comprises interleaving the data segments with the second data to generate interleaved data, wherein the second data is unrelated to the digital content data and wherein the interleaving comprises inserting elements of the second data between elements of the data segments;

storing the modified data at predetermined memory locations;

retrieving the modified data from the predetermined memory locations; and

following retrieving the modified data, de-interleaving the data segments based on the second data used to modify the data segments to generate original digital content data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the digital data comprises data types selected from a group consisting of audio, video, documents, text and software.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the data segments are of a variable length.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second data comprises a randomly generated data stream.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the second data comprises portions of the digital content data.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined memory locations are selected as the locations at which the digital content data was originally stored.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the digital content data comprises first and second digital content data and wherein the predetermined memory locations are selected as combinations of the locations at which the first and second digital content data were originally stored.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a map of locations at which the modified data is stored.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising storing the map of locations at the predetermined memory locations.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and further comprising:

scanning the system to determine available memory locations;

selecting target memory locations within the available memory locations at which to store the modified data; and

storing the modified data at the target memory locations.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein a subset of available memory locations are located within file system locations.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein a subset of available memory locations are located outside file system locations.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising generating a map of the target memory locations.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising storing the map of target memory locations at the target memory locations.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are between memory locations used by files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are exclusive of memory locations of files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system and identifies memory locations at which the files are stored, and wherein the modified data are stored at memory locations occupied by the files, as identified by the table of contents.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising, when an authorized access of a file replaced by the modified data is determined, the file is accessed.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein modifying the data segments with second data comprises tokenizing the data segments with token data.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the token data comprises lexical equivalents of assembly language commands.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the lexical equivalents are consumed by a system interpreter, in turn generating alternative assembly language commands selected to obfuscate the digital content data in the event of an unauthorized access.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising encrypting the modified data and storing the encrypted modified data.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising encrypting the modified data with an encryption key.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising encrypting the encryption key.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising storing the encryption key with the encrypted modified data at the predetermined memory locations.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising partitioning the encryption key among the encrypted modified data.

27. A method for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data in a system having memory locations comprising:

subdividing the digital content data into data segments;

modifying the data segments with second data to generate modified data, wherein the second data is unrelated to the digital data segments;

scanning the system to determine available memory locations;

selecting target memory locations within the available memory locations at which to store the modified data; and

storing the modified data at the target memory locations,

wherein a subset of the available memory locations are located outside the bounds of file system locations as identified by a table of contents of the file system on which the subset of available memory locations are located.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein a subset of available memory locations are located within file system locations.

29. The method of claim 27 further comprising generating a map of the target memory locations.

30. The method of claim 29 further comprising storing the map of target memory locations at the target memory locations.

31. The method of claim 27 wherein the digital data comprises data types selected from a group consisting of audio, video, documents, text and software.

32. The method of claim 27 wherein the data segments are of a variable length.

33. The method of claim 27 wherein the second data comprises a randomly generated data stream.

34. The method of claim 27 wherein the second data comprises portions of the digital content data.

35. The method of claim 27 further comprising encrypting the modified data and storing the encrypted modified data.

36. The method of claim 35 further comprising encrypting the modified data with an encryption key.

37. The method of claim 36 further comprising encrypting the encryption key.

38. The method of claim 37 further comprising storing the encryption key with the encrypted modified data at the predetermined memory locations.

39. The method of claim 38 further comprising partitioning the encryption key among the encrypted modified data.

40. The method of claim 27 wherein the predetermined memory locations are selected as the locations at which the digital content data was originally stored.

41. The method of claim 27 wherein the digital content data comprises first and second digital content data and wherein the predetermined memory locations are selected as combinations of the locations at which the first and second digital content data were originally stored.

42. The method of claim 27 further comprising generating a map of locations at which the modified data is stored.

43. The method of claim 42 further comprising storing the map of locations at the predetermined memory locations.

44. The method of claim 27 further comprising:

retrieving the modified data from the predetermined memory locations; and

de-interleaving the data segments based on the second data to generate original digital content data.

45. The method of claim 27 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are between memory locations used by files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

46. The method of claim 27 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are exclusive of memory locations of files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

47. The method of claim 27 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system and identifies memory locations at which the files are stored, and wherein the modified data are stored at memory locations occupied by the files, as identified by the table of contents.

48. The method of claim 47 further comprising, when an authorized access of a file replaced by the modified data is determined, the file is accessed.

49. The method of claim 27 wherein modifying the data segments comprises interleaving the data segments with the second data to generate interleaved data.

50. The method of claim 27 wherein modifying the data segments with second data comprises tokenizing the data segments with token data.

51. The method of claim 50 wherein the token data comprises lexical equivalents of assembly language commands.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein the lexical equivalents are consumed by a system interpreter, in turn generating alternative assembly language commands selected to obfuscate the digital content data to deter unauthorized access.

53. A method for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data hosted on a system comprising:

modifying the digital content data to generate modified data;

storing the modified data at predetermined memory locations on the system to deter unauthorized access of the digital content data;

determining whether an unauthorized attempt at accessing the digital content data occurs; and

in the event of unauthorized access, reading a saturation profile of the system and system settings and generating saturation traffic on the system to deter the unauthorized activity.

54. The method of claim 53 further comprising subdividing the digital content data into data segments and modifying the data segments.

55. The method of claim 53 wherein the saturation traffic comprises system commands that burden system resources.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein the system commands are generated as a function of activity utilizing the system resources subject to the unauthorized access.

57. The method of claim 53 wherein determining whether an unauthorized attempt at accessing the digital content data occurs comprises monitoring activity of the system hosting the digital content data and determining whether the activity is inconsistent with the type of digital content data being hosted.

58. The method of claim 53 further comprising interleaving the digital content data with second data to generate interleaved data.

59. The method of claim 53 further comprising tokenizing the digital content data with token data.

60. A method for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data in a system having memory locations comprising:

scanning the system to determine available memory locations based on a file system identifying locations of files on the system;

selecting target memory locations within the available memory locations at which to store the digital content data; and

storing the digital content data at the target memory locations, wherein a subset of the available memory locations are located outside the bounds of the file system locations as identified by a table of contents of the file system on which the subset of available memory locations are located.

61. The method of claim 60 wherein a subset of available memory locations are located within files identified by the file system locations.

62. The method of claim 60 wherein a subset of available memory locations are located between files identified by the file system locations.

63. A system for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data comprising:

a subdividing unit for subdividing the digital content data into data segments;

a modification unit for modifying the data segments with second data to generate modified data, wherein modifying the data segments comprises interleaving the data segments with the second data to generate interleaved data, wherein the second data is unrelated to the digital content data and wherein the interleaving comprises inserting elements of the second data between elements of the data segments;

a storage unit for storing the modified data at predetermined memory locations;

means for retrieving the modified data from the predetermined memory locations; and

means for de-interleaving the data segments, following retrieving the modified data, based on the second data used to modify the data segments to generate original digital content data.

64. The system of claim 63 wherein the data segments are of a variable length.

65. The system of claim 63 wherein the second data comprises a randomly generated data stream.

66. The system of claim 63 wherein the second data comprises portions of the digital content data.

67. The system of claim 63 wherein the predetermined memory locations are selected as the locations at which the digital content data was originally stored.

68. The system of claim 63 wherein the digital content data comprises first and second digital content data and wherein the predetermined memory locations are selected as combinations of the locations at which the first and second digital content data were originally stored.

69. The system of claim 63 further comprising a map generator for generating a map of locations at which the modified data is stored.

70. The system of claim 69 wherein the storage unit further stores the map of locations at the predetermined memory locations.

71. The system of claim 63 wherein the memory locations reside on the system and further comprising:

a scanner for scanning the system to determine available memory locations;

a selector for selecting target memory locations within the available memory locations at which to store the modified data; and

wherein the storage unit stores the modified data at the target memory locations.

72. The system of claim 71 wherein a subset of available memory locations are located within file system locations.

73. The system of claim 71 wherein a subset of available memory locations are located outside file system locations.

74. The system of claim 71 further comprising a map generator for generating a map of the target memory locations.

75. The system of claim 74 wherein the storage unit stores the map of target memory locations at the target memory locations.

76. The system of claim 63 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are between memory locations used by files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

77. The system of claim 63 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are exclusive of memory locations of files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

78. The system of claim 63 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system and identifies memory locations at which the files are stored, and wherein the modified data are stored at memory locations occupied by the files, as identified by the table of contents.

79. The system of claim 63 wherein the modification unit modifying the data segments with second data comprises tokenizing the data segments with token data.

80. The system of claim 79 wherein the token data comprises lexical equivalents of assembly language commands.

81. The system of claim 80 wherein the lexical equivalents are consumed by a system interpreter, in turn generating alternative assembly language commands selected to obfuscate the digital content data in the event of an unauthorized access.

82. The system of claim 63 further comprising an encryption unit for encrypting the modified data and storing the encrypted modified data.

83. The system of claim 82 wherein the encryption unit further encrypts the modified data with an encryption key.

84. The system of claim 83 wherein the encryption unit further encrypts the encryption key.

85. The system of claim 84 wherein the storage unit further stores the encryption key with the encrypted modified data at the predetermined memory locations.

86. The system of claim 85 further comprising a partitioning unit for partitioning the encryption key among the encrypted modified data.

87. A system for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data in a system having memory locations comprising:

means for subdividing the digital content data into data segments;

means for modifying the data segments with second data to generate modified data, wherein the second data is unrelated to the digital content data;

means for scanning the system to determine available memory locations;

a selector for selecting target memory locations within the available memory locations at which to store the modified data; and

a storage unit for storing the modified data at the target memory locations;

wherein a subset of the available memory locations are located outside the bounds of the file system locations as identified by a table of contents of the file system on which the subset of available memory locations are located.

88. The system of claim 87 wherein a subset of available memory locations are located within file system locations.

89. The system of claim 87 further comprising a map generator for generating a map of the target memory locations.

90. The system of claim 89 wherein the storage unit stores the map of target memory locations at the target memory locations.

91. The system of claim 87 further comprising means for encrypting the modified data and wherein the storage unit stores the encrypted modified data.

92. The system of claim 91 wherein the means for encrypting further encrypts the modified data with an encryption key.

93. The system of claim 92 wherein the means for encrypting further encrypts the encryption key.

94. The system of claim 87 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are between memory locations used by files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

95. The system of claim 87 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are exclusive of memory locations of files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

96. The system of claim 87 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system and identifies memory locations at which the files are stored, and wherein the modified data are stored at memory locations occupied by the files, as identified by the table of contents.

97. A system for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data hosted on a system comprising:

a modification unit for modifying the digital content data to generate modified data;

a storage unit for storing the modified data at predetermined memory locations on the system to deter unauthorized access of the digital content data; and

means for determining whether an unauthorized attempt at accessing the digital content data occurs, and, in the event of unauthorized access, reading a saturation profile of the system and system settings and generating saturation traffic on the system to deter the unauthorized activity.

98. The system of claim 97 further comprising subdividing the digital content data into data segments and modifying the data segments.

99. The system of claim 97 wherein the saturation traffic comprises system commands that burden system resources.

100. The system of claim 99 wherein the system commands are generated as a function of activity utilizing the system resources subject to the unauthorized access.

101. The system of claim 97 wherein the means for determining whether an unauthorized attempt at accessing the digital content data occurs monitors activity of the system hosting the digital content data and determines whether the activity is inconsistent with the type of digital content data being hosted.

102. The system of claim 97 further comprising means for interleaving the digital content data with second data to generate interleaved data.

103. The system of claim 97 further comprising means for tokenizing the digital content data with token data.

104. A system for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data in a system having memory locations comprising:

a scanner for scanning the system to determine available memory locations based on a file system identifying locations of files on the system;

means for selecting target memory locations within the available memory locations at which to store the digital content data; and

a storage unit for storing the digital content data at the target memory locations, wherein a subset of the available memory locations are located outside the bounds of the file system locations as identified by a table of contents of the file system on which the subset of available memory locations are located.

105. The system of claim 104 wherein a subset of available memory locations are located within files identified by the file system locations.

106. The system of claim 104 wherein a subset of available memory locations are located between files identified by the file system locations.

107. A method for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data comprising:

subdividing the digital content data into data segments;

modifying the data segments with second data to generate modified data, wherein modifying the data segments comprises interleaving the data segments with the second data to generate interleaved data, wherein the second data is unrelated to the digital content data and wherein the interleaving comprises inserting elements of the second data between elements of the data segments;

storing the modified data at predetermined memory locations;

retrieving the modified data from the predetermined memory locations; and

following retrieving the modified data, de-interleaving the data segments based on the second data used to modify the data segments to generate original digital content data;

wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a tame of contents identifies files stored on the system and identifies memory locations at which the files are stored, and wherein the modified data are stored at memory locations occupied by the files, as identified by the table of contents, and wherein, if an authorized access of a file replaced by the modified data is determined, the file is accessed.

108. The method of claim 107 wherein the data segments are of a variable length.

109. The method of claim 107 wherein the second data comprises a randomly generated data stream.

110. The method of claim 107 wherein the second data comprises portions of the digital content data.

111. The method of claim 107 wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are between memory locations used by files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

112. The method of claim 107 wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are exclusive of memory locations of files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

113. A method for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data comprising:

subdividing the digital content data into data segments;

modifying the data segments with second data to generate modified data, wherein modifying the data segments comprises interleaving the data segments with the second data to generate interleaved data, wherein the second data is unrelated to the digital content data and wherein the interleaving comprises inserting elements of the second data between elements of the data segments;

storing the modified data at predetermined memory locations;

retrieving the modified data from the predetermined memory locations; and

following retrieving the modified data, de-interleaving the data segments based on the second data used to modify the data segments to generate original digital content data;

wherein modifying the data segments with second data comprises tokenizing the data segments with token data and wherein the token data comprises lexical equivalents of assembly language commands.

114. The method of claim 113 wherein the lexical equivalents are consumed by a system interpreter, in turn generating alternative assembly language commands selected to obfuscate the digital content data in the event of an unauthorized access.

115. The method of claim 113 wherein the data segments are of a variable length.

116. The method of claim 113 wherein the second data further comprises a randomly generated data stream.

117. The method of claim 113 wherein the second data further comprises portions of the digital content data.

118. The method of claim 113 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are between memory locations used by files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

119. The method of claim 113 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are exclusive of memory locations of files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

120. The method of claim 113 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system and identifies memory locations at which the files are stored, and wherein the modified data are stored at memory locations occupied by the files, as identified by the table of contents.

121. A system for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data comprising:

a subdividing unit for subdividing the digital content data into data segments;

a modification unit for modifying the data segments with second data to generate modified data, wherein modifying the data segments comprises;

interleaving the data segments with the second data to generate interleaved data; and

tokenizing the data segments with token data, wherein the token data comprises lexical equivalents of assembly language commands, wherein the second data is unrelated to the digital content data and wherein the interleaving comprises inserting elements of the second data between elements of the data segments;

a storage unit for storing the modified data at predetermined memory locations;

means for retrieving the modified data from the predetermined memory locations; and

means for de-interleaving the data segments, following retrieving the modified data, based on the second data used to modify the data segments to generate original digital content data.

122. The system of claim 121 wherein the lexical equivalents are consumed by a system interpreter, in turn generating alternative assembly language commands selected to obfuscate the digital content data in the event of an unauthorized access.

123. The system of claim 121 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are between memory locations used by files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

124. The system of claim 121 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are exclusive of memory locations of files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

125. The system of claim 121 wherein the memory locations reside on a system and wherein a table of contents identifies files stored on the system and identifies memory locations at which the files are stored, and wherein the modified data are stored at memory locations occupied by the files, as identified by the table of contents.

126. A system for preventing unauthorized use of digital content data comprising:

a subdividing unit for subdividing the digital content data into data segments;

a modification unit for modifying the data segments with second data to generate modified data, wherein the second data is unrelated to the digital content data; and

a storage unit for storing the modified data at predetermined memory locations;

wherein the memory locations reside on the system and further comprising;

a scanner for scanning the system to determine available memory locations;

a selector for selecting target memory locations within the available memory locations at which to store the modified data; and

wherein the storage unit stores the modified data at the target memory locations and wherein a subset of available memory locations are located outside the bounds of the file system locations as identified by a table of contents of the file system on which the subset of available memory locations are located.

127. The system of claim 126 wherein the table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are between memory locations used by files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

128. The system of claim 126 wherein the table of contents identifies files stored on the system, and wherein a subset of the memory locations used for storing the modified data are exclusive of memory locations of files stored on the system, as identified by the table of contents.

129. The system of claim 126 wherein the table of contents identifies files stored on the system and identifies memory locations at which the files are stored, and wherein the modified data are stored at memory locations occupied by the files, as identified by the table of contents.