Rights management system and methods

• US 8,650,128 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2007
• Issued: 02/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Levy, Kenneth L., Rhoads, Geoffrey B., Hiatt, R. Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Coppola, Jacob C.
• Application Number:
  US11/847,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20070294173A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,357 Days
• Field of Search: 705/52
• US Class Current: 705/52
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1012 to domains
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1063 Personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1087 Synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0042 Fragile watermarking, e.g. so as to detect tampering
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00768 wherein copy control information is used, e.g. for indicating whether a content may be copied freely, no more, once, or never, by setting CGMS, SCMS, or CCI flags
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00855 involving a step of exchanging information with a remote server
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00884 involving a watermark, i.e. a barely perceptible transformation of the original data which can nevertheless be recognised by an algorithm
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234327 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/254 Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6332 directed to client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 : involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8355 : involving usage data, e.g. number of copies or viewings allowed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 : involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 : using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 : Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A method of performing digital asset management of content is provided. The content is identified with an identifier. The identifier can be identified with a digital watermark, header file, or both. The identifier is linked to usage rules to regulate usage and protect the content. The usage rules can be maintained on a remote or local database or server. Once extracted, an identifier is used to index the database to locate a corresponding usage rule, and can be used to override copy control information with proper purchase and subsequent protection. Content can be managed from such. In another embodiment, an identifier is used to track usage, such as amount of content viewed, time played, and copies made. In yet another embodiment, a content identifier is used to regulate content throughout a distribution chain, and a distributed set of databases with information relevant only to the owner of the database act as one database due to a central router.

Claims

1. A method of regulating distribution of digital watermarked content, the method comprising:

decoding, using a processor, a digital watermark in the digital watermarked content, wherein the digital watermark comprises at least one component related to copy usage and at least one component related to content identification;

obtaining the copy usage component and the content identification component from the decoded digital watermark;

monitoring content subsets within the digital watermarked content using the digital watermark, wherein each content subset comprises a unique digital watermark identifying the content subset;

prohibiting the distribution of the digital watermarked content according to the copy usage component;

communicating the content identification component to a database, wherein the database uses the content identification to identify billing information related to distribution of the content;

receiving a permission to distribute the content from the database;

determining whether to prohibit distribution of the digital watermarked content based at least in part on the permission instead of on the copy usage component; and

creating a bookmark to a content subset using the unique digital watermark identifying the content subset.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the database uses the content identification component to identify the permission.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the permission is associated with a billing or payment for distribution of the content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the distribution comprises at least one of copying, transferring or rendering.

5. An apparatus comprising:

a memory configured to store digital watermarked content; and

a processor programmed to;

decode a digital watermark in the digital watermarked content, wherein the digital watermark comprises at least one component related to copy usage and at least one component related to content identification;

monitor content subsets within the digital watermarked content using the digital watermark, wherein each content subset comprises a unique digital watermark identifying the content subset;

obtain the copy usage component and the content identification component from the decoded digital watermark;

prohibit the distribution of the digital watermarked content according to the copy usage component;

communicate the content identification component to a database, wherein the database uses the content identification component to identify billing information related to distribution of the content;

receive a permission to distribute the content from the database;

determine whether to prohibit distribution of the digital watermarked content based on the permission instead of on the copy usage component; and

save a bookmark to a content subset using the unique digital watermark identifying the content subset.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the database uses the content identification component to identify the permission.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the permission is associated with a billing or payment for distribution of the content.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the distribution comprises at least one of copying, transferring or rendering.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

decoding a digital watermark in the digital watermarked content, wherein the digital watermark comprises at least one component related to copy usage and at least one component related to content identification;

monitoring content subsets within the digital watermarked content using the digital watermark, wherein each content subset comprises a unique digital watermark identifying the content subset;

obtaining the copy usage component and the content identification component from the decoded digital watermark;

prohibiting the distribution of the digital watermarked content according to the copy usage component;

communicating the content identification component to a database, wherein the database uses the content identification component to identify billing information related to distribution of the content;

receiving a permission to distribute the content from the database;

determining whether to prohibit distribution of the digital watermarked content based on the permission instead of on the copy usage component; and

saving a bookmark to a content subset using the unique digital watermark identifying the content subset.

10. The non-tangible computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the database uses the content identification component to identify the permission.