US6285774B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
System and methodology for tracing to a source of unauthorized copying of prerecorded proprietary material, such as movies
Assignee: Google LLC
•
Filing: 1998-06-08
•
Granted: 2001-09-04
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Expires: 2018-06-08
Abstract
Abstract To enable the source of an unauthorized copy of an information-bearing medium, such as a video DVD, to be traced, a compressed digital signal stream to be stored on the medium is altered to include “running marks,” that comprise pixel blocks changing in position frame by frame and encoded with information designating where and when the copy was made. The medium under test is played back synchronously with a reference medium containing the locations of the running marks together with original video. The source of copying message is advantageously encrypted and scrambled to avoid detection or alteration by a copyist. The message preferably is spread, for example into a spread spectrum carrier, to enhance discrimination among a large number of sources and enable demodulation in the presence of noise.
Inventors
- 👤 Robert W. Schumann
- 👤 Siu-Leong Iu
- 👤 Kobad Bugwadia
- 👤 Guillaume Mercier
- 👤 Shiva Ramadoss
- 👤 Michael Bergeron
- 👤 Jack Ehrhardt
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-07 23:39
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N5/00; H04N5/76; H04N5/91; H04N5/913; H04N19/00; H04N2005/91307; H04N2005/91335; H04N9/00; H04N9/79; H04N9/80; H04N9/82; H04N9/8205; H04N9/8227
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 44
Claim 1
Independent Claim
130 words
A method of processing an information-bearing compressed digital signal stream, produced by an information signal source, to be recorded on an original recording medium, to mark information content of the information-bearing signal stream so as to enable tracing to a source of unauthorized copying of the information-bearing compressed digital signal stream from the original recording medium, comprising: receiving an original compressed, digital signal stream during playback of the original recording medium; receiving a predetermined modification stream derived from said original compressed digital signal stream; obtaining a source-of-copying message corresponding to a source of playback of said original compressed digital signal stream from the original recording medium; and producing a modified signal stream by modifying the original compressed digital signal stream to include the source-of-copying message using the predetermined modification stream.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
130 words
A method of processing an information-bearing compressed digital signal stream, produced by an information signal source, to be recorded on an original recording medium, to mark information content of the information-bearing signal stream so as to enable tracing to a source of unauthorized copying of the information-bearing compressed digital signal stream from the original recording medium, comprising: receiving an original compressed, digital signal stream during playback of the original recording medium; receiving a predetermined modification stream derived from said original compressed digital signal stream; obtaining a source-of-copying message corresponding to a source of playback of said original compressed digital signal stream from the original recording medium; and producing a modified signal stream by modifying the original compressed digital signal stream to include the source-of-copying message using the predetermined modification stream.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
52 words
The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the modified signal stream is reproduced on a second recording medium, including: reproducing the modified signal stream during playback of the second recording medium; and comparing the original information-bearing compressed digital signal stream with the modified signal stream, and extracting the source-of-copying message.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the information-bearing compressed digital signal stream is a video signal, and wherein modifying the compressed digital signal stream comprises modifying a characteristic of an image produced by said compressed digital signal stream.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method as described in claim 3 , wherein said compressed digital signal is pre-encoded in an MPEG compression standard.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method as described in claim 4 , including selecting at least one area of a video frame for modification, and modifying the selected video frame area.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method as described in claim 5 , including storing an address of a selected video frame area.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method as described in claim 6 , wherein selecting is performed on a basis of an image attribute of an image within the video frame.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method as described in claim 7 , wherein the image attribute is an image boundary.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method as described in claim 6 , including replacing the selected frame area with a modified frame area corresponding to said source-of-copying message.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method as described in claim 9 , including conditioning the selected frame area prior to replacement thereof by a modified frame area.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method as described in claim 10 , wherein said frame areas comprise pixel blocks or macroblocks.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method as described in claim 5 , including selecting different frame areas of subsequent frames for modification in correspondence to said source-of-copying message.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method as described in claim 1 , including encrypting said source-of-copying message prior to modification of said compressed digital signal stream.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method as described in claim 1 , including scrambling the source-of-copying message prior to modification of said compressed digital signal stream.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method as described in claim 1 , including encoding said source-of-copying message to produce a spread spectrum carrier prior to modification of said compressed digital stream.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
113 words
A method for processing a compressed digital information in the form of an original MPEG encoded signal stream played back from an original prerecorded medium to enable tracing of unauthorized copying of the signal stream from the medium, comprising: producing an original medium storing information in an MPEG standard together with preselected pixel block locations, within video frames, for data bits pertaining to information describing a subsequent playback of the original medium; receiving the MPEG data stream during said subsequent playback of the original medium; and producing a modified signal stream by modifying the MPEG signal stream to embed said subsequent playback information in pixel blocks corresponding to the preselected pixel block locations.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
113 words
A method for processing a compressed digital information in the form of an original MPEG encoded signal stream played back from an original prerecorded medium to enable tracing of unauthorized copying of the signal stream from the medium, comprising: producing an original medium storing information in an MPEG standard together with preselected pixel block locations, within video frames, for data bits pertaining to information describing a subsequent playback of the original medium; receiving the MPEG data stream during said subsequent playback of the original medium; and producing a modified signal stream by modifying the MPEG signal stream to embed said subsequent playback information in pixel blocks corresponding to the preselected pixel block locations.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
45 words
The method as described in claim 16 , including comparing a content of the original signal stream with that of the modified signal stream played back from a recording medium suspected to be an unauthorized copy of the original medium to extract the playback information.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method as described in claim 16 , wherein the playback information includes one or more of the following: recording medium identification, reproduction device identification and time of data stream reproduction.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method as described in claim 16 , including selecting at least one area of a frame as a message area for modification, and modifying the selected area.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method as described in claim 19 , wherein selecting is performed on a basis of an image attribute.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method as described in claim 20 , wherein the image attribute is an image boundary.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method as described in claim 19 , including replacing the selected frame area with a modified frame area designating an element of said playback information.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method as described in claim 22 , including conditioning the selected frame prior to replacement by a modified frame area.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method as described in claim 22 , wherein only B-frames of the MPEG data stream are selected as frame areas for replacement.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method as described in claim 19 , including selecting different areas of subsequent frames for modification.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method as described in claim 19 , wherein said areas comprise pixel blocks or macroblocks.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method as described in claim 26 , including scrambling pixels blocks or macroblocks prior to embedding the playback information into the MPEG signal stream.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method as described in claim 16 , including encrypting the playback information prior to modifying the MPEG signal stream.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method as described in claim 16 , including encoding said playback information to produce a spread spectrum carrier prior to modifying said MPEG signal stream.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method as described in claim 16 , including error correcting the playback information prior to modifying the MPEG signal stream.
Claim 33
Independent Claim
108 words
A system for processing compressed digital information in the form of an MPEG encoded signal stream played back from an original recording medium to enable tracing of unauthorized copying of the signal stream from the original medium, comprising: a detector for obtaining a source-of-copying message pertaining to a source of playback of the original medium containing the compressed signal stream; a receiver for receiving the MPEG signal stream upon playback from the original recording medium and for receiving a predetermined modification stream derived from said original compressed digital signal stream; and a combiner for embedding the source-of-copying message in the MPEG signal stream using the predetermined modification stream.
Claim 34
Independent Claim
108 words
A system for processing compressed digital information in the form of an MPEG encoded signal stream played back from an original recording medium to enable tracing of unauthorized copying of the signal stream from the original medium, comprising: a detector for obtaining a source-of-copying message pertaining to a source of playback of the original medium containing the compressed signal stream; a receiver for receiving the MPEG signal stream upon playback from the original recording medium and for receiving a predetermined modification stream derived from said original compressed digital signal stream; and a combiner for embedding the source-of-copying message in the MPEG signal stream using the predetermined modification stream.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
27 words
The system as described in claim 31 , including a memory for storing locations of pixel blocks among selected video frames of the MPEG encoded signal stream.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
20 words
The system as described in claim 31 , including a scrambler for scrambling the source-of-copying message received by the detector.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
21 words
The system as described in claim 31 , including an encryption unit for encrypting the source-of-copying message received by the detector.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system as described in claim 31 , including an encoder for encoding said source-of-copying message to produce a spread spectrum carrier prior to embedding with said MPEG signal stream.
Claim 39
Independent Claim
65 words
A method of processing a data stream in the form of a compressed digital signal copied from an original data stream, to enable tracing to the source of copying, comprising: receiving the original data stream; locating message holes of prescribed size in predefined, non-regularly occuring locations in the original data stream; and extracting from said data stream a source-of-copying message embedded at said message holes.
Claim 40
Independent Claim
65 words
A method of processing a data stream in the form of a compressed digital signal copied from an original data stream, to enable tracing to the source of copying, comprising: receiving the original data stream; locating message holes of prescribed size in predefined, non-regularly occuring locations in the original data stream; and extracting from said data stream a source-of-copying message embedded at said message holes.
Claim 41
Independent Claim
104 words
A method for processing a data-bearing digital signal to be recorded on a storage medium so as to enable tracing an unauthorized copy of the data to a copyist, comprising: receiving a digital signal stream bearing data by playing back the stream from a medium on which the digital signal stream is stored; receiving a predetermined modification stream derived from said original compressed digital signal stream; obtaining a source-of-copying message pertaining to the source of playback of said data; producing a spread spectrum carrier bearing said source-of-copying message; and combining the encoded source-of-copying message with said digital signal stream using the predetermined modification stream.
Claim 42
Independent Claim
104 words
A method for processing a data-bearing digital signal to be recorded on a storage medium so as to enable tracing an unauthorized copy of the data to a copyist, comprising: receiving a digital signal stream bearing data by playing back the stream from a medium on which the digital signal stream is stored; receiving a predetermined modification stream derived from said original compressed digital signal stream; obtaining a source-of-copying message pertaining to the source of playback of said data; producing a spread spectrum carrier bearing said source-of-copying message; and combining the encoded source-of-copying message with said digital signal stream using the predetermined modification stream.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method as described in claim 37 , wherein the digital signal stream is compressed.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method as described in claim 38 , wherein the digital signal stream is encoded in an MPEG compression standard.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2004-09-03 | 2005-03-05 | 2005-09-04 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2008-09-03 | 2009-03-05 | 2009-09-04 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2012-09-03 | 2013-03-05 | 2013-09-04 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |