US7006630B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Methods and apparatus for digital content protection
Assignee: Sovereign Peak Ventures LLC
•
Filing: 2003-06-03
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Granted: 2006-02-28
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Expires: 2023-06-03
Abstract
Abstract A multilayer digital content protection system, particularly for a digital cinema application is provided. Detection of unauthorized activity at the time it is occurring is provided using a first protection layer. Two layers of imperceptible watermarks, one camcorder viewable and one camcorder invisible are inserted into unauthorized copies of the digital content with second and third protection layers. Strong near infrared is also used to degrade the quality of any attempted unauthorized recording of digital content using a camcorder.
Inventors
- 👤 Hong Heather Yu
- 👤 Prabir Bhattacharya
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 10:52
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/80; H04N21/83; H04N21/835; H04N21/8358; H04N21/20; H04N21/23; H04N21/238; H04N21/2389; H04N21/23892; H04N5/00; H04N5/76; H04N5/91; H04N5/913; H04N2005/91307; H04N2005/91335; H04N2005/91392
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 35
Claim 1
Independent Claim
180 words
A content protection system for digital cinema comprising: a first protection layer having a camera detector including at least two surveillance cameras configured to detect recording devices within a theater using automatic pattern recognition; a second protection layer having a near infrared signal projector and a strong signal embedder together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device visible copy mark in a recorded copy of digital content being displayed in the theater; and a third protection layer having a watermark generator and a watermark embedder, the watermark embedder provided in conjunction with a digital cinema movie projector and, in combination with the watermark generator, are together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device invisible watermark in the digital content displayed in the theater by the digital cinema movie projector, wherein a location of a detected recording device producing the recorded copy is used by at least one of said second or third protection layers to specifically target the recording device by generating at least one of the electronic copy mark or the electronic watermark as a function of the location.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
180 words
A content protection system for digital cinema comprising: a first protection layer having a camera detector including at least two surveillance cameras configured to detect recording devices within a theater using automatic pattern recognition; a second protection layer having a near infrared signal projector and a strong signal embedder together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device visible copy mark in a recorded copy of digital content being displayed in the theater; and a third protection layer having a watermark generator and a watermark embedder, the watermark embedder provided in conjunction with a digital cinema movie projector and, in combination with the watermark generator, are together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device invisible watermark in the digital content displayed in the theater by the digital cinema movie projector, wherein a location of a detected recording device producing the recorded copy is used by at least one of said second or third protection layers to specifically target the recording device by generating at least one of the electronic copy mark or the electronic watermark as a function of the location.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
20 words
The content protection system according to claim 1 , wherein the first protection layer comprises at least two surveillance cameras.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
33 words
The content protection system according to claim 2 , wherein the first protection layer is configured to provide notification of an unauthorized recording device observed by at least one of the surveillance cameras.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
36 words
The content protection system according to claim 3 , wherein the recording device comprises a camcorder and the first protection layer is configured to detect the camcorder in a movie theater using a lens detection system.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
35 words
The content protection system according to claim 1 , wherein the second protection layer comprise a near infrared signal projector for degrading using near infrared light the quality of digital content copied in digital cinema.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
33 words
The content protection system according to claim 1 , wherein the third protection layer comprises a watermark embedder for embedding a recording device invisible electronic watermark into digital content provided in digital cinema.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
43 words
The content protection system according to claim 6 , wherein the second protection layer comprises a strong signal embedder and in combination with the watermark embedder are configured to embed a recording device invisible electronic watermark into digital content provided in digital cinema.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
28 words
The content protection system according to claim 1 , wherein the first protection layer is configured to begin operating upon an opening of a theater providing digital cinema.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
30 words
The content protection system according to claim 1 , wherein the second protection layer is configured to begin operating upon the start of displaying a digital movie in a theater.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
30 words
The content protection system according to claim 1 , wherein the third protection layer is configured to begin operating upon the start of displaying a digital movie in a theater.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
23 words
The content protection system according to claim 1 , wherein the second protection layer and third protection layer are configured to operate simultaneously.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
24 words
The content protection system according to claim 1 , wherein the second protection layer and third protection layer are configured to operate in synchronization.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
23 words
The content protection system according to claim 1 , wherein the second protection layer and third protection layer are configured to operate non-synchronously.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
30 words
The content protection system according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic copy mark is visible to the recording device and the electronic watermark is invisible to the recording device.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
33 words
The content protection system according to claim 1 , wherein the second and third protection layers are configured to operate nonlinearly to embed the electronic watermarks into digital content provided in digital cinema.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
203 words
A digital content protection system for protecting digital content displayed in a theater, the digital content protection system comprising: a first protection layer having a camera detector including at least two surveillance cameras configured to detect recording devices within a theater using automatic pattern recognition; a second protection layer having a near infrared signal projector and a strong signal embedder together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device visible copy mark in a recorded copy of digital content being displayed in the theater, wherein a location of a detected recording device recording the copy of the digital content being displayed in the theater is used by the second protection layer to specifically target the recording device by concentrating an infrared signal; and a third protection layer having a watermark generator and a watermark embedder, the watermark embedder provided in conjunction with a digital cinema movie projector and, in combination with the watermark generator, are together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device invisible watermark in the digital content displayed in the theater by the digital cinema movie projector, wherein a location of a detected recording device is used by the third protection layer to specifically target the recording device by concentrating embedding information.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
203 words
A digital content protection system for protecting digital content displayed in a theater, the digital content protection system comprising: a first protection layer having a camera detector including at least two surveillance cameras configured to detect recording devices within a theater using automatic pattern recognition; a second protection layer having a near infrared signal projector and a strong signal embedder together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device visible copy mark in a recorded copy of digital content being displayed in the theater, wherein a location of a detected recording device recording the copy of the digital content being displayed in the theater is used by the second protection layer to specifically target the recording device by concentrating an infrared signal; and a third protection layer having a watermark generator and a watermark embedder, the watermark embedder provided in conjunction with a digital cinema movie projector and, in combination with the watermark generator, are together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device invisible watermark in the digital content displayed in the theater by the digital cinema movie projector, wherein a location of a detected recording device is used by the third protection layer to specifically target the recording device by concentrating embedding information.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
28 words
The digital content protection system according to claim 16 , further comprising a copy mark and watermark detector for detecting embedded copy marks and watermarks in digital content.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
33 words
The digital content protection system according to claim 17 , wherein the copy mark and watermark detector is configured to decode the recording device visible copy mark using one or more decoding keys.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
31 words
The digital content protection system according to claim 16 , further comprising a monitoring component configured to provide notification of a recording device detected within the theater by the camera detector.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
56 words
The digital content protection system according to claim 16 , wherein the recording device is one of a video recorder and an audio recorder, and the second protection layer is configured to embed the imperceptible recording device visible copy mark on a recording device a recording device recorded copy of digital video content or audio content.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
229 words
A method of protecting content in digital cinema comprising: monitoring for the presence of recording devices using automatic pattern recognition, including employing a first protection layer having a camera detector including at least two surveillance cameras configured to detect recording devices within a theater using automatic pattern recognition; embedding a recording device visible electronic copy mark into digital content recorded by a recording device, including employing a second protection layer having a near infrared signal projector and a strong signal embedder together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device visible copy mark in a recorded copy of digital content being displayed in the theater; and embedding a recording device invisible electronic watermark into digital content recorded by the recording device, including employing a third protection layer having a watermark generator and a watermark embedder, the watermark embedder provided in conjunction with a digital cinema movie projector and, in combination with the watermark generator, are together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device invisible watermark in the digital content displayed in the theater by the digital cinema movie projector, wherein a location of a detected recording device producing the recorded copy is used by at least one of said second or third protection layers to specifically target the recording device by generating at least one of the electronic cony mark or the electronic watermark as a function of the location.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
229 words
A method of protecting content in digital cinema comprising: monitoring for the presence of recording devices using automatic pattern recognition, including employing a first protection layer having a camera detector including at least two surveillance cameras configured to detect recording devices within a theater using automatic pattern recognition; embedding a recording device visible electronic copy mark into digital content recorded by a recording device, including employing a second protection layer having a near infrared signal projector and a strong signal embedder together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device visible copy mark in a recorded copy of digital content being displayed in the theater; and embedding a recording device invisible electronic watermark into digital content recorded by the recording device, including employing a third protection layer having a watermark generator and a watermark embedder, the watermark embedder provided in conjunction with a digital cinema movie projector and, in combination with the watermark generator, are together configured to embed an imperceptible recording device invisible watermark in the digital content displayed in the theater by the digital cinema movie projector, wherein a location of a detected recording device producing the recorded copy is used by at least one of said second or third protection layers to specifically target the recording device by generating at least one of the electronic cony mark or the electronic watermark as a function of the location.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method according to claim 21 , wherein the recording device is a camcorder and further comprising detecting the presence of the camcorder in the theater and providing notification of the presence of the camcorder.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method according to claim 21 , further comprising decoding the recording device invisible electronic watermark using one or more decoding keys.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method according to claim 21 , wherein the step of embedding an electronic copy mark into digital content comprises using near infrared light to embed the electronic copy mark.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method according to claim 21 wherein the step of monitoring comprises using lens detection to detect the presence of recording devices in the theater.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method according to claim 21 wherein the monitoring starts upon an opening of the theater providing digital content.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method according to claim 21 wherein the embedding of the recording device visible electronic watermark starts upon the start of displaying a digital movie in the theater.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method according to claim 21 wherein the embedding of the recording device invisible electronic watermark starts upon the start of displaying a digital movie in the theater.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method according to claim 21 wherein the steps of embedding are performed simultaneously.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method according to claim 21 wherein the steps of embedding are performed synchronously.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method according to claim 21 wherein the steps of embedding are performed asynchronously.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method according to claim 21 wherein the electronic watermarks are embedded nonlinearly.
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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) | 2009-02-27 | 2009-08-29 | 2010-02-28 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2013-02-27 | 2013-08-29 | 2014-02-28 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2017-02-27 | 2017-08-29 | 2018-02-28 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |