Patent US7043019B2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US7043019B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Copy protection for digital motion picture image data
Assignee: Eastman Kodak Co
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Filing: 2001-02-28
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Granted: 2006-05-09
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Expires: 2021-02-28
Abstract
Abstract An apparatus and method for displaying a copy-deterrent pattern ( 104 ) within a digital motion picture in order to discourage recording of the motion picture using a video camera or other sampling recording device. A copy-deterrent pattern ( 104 ) could be, for example, one or more symbols, a random pattern, a digital watermark or a text message ( 106 ). The copy-deterrent pattern ( 104 ) comprises a plurality of pixels within each frame of the digital motion picture, and the displayed pixel intensities are modulated at a temporal frequency using modulation characteristics deliberately selected to be imperceptible to human observers while simultaneously producing objectionable aliasing in any copy made using a video camera.
Inventors
- 👤 Babak Tehranchi
- 👤 Paul W. Jones
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 10:46
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06T; G06T1/00; G06T1/0021; G06T1/0085; G06T1/005; H; H04; H04N; H04N5/00; H04N5/76; H04N5/91; H04N5/913; H04N9/00; H04N9/12; H04N9/31; H04N9/3179; G06T2201/00; G06T2201/005; G06T2201/0064; H04N2005/91357; H04N2005/91392
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 52
Claim 1
Independent Claim
220 words
A copy-deterrent display apparatus for displaying a sequential plurality of image frames of a digital motion picture, each of said image frames comprising an array of pixels, each said pixel assigned to be displayed at a predetermined intensity within each frame, said apparatus comprising: (a) a pattern generator/modulator assembly capable of providing control signals specifying a pattern of pixels within each said frame, said control signals specifying temporal modulation of said pattern of pixels at predetermined frequency or frequencies within a frame period so that each of certain pixels are multiply pulsed during a frame period, wherein said temporal modulation is chosen to be at a frequency imperceptible to a human observer observing the digital motion picture displayed on said display apparatus while simultaneously producing objectionable artifacts selected from the group consisting of an obscuring pattern, an obscuring message and a watermark due to image aliasing when said displayed frames are captured by a sampling video capturing device wherein said image aliasing results from the presence of relatively strong temporal frequency components that are within the visible frequency range when captured by the video capturing device; and (b) an image forming assembly capable of accepting said control signals from said pattern generator/modulator assembly and of modifying the displayed pixel intensities within each said frame in response to said control signals.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
220 words
A copy-deterrent display apparatus for displaying a sequential plurality of image frames of a digital motion picture, each of said image frames comprising an array of pixels, each said pixel assigned to be displayed at a predetermined intensity within each frame, said apparatus comprising: (a) a pattern generator/modulator assembly capable of providing control signals specifying a pattern of pixels within each said frame, said control signals specifying temporal modulation of said pattern of pixels at predetermined frequency or frequencies within a frame period so that each of certain pixels are multiply pulsed during a frame period, wherein said temporal modulation is chosen to be at a frequency imperceptible to a human observer observing the digital motion picture displayed on said display apparatus while simultaneously producing objectionable artifacts selected from the group consisting of an obscuring pattern, an obscuring message and a watermark due to image aliasing when said displayed frames are captured by a sampling video capturing device wherein said image aliasing results from the presence of relatively strong temporal frequency components that are within the visible frequency range when captured by the video capturing device; and (b) an image forming assembly capable of accepting said control signals from said pattern generator/modulator assembly and of modifying the displayed pixel intensities within each said frame in response to said control signals.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
15 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said modulated pattern of pixels comprises a text message.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
17 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said modulated pattern of pixels comprises a predetermined copy obscuration pattern.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
15 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said modulated pattern of pixels comprises a random pattern.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
15 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said modulated pattern of pixels comprises a digital watermark.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
15 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said modulated pattern of pixels substantially comprises said frame.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
22 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said image forming assembly uses a spatial light modulator to display said pixels within said frames.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
14 words
The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said spatial light modulator comprises a liquid-crystal device.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
15 words
The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said spatial light modulator comprises a digital multimirror device.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
15 words
The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said spatial light modulator comprises an emissive display device.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said temporal modulation encodes a digital watermark.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
18 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said output control signals condition digital data within said image forming assembly.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
19 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said output control signals condition analog signal levels within said image forming assembly.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
19 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said output control signals condition an optical path within said image forming assembly.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
17 words
The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said optical path modulates said pattern of pixels using a shutter.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
20 words
The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said optical path modulates said pattern of pixels using a spatial light modulation mask.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
156 words
A method for displaying a digital motion picture that is provided with a copy-deterrent pattern in a sequential plurality of image frames of the digital motion picture, each of said image frames comprising an array of pixels, said pattern comprising a plurality of pixels selected from said frame, the method comprising temporally modulating said pattern by multiple pulsing of selected pixels within a frame period wherein said temporal modulation is chosen to be at a frequency or frequencies imperceptible to a human observer observing the digital motion picture displayed on a display apparatus while simultaneously producing objectionable artifacts selected from the group consisting of an obscuring pattern, an obscuring message and a watermark due to aliasing when said displayed frames are captured by a sampling video capturing device wherein said image aliasing results from the presence of relatively strong temporal frequency components that are within the visible frequency range when captured by the video capturing device.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
156 words
A method for displaying a digital motion picture that is provided with a copy-deterrent pattern in a sequential plurality of image frames of the digital motion picture, each of said image frames comprising an array of pixels, said pattern comprising a plurality of pixels selected from said frame, the method comprising temporally modulating said pattern by multiple pulsing of selected pixels within a frame period wherein said temporal modulation is chosen to be at a frequency or frequencies imperceptible to a human observer observing the digital motion picture displayed on a display apparatus while simultaneously producing objectionable artifacts selected from the group consisting of an obscuring pattern, an obscuring message and a watermark due to aliasing when said displayed frames are captured by a sampling video capturing device wherein said image aliasing results from the presence of relatively strong temporal frequency components that are within the visible frequency range when captured by the video capturing device.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 17 wherein said copy deterrent pattern comprises a message.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 17 wherein said copy deterrent pattern comprises a predetermined copy obscuration pattern.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 17 wherein said copy deterrent pattern comprises a random pattern.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 17 wherein said copy deterrent pattern comprises a digital watermark.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 17 wherein said copy deterrent pattern substantially comprises said frame.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 17 wherein the plurality of image frames form part of a digital movie or video image having a predetermined refresh rate and wherein said pattern is temporally modulated at a frequency higher than the refresh rate.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 23 and wherein the temporal modulation is sinusoidal.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 24 and wherein intensity of the pixels comprising the modulated pattern is adjusted to compensate for the modulation.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 23 and wherein the modulation is a rectangular wave.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 26 and wherein intensity of the pixels comprising the modulated pattern is adjusted to compensate for the modulation.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 23 and wherein one or more color components of an image in the frame is subject to said temporal modulation but other color components of the same image frame are not subject to said temporal modulation.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 23 and wherein the pattern comprises a portion of an image frame.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method according to claim 23 and wherein the pattern comprises plural portions and the plural portions are temporarily modulated at different frequencies from each other.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method according to claim 23 and wherein the frequency of modulation is changed from one frequency to another frequency during the course of display.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method according to claim 23 and wherein the plurality of pixels are analyzed according to a peak intensity criterion and pixels meeting the criterion further determine the pattern that is subject to the temporal modulation.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method according to claim 23 and wherein in order to provide copy deterrence to a video capturing device having a sampling frequency of 60 Hertz and/or 120 Hertz a temporal modulation frequency is used that meets the criteria of the absolute value of the difference between the sampling frequency and the temporal modulation frequency is greater than or equal to 10 Hertz and less than or equal to 30 Hertz.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 17 and wherein the temporal modulation is sinusoidal.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 34 and wherein intensity of the pixels comprising the modulated pattern is adjusted to compensate for the modulation.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 17 and wherein the modulation is a rectangular wave.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 36 and wherein intensity of the pixels comprising the modulated pattern is adjusted to compensate for the modulation.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 17 and wherein one or more color components of an image in the frame is subject to said temporal modulation but other color components of the same image frame are not subject to said temporal modulation.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 17 and wherein the pattern comprises a portion of an image frame.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method according to claim 17 and wherein the pattern comprises plural portions and the plural portions are temporarily modulated at different frequencies from each other.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method according to claim 17 and wherein the frequency of modulation is changed from one frequency to another frequency during the course of display.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method according to claim 17 and wherein the plurality of pixels are analyzed according to a peak intensity criterion and pixels meeting the criterion further determine the pattern that is subject to the temporal modulation.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method according to claim 17 and wherein in order to provide copy deterrence to a video capturing device having a sampling frequency of 60 Hertz and/or 120 Hertz a temporal modulation frequency is used that meets the criteria of the absolute value of the difference between the sampling frequency and the temporal modulation frequency is greater than or equal to 10 Hertz and less than or equal to 30 Hertz.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 17 and wherein the displayed pixel intensities are modulated so that an observer of the displayed movie will not see any degradation in image quality.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 17 and wherein a random selection of pixels is used to produce the copy-deterrent pattern that is optimal for obscuring a video camera copy of the digital motion picture.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 17 and wherein the copy-deterrent pattern is changed for each set of n frames.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 17 and wherein pixels in an image frame are analyzed according to a peak intensity criterion and pixels meeting the criterion determine the pattern that is subject to the temporal modulation.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 17 wherein the copy-deterrent pattern is encoded using amplitude modulation to encode the pattern within a sequence of variable intensity values.
Claim 51
Independent Claim
167 words
A method for identifying a candidate modulation frequency to be applied to a selected pattern of pixels within a sequence of digital motion picture frames, said candidate modulation frequency intended to cause aliasing when the sequence of digital motion picture frames is sampled using a video capture device, said method comprising: (a) selecting a plurality of sequential frames; (b) obtaining intensity values for each pixel within said selected pattern of pixels; (c) calculating a modulation intensity value for each said pixel within said selected pattern of pixels, said modulation intensity value conditioned by the duty cycle for a modulation signal waveform; (d) calculating a bandwidth for said pixels within said selected pattern of pixels; (e) choosing a target sampling frequency; and (f) calculating said candidate modulation frequency based on said target sampling frequency and based on predetermined thresholds for visible modulation, said candidate modulation frequency selected based on having a first order or a second order side band within bounds of said predetermined thresholds for visible modulation.
Claim 52
Independent Claim
167 words
A method for identifying a candidate modulation frequency to be applied to a selected pattern of pixels within a sequence of digital motion picture frames, said candidate modulation frequency intended to cause aliasing when the sequence of digital motion picture frames is sampled using a video capture device, said method comprising: (a) selecting a plurality of sequential frames; (b) obtaining intensity values for each pixel within said selected pattern of pixels; (c) calculating a modulation intensity value for each said pixel within said selected pattern of pixels, said modulation intensity value conditioned by the duty cycle for a modulation signal waveform; (d) calculating a bandwidth for said pixels within said selected pattern of pixels; (e) choosing a target sampling frequency; and (f) calculating said candidate modulation frequency based on said target sampling frequency and based on predetermined thresholds for visible modulation, said candidate modulation frequency selected based on having a first order or a second order side band within bounds of said predetermined thresholds for visible modulation.
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| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
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