Patent Application
20050177516
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of digital recordation and distribution of protected content of works such as audio compositions and video productions. More specifically, this invention relates to an improved system and method of protecting such digital content from unlawful copying and distribution by using a personal computer.
2. Description of the Related Technology
The widespread use of personal computers and Internet access has permitted extensive unauthorized digital extraction, reproduction and distribution of a significant amount of artistic content, including audio, video, software, images and text. Significant contributing factors to this unauthorized distribution include the large volume of digital content that has been made available to consumers in formats such as audio CD, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD and DVD-R media and the ease of digital extraction and duplication of the music or other content on these physical media. Unfortunately, the standards used to produce the content for audio CDs (e.g., the IEC 60908 Redbook Standard) were not originally intended to prevent transfer of the content in digital or analog form and do not use methods to conceal the digital data on the CD for preventing unauthorized transfer. Further, copies made using digital processes are of high quality. Even copies using compressed formats such as, for example the standard MPEG Audio Layer 3 (MP3) format or Microsoft's Windows® Media (WMA) format, are of good quality in comparison to prior analog copying approaches.
The music industry in particular has a strong interest in protecting its proprietary works from unauthorized copying and distribution, especially over the Internet or through other computer-based copying and distribution using music ripping software or other techniques. A number of attempts have been made by the music industry to provide music CDs that can be reliably played in consumer CD players but that somehow are resistant to digital audio extraction by a personal computer. Although there has been some success in this area, anything less than 100 percent playability by the wide array of consumer CD players that are already in use is extremely undesirable. When a consumer purchases a new CD he or she expects it to play in his or her equipment, and there is a great amount of anger and frustration if it does not. The record industry is extremely reluctant to take the rest of this happening to its end consumers who appropriately purchase its music offerings. In addition, the reliability of protection against unauthorized copying and other digital extraction provided by the techniques that have been so far developed by the industry has been haphazard, being highly dependent upon specific hardware characteristics, firmware versions and countermeasures that have been employed by various forms of software. Another disadvantage of such technology is that it prevents a consumer who has legitimately purchased a compact disc from playing music files from the compact disc using his or her computer. Many consumers who purchase music on compact discs expect to be able to play them on their computers, or at least to extract the music to their hard drives using software that contains a digital rights management protocol, such as Windows Media Player.®
The introduction of technology that is marketed by SunnComm Technologies Inc. under the trademark MediaMax represented a significant advance in the field of copy protection for digital works. In this technology, music files are provided in a compressed format, specifically a format that is subject to a digital rights management protocol, on a second Yellow Book data session of the CD. Software which is automatically loaded on to the personal computer from the CD when the CD is loaded into the CD/DVD drive of the computer will direct the computer user to the alternative content instead of to the CD-DA files that are contained in the first, Red Book session of the CD. Although the technology has met with commercial success and has proven to be effective it does have the disadvantage that it consumes space on the CD that could otherwise be used for the Red Book content. In addition, in order for the system to operate effectively it presumes that the appropriate player software has been installed on to the personal computer for playing the compressed file format, which might not always be the case.
A need exists for an improved system and method for protecting digital content that does not adversely affect playability, that reliably prevents unauthorized duplication of digital content and that furthermore provides consumers an opportunity to play music that they have purchased on their personal computers. A need further exists for such a system and method that does not consume excessive space on the digital media or carrier on which the digital content is contained, and that does not require pre-installation of specific player software on to the personal computer.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved system and method for protecting digital content that does not adversely affect playability, that reliably prevents unauthorized duplication of digital content and that furthermore provides consumers an opportunity to play music that they have purchased on their personal computers. It is further an object of the invention to provide such a system and method that does not consume excessive space on the digital media or carrier on which the digital content is contained, and that does not require pre-installation of specific player software on to the personal computer.
In order to achieve the above and other objects of the invention, a method of operating a personal computer according to a first aspect of the invention includes steps of determining whether a digital recordation of content that is readable by a hardware device in the personal computer is protected; and responsive to a determination that the digital recordation of content is protected, selectively limiting which software programs are permitted to access digital information from the digital recordation of content.
According to a second aspect of the invention, a copy protected digital source of content includes a storage media; a digital work that is encoded in a first digital format on the storage media; administrative means on the storage media for installing an administrative program onto a personal computer that is constructed and arranged to selectively control access to data from the storage media; and conversion means on the storage media for installing a conversion program onto the personal computer that will be permitted by the administrative program to convert the digital work to a second digital format for storage on the personal computer.
A method of operating a personal computer according to a third aspect of the invention includes steps of determining that a digital recordation of content has been inserted into a hardware device in the personal computer; and selectively limiting which software programs are permitted to access digital information from the digital recordation of content.
A method of protecting a digital work according to a fourth aspect of the invention includes steps of restricting access to a digital work in a personal computer to at least one authorized computer program; providing digital rights management licensing conditions to the authorized computer program that have been specified by a content provider of the digital work; and accessing the digital work with the authorized computer program subject to the specified licensing conditions.
A method of protecting a digital work that is stored on a portable digital storage media according to a fifth aspect of the invention includes steps of connecting the portable digital storage media to a personal computer; determining with the personal computer that the digital work is copy protected; denying access to the digital work by unauthorized computer programs; obtaining licensing condition information pertaining to the digital work; and using an authorized computer program on the personal computer to convert the digital work to a digital format that is subject to a digital rights management protocol in which said licensing condition information is specified.
These and various other advantages and features of novelty that characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages, and the objects obtained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.
Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding structure throughout the views, and referring in particular to
Although in the preferred embodiment of the invention the digital recordation of content 10 is embodied as a compact disc, it should be understood that a digital recordation of content could alternatively take the form of a digital versatile disc or DVD, optical or magnetic digital tape, a hard drive, or any of a plurality of possible types of portable digital media, such as memory sticks, high-capacity magnetic storage cartridges or wireless remote storage options.
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After installation of the administrative program 28, the administrative program 28 will monitor the CD/DVD-ROM drive 20 and any additional CD/DVD-ROM drives to determine whether a digital recordation of content is present that contains content that is protected according to the invention. This may be done on a session by session basis or on an audio track by audio track basis, according to possible alternative embodiments of the invention. Preferably, the digital recordation of content is encoded to indicate whether or not content recorded thereon is protected. This coding may be embedded within the content files themselves (the CD-DA files in the case of an audio CD) or located elsewhere on the digital media such as in the table of contents, the lead-in area or the lead-out area. Alternatively, the presence of protected content on the compact disc 12 could be indicated to the personal computer 18 and specifically the administrative program 28 by any one of a number of different techniques, such as by searching for a particular file in the second data session, reviewing the size of a particular file, performing a check sum on a particular file or numbers of files, or looking for data within one or more particular files or within a predetermined sector or sectors. Specifically, a digital code could be added to the table of contents, to one of the P-W subchannels, to a reserved area on the Yellow Book session, or in the lead-out.
If the administrative program 28 determines that there is no protected content, the default player software may be launched by the operating system of the personal computer 18, and the content contained within the audio tracks of the compact disc may be played normally without interference from the administrative program 28. In the embodiment of the invention where each audio track is checked for protected content, the default audio software may be permitted to access data from nonprotected tracks without interference from the administrative program 28 while data from protected tracks will be prevented from reaching the default audio software intact, as will be described in greater detail below.
Once protected content is detected on the digital recordation of content, the administrative program 28 will monitor the data stream between the hardware device in which the digital recordation of content is installed, which in the preferred embodiment is the CD/DVD-ROM drive 20, and any software application running on the personal computer 18 that may request information from the protected content. In the preferred embodiment, the administrative program 28 monitors the low-level SCSI command set instructions that are given to the CD/DVD-ROM drive 20. When a software application 34 such as those that are typically used to “rip” or create compressed digital audio files such as MP3s attempt to access the digital information that is contained on a protected audio track, the administrative program 28 will detect this request on the SCSI command level and, instead of returning the requested information will either not respond or return incorrect information to the software application. This incorrect information may be accurate information from a sector other than the sector from which the information was requested, completely random information, or the requested information upon which additional information has been superimposed. For example, the requested information could be returned with additional superimposed encoding that will have the effect of providing periodic unpleasant noises such as beeps or a prerecorded voice indicating that protected content is being requested. Preferably, the information that is returned by the administrative program 28 to the software application is returned in such a way that the software application will not be able to detect that anything other than the requested information has been provided. As a result, it will be difficult to employ effective countermeasures within the software application.
The administrative program 28 will then determine whether the CD 12 is an authorized copy such as an original stamped version of a compact disc or an unauthorized copy. This determination may be made in a number of different ways that are well known in this area of technology. The CD authentication mechanism is preferably either based on certain steps executed during the CD manufacturing process or on changes that are introduced by the supervisory program during the unauthorized copy process. For example, specific errors may be introduced on the disc during the CD replication process that can be detected by CDROM/DVD drives but not reproduced with regular CDROM/DVD burners. Alternatively, changes may be introduced in the sub-channels, to the CD-DA files, in the file structure on the second session, or by changing the content of certain files on the second session. If the CD 12 is determined to be an unauthorized copy the administrative program 28 will remain locked to all requests that are made to access to the protected content, i.e., the CD-DA files in the case of a Red Book standard audio CD.
As
If the request is not from the secure player program 32, the administrative program will determine whether or not the request is originating from the conversion program 30. If the request is determined to be originating from the conversion program 30 and if the necessary authorization code is present the administrative program 28 will be unlocked for this request, but will remain locked in the event that simultaneous requests is made from an unauthorized program or programs.
If the request is not from the conversion program 30, the administrative program will determine whether or not the request is originating from the controlled copy software 36. If the requested is determined to be originating from the controlled copy software 36 and if the necessary authorization code is present, the administrative program 28 will permit access by the controlled copy software 36 to the Red Book standard data.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the conversion program 30 and the secure player program 32 preferably share a user interface that will permit the computer user to either play music directly from the CD 12 using the secure player program 32 or to copy the music to the hard drive of the personal computer 18 using the conversion program 30. The conversion program 30 converts, on-the-fly, the Red Book audio files into a compressed file format that is governed by a digital rights management protocol that will control the terms on which the Red Book audio content may be used and will prevent effective sharing of these files between different personal computers. For example, the Microsoft® DRM protocol that is used according to the preferred embodiment of the invention permits a content provider to specify the (1) maximum number of allowed burns to CD; (2) the maximum number of allowed transfers to SDMI compliant portable devices; (3) the expiration of user rights by date; (4) the expiration of user rights by number of days; and (5) the expiration of user rights by number of plays. One important aspect of the invention is that by denying access to the protected content except through authorized programs, it enables the content provider to ensure that any use of the protected content by the consumer's personal computer will be governed by the content provider's own preferred DRM license conditions rather than those chosen by the consumer or provided by default by third-party software on the personal computer. For example, one recording artist or record company may desire to limit the number of permitted CD burns to a single backup copy of the CD, while another may choose more liberal terms. Broadly speaking, the invention permits a content provider to impose the selected license conditions upon the user of a personal computer as a direct consequence or result of the digital media bearing the protected content being inserted into the appropriate interface hardware of the personal computer. In the preferred embodiment, the specified DRM license conditions are encoded on the digital media together with the protected content and these license conditions are read, interpreted and enforced by those programs that are authorized to unlocked the administrative program 28. Alternatively, however, the specified DRM license conditions may be obtained from an alternative source subsequent to the insertion of the digital media bearing the protected content into the personal computer. For example, software and the personal computer might be configured to identify the specific audio CD that has been inserted into the CD/DVD-ROM Drive and download the applicable DRM license conditions from an Internet server.
Alternatively, it may be preferable to configure the conversion program 32 to enable it to specifically identify the audio tracks on the Red Book session and to download the alternative DRM file format to the personal computer 18 from the Internet rather than performing the processor intensive task of conversion. It is anticipated that this alternative embodiment of the invention will have greater utility in the future as the penetration of broadband Internet access to consumer households continues to increase.
In one embodiment of the invention, the administrative program 28 will maintain a log detailing relative information relating to requests that are received for access to information from the Red Book session from all software programs, authorized and unauthorized. This information may periodically be uploaded to a central server via the Internet for analysis. For example, it may be possible to detect the proliferation of hacker software that succeeds in counterfeiting the authorization code necessary to unlock the administrative program 28 and to take appropriate countermeasures in subsequent updates.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
