WO2004097825A1

WO2004097825A1 - Method and apparatus for the protection of permanent storage media

Info

Publication number: WO2004097825A1
Application number: PCT/CA2004/000632
Authority: WO
Inventors: Todd D. Gray; Angela K. Vekeman; Margaret S. King
Original assignee: Iline Entertainment Inc.
Priority date: 2003-04-29
Filing date: 2004-04-29
Publication date: 2004-11-11
Also published as: EP1656673A1; KR20060017762A; JP2006526233A; CN1795503A; CA2427023A1

Abstract

A method and apparatus for protecting information on fixed media where the fixed media including a number of vulnerabilities, the method comprising the steps of: establishing security elements (A, B, C, D, E, F of the fixed media; determining security element variations for each of the security elements; pseudo-randomly choosing one of the security element variations; encoding the information with said pseudo-randomly chosen security element variation; repeating the choosing and encoding steps at least three times, whereby the information is encoded with at least four of said security element variations, creating a copy prevention layer (2); establishing copy detection elements; determining copy detection element variations for each of the copy detection elements; pseudo-randomly choosing at least one of the copy detection element variations; and encoding the copy prevention layer with said at least one chosen copy detection element variations (4), wherein the method allows playback of the information on commercially available media players and wherein the method provides copy protection and a means to discriminate between an original fixed medium and a copied fixed medium.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE PROTECTION OF PERMANENT STORAGE MEDIA

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method of protecting information such as data, music or video on fixed media such as compact discs (CDs), digital audio tape (DAT) or digital video discs (DVDs). More specifically, the present invention relates to a method utilized during the recording of the original fixed medium whereby the information is encoded to dissuade copying and to facilitate identification of any copy made.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Compact disks (CDs), Digital Video Discs (DVDs) and Digital Audio Tape (DAT) provide a single standard digital recording medium for data, software, images and audio. The ability to make an exact copy of the content of the media is often an essential attribute, enabling exchange, distribution and archiving of information.

Sometimes, however, there is a need to prevent copying. For example, it is illegal to make an unauthorized copy of copyrighted material. Software, music and video providers have a need for distribution of copyrighted works in a digital form while preventing unauthorized copying of those works. There is a need for a method of selectively inhibiting copying of digital information.

There is further a need to identify and distinguish between an illegal copy and an original product. Without the ability to identify an illegal copy, tracking and prosecuting copyright piracy successfully is extremely difficult.

Various methods have attempted to solve the above problems, but prior to the present method no copy protection and identification method has been completely successfully implemented. There are several reasons for this. First, compact discs have very precise guidelines for the way information is stored on them. These guidelines are known as "Green Book", "Yellow Book", "Red Book" and "Orange Book". Any protection and identification method must fall within these standards in order to ensure that the data is readable by all media players. Various copy protection schemes have not been compliant with the above standards, and the result is that the information on the CD is not always readable. For example, some copy protection schemes do not play at all on Macintosh computers, or do not play in some automobile CD players, various brands of CD players, or in game consoles. ,

Second, when copy protection is introduced on, for example, a CD, it is usually the same protection scheme that is used for all similarly titled CDs manufactured by a company,, and it is generally the same for all the tracks on the CD. The problem with this is that hackers can usually find a way around the copy protection, and as soon as a "crack" is found it can be posted on the Internet. This posting makes the copy protection on all of the manufacturer's similar CDs useless.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention seeks to overcome the above deficiencies by providing a method of exploiting known vulnerabilities of the media being recorded by using security elements and element variations based on these vulnerabilities. The security element variations are randomly selected and information being placed on the fixed medium is encoded with the security element variation.

Further, by using a number of security elements interleaved together, copying of information is made more difficult. The present method further preferably encodes each track on the fixed media using the different security elements interleaved together, thus making the task of hacking the security of the fixed media time consuming and onerous. This interleaving of various security element variations with the information creates a copy protection layer.

A copy detection layer is further added above the copy protection layer, allowing a copyright owner to distinguish between an original and a copied version of a fixed medium. This facilitates the tracking and prosecution of copyright pirates.

A bulk protection layer can further be added to the fixed media. This includes the addition of one or more physical protection elements to the fixed media.

The above is implemented using an apparatus which has a special encoding unit to encode the information from a studio master with the security element and copy detection elements described above. The encoding unit interacts with a processor to control the laser beam recorder for a glass master in a CD manufacturing facility. Each fixed medium created from the glass master will have the above identified security elements included.

The present invention therefore provides a method of protecting information to be put onto a fixed media, said fixed media having a plurality of vulnerabilities and a number of security elements having security element variations based on the vulnerabilities, said fixed media further having a plurality of copy detection elements with copy detection element variations, said method comprising the steps of: choosing one of said security element variations; encoding said information with said chosen security element variation; repeating said choosing and encoding steps at least one time, thereby creating a copy prevention layer; choosing at least one of said copy detection element variations;encoding said copy prevention layer with said at least one chosen copy detection element variations, thereby creating encoded information; and writing said encoded information onto said fixed media, wherein said method allows playback of said information on commercially available media players and wherein said copy protection layer provides copy protection and said encoding with said copy detection element provides a means to discriminate between an original fixed medium and a copied fixed medium.

The present invention further provides an apparatus for the protection of information on a fixed media, said information being obtained from a studio master and said fixed media having vulnerabilities, said apparatus comprising: a processor, said processor obtaining information from the studio master; an encoding unit, said encoding unit interacting with said processor, said encoding unit encoding the information from the studio master with security elements and copy protection elements based on the vulnerabilities and providing said encoded information to said processor; a controller for controlling said processor; a laser beam recorder for creating glass masters, said laser beam recorder obtaining said encoded information from said processor; and a stamping machine for creating said fixed media from said glass master.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows a graphic depiction of the security layers of the present invention; Figure 2 shows a schematic representation of a first embodiment of a system for implementing the method of the present invention; and

Figure 3 shows a schematic representation of a second embodiment of a system for implementing the method of the present invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference is now made to Figure 1. The method of the present invention is based solely on the inherent known vulnerabilities of the media being recorded to and the implementation of known public domain solutions. Such vulnerabilities for compact discs include, for example, changing the width, height and timing of the signal, using track hopping or switching, adding data to the leader and/or trailer of each track, adding random serial numbers, or modifying sub-channels. Other vulnerabilities exist and are well known to those skilled in the art. Those skilled in the art will further realize that other forms of media, such as signals transmitted over a network, will have other vulnerabilities that can be exploited using the method of the present invention, and the present invention is not intended to be limited to specific types of vulnerabilities.

The basis of the present invention is the mix and match of security elements based on vulnerabilities, where the security elements are selected pseudo-randomly by a machine. Thus, for example, a security element can exploit track hopping to add a first copy protection element. The method of the present invention may next select a variation in signal timing as the basis of the next security element.

The security elements are interleaved in a symbiotic relationship where each security element builds on the other as part of a security suite. A copy protection layer 2 is created through the use of these security elements.

Copy protection layer 2 is created through the selection of a number of security elements from a table of security elements available to a processor or encoder. Each of these security elements further can have a number of element variations and, in a preferred embodiment, the method of the present invention will be able to choose from a pool of at least eight security elements, each security element having at least four element variations. The order that the security element variations are interleaved is also randomly selected.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention will include at least four element variations per track. In the embodiment of Figure 1 , copy protection layer 2 includes six security element variations that are selected at random. These are labelled as elements "A", "B", "C", "D", "E" and "F" in Figure 1.

Copy protection layer 2 will preferably change for each track on the media. Thus, for example, on a music CD, each song will have a different copy protection layer 2. The randomness and quantity of solutions on a track by track basis provides the "hacker" with an extremely time consuming task to circumvent all the protection mechanisms contained on a fixed media.

Copy protection layer 2 works with intelligent players by providing a media player on the CD to prevent copying. This media player is adapted to allow the PC to be able to play the music on the CD in the case of an audio CD, or discern the information on the CD in the case of a CD-ROM. However, when digital copying is attempted the PC will be unable to proceed due to the elements in copy protection layer 2.

A single copy detection layer 4 can be added above the copy prevention layer 2 . Single copy detection layer 4 is again randomly selected from a number of publically known elements, such as electronic watermarks, random serial numbers, fingerprinting and audit signals. Other detection elements are well known in the art, and the present invention is not intended to be limited by any one detection element.

Each copy detection element further can have a number of variations, and a computer can again choose from among these variations, making the copy detection element difficult to detect by a copier. A copy detection elements variation is shown using the symbol "G" in Figure 1.

Copy detection elements generally are not transferred between an original and a copy, providing the owner of the copyright in the original a way to prove that a disc is a copy. This provides the advantage that the owner of the copyright can now prove piracy.

A bulk copy detection layer 6 can be added above single copy detection layer 4. Bulk copy detection layer 6 can include one or more items from a group of physical protection elements. These include various types of physical watermarks, physical serial numbers, holographic marks, or other physical schemes. These physical protection elements may be visible or invisible. Physical protection elements are well known, and one skilled in the art will appreciate that other physical protection elements could be used besides those listed above, and that the present invention is not intended to be limited to any particular physical protection element.

Referring to Figure 1 , the elements are generally combined in the following manner. The random selection is usually indicated by: X = (ABCDEF) + G + H, where:

X is the copy prevention and protection selection;

A, B, C, D, E and F are the random element variations selected randomly for electronic copy protection;

G may be the randomly selected single copy detection element variation; and

H may be the randomly selected bulk copy protection element variation. Thus a grouping of the copy protection elements is combined with the single copy and bulk copy detection elements.

The above may be modified to meet a user's requirements by ensuring that any of A to H are fixed, which could act, for example, to ensure that there is a watermark on the fixed media. Further, another layer "I" could be added to encrypt the data if required by a user. This is distinct from layers "A" to "H", which generally do not deal with the data, but rather with the sub-track.

The method of the present invention further has several rules that should be followed. These include:

1. All media modified by the protection method must play on any "Orange Book" compliant commercial player;

2. There shall be no discemable distortion or noise when playing protected static media.

3. Media that is copied, using a PC, shall exhibit protection;

4. Protection shall be a result of a combination of protection elements; and 5. Protection shall be a result of inherent vulnerabilities associated with media and includes both electronic and physical addition of security elements. Security features may include hard and soft element variations where hard security elements pass on when copied and soft element variations will not pass through upon being copied. Physical security elements may also be used to determine copied media from original media and for anti-theft at the retail level.

The above protection scheme overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art by providing a copy protection scheme which is difficult to break and which changes on a track-by-track or packet by packet basis. A further possibility for protection is that the scheme can be different for every glass master, aiding in the creation of multiple protection schemes for the same title. The protection scheme further incorporates a copy detection scheme which can be used to identify pirated copies from original copies.

The above is available by batch lot or by individual data CD, music CD, video DVD or other media. In other words, a run of media such as CDs can change for each CD or have the same protection scheme for a batch of CDs. The complexity of each security suite is deliberate and security features are interleaved to increase their protection value. However, the methods of protection are kept simple to ensure rapid deciphering by the playback equipment that will play the music, video or accept the data.

The above protection scheme can be implemented in the following manner. Reference is now made to Figure 2.

The information contained in a studio master 22 is passed through an interface 24 to a processor 26. A controller 30 is used to control and update the processor 26.

The processor further contains a encoding unit 28. Encoding unit 28 contains the pseudo-random selector that selects security elements variations and copy detection variations as described above in the method of the present invention. Encoding unit 28 encodes an original sequence of symbols from interface 24 into a sequence of channel and sub channel bits on a per track basis that can be read by all commercial Orange Book" compliant decoders. These will include many elements of the anti-copying devices used as part of the security suite of features. The encoded sequence is passed through a Laser Beam Recorder (LBR) interface 32 to the Laser Beam Recorder 34 as contained in a commercial CD Manufacturing facility.

The LBR 34 is used to manufacture glass master(s) 36. Glass masters 36 are then used by stamping machine 38 to produce CDs 40 for distribution. In a preferred embodiment stamping machine 40 is limited in the number of CDs that can be produced from a single glass master 36. This is done through the cooperation of the manufacturer.

The limited number of CDs 40 produced from a single glass master 36 provides an added level of security. By limiting the number of CDs 40 produced by single glass master 36 to, for example, 50,000 copies, a popular CD will need a number of glass masters 36 to meet the demand for the CD. Each glass master will have a different security layer created by encoding unit 28, and thus if 1 million CDs are produced, there will be twenty differently encoded CDs. Even if a hacker spends the time to crack the protection schemes on one of the CDs and posts it onto the Internet, this will only benefit the users that have the copy of the CD with the same protection mechanism.

In alternate media which does not require glass masters, one possibility envisioned for the method of the present invention is to create a unique protection mechanism for each copy of the media being distributed. Thus each distributed product will have a different protection scheme, and the cracking of one by a hacker will not aid anyone else.

In one embodiment a feedback can be added from the CD manufacturer to controller 30. This feedback is used specifically to establish the number of glass masters 36 to be manufactured. A further embodiment is shown in Figure 3. The embodiment in Figure 3 contains the same arrangement as that found in Figure 2, with the addition of physical protection elements. This embodiment thus allows the addition of a bulk copying layer 6.

The embodiment of Figure 3 exploits an attribute of physical discrimination of the distributed CD 40. Physical encoder 42 encodes additional information without adding overhead or other data to the tracks. Some of these elements may contain the addition of serial numbers, random numbers, batch lot codes, dye marker and other such methods to enable both forensic and anti-theft determination.

In the embodiment of Figure 3, controller 30 passes information to physical encoder 42. Physical encoder 42 contains the random selected physical security element information and informs stamping facility 38 through interface 43 to encode physical security elements into the stamped CDs 40 for distribution.

Although the above was described for CDs, manufacture of DVDs, DATs and other fixed media are contemplated, and one skilled in the art will appreciate that the method of the present invention could be used for all forms of media carry intelligence.

The above method and apparatus thus produce a medium that will not allow intelligent machines such as PCs or bulk copy machines to copy the information thereon. It further provides both physical and soft copy detection to allow the owner of a copyright in a work to determine whether the medium in question is an original or copy.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with regard to the preferred embodiment thereof, one skilled in the art will easily realize that other versions are possible, and that the invention is only intended to be limited in scope by the following claims.

Claims

1. A method of protecting information to be put onto a fixed media, said fixed media having a plurality of vulnerabilities and a number of security element variations based on the vulnerabilities, said fixed media further having a plurality of copy detection element variations, said method comprising the steps of: choosing one of said security element variations; encoding said information with said chosen security element variation; repeating said choosing and encoding steps at least one time, thereby creating a copy prevention layer; choosing at least one of said copy detection element variations; encoding said copy prevention layer with said at least one chosen copy detection element variations, thereby creating encoded information; and writing said encoded information onto said fixed media, wherein said information is protected or said fixed media.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of: establishing physical protection elements; determining physical protection element variations for each of said physical protection elements; pseudo-randomly choosing one of said physical protection element variations; adding said pseudo-randomly chosen physical protection element variation to said fixed media;

3. The method of either claim 1 or 2, wherein said step of choosing the security element variation is performed pseudo-randomly.

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein said step of choosing said at least one of said copy detection variations is performed pseudo-randomly.

5. The method of either of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein said method is performed on a track by track or packet by packet basis on said fixed media.

6. The method of any of claims 1 to 5 wherein said repeating step is performed at least 3 times.

7. The method of any of claims 1 to 6 wherein said fixed media is a digital media

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said fixed media is a compact disc

9. The method of claim 7 wherein said fixed media is a digital audio tape.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein said fixed media is a digital video disc.

11. The method of any of claims 1-10 wherein said information is retrievable by a commercially available media player.

12. The method of any of claims 1-11 , wherein said copy protection layer prevents copying on intelligent machines.

13. An apparatus for the protection of information on a fixed media, said information being obtained from a studio master and said fixed media having vulnerabilities, said apparatus comprising: a processor, said processor obtaining information from the studio master; an encoding unit, said encoding unit interacting with said processor, said encoding unit encoding the information from the studio master with security elements and copy protection elements based on the vulnerabilities and providing said encoded information to said processor; a controller for controlling said processor; a laser beam recorder for creating glass masters, said laser beam recorder obtaining said encoded information from said processor; and a stamping machine for creating said fixed media from said glass master.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 further comprising a physical protection unit, said physical protection unit interacting with said stamping machine to add physical protecting elements to said fixed media.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said physical protection unit is controlled by said controller.

16. The apparatus of any of claims 13 or 15, wherein said laser beam recorder includes a feedback interface to said controller to limit the number of glass masters created by said laser beam recorder.