Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-29
2001-07-24
Garber, Wendy R. (Department: 2615)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C386S349000, C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06266482
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to preventing data recorded on a recording medium from being illegally copied and, more particularly, to preventing illegal copying of the recorded data by encoding key data in legally reproduced copies.
The private ownership of video tape recorders has spread so extensively in recent years that copying of video programs has become commonplace. Video rental stores rent video tapes to consumers for home entertainment and some consumers, without authorization, copy the video programs recorded on the rental video tapes. This problem is compounded by professional copiers, or pirates, who illegally copy the video programs en masse to distribute the illegal copies for profit.
While measures have been taken to prevent the illegal copying of video programs from rental video tapes, the problem is not so severe because copied video programs have poor image quality. This is because illegally copied video programs are originally recorded as analog signals, which do not lend themselves to accurate copying. The image quality of such an analog signal after copying several times, i.e., after several generations, is unavoidably deteriorated. For this reason, the duplication of copies is limited and the problem of copying analog video programs is somewhat manageable.
However, with the recent introduction of digital video recorders which have the capability of high quality copying, the problem of illegal copying is severe. Digital video, unlike its analog predecessor, has the advantage of being reproduced with high image quality and can be copied a number of times without deterioration. Accordingly, the problem of illegal copying is much more severe in the case of digital video recording and the prevention thereof is quite important to the digital video industry.
Heretofore, proposals to prevent the illegal copying of digital video programs have proven insufficient to thwart illegal copying. For example, it has been proposed to record a flag onto legal copies of the digital video program in the flyback period, indicating to a digital video recorder that the digital video program is a copy and should not be copied illegally. Nevertheless, professional copiers have easily circumvented this anti-copying technique by constructing special digital circuits and software which ignore the flyback period and illegally copy the digital video program. Since the flyback period does not contain a significant part of the digital video program, the resulting illegal copies have sufficiently high image quality and may be duplicated a plurality of times. Thus, it is clear that a superior technique of preventing illegal copying is much needed in the digital video industry.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention, therefore, to provide data recording that prevents illegal copying.
It is a further object of the invention to provide data recording that prevents illegal copying by designating a first block of data in a bit stream which contains key data.
It is a further object of the invention to provide data recording that prevents illegal copying by inserting the key data into a second block of data in the bit stream.
It is an even further object of the invention to provide data recording that prevents illegal copying by indicating the key data is in the second block.
In accordance with the above objectives the present invention prevents illegal copying of a digital video program by designating a first block and a second block of data in a bit stream encoded by a fixed length code. A portion of the first block is selected as key data and is inserted into the second block to indicate that the digital video program is a copy and to prevent illegal copying.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5006929 (1991-04-01), Barbero et al.
patent: 5134496 (1992-07-01), Schwab et al.
patent: 5182680 (1993-01-01), Yamashita et al.
patent: 5208708 (1993-05-01), Mok
patent: 5216712 (1993-06-01), Shimoda et al.
patent: 5315448 (1994-05-01), Ryan
patent: 5418852 (1995-05-01), Itami et al.
patent: 5579120 (1996-11-01), Oguro
patent: 5621840 (1997-04-01), Kawamura et al.
patent: 5659613 (1997-08-01), Copeland et al.
patent: 5673357 (1997-08-01), Shima
patent: 5748763 (1998-05-01), Rhoads
patent: 5815630 (1998-09-01), Sato
patent: 5907656 (1999-05-01), Oguro
patent: 5907657 (1999-05-01), Shima
patent: 5991499 (1999-11-01), Yagasaki et al.
patent: 581 227 (1994-02-01), None
patent: 618 723 (1994-10-01), None
patent: 667 720 (1995-08-01), None
Fujinami Yasushi
Koyanagi Hideki
Tahara Katsumi
Yagasaki Yoichi
Boccio Vincent F.
Frommer William S.
Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP.
Garber Wendy R.
Shallenburger Joe H.
LandOfFree
Data recording apparatus and method for preventing illegal... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Data recording apparatus and method for preventing illegal..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Data recording apparatus and method for preventing illegal... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2461074