Devices for preventing unauthorized use of video-cassettes

Details Devices for preventing unauthorized use of video-cassettes Devices for preventing unauthorized use of video-cassettes

1986-09-04

1988-08-16

Moy, Joseph Man-Fu

Special receptacle or package

For holding a machine readable recording medium

For holding a tape cassette

206389, 70 14, 242199, B65D 85672

Patent

active

047637846

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION

1. Field of Invention
The invention is in the field of video-cassettes to try and ensure use of a video-cassette by an authorised person only.
2. Background
Various devices have been proposed for preventing the unauthorised playing of video tapes on a video cassette recorder/playback unit. Some proposals have sought to inactivate the recorder/playback unit, as with U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,405 (Renick) which relates to a dummy cassette that can be locked into the tape loading opening of the recorder/playback unit, this inactivating the unit. Disadvantages of this solution are that the use of the recorder/playback unit is prevented for all recordings, not merely for selected recordings which are intended to have a limited audience; and that loss of the key when the dummy cassette is locked in position can render the recorder/playback unit unusable. It will be appreciated that this is a significantly more onerous penaly than simply the inability to load and use one specific cassette.
A more relevant solution is one that inactivates individual cassettes, thus enabling a parent, for example, to impose a degree of censorship and prevent young members of a family from viewing material thought to be unsuitable. Devices have been proposed which prevent removal of the video cassettes from their storage or library cases. Such devices provide a very low level of security, however, as the library case can easily be forced open without damage to the cassette. If such forcing damages or destroys only the library case, then that is no deterrent to the potential unauthorised user, as the tape transport mechanism in its protective housing is likely to be undamaged.
Recent proposals have been directed to the provision of security means associated with the tape cassette itself. British Patent Application No. 2,138,778 A (Dunne) proposes the use of a bung which is a friction-fit in the splined holes of the tape reels of the tape transport mechanism. If a cassette fitted with such a bung were loaded into a video cassette recorder/playback unit, then sensors provided on the unit would fail to recognize the necessary pair of splined drive holes and a cassette ejection mechanism would be activated. Such sensors and ejection mechanism are provided on all video recorders to check against the mistaken loading of the cassette upside-down. The most significant disadvantage of the Dunne proposal is that because the bung is simply a friction fit it can easily be removed using a pointed instrument without damage to the cassette, so that the level of security is extremely low.
A slightly higher level of security is inherent in the propsal of French Patent Application No. 2,545,305 A (Drahi) which proposes the insertion of a key-lockable member into the optical sensor access hole of a video cassette. A standard cassette comprises a circular recess in its underside, having a diameter of 12 mm. When the cassette is lowered into a video recording/playback unit, an optical sensor of the video unit is received in this recess, and through lateral openings in the wall of the circular recess senses whether a video tape is present in the cassette. The optical sensor is designed to distinguish between the presence and absence of opaque video tape within the cassette, so as to stop the recording/playback unit either when the transport leader or trailer tape is reached or when there is a brake in the tape. It is not, however, designed to sense whether or not the circular recess is provided in the cassette. Therefore when this recess is blocked with a plug insert, as in Drahi, and the cassette is loaded into a video recorder/playback unit, the cassette handling mechanism of the unit pushes the plug insert down onto the optical sensor, thus placing a strain on the optical sensor of the video recorder/playback unit which it is not designed to resist. This can seriously damage that sensor.
Drahi specifically teaches that, of the recesses available in a video cassette, it is preferred to design the plug insert to fit the optical sensor recess. This

REFERENCES:
patent: 4304331 (1981-12-01), Minkow
patent: 4322000 (1982-03-01), Struble
patent: 4406426 (1983-09-01), Crandall
patent: 4527405 (1985-07-01), Renick et al.
patent: 4567983 (1986-02-01), Morris
patent: 4634004 (1987-01-01), Mortensen
patent: 4714161 (1987-12-01), Thorud

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