Systems and methods for preventing unauthorized use of digital content

Abstract

Theft, distribution, and piracy of digital content (software, video, audio, e-books, any content of any kind that is digitally stored and distributed) is generally accomplished by copying it, if possible, or, if it is protected from being copied in any fashion, such piracy is based upon a number of reverse engineering techniques. Aside from the straightforward copying of unprotected content, all of these other methods require first an understanding of the protective mechanism(s) guarding the content, and finally an unauthorized modification of that protection in order to disable or subvert it. Methods that prevent a skilled individual from using reverse engineering tools and techniques to attain that level of understanding and / or prevent anyone from performing such modifications can offer significant advantages to content creators who wish to protect their products.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 989,910, filed Nov. 20, 2001, which application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 960,610, filed Sep. 21, 2001, which application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 234,657, filed Sep. 22, 2000, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 240,611, filed Oct. 16, 2000, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 242,949, filed Oct. 24, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 244,704, filed Oct. 31, 2000. [0002] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 989,910 also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 249,946, filed Nov. 20, 2000, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 260,705, filed Jan. 10, 2001, and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 285,300, filed Apr. 20, 2001. [0003] The contents of the applications referenced above are incorporated herein by reference, in their ent...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a digital content security method and system that does not rely solely on secret or obscurity to be effective. It uses encryption and multiplexing techniques to securely store and manage digital content. The system includes a mapping process to determine the locations of the content and an encoded location map that is hidden. The content can be locked, divided, and subdivided as needed. The invention also includes a driver extension layer to prevent monitoring tools from accessing and logging file access. The invention employs saturation "chaff" logic to create a large amount of harmless and meaningless information to saturate or confuse logging, reverse engineering, and debugging tools. The invention also includes an authorization process to determine the status and origins of tasks or processes on the system and take appropriate action. Overall, the invention provides a more effective and comprehensive approach to digital content security.

Problems solved by technology

The electronic publishing industry for application software, computer games, appliance-console games, movies, and music, is facing a growing and serious problem; namely, the piracy and unauthorized modification and use of their content.

Since digital content is by nature capable of being copied exactly, wherein a copy is identical in every way to the original, and since the tools to do so are increasingly available, the industry is facing increasing losses.

Such losses may include the unauthorized copying of a CD containing a game, or the unauthorized reverse engineering and modification of a word processing program to allow for its illegal distribution, or the reverse engineering of a copy protection scheme to disable it, making it possible to make duplicates with ease.

Most protections are simplistic in nature, and depend to large degree on the secrecy of the simple method as much as its inherent security or ingenuity, such that if not defeated prior to publication, the act of publishing them, for example in patent form, reveals enough about them to render them less effective.

Many of these mechanisms depend to a great extent on lack of knowledge about the mechanisms by the persons attempting to modify or copy the content.

Images