Copy Protection via Subversive Data Parameter Inconsistency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current copy-protection techniques for digital content on optical discs often require specific software modifications for physical testing devices, making it difficult to test copy-protected DVDs without awareness of the protection method, and can cause false errors due to subversive data.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating subversive data parameters that are inconsistent with the navigational path, making unauthorized copying devices report errors while allowing legitimate players to ignore these inconsistencies, thus preventing copying without needing specific software or awareness of the protection method.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If subversive data is incorporated into sectors not on the navigational path to prevent unauthorized copying, then copying is inhibited, but physical testing devices report errors and require software modifications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a specific type of subversive data that acts as an intermediary mechanism. This data is placed in sectors not on the navigational path, causing unauthorized copying devices to encounter errors while legitimate players ignore these sectors. The key innovation is that the subversive data is designed to be detected only by unauthorized devices, allowing physical testing to proceed without software modifications.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by making different parts of the recording medium have different properties. Specifically, sectors on the navigational path are made readable by legitimate players, while sectors not on the navigational path contain subversive data that triggers errors in unauthorized copying devices. This localized differentiation allows the system to achieve copy protection without affecting legitimate playback or physical testing.
2Reliability
If subversive data is incorporated to prevent unauthorized copying, then copying is inhibited, but false errors are reported during physical testing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional approach by designing subversive data that specifically targets unauthorized copying devices rather than legitimate players. Instead of making the data unreadable to authorized devices, the system makes it readable only to authorized players while causing errors in unauthorized devices. This inversion allows physical testing to proceed accurately without false errors.
3Reliability
If conventional copy protection methods are used, then unauthorized copying is prevented, but specific software plug-ins are required for each protection type
Solution Approach 1:
The patent achieves universality by creating a copy protection mechanism that works with standard physical testing devices without requiring specific software plug-ins. The subversive data is designed to be detected by any unauthorized copying device regardless of the specific protection method used, making the solution universally applicable across different protection types and testing scenarios.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus and a method are described for providing, for recordal onto a recording medium, recording data having content data and control data for enabling a player playing such a recording medium to navigate through the content data. The apparatus has a copy protector to copy-protect the recording data by controlling the production of parameters that are associated with items of data in the recording data but that are not checked by a physical testing device such that a parameter associated with an item of the recording data that is not on the navigation path is inconsistent with that item of data, or is otherwise not as expected, to cause a copying device reading that the item of data to report an error, thereby inhibiting copying by that copying device.