Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B23/00—Record carriers not specific to the method of recording or reproducing; Accessories, e.g. containers, specially adapted for co-operation with the recording or reproducing apparatus ; Intermediate mediums; Apparatus or processes specially adapted for their manufacture
  • G11B23/28—Indicating or preventing prior or unauthorised use, e.g. cassettes with sealing or locking means, write-protect devices for discs
  • G11B23/281—Indicating or preventing prior or unauthorised use, e.g. cassettes with sealing or locking means, write-protect devices for discs by changing the physical properties of the record carrier
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B19/00—Driving, starting, stopping record carriers not specifically of filamentary or web form, or of supports therefor; Control thereof; Control of operating function ; Driving both disc and head
  • G11B19/02—Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing
  • G11B19/12—Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing by sensing distinguishing features of or on records, e.g. diameter end mark
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B20/00—Signal processing not specific to the method of recording or reproducing; Circuits therefor
  • G11B20/00086—Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B20/00—Signal processing not specific to the method of recording or reproducing; Circuits therefor
  • G11B20/00086—Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy
  • G11B20/0092—Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy involving measures which are linked to media defects or read/write errors
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B20/00—Signal processing not specific to the method of recording or reproducing; Circuits therefor
  • G11B20/00086—Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy
  • G11B20/0092—Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy involving measures which are linked to media defects or read/write errors
  • G11B20/00927—Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy involving measures which are linked to media defects or read/write errors wherein said defects or errors are generated on purpose, e.g. intended scratches
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
  • G11B7/007—Arrangement of the information on the record carrier, e.g. form of tracks, actual track shape, e.g. wobbled, or cross-section, e.g. v-shaped; Sequential information structures, e.g. sectoring or header formats within a track
  • G11B7/00736—Auxiliary data, e.g. lead-in, lead-out, Power Calibration Area [PCA], Burst Cutting Area [BCA], control information
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
  • G11B7/24—Record carriers characterised by shape, structure or physical properties, or by the selection of the material
  • G11B7/2407—Tracks or pits; Shape, structure or physical properties thereof
  • G11B7/24085—Pits
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
  • G11B7/24—Record carriers characterised by shape, structure or physical properties, or by the selection of the material
  • G11B7/241—Record carriers characterised by shape, structure or physical properties, or by the selection of the material characterised by the selection of the material
  • G11B7/252—Record carriers characterised by shape, structure or physical properties, or by the selection of the material characterised by the selection of the material of layers other than recording layers
  • G11B7/257—Record carriers characterised by shape, structure or physical properties, or by the selection of the material characterised by the selection of the material of layers other than recording layers of layers having properties involved in recording or reproduction, e.g. optical interference layers or sensitising layers or dielectric layers, which are protecting the recording layers
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
  • G11B7/24—Record carriers characterised by shape, structure or physical properties, or by the selection of the material
  • G11B7/26—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture of record carriers
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
  • G11B7/002—Recording, reproducing or erasing systems characterised by the shape or form of the carrier
  • G11B7/0037—Recording, reproducing or erasing systems characterised by the shape or form of the carrier with discs
  • G11B7/00375—Recording, reproducing or erasing systems characterised by the shape or form of the carrier with discs arrangements for detection of physical defects, e.g. of recording layer

Definitions

• the present invention is related to a method and system for preventing the unauthorized duplication of an optical disc, and in particular, for using purposefully induced errors on such a disc to determine whether the disc is legitimately manufactured or an illegitimate copy. Accordingly the present invention determines whether information on the disc is to be accessible or not.
• the misappropriation of software is rampant irrespective of whether the data storage medium is magnetic or optical. Both magnetic and optical storage discs are particularly susceptible to piracy due to the ease in which illegitimate copies can be made.
• the computer industry has long been plagued by the illegal misappropriation of software products.
• the Software Publisher's Association (SPA) an organization with devotes significant resources to tracking and analyzing piracy problems, has determined that in 1994 alone the personal computer software industry lost in excess of $8 billion due to illegal copying of business application software.
• the SPA further estimated that virtually half of the business software in use in 1994 was pirated, and this estimate does not include the illegal copying of operating systems, education, entertainment or personal productivity software.
• the piracy problem is particularly acute in more developed markets such as the United States.
• the present invention is a method and system for the protection of optical disc data against copying and/or unauthorized use.
• the present invention contemplates purposefully inducing a physical alteration of one or more portions of an optical disc surface during the manufacturing process, within the data area, for the purpose of creating either a correctable or uncorxectable defect within the data stream of an attempted read of one of the physically altered portions of the optical disc.
• read attempts may be performed in response to a query by a software module, either provided on an optical disc manufactured according to the present invention, or external thereto, wherein the module is used for verifying the authenticity of the optical disc.
• the present invention does not require the changing of any specific bit, rather, it utilizes the data area of the optical disc as a canvas on which to a paint or distribute defects, subject to the requirement that such defects reside within some specific area of the optical disc.
• the physical alteration of the optical disc surface for providing the defects can be accomplished by first providing corresponding defects within an optical disk master from which the optical disk may be manufactured. Alternatively, the defects in the optical disc may be manufactured into the optical disc after the optical disc has had data from the master disc transferred to it.
• Fig. 1 illustrates an enlarged view of a data portion on an optical disk with pits 2010 aligned in rows or tracks extending radially outwardly in the direction 24 from a point about which the optical disk is intended to rotate when data is written or read. Further, this figure shows pit 2020 of extended length in the tracking direction 2028, wherein this extended pit is intentionally generated during the manufacturing of the optical disk and where this pit is detected as a defect in the optical disk.
• Fig. 2 is identical to Fig. 1 except that the extended pit 2020 is replaced by an extended land 2022.
• Fig. 3 is similar to Figs. 1 and 2, except that the intentionally manufactured defect 2026 spans multiple rows or tracks on the optical disk;
• Fig. 4 is a high level flowchart illustrating the purposeful insertion of errors in the process for manufacturing optical discs so that errors are provided on the resulting optical discs in a manner that these errors can be used to determine the authenticity of the discs; and
• Fig. 5 is a high level flowchart of the steps performed when a user attempts to access the information in an optical disc manufactured according to the present invention.
• a defect in a master disc may be created by: (a) generating a continuous data land or data pit of sufficient length in the tracking direction; or (b) generating a series of defective data lands and/or data pits of sufficient frequency and/or length and/or data encoding peculiarity in the tracking direction to induce either a correctable or uncorrectable data error when the defect is transferred to an optical disc and an attempt to read the optical disc is performed by an optical disc reader.
• the process of mastering involves the conversion of a digital or analog source signal to code for subsequent translation into a digital pattern of pits and lands, wherein the transitions between lands and pits of the master disc are intended to then translate into readable data on an optical disc generated from the master disc.
• the software for the present invention is intended to be incorporated into the software for controlling a master disc generating device.
• this software modifies the code derived from the source signals by replacing portions thereof with code interleaved with one or more encodings of purposefully induced defects.
• the appropriate information e.g., programs and/or data
• the placement of the defects is controlled such that the created errors are individually detectable.
• One method of performing this maybe the placement of defects in no more than every third sector, so that the effect of the normal interleaving of the original data is negated such that a detected error in a specific block of three sectors can be identified as being the effect of a purposefully induced defect in a specific sector.
• this software may determine the areas of a master disc in which to place each purposefully induced defect by its sector address or time code.
• the software of the present invention causes the master disc generating device to use the modified code in place of the code derived directly from the source signals to thereby generate defects on a master disc.
• the defective code may be a continuous data pattern of 1 s or a continuous pattern of 0's, which, in turn causes an LBR (Laser Beam Recorder) of a master disc generating device to either remain in an "on" condition, creating a continuous pit, or to remain "off, creating a continuous land, as one skilled in the art will understand. Accordingly, by replacing a valid data pattern within an area of the master disc with a continuous data pit 2020 (Fig.
• a corresponding digital error can be generated on an optical disc generated from the disc master, wherein the error is either correctable or uncorrectable, depending on the size of the defect and its position with regard to surrounding data bits.
• an uncorrectable such continuous data pit or data land may be at least approximately 300 ⁇ m in length, and a correctable such data pit or data land may be less than approximately 300 ⁇ m in length.
• Such a defect 2020 or 2022 may be of normal track width in the radial direction 2024 for the optical disc medium.
• optical disc manufacturing process commercially distributable optical discs have their data encodings created through a variety of manufacturing processes including: inj ection/compression molding, utilizing a metal stamper which is a generated metal part that is the "inverse image" of the original master disc, or in some cases, the original master disc, where the original master disc is inscribed with the inverse image of the final disc data pattern; and a printing method that creates the data pattern on a subsurface of the final disc.
• a mastered defect may be created that spans multiple tracks.
• a mastered defect 2026 is shown that is of multi-track width in the radial direction 2024.
• the defect 2026 maybe of sufficient length in the tracking direction 2028, or include a long enough series of smaller mastered defects that are of multi-track width in the radial direction 2024 so that either a correctable or uncorrectable data error is generated when a read is attempted.
• defect 2026 can replace the legitimate data that would normally reside in that particular area.
• a mastered defect may be etched into either a glass master or one of the series of metal parts generated from it. Accordingly, the etched defect will be duplicated in the commercially distributable optical discs that are either directly or indirectly generated from the master so that the commercially distributable optical disks have corresponding defects of sufficient length in the tracking direction or there are a series of etched defects of sufficient quantity and length in the tracking direction to cause either a correctable or uncorrectable data error to be generated when such a generated commercially distributable disk is supplied to an optical reader.
• the process of etching in defects may be accomplished by any means that is adequate to create the desired defect (for example: laser etching, burning, drilling, cutting, slicing, punching, etc.).
• Such a defect replaces the data that normally resides in the area etched.
• the defect can be either of normal track width or of multi-track width in the radial direction 2024 for that particular optical disc medium.
• Such etching may also be controlled by a locating technique which provides a similar data location accuracy as provided by the software program described hereinabove for placing defective data pits or data lands on a master disc.
• This locating technique may involve: (a) inscribing a radial line outwardly from a center of the surface of the disc; (b) utilizing a testing device to locate both this radial line and the location of a specific data area with respect to the radial line; and (c) having the testing device provide the position of the specific data area with respect to the radial line, wherein the defect will be created on this specific area.
• one or more defects can be created in each commercially distributable optical disc by physically damaging each such optical disk directly during the manufacturing process by techniques such as cutting, slicing, punching, burning, etching, painting, sticking the disk with a sha ⁇ pointed implement, etc., so that a purposefully induced defect of sufficient length in the tracking direction is produced, or a series of physical defects of sufficient quantity and length in the tracking direction is produced to generate one or more correctable or uncorrectable data errors when a read of the defective area is attempted.
• the defects for the present embodiment replace the data that would normally reside in the particular areas having the defects.
• such one or more defects are either of normal track width or of multi- track width in the radial direction for the particular optical disc medium being utilized.
• the purposely induced errors may be trackable or non-trackable, wherein the term "trackable” is intended herein to mean that an optical disc reader is able to maintain tracking of an optical medium (e.g., an optical disc), and the term Anon-trackable” refers to errors that cause the optical disc reader to lose its ability to track through an instance of an untrackable error.
• Trackable is intended herein to mean that an optical disc reader is able to maintain tracking of an optical medium (e.g., an optical disc)
• Anon-trackable refers to errors that cause the optical disc reader to lose its ability to track through an instance of an untrackable error.
• the correctable pu ⁇ osely created errors discussed hereinabove are both correctable and trackable.
• an uncorrectable trackable error is one wherein the optical disc reader functions substantially as in the correctable case described above except that the pu ⁇ osely invalidated data cannot be error corrected to recreate the original data that was pu ⁇ osely changed.
• data adjacent to such an error on the optical disc is not able to be sequentially accessed from the non-trackable error portion of the disc.
• At least some error instances are such that they are each created between two predetermined readable non-error disc locations. Accordingly, since the optical disc reader corrects such errors, a copy of the disc will not have these error instances therein. Thus, if such trackable errors are used to encode an identifier onto the optical disc, then an illicit copy of the disc will not have the identifier encoded therein.
• the encodings used may include one or more of (or an encrypted version thereof): (a) an identification number (e.g., serial number) unique to one or more optical discs, (b) a product identifier identifying the product(s) encoded the optical disc, (c) a company identifier, (d) a date, and/or (e) other information useful in authenticating the optical disc. Moreover, such information may also be used in tracing the optical disc from its manufacturing source and through its primary distribution sources.
• an identification number e.g., serial number
• a program may attempt to identify such pu ⁇ osefully created trackable errors by deriving an identifier encoded by the trackable errors, and compare the derived identifier with authentication data provided elsewhere on the optical disc or alternatively input by a user.
• a descriptor descriptor having information indicative of any (or each) error (e.g., error free, correctable error(s), trackable error(s), or untrackable error(s)) encountered in the partition.
• a predetermined sequence may, e.g., reside on the optical disc or may be obtained via a network communication such as occurs on the Internet.
• each of the partitions referenced in the steps above may be a collection of three (consecutive or otherwise) sectors on the optical disc.
• Step (C) at least two additional predetermined portions of the optical disc are scanned for errors. Accordingly, Step (C) may determine each most likely final descriptor value (i.e., for each position p) as the descriptor value that occurs most frequently. Thus, if each descriptor value is binary (i.e., indicating "error” or "no error"), then no more than two additional predetermined portions of the optical disc need be scanned to disambiguate each final descriptor value at each position p.
• each such instance may be created so that the instance is detected by the optical disc reader as an unrecorded area. That is, the optical disc reader may view the area of a non-trackable error instance in the same way it views a normally unrecorded area of the disc apd/or an area where no optical medium is present.
• an obstruction may be placed at some location on the optical disc (i.e., on the surface and/or on a sub-surface layer such as a mid-polycarbonate layer) such that the optical disc reader can not read data from the location.
• the non-error data for that location may be replaced with non- valid data or no data prior to the data stream (for optical recording) being encoded onto a master disc, or, after the data is recorded onto the master disc, some of the data may be erased. Accordingly, the optical disc reader is unable to copy the data in such an area, and an illicit copy of the optical disc will not have such non-trackable error instances.
• the present invention provides these instances as one or more non-trackable rings, concentric about the center (or center of rotation) of the optical disc. Moreover, by having these non-trackable rings coincide with the area on the optical disc where data for a predetermined file should be located, any illicit copy of the file onto another optical disc will not have the non-trackable rings, and, in some circumstances, no copy of the file maybe produced. Additionally, since a program for determining certain characteristics of such a file may also be encoded on the optical disc, this program may be used to determine the authenticity of the optical disc. In particular, the program may determine if the file exists, and if so what portions of the file can be read and/or what data is associated with particular offsets within the file.
• the program may require that valid data between the rings be read in order to allow a user to have access to additional data on the optical disc.
• the data therein will be in different relative locations since the non-trackable rings are not present.
• both the non-trackable rings and the identifier encoded in the trackable error instances may be provided on an optical disc together with a corresponding authentication program(s).
• Fig.4 is a flowchart illustrating the various combinations of places where errors can be pu ⁇ osefully embedded when manufacturing of a copy protected optical disc.
• an operator or another program, P may provide input for indicating the path to be taken when exiting each of the decision steps 408, 416, 428, 432, 440, 452, 456 and 464.
• step 404 at least one of the steps 408 and 416 maybe performed: periodically, randomly, at specified locations on the master disc, and/or at specified locations within the data stream being encoded onto the master disc depending on the input provided by an operator or the program P.
• pu ⁇ osely positioned non-trackable error instances may be interleaved with trackable error instances (within a common file or otherwise) for thereby creating a noncopyable sequence or encoding of error instances that can be used to identify the optical disc as authentic.
• Fig. 5 shows a high level flowchart of the steps performed during an attempt to use an optical disc copyprotected according to the present invention. In step 504, such an optical disc is inserted into an optical disk player.
• step 508 a determination is made by the user as to whether, e.g., a program or other information residing on the optical disc is to be installed on the user's computational device attached to the optical reader. Assuming installation of the program (and/or the data stored on the optical disc) is desired, step 516 is encountered wherein a determination is made as to whether an action must be performed (by the user or otherwise) that results in the creation and/or the erasure of an error on the optical disc.
• the user may be required to generate an error on the optical disc that is substantially unique to the user, or, the user may be required to remove a particular error from the optical disc.
• an error generated by such a coating or layer can be erased or removed by, e.g., requesting the user to remove the coating (e.g., by peeling it off) or by inputting a identifier which may be subsequently used to irradiate (via the reading laser) a particular opaque ⁇ ortion(s) of the optical disc and thereby removing errors by chemically changing such portions to clear.
• a identifier which may be subsequently used to irradiate (via the reading laser) a particular opaque ⁇ ortion(s) of the optical disc and thereby removing errors by chemically changing such portions to clear.
• such an optical disc may be designed for at most five uses, wherein there are five distinct areas of the optical disc which are opaque such that with each use one of the five areas is irradiated and thereby an error is removed.
• the disc were copied the entire disc is likely to be scanned which would render both the new disc unusable since there would be no errors to be subsequently erased, and the disc from which the copy was made would be rendered unusable since all such errors would also be erased.
• this latter technique of removing errors may be performed automatically without additional user actions the user would not do otherwise.
• step 520 a defect is created/erased automatically or by the user performing a predetermined action for pu ⁇ osefully damaging the optical disc.
• step 524 is performed whereby the program is installed on the user's computational system.
• step 528 the program can be activated, wherein the program determines in step 532 whether optical disc defects should be analyzed for determining the authenticity of the optical disc. Assuming such analysis should be performed, step 536 is encountered wherein defects such as those described hereinabove and/or patterns thereof are attempted to be located.
• step 540 a determination is made as to whether there are a sufficient number of optical disc defects for satisfying an authenticity condition either known or accessible to the program (e.g., via a communication on the Internet). If so, then step 544 is performed wherein the program continues and thereby allows the copy protected portions of the optical disc to be accessed for use by the user. Alternatively, if insufficient defects and/or patterns thereof are not encountered, then step 548 is encountered wherein the program aborts, and the remaining content of the optical disc is unavailable to the user.
• embodiments of the present inventions may also be used with data storage media different from optical discs, hi particular, embodiments of the above disclosed methods for assuring that information residing on a data storage medium is legitimately accessible, maybe applied to substantially any such storage media wherein there is a corresponding error detection and correction capability whose output is, e.g., programmatically accessible for further analysis, and wherein programs for performing such analysis are available at end user sites. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention maybe used with magnetic disks, or hybrid combinations of magnetic and optical discs, or other data storage media that maybe used for the mass distribution of data.
• the present invention may be used for copy protecting and/or providing predetermined limited access (e.g., a predetermined number of accesses) to substantially any data, e.g., music, movies, maps, satellite telemetered data, confidential information, military plans or orders, business plans, electronic coupons, educational materials, etc.
• predetermined limited access e.g., a predetermined number of accesses
• data e.g., music, movies, maps, satellite telemetered data, confidential information, military plans or orders, business plans, electronic coupons, educational materials, etc.

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• 2002
  • 2002-01-25 EP EP02714791A patent/EP1362347A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2002-01-25 CA CA002436153A patent/CA2436153A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-01-25 WO PCT/US2002/002315 patent/WO2002059881A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation

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