GB2499378A

GB2499378A - Electronic book with copy protection software

Info

Publication number: GB2499378A
Application number: GB1201780.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Fadwa Fadel
Original assignee: MIRA PUBLISHING Ltd
Current assignee: MIRA PUBLISHING Ltd
Priority date: 2012-02-02
Filing date: 2012-02-02
Publication date: 2013-08-21
Also published as: GB201201780D0

Abstract

An electronic book comprises encrypted content being stored onto a memory card, which forms part of a dongle comprising copy protection software. The content is protected from being copied or removed from the memory card, and any attempt to copy the content may result in the content being destroyed or made illegible. The book may further comprise software which temporarily decrypts each page of the book. The content may be viewed on a specifically adapted screen reader or tablet, but the copy protection software does not allow any pages to be saved on the reader. The reader may comprise a text-to-speech (TtS) facility, along with speakers or a headphone jack allowing users to listen to the book content. The memory card may be connected to the reader via an SD adapter socket, a USB socket or any appropriate connector.

Description

1

Improved E-Book content recipient

This invention concerns a novel way of reducing intellectual property theft via the internet through "download groups" or other file-sharing media.

Publishers are being faced with considerable losses through unauthorised downloads and uploads. There is a veritable industry working on distributing content without heed to the losses for the originators. On the one hand, publishers need to stay with the market and supply what the public wants but on the other hand they are losing large amounts of revenue through pirating.

There are many electronic books and book readers on the market most of which can be plugged into the internet and download the latest "Harry Potter" book from illicit or semilegal file sharing sites and so circumvent copyright laws.

It is therefore an object of this invention to reduce this piracy and make the e-book marketable in the same way as paper books used to be and still are.

At the heart of E-book is the copy protection which is built into the book. This is no ordinary copy protection which can be circumvented by any knowledgeable teenager. Attempts at tampering with our E-book will render the content illegible and only recoverable through very extensive and expensive reconstruction processes costing many times the price of the book.

The method of obtaining one of our E-books is not quite like buying an ordinary paper book. The reader goes to a bookstore or on to the internet and purchases content, such as "Ulysses" by James Joyce through a licensed distributor. The licensed distributor loads the "pdf' formatted content onto a micro chip "SD" card through a standard encryption machine. This charged "SD" card is then sealed into a specially designed dongle to create the finished product, our "ChipBook" which is then dispatched to the customer or placed into a vending machine.

The dongle can decipher the SD card encryption when inserted into a reader pad. The dongle software does not allow the displayed page to be saved in the reader, even if that reader has internal storage capacity. ChipBook software only allows display of content to be over-written by the following page. Any attempt to copy the content of the ChipBook will result in the content be rendered illegible by the software in the ChipBook dongle.

Through this exploitation of the latest features of computer technology, namely data encryption, storage capacity and the speed of the data retrieval, ChipBook will reduce the bulky content of a normal book library into a small size case containing of a collection of memory-cards with one book on each card. It will change book publishing into an environmentally friendly process, as the book will be printed on a memory chip instead of on paper.

2

ChipBook will eliminate the possibility of copying the contents of the book illegally as attempts to copy the content and or download it will result in the destruction of that content. More over, the whole printing and publishing process will be made much cheaper and thus more profitable for printing and distribution industry since the cost of printing the book on a memory chip, producing the memory chip and distributing it them is very much cheaper, easier and quicker than the current process of creating a book from paper. Moreover, ChipBook lends itself admirably to distribution through vending machines since it is only a little bigger than a two pound coin.

The invention will now be described in more detail by means of the drawings.

Figure 1 shows a typical USB adaptor capable of receiving a micro chip "SD" card.

Figure 2 shows the SD card being inserted into the adaptor for loading Figure 3 shows the special dongle receiving the charged "SD" card Figure 4 shows the finished "ChipBook" with the SD card sealed inside.

At the distributor/publisher the content is printed in PDF format, encrypted and loaded on to a standard SD micro chip using an off-the-shelf USB adapter (figures 1 and 2). The SD chip is then sealed into a dongle equipped with protective software to create the ChipBook (figures 3 and 4). The ChipBook cannot be copied or downloaded. Any attempt to up- or down load the content will result in the content being destroyed. The ChipBook is "read only" but can be read on any tablet that has a ChipBook socket built in.

Features such as "book marking", "go to page x" and paging forward and backwards are supported by the software incorporated as standard into the ChipBook dongle itself. ChipBook

A special very inexpensive "ChipBook" tablet is available with the appropriate socket for reading ChipBook. It is inexpensive since it does not contain any accessible internal memory and has only the ChipBook socket for connecting devices.

The ChipBook socket is configured in such a way that the whole of the dongle enters into the edge of the pad. In the area of the slot, the edge of the pad is a little recessed to allow for gripping the dongle for removal from the slot. A head phone connector allows the reader to hear the book being read via "text to speech" software, produced by ACAPELA, which is installed on the tablet at the assembly stage together with its basic operating software. Additionally the ChipBook tablet may have a loudspeaker built into its edge. The customer finds a vending machine puts his/her money in and selects a title. ChipBook can immediately be used on the tablet no matter where the person is. The headphones provide privacy to the listener and avoid molesting other people in the vicinity.

3

Claims

1. An electronic book created by content being loaded onto a memory card, encrypted and permanently sealed into a control dongle.

2. An electronic book according to claim 1 wherein the control dongle contains software which protects the content from being copied or removed from the memory card.

3. An electronic book according to claim 1 an 2 wherein the copy protection software destroys the content if an attempt is made to copy the content.

4. An electronic book according to claims 1 and 2 wherein the control dongle contains software which allows the display of the electronic book content by a temporary un-encryption of each page of the book.

5. An electronic book according to any preceding claim wherein all reading features (e.g. "page marking", "go to page x" etc) are controlled by the dongle software.

6. An electronic book according to any preceding claim wherein the dongle has a standard SD adapter socket for connection to a reader screen or tablet.

7. An electronic book according to any preceding claim wherein the dongle has a non-Universal Serial Bus socket for connection to a specific reader screen or tablet.

8. An electronic book according to any preceding claim which is saleable through vending machines

9. A screen reader or tablet specifically designed to display the content of the electronic book according claims 1 to 7.

10. A screen reader or tablet according to claim 8 which comprises a socket for connecting the electronic book according to claims 1 to 7.

11. A screen reader or tablet according to claim 9 wherein the tablet has a "text to speech" facility.

12. A screen reader or tablet according to claim 10 wherein the TtS facility is permanently built into the tablet during its assembly.

13 A screen reader or tablet according to claim 10 wherein the tablet comprises a standard headphone jack.

14. A screen reader or tablet according to claim 10 wherein the tablet comprises a miniature loud speaker.