GB2549322A - Methods and systems for providing file data from a file sytem - Google Patents

Methods and systems for providing file data from a file sytem Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2549322A
GB2549322A GB1606592.2A GB201606592A GB2549322A GB 2549322 A GB2549322 A GB 2549322A GB 201606592 A GB201606592 A GB 201606592A GB 2549322 A GB2549322 A GB 2549322A
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United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
file
data
file system
user
request
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB1606592.2A
Inventor
Westland Cain James
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Quantel Ltd
Original Assignee
Quantel Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Quantel Ltd filed Critical Quantel Ltd
Priority to GB1606592.2A priority Critical patent/GB2549322A/en
Publication of GB2549322A publication Critical patent/GB2549322A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F21/00—Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F21/10—Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material ; Digital rights management [DRM]
    • G06F21/16—Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F21/00—Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F21/10—Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material ; Digital rights management [DRM]
    • G06F21/106—Enforcing content protection by specific content processing
    • G06F21/1063—Personalisation
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
    • H04N21/83—Generation or processing of protective or descriptive data associated with content; Content structuring
    • H04N21/835—Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates
    • H04N21/8358—Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates involving watermark
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
    • H04L63/10—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for controlling access to devices or network resources
    • H04L63/102—Entity profiles

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Software Systems (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Technology Law (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Storage Device Security (AREA)
  • Information Retrieval, Db Structures And Fs Structures Therefor (AREA)

Abstract

This application is for a file system that use the identity of a user making a request for file data to generate the requested data. It works by the user first sending a request for file data to the file system from their PC 30. The system then analyses the request to determine the details or identity of the user making the request 31. The file system may obtain the users details from a user directory service, such as an active directory 32. The file system then generates the file data based on the users details 33. The file system then returns the file data to the PC 34. The generated file data may contain a watermark that indicates the user making the request. The file data may be a media file, such as a video file. The file data may be data that indicates the contents in a directory in the file system.

Description

Methods and systems for providing file data from a file system
Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns methods and systems for providing file data from a file system. More particularly, but not exclusively, the present invention concerns providing file data that is generated using details of the user requesting the file data.
Background of the Invention A network system comprising a known file system is shown in Figure 1. The network system comprises a network 1, which may be a local area network (LAN) or a public network such as the Internet. The known file system 2 and an Active Directory service 3 (a service running on a server) are connected to the network 1. Also connected to the network are other devices such servers, personal computers (PCs) and the like, including in particular a PC 4.
When the PC 4 wishes to obtain file data from a file stored on the file system 2, it makes a request to the file system 2 via the network 2. The request will identify the user making the request (in practice, this will generally mean identifying the particular user account which the process on the PC 4 making the request is running under).
In response, the file system 2 will determine the identity of the user from the request, and then query the Active Directory service 3 to ascertain whether the user has the necessary permissions to receive the file data. The file system 2 will then return the file data if the user has the necessary permissions, or refuse the request if they do not.
The present invention seeks to provide a file system that is able to use the identity of user making a request for file data in more sophisticated ways. Alternatively and/or additionally, the present invention seeks to provide improved file systems and methods for providing file data from file systems.
Summary of the Invention
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of providing file data from a file system, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a request for file data from the file system; determining details of the user making the request; generating the file data using the determined user details; returning the generated file data.
The file data is the data making up the objects in the file system, for example the contents of the files in the file system, and the data indicating the objects (files and subdirectories) in a directory in the file system. Using the method of the invention, the file system can return different file data for the same file depending on the user requesting the file data. This is in contrast to known file systems, in which the identity of a user may be used to determine whether user has the necessary permissions to be returned the requested file data, but any file data returned will be the same regardless of which user requested it.
Advantageously, the user details are determined by querying a user directory service. The user directory service may be an Active Directory service. Querying a user directory service allows details of the user provided by the user directory service to be used when generating the file data. This means, for example, that in addition to the identity of the user being available when generating the file data, details such as permissions groups the user is in, or indeed any other details about the user from the user directory service, can be used.
Alternatively and/or additionally, the user details may be determined directly from the request. The user details may include username of the user, the IP address of the device from which the request was made, and/or the MAC (identification) address of the device, for example. Other details of the request such as the time and date it was made may be used, for example.
The file data may be a portion of the contents of a file in the file system. Advantageously, the file system comprises a data store and a file record database, and the file data is generated from data in the data store. Advantageously, the generated file data contains a watermark indicating the user making the request. This means the user who originally requested the file data can be identified, in particular from any copies of the file that are made. Advantageously, the file is a media file. In this case the ability to identify the user who requested a file can be particularly advantageous, for example in the policing of illicit copies of files.
Alternatively, the file data may be data indicating the contents in a directory in the file system.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a file system arranged, in response to a request for file data, to determine details of the user making the request, generate the file data using the determined user details, and to return the generated file data .
Advantageously, the file system is arranged to determine the user details by querying a user directory service. The file system may be arranged to query an Active Directory system.
The file system may comprise a data store and a file record database. Preferably, the file system is arranged, in response to a request for a portion of the contents of a file, to generate the file data from data in the data store. Advantageously, the file system is arranged to return generated file data containing a watermark indicating the user who made the request. Preferably, the file system is arranged, in response to a request for data representing the contents of a directory in the file system, to generate the file data from data in the file record database.
The file system may be a media file system.
In accordance with a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program product arranged, when executed, to perform any of the methods described above.
In accordance with a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program product arranged, when executed, to provide a file system as described above.
It will of course be appreciated that features described in relation to one aspect of the present invention may be incorporated into other aspects of the present invention. For example, the methods of the invention may incorporate any of the features described with reference to the systems of the invention and vice versa.
Description of the Drawings
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings of which:
Figure 1 is a diagram of a known file system;
Figure 2 is a diagram of a file system comprising a file system according to an embodiment of the invention;
Figure 3 is a flow chart describing the operation of the file system of Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a flow chart describing an alternative operation of the file system of Figure 2.
Detailed Description
An embodiment of the invention is now described with reference to Figures 2 to 4. A network system comprising a media file system 10 according to the embodiment is shown in Figure 2. The file system 10 is connected to the known network 1. Also connected to the network 1 are the known Active Directory service 4 and other devices including the PC 4 .
The file system 10 comprises a data store 11, a file record database 12, and a gateway 13. The data store 11 stores media data, in other words video and audio data, conventionally known as "essence" data. The file record database 12 contains file records that store the details of the files stored in the file system 10, in particular the location of the essence data in the data store 11 that makes up the content of the files, and other metadata such as creation date, file length, permission information and other attributes .
Access to the file system 10 is provided by the gateway 13. The gateway 6 accepts requests to write/read files to/from the file system 10, for example, and in response writes/reads data to/from the data store 11 based on the file records in the file record database 12. Similarly, the file system gateway 13 accepts requests to write/read to the file records in the file record database 12 itself.
In particular, the gateway 13 provides file data for the files from the essence data in the data store 11, with the file records in the file record database 12 defining which essence data should be used. The data for a file in the file system 10 may simply be a single block of essence data in the data store 11, in which case the file record for the file in the file record database 12 simply contains details of the relevant block of essence data. Often, a file will consist of a block of video essence data and a corresponding block of audio essence data providing a soundtrack to the video, in which case the corresponding file record contains details of both blocks of essence data. Alternatively, file in the file system 10 may be a "clip", in which case its file record identifies various portions of essence data making up the file. Clips are conventionally created from existing files using video editing software.
Figure 4 is a flowchart describing the operation of the file system 10. In a first step, the file system 10 receives a request for file data from the PC 4 (step 20).
The file system 10 analyses the request to determine user details, such the username of the user or the IP address from which the request was made (step 21).
The file system then generates file data based on the determined user details (step 22). For example, the file record in the file record database 12 may indicate that particular essence data in the data store 11 corresponds to the requested file data. The file system 10 then generates the file data by applying a "watermark" based on the user details to the essence data. The watermark may be an indication visible when the media file is played identifying the user who made the request; in other words, an indication such as the username or IP address of the user written across the displayed image. Alternatively, the watermark may provide details of the user that can be obtained by analysing the file data, but which are not visible when the file is played. Other possibilities for generating the file data are described later below.
Finally, the file system 10 returns the generated file data to the PC 4.
Figure 5 is a flowchart describing an alternative operation of the file system 10. As in the previous embodiment, the file system 10 receives a request for file data from the PC 4 (step 30), and analyses the request to determine user details (step 31).
In contrast to the previous embodiment, the file system 10 then uses the determined user details to query the Active Directory service 3 to obtain user details (step 32). The Active Directory service 3 can contain additional details for the user, for example permissions groups which the user is a member of and various other standard or user-defined details. Similarly to the previous embodiment, the file system then generates file data based on the user details obtained from the Active Directory service 3 (step 33), and returns the generated file data to the PC 4 (step 34).
While the present invention has been described and illustrated with reference to particular embodiments, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the invention lends itself to many different variations not specifically illustrated herein.
For example, it will be appreciated that while a particular embodiment of the invention has been described above in which the file data is generated so that it contains a watermark identifying the user, the invention is equally applicable when the file data is generated based on user details in any other way.
As a first example, it could be desired that only a certain set of users are allowed to receive high-quality media file data, in order to prevent illicit copying. In this case, the list of such users could be provided to the file system, for example by the users being given a corresponding attribute in the Active Directory service.
File data requested by a user on the list would be generated without a watermark (i.e. "clean"), while for other users a standard watermark would be applied (such as "not for distribution" being written across the image).
Alternatively, a user on the list could be returned a high-quality version of the file data, while other users would be returned only a low-quality version of the file data.
As a second example, it could be desired that users in different locations receive different file data. The location of a user could be determined using the IP addresses of the user who made the request, for example.
The different versions of file data could be for different language versions of the file, for example text documents in different languages, or video files with different language audio tracks. Another possibility would be that different locations would receive differently edited versions of a video file, for example if certain material were removed in an edit intended for certain location as it was potentially offensive or illegal in those locations. A third example similar to that described above is that details regarding the age of a user could be used, allowing users under a certain age to receive an age-restricted edited version of a video file.
The skilled person will further appreciate that while a particular embodiment of the invention has been described above in which the file system comprises a data store and file record databases, the invention is equally applicable to other types of file system, it only being necessary that they are able to generate file data "on the fly", in response to requests for the file data. Further, while the particular embodiment described is a media file system, the invention is equally applicable to file systems used for any other purpose. Further again, while embodiments of the invention have been described in which an Active Directory service is queried, the invention is equally applicable to file systems which clearly other types of user directory service, do not query a user directory service at all, or which query other services, systems or databases that provide user details, but are not specifically a user directory service.

Claims (18)

Claims
1. A method of providing file data from a file system, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a request for file data from the file system; determining details of the user making the request; generating the file data using the determined user details; returning the generated file data.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user details are determined by querying a user directory service.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the user directory service is an Active Directory system.
4. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the file data is a portion of the contents of a file in the file system.
5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the file system comprises a data store and a file record database, and wherein the file data is generated from data in the data store .
6. A method as claimed in claim 4 or 5, wherein the generated file data contains a watermark indicating the user making the request.
7. A method as claimed in claim of claims 4 to 6, wherein file is a media file.
8. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the file data is data indicating the contents in a directory in the file system.
9. A file system arranged, in response to a request for file data, to determine details of the user making the request, generate the file data using the determined user details, and to return the generated file data.
10. A file system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the file system is arranged to determine the user details by querying a user directory service.
11. A file system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the file system is arranged to query an Active Directory system.
12. A file system as claimed in any of claims 9 to 11, wherein the file system comprises a data store and a file record database.
13. A file system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the file system is arranged, in response to a request for a portion of the contents of a file, to generate the file data from data in the data store.
14. A file system as claimed in any claim 12, wherein the file system is arranged to return generated file data containing a watermark indicating the user who made the request.
15. A file system as claimed in any of claims 12 to 15, wherein the file system is arranged, in response to a request for data representing the contents of a directory in the file system, to generate the file data from data in the file record database.
16. A file system as claimed in any of claims 9 to 15, wherein the file system is a media file system.
17. A computer program product arranged, when executed, to perform any of the methods claimed in claims 1 to 8.
18. A computer program product arranged, when executed, to provide a file system as claimed in any of the claims 9 to 15.
GB1606592.2A 2016-04-15 2016-04-15 Methods and systems for providing file data from a file sytem Withdrawn GB2549322A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1606592.2A GB2549322A (en) 2016-04-15 2016-04-15 Methods and systems for providing file data from a file sytem

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1606592.2A GB2549322A (en) 2016-04-15 2016-04-15 Methods and systems for providing file data from a file sytem

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB2549322A true GB2549322A (en) 2017-10-18

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GB1606592.2A Withdrawn GB2549322A (en) 2016-04-15 2016-04-15 Methods and systems for providing file data from a file sytem

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Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2012247A1 (en) * 2007-07-05 2009-01-07 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. Method for transmitting media data used in web sites
US20130007890A1 (en) * 2011-06-28 2013-01-03 De Laat Dennis Method and system for detecting violation of intellectual property rights of a digital file
US20130223671A1 (en) * 2012-02-28 2013-08-29 Rogers Communications Inc. Method and system for dynamically watermarking media
US20150286843A1 (en) * 2014-04-03 2015-10-08 William Brant Method and system for modular digital watermarking of electronic files

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2012247A1 (en) * 2007-07-05 2009-01-07 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. Method for transmitting media data used in web sites
US20130007890A1 (en) * 2011-06-28 2013-01-03 De Laat Dennis Method and system for detecting violation of intellectual property rights of a digital file
US20130223671A1 (en) * 2012-02-28 2013-08-29 Rogers Communications Inc. Method and system for dynamically watermarking media
US20150286843A1 (en) * 2014-04-03 2015-10-08 William Brant Method and system for modular digital watermarking of electronic files

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