US 2013 017.9995A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2013/017.9995 A1 Basile et al. (43) Pub. Date: Jul. 11, 2013 (54) SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR (52) U.S. Cl. AUTHENTICATION OF DIGITAL CONTENT USPC ............................................................ 726/32 (75) Inventors: Carmen Laura Basile, London (GB); Nigh Schottenfeld, Sebastopol, CA (57) ABSTRACT (73) Assignee: United Video Properties, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US) Systems and methods for authenticating a digital file are (21) Appl. No.: 13/439,103 provided. The systems and methods may operate indepen (22) Filed: Apr. 4, 2012 dently or Supplement existing copy protection systems, such as CSS, and help make them more robust. The digital file may Related U.S. Application Data be stored on a computer readable medium such as a physical (60) Provisional application No. 61/584,506, filed on Jan. disc, digital content downloaded from the Internet, or any 9, 2012. sa- wws other suitable digital content. In some aspects, the systems s and methods described herein include identifying media con Publication Classification tent stored in a digital file that needs to be authenticated, and Subsequently reading Suitably chosen media blocks in (51) Int. Cl. encrypted (and unencrypted) form from the digital file for G06F2L/00 (2006.01) comparison with corresponding blocks (e.g., stored in a data G06F 7/30 (2006.01) base) obtained from a genuine copy. The digital file will be G06F 7/04 (2006.01) authenticated only in the case of a successful match. 1000 10O2 ldentify Media Content Stored in Digital File Retrieve Reference Blocks Based on dentified Content from a Remote Database Identify Media Blocks in the Media Content Corr. to the Reference Blocks 1008 Compare Media Blocks and Reference Blocks ldentify Media Blocks and ldentify Digital File Reference Blocks Digital File as Counterfeit as Genuine Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 1 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 8|| ÁlêIGITÁNALSOMONENDLSEIADW Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 2 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 Z24|au?0?801000M$$80M00ÁBIGITÁNALSÐINONENDLSEIADW Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 3 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 310 312 314 User input DisplayDisplay Speakers Processing Circuitry 306 302 Storage -304 (e.g., RAM, ROM, 308 Hard Disk, Removable Disk, etc.) !------------------------------------------ FIG.3 416 418 424 Reference Media Content Guidance Block Data Source Data Source Source Communications ----------------- NetWork WireleSS User Use r Communications User Television ÉGER-t Device (e.g., PDA, Equipment ity PC Mobile Telephone, Portable Video Laptop, etc.) Player, etc.) FIG. 4 Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 4 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 ?00SMOUSMISSIMONIOJ?S E(IDJ_L5:EIADIWN (£)S00A00ÁNÁIBIGITÁN Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 5 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 009 9"SDI Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 6 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 702 Receive Digital File 704 Recognize Media Content Stored in Digital File Authenticate Digital File as Genuine 708 Display Transaction Options for Additional Media Content 710 Receive User Selection of Additional Content 712 Transmit Additional Content to Corresponding Media Platform FIG. 7 Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 7 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 804 FIG. 8A FIG. 8B Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 8 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 90 902 902 R 904W5á | 9042 || R. A1 A2 ( An FIG. 9A 950 952 952 S M W SMM, 1 n 954 Sá R1 || || 9542 SSR, A1 FIG. 9B Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 9 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 1000 10O2 ldentify Media Content Stored in Digital File Retrieve Reference Blocks Based on dentified Content from a Remote Database ldentify Media Blocks in the Media Content Corr. to the Reference Blocks 1008 Compare Media Blocks and Reference Blocks Identify Media Blocks and Identify Digital File Reference Blocks Digital File as Counterfeit as Genuine FIG. 10 Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 10 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 1102 Read Media Block M at Address A Stored in Digital File Compute Hash Value HM for Media Block M. " Compare HM and Hash Value H for Reference Block R; 1110 Return "Counterfeit" Signal Compare Return More Blocks? "Genuine" Signal FIG. 11 Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 11 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 12O2 Read Encryption Status SM for Media Block Mistored in Digital File Compare SM and Encryption Status SR for Ref Block R. Return "Counterfeit" Signal Uniye No-1 Media BlockNYes2 ESd COUnt s sy Count Compare More Blocks? 1218 Return "Genuine" Signal FIG. 12 Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 12 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 1302 1300 Read Media Block M at Address A Stored in Digital File 1304 Compute Hash Value HM for Media Block M. Compare HM and Hash Value HR for Ref Block R. 1310 N Return O->"Counterfeit" Signal 1312 Yes Check Encrypted Status for Media Block M. 1316 Update eS Update Unencrypted Encrypted Count Count Compare More Blocks? 1322 No Return "Genuine" Signal FIG. 13 Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 13 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 1402 1400 ldentify Media Content on DVD Through Content Hash 1404 Receive Sector Hash List for the dentified Media Content 1406 Initialize Count F O 1408 Choose Random Number i, 1sian 1410 Read Media Sector Mat Address A of DVD Compute Hash Value HM for Media Sector M, Compare HM and Hash Value HR for Reference Sector R 1418 Return "Counterfeit" Signal 1420 Count = Count-1 1424 Return "Genuine" Signal FIG. 14 Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 14 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 15O2 1500 ldentify Media Content on DVD Through Content Hash 1504 Receive Sector Hash List for the dentified Media Content 1506 Initialize Count = 0 1508 Choose Random Number i, 1 sign+m 1510 Read Media Sector Mat Address A of DVD 1512 Compute Hash Value HM for Media Sector M, Compare HM and Hash Value HR for Reference Sector R 1518 Return "Counterfeit" Signal 1520 Count = Count-1 1524 Return "Genuine" Signal FIG. 15 Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 15 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 1602 1600 ldentify Media Content on DVD Through Content Hash 1604 Receive Sector Hash List for the centified Media Content 1606 Initialize Scrambled count = 0, Unscrambled count = 0 1608 Choose Random Number i, 1sian-m 1610 Read Media Sector Mat Address A of DVD 1612 Compute Hash Value HM for Media Sector M, Compare HM and Hash Value HR for Ref Sector R; 1618 Return No "Counterfeit" Signal 1620 Yes Check Scramble Status for Media Sector M 1626 1624 SCrambled Unscrambled COUnt F Yes COUnt F Unscrambled SCrambled Scrambled COUnit-1 Count- 1 Scrambled count < Max no scrambled iterations or Unscrambled Count < Max no unscrambled iterations 1630 Return "Genuine" Signal No FIG. 16 Patent Application Publication Jul. 11, 2013 Sheet 16 of 16 US 2013/017.9995 A1 1702 ldentify Media Content on DVD Through Content Hash 1704 Receive Sector SCramble Status List Based on the Identified Media Content 17O6 Choose Numbers ik (1sksm, 1s ikan) Such that Some Silk are Scrambled and Some are Unscrambled 1708 Read Scramble Status SMk for Media Sector Mk of the DVD 1710 Compare SMik and Scramble Status SRik for Ref Block Rik 1714 1712 Return No "COUnterfeit" Signal Yes 1716 Return "Genuine" Signal FIG. 17 US 2013/0179995 A1 Jul. 11, 2013 SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR would fail to identify a counterfeit copy. The systems and AUTHENTICATION OF DIGITAL CONTENT methods described hereafter are expected to work even in the case of identical byte-by-byte copies. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED 0006. In some aspects, the systems and methods described APPLICATIONS herein include identifying media content stored in a digital 0001. This application claims priority to and the benefit of file that needs to be authenticated, and Subsequently reading U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/584,506, Suitably chosen media blocks in encrypted (and unencrypted) filed Jan. 9, 2012, the entire contents of which are incorpo form from the digital file for comparison with corresponding rated herein by reference. blocks (e.g., stored in a database) obtained from a genuine copy. The digital file will be authenticated only in the case of BACKGROUND a Successful match. For example, in the case of a digital file stored in DVD format, suitably chosen sectors (portions of the 0002 Copy protection is being increasingly pursued by DVD each having audio-visual data arranged into audio and/ content providers to help prevent the loss of billions of dollars or video packs) may be read in Scrambled (and unscrambled) each year due to casual and professional media piracy. Copy form and compared to corresponding data obtained from a protection is typically found on computer readable media, genuine disc. In some embodiments, an audio pack or a video e.g., digital video discs, computer Software discs, video game pack includes DVD audio or video data spanning one sector. discs, and audio compact discs. Various systems exist and Typically data in scrambled (and unscrambled) form is continue to be proposed to afford copy protection to Such encrypted (or unencrypted) according to the CSS system. On media, e.g., the Content Scrambling System (CSS). CSS is a a typical DVD protected by CSS encryption, a portion of the copy protection system originally developed for protecting video packs are CSS-scrambled using a CSS key. However, against illegal copying of Digital Video Discs (DVDs). How on a counterfeit copy of a genuine (CSS-protected) DVD the ever, it can be easily cracked by software because CSS uses sectors that were CSS-scrambled on the genuine DVD will be only 40-bit keys.