MACROVISION CORPORATION Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20120005757 | COMPUTER ENABLED METHODS TO INHIBIT FILE AND VOLUME NAME COPYING AND TO CIRCUMVENT SAME - Provided here is a copy protection method and apparatus to confuse currently available personal computer software (and other content) copying packages by use of unexpected (“illegal”) special characters in the volume (or directory) name for the software or other content or data subject to being copied. This method can be used alone or with a broad range of other known copy protection technologies such as RipGuard (available from Macrovision Corp.). Also provided here is a method and apparatus to defeat the confusion method, thereby allowing copying of such copy protected software. | 01-05-2012 |
20100021133 | METHOD FOR COPY PROTECTION FOR VIDEO SIGNAL WITH ADDED PULSES - Enhancements to a video anticopying process that causes an abnormally low amplitude video signal to be recorded on an illegal copy. In one version, positive going pulses are added to the video signal. The enhancements in one version introduce into the overscan portion of the television picture, just prior to the horizontal or vertical sync signals but in active video, a negative going waveform that appears to the television receiver or videotape recorder to be a sync signal, thereby causing an early horizontal or vertical retrace. One version provides (in the right overscan portion of the picture), a checker pattern of alternating gray and black areas which causes the TV set on which the illegal copy is played to horizontally retrace earlier than normal in selected lines with a consequential horizontal shift of the picture information on those lines. This substantially degrades picture viewability. In another version a gray pattern at the bottom overscan portion of the picture causes vertical picture instability. In another version selected horizontal sync signals are narrowed, causing irregular vertical retraces. Also provided is apparatus for removing or attenuating these enhancements from the video signal, to allow copying. | 01-28-2010 |
20090296807 | ENCODING AND DECODING OF EMBEDDED DATA STREAM IN ANALOG VIDEO USING COPY PROTECTION PULSES - Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding a stream of digital (binary) data on AGC (automatic gain control) pulses or back porch pulses of the type conventionally used for copy protection in the analog television or video realm. The data is encoded onto the tips of the AGC or back porch pulses added to blanking intervals of an analog video signal. Each pulse tip may define, for instance, 10 to 15 digital bits (1 or 0) in the form of square waves or rectangular waves with two states, high and low, representing respectively 1 and 0. In another version, the digital data is similarly encoded onto the pulse tip of back porch pulses present at the end of video fields for copy protection. This digital data conveyed in an analog signal may be read by an associated decoder in a consumer device and the resulting data decoded, for instance, for copy control, storage permission, network access, user identification, or carrying additional data, such as commentary or text relevant to the accompanying video. The data bandwidth here is substantial since each AGC or back porch pulse may carry, for instance, 15 bits of digital data and the AGC or back porch pulses may be present in each of the horizontal and vertical blanking intervals of a video signal. | 12-03-2009 |
20090217388 | Apparatus for and a method of copy-protecting a content carrying recording medium - Recording data to be recorded on an optical disc such as a DVD has at least one video title set having content data files having a video object data set, a video title set information file for the video title set and video manager information. The recording data also has a volume file system information having data relating to file identification for enabling location of content data files. In order to inhibit copying by a file-by-file copying apparatus data relating to file identification in the volume information for at least one of the content data files is caused to be incorrect, for example altered The incorrect information may be at least one of a file start address, a file length, incorrect error detection data, a pointer to a corrupt video title set information file rather than the correct video title set information file. | 08-27-2009 |
20080309816 | TELEVISION CONTENT CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH CROSS-PLATFORM CAPABILITY - Method and apparatus for content control of television signals which operate over multiple television standards and include flags, control bits, data copy, copy protection signals and/or video modification signals. Content control for high definition television signals is provided operative with television-type devices, such as television transmitters, signal translators, recorders, players and others. This approach to content control is intended to operate both with the legacy analog television standards and new higher definition television standards, including the various HDTV standards to convert and detect content control information for use across standards. Thus this provides a multiple standard definition television content control apparatus and method with cross-platform capabilities | 12-18-2008 |