Abstract: Digital image processing of a low resolution source image to produce a high resolution result image may be accomplished by partitioning the low resolution source image into a plurality of low resolution image parts; for each low resolution image part, comparing the low resolution image part to low resolution reference images to determine at least one most similar low resolution reference image; determining if the most similar low resolution reference images are related to one another; and constructing a high resolution result image based at least in part on high resolution images corresponding to related most similar low resolution reference images.

Abstract: Searching hypotheses for locations of objects in a playback image corresponding to a recorded image generated by a graphical user interface (GUI) of an application program may be accomplished by capturing the playback image, detecting at least one active object in the recorded image, searching subsets of hypotheses from the playback image for an object according to predetermined criteria, recalculating old actions for the object in the playback image by applying actions according to an execution scenario and loading a next set of data, when the object is found, and checking dynamic conditions.

Abstract: Structural content filtration to reduce the number of hypotheses for the location of an active object in a recorded image generated by a graphical user interface (GUI) of an application program may be accomplished by transforming the recorded image and a corresponding playback image, determining a sub-image from the transformed recorded image which corresponds to an object to be searched for in the transformed playback image, determining a set of points on the transformed playback image which have appropriate values for matching the sub-image, and filtering hypotheses on the playback image which are more than a selected distance from any one of the subset of points.

Abstract: Reducing the number of hypotheses for locations of an active object in a saved image generated by a graphical user interface (GUI) of an application program may be accomplished by determining possible triangles for the saved image, wherein vertices of the triangles are points where the active object and any two additional objects of the saved image are located, determining possible pairs of hypotheses corresponding to the two additional objects from a current playback image corresponding to the saved image, determining triangles corresponding to the possible pairs of hypotheses and filtering the detected triangles, determining vertices with weights for similar triangles of the current playback image, and calculating a weight for every hypothesis of the active object and filtering hypotheses of the active object on the current playback image based on a weight bound.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for correlating physical and logical attributes of devices include associating logical-tags (L-tags) and physical-tags (P-tags) with electronic devices. A P-tag includes a P-tag identifier, which can be read by a P-tag reading device, regardless of whether power is applied to the electronic device. In one embodiment, a system includes a P-tag comprising a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag having a non-volatile memory to store physical and logical attribute information; and an electronic device associated with the RFID tag, the electronic device having a processor and a bus, and being communicatively coupled to the RFID tag over the bus, the processor to execute instructions to read information from and write information to the non-volatile memory of the RFID tag.

Abstract: Secure communication from one encryption domain to another using a trusted module. In one embodiment, the invention includes receiving encrypted streamed content encrypted with a first key, generating a substitution key stream based on the first key and a second key, generating a transposition key stream based on the first and second keys, and simultaneously decrypting and re-encrypting the encrypted streamed content using a combination of the substitution and transposition streams to produce re-encrypted streamed content encrypted with the second key.

Abstract: Redirecting function calls through a protected environment to effect secure linkage of program modules. In one embodiment, a program module, such as a player application for example, may make function calls to secure functions instead of to insecure operating system (OS) services, thereby deterring attacks on the player's calls to OS services. In one embodiment, the new secure functions provide similar functionality to the replaced OS services. Providing a securely loaded function for calling by a program module in place of calling an insecure OS function includes obtaining object code for the securely loaded function from a signed binary description file, performing signature and integrity verification of the program module using the signed binary description file, loading the object code for the securely loaded function into memory, and updating an address for calling the securely loaded function by the program module.

Abstract: Providing adaptive security for access to content on a system may be accomplished by determining if a user has rights to access the content according to a content license associated with the content, and when the user has rights to play the content, performing the following actions. The system reads a data structure in the content license defining at least one security factor ID and an associated factor value, sets a security factor value for a security factor, the security factor corresponding to the security factor ID, to the associated factor value from the data structure, allows access to the content, and performs security processing by the system at a level based at least in part on the security factor value. In one embodiment, the security factor IDs and associated factor values are set by a content owner or distributor at the time of manufacturing or distributing the content.

Abstract: Authenticating a user operating an un-trusted access device includes causing the display, on the un-trusted access device, of a plurality of photographs to the user, at least one of the photographs being from the user's personal photograph collection and already familiar to the user, remaining photographs being decoy photographs, accepting an input selection from the user identifying one of the displayed photographs, and allowing access when the user's selection correctly identifies a sequence of displayed photographs from the user's photograph collection. No user training prior to using the authentication system is needed and no pre-selection of a password or photograph is necessary.

Abstract: Deterring an attack on a tamper-resistant application program may be accomplished by loading a plurality of agents and starting a plurality of processing threads, each thread executing one of the agents, concurrently executing each agent substantially in parallel to produce a processing result for each agent for an iteration of a stage of protocol processing, storing each processing result in an entry in a buffer associated with each agent, and repeating the executing and storing actions for multiple iterations of the protocol processing. When one of the agents stores a processing result in a last entry of the agent's buffer, the processing results from the first entries in the buffers are combined to produce a combined result, and if the combined result indicates an error, failure semantics may be executed.

Abstract: A key exchange protocol can be performed between components of a system, such as between a computer program being executed by the processor of a PC (or other computer system) and a peripheral. A peripheral with a user input capability and a very limited display capability, such as a keyboard or a mouse, may be used to confirm a key exchange between the system components in a way that requires the user to enter only small amounts of input data (e.g., keystrokes or mouse clicks). Security between components may be enhanced without having a negative impact on usability of the system. Embodiments of the present invention help to deter “man in the middle” attacks wherein an attacker gains control of a system component situated between certain communicating system components.

Abstract: Updating a spatial partitioning data structure during run-time in an efficient manner includes several pre-processing steps. Pre-processing includes generating a first spatial partitioning data structure for a model at a first resolution, generating a second spatial partitioning data structure for the model at a second resolution, analyzing the first and second spatial partitioning data structures to identify differences between spatial partitioning of the model at the first and second resolutions, and storing the differences in a spatial partitioning update data structure. This pre-processing may be repeated for one or more pairs of successive resolutions of the model. Subsequently, during run-time, the model's resolution may be changed from the first resolution to the second resolution. In response, a spatial partitioning data structure corresponding to the first resolution may be updated using the spatial partitioning update data structure to reflect the change in resolution of the model.

Abstract: Flash memory in a computing system having blocks that may be read only once per machine reset may be implemented by mapping the flash memory to an address space of the computing system, copying a selected block of at least one of instructions and data from a first region in the flash memory to a second region in a memory of the computing system, at least one of executing the instructions and accessing the data from the second region, unmapping the selected block of flash memory, and overwriting the second region. Subsequent attempts to access the selected block without performing a machine reset will fail. The selected blocks may be used to store secret instructions and/or data.

Abstract: A system and method for establishing a secure connection with an entity protected by an access control mechanism. A trusted arbitrator is used as an intermediary between a computer network employing the access control mechanism and external entities seeking to communicate securely with an entity inside the computer network. Connection requests for establishing a secure connection from an external entity are routed to the trusted arbitrator, which interacts with both the external entity and entities within the computer network. A secure connection is established between the external entity and the trusted arbitrator. Another secure connection is established between the entities within the computer network and the trusted arbitrator. The trusted arbitrator decrypts and encrypts from one connection to another, allowing the external entity to communicate securely with the computer network.

Abstract: Providing secure content-based user experience enhancement in a player device for rendering digital content includes accepting encrypted digital content, decrypting the encrypted digital content into decrypted digital content, downsampling the decrypted digital content into downsampled digital content; and processing the downsampled digital content by an enhancement module to provide the user experience enhancement. The system protects content being rendered by a player application even when the content is also sent to an enhancement module such as a plug-in. The original content is protected by only transferring a version of the content to the enhancement module that is downsampled. That is, the original high fidelity, high value content is never transferred to the untrusted enhancement module.

Abstract: A system and method for verifying integrity of a system with multiple components includes a plurality of related object components that forms the software system, a signed binary description file manager that generates a signed binary description file (SBDF) to store verification and license information of the plurality of related object components, and a verification agent that verifies itself and the plurality of related object components. The manager associates unique identification (ID) names that represents the related object components with corresponding sets of component license information, and stores the associations in the signed binary description file. The verification agent retrieves license information pertinent to itself and each of the related object components utilizing the SBDF. The verification agent verifies the related object components after verifying its own integrity.

Abstract: Dynamically constructing a scan line rasterizer in a rasterization engine includes selecting a base rasterizer, obtaining parameters describing the base rasterizer, obtaining at least one replacement block of code, allocating memory for a dynamically constructed rasterizer, copying the base rasterizer into the memory allocated for the dynamically constructed rasterizer, and copying the at least one replacement block into the base rasterizer stored in the memory using the parameters to form the dynamically constructed rasterizer.

Abstract: A fast and precise method to perform inverse and forward Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is disclosed. The method may be used for implementing a two-dimensional (2D) inverse or forward DCT that operates on an N×M coefficient block and has a higher accuracy than is specified by the IEEE 1180-1990 standard (for the inverse operation). The disclosed method includes the following stages: based on integer operations, a fixed point one dimensional (1D) DCT may be performed on each row of an input coefficient block, an integer-to-single-precision floating point result conversion may be performed, and a single precision floating point 1D DCT may be performed on each column of the coefficient block resulting from the previous stages.

Abstract: Building an image-based model may be accomplished by defining an approximation set of functions for building a representation of the image-based model, defining an error function that quantifies how well the approximation set reproduces image data of the image-based model, and adjusting parameters of the approximation set to produce a best approximation to the image data.

Abstract: Content level filtering or masking of digital content that is broadcast, multicast, or otherwise distributed to receivers in a communications system. Instead of controlling the content only at the location of the broadcaster or at the receiver, the present invention provides the capability to control access to the content, and manipulate the content itself via a masking operation, at any point in the content distribution hierarchy or transmission chain. The present invention provides enhanced customer choice to different versions of the content and content creator control over content deemed to be too objectionable or too sensitive to be transmitted without partial concealment or obfuscation. A mask may be specified to change the content distributed further down the distribution hierarchy.