Abstract: A computer network having a requesting node and a providing node permits data transfer therebetween when permitted by an authorizing node. Reports generated in response to authorizations and reports generated in response to data transfers are reconciled at a reconciliation node to improve the accuracy of payments collected and paid for use of the data. Such payments include copyright royalties for audio, video, and other works recorded in digital format.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for modifying or reducing effects of signals added to a video signal to permit more unhampered copying and/or viewing thereof. In one version the method and apparatus replace or level shift portions of a video signal to overcome effects caused by these pulses. Typically these pulses are added for copy protection purposes. Modification of the video signal allows for more unhampered viewing and/or copying of the video signal.

Abstract: An improved television scrambling signal is achieved by adding erroneous clamp pulses into a television signal after the signal may have been previously scrambled, for example, by prior art position modulated horizontal sync pulses. Prior art scrambling systems such as those using position modulated sync pulses cause tearing in an unauthorized displayed television picture. The addition of the erroneous clamp pulses of the present invention causes both tearing and darkening of the picture. This darkening can completely shut off the display on some TV sets, thus yielding complete concealment of the television signal. In an alternative embodiment, an erroneous color “rainbow” effect is provided by modifying a portion of a color burst signal, to cause the color subcarrier system in a TV set to unlock.

Abstract: In a known copy protection process for preventing recording of video signals, pseudo sync and AGC pulses are present on predetermined lines within the blanking intervals of the video signal so that any subsequent video tape recording of the video signal shows a picture of very low entertainment quality. This copy protection process is defeated first by determining the location of the video lines containing the copy protection using the color burst signal or chroma in the horizontal blanking interval to determine on-line detection. Then some or all of the lines including copy protection signals are modified so as to render the overall video signal recordable. The modification is accomplished in a number of ways, including gain shifting portions of the video signal, level shifting portions of the video signal, bandwidth limiting certain portions of the video signal or replacing certain portions of the video signal with other video elements.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for adaptively controlling the presence of copy protection signals in a video signal depends upon the scene content of the video signal during an upper portion of a display of the video signal. Thus, in the upper portion of the scenes, wherein picture information would be noticeably altered by a hooking process the copy protection process is deactivated or effectively reduced to eliminate or reduce the hooking or tearing effects. The adaptive control of the copy protection improves the playability performance of copy protected video signals on a very small minority of television receivers which display a small hooking or tearing characteristic in the upper portion of the display of the copy protected video signal.

Abstract: A VGA (or other component video signal) output, e.g. from a computer or DVD player, is protected so it is viewable on a VGA monitor. However, if the component video signal is converted to composite video (e.g. television) the resulting television picture is of substantially degraded quality, thereby inhibiting viewing and/or copying. This protects for instance copyrighted material in the VGA format from unauthorized use. The protection involves modifying the horizontal or vertical synchronization signals in the VGA video in such a way that there is no adverse affect on a typical VGA monitor. However, most or all VGA to television converters and/or television sets and VCR's suffer from loss of synchronization, resulting in an unviewable picture. Also, methods and circuits for defeating the copy protection are provided.

Abstract: In certain video scrambling systems, composite video is imperfectly separated into luminance and chrominance and scrambled in such a way that an unstable residual chroma color subcarrier remains in the luminance channel. When this unstable residual subcarrier subsequently is summed with stabilized chroma, the resultant composite color signal has small but visible amounts of color subcarrier instability that causes a noisy color signal when descrambled or when displayed on a television display device. A coring circuit is disclosed which provides means for substantially removing the unstable residual chroma subcarrier from the luminance channel, thereby substantially reducing color subcarrier instabilities. An improved coring technique also is disclosed using adaptive chroma coring, which is achieved by adjusting the amount of coring applied in accordance with the amplitude of the chrominance signal.

Abstract: A VGA (or other component video signal) output, e.g. from a computer or DVD player, is subject to protection so it is viewable on a VGA monitor. If the component video signal is converted to composite video (e.g. television) the resulting television picture is of substantially degraded quality, thereby inhibiting viewing and/or copying. This protects for instance copyrighted material in the VGA format from unauthorized use. The protection modifies the horizontal or vertical synchronization signals in the VGA video in such a way that there is no adverse affect on a typical VGA monitor. Most or all VGA to television converters and/or television sets and VCR's suffer from loss of synchronization, resulting in an unviewable picture. Methods and apparatuses for defeating this copy protection are provided herein.

Abstract: Copy protection for composite video signals is well known. Copy protection, while it does not prohibit making a copy per se, does render any copy (recording) of the video signal relatively unviewable so that the viewer's enjoyment of the picture is severely reduced or none. Methods for reducing the effects and/or defeating copy protection are also known. The present method and apparatus reduce effects of added copy protection pulses by further adding other pulses that counteract the gain reduction caused by the copy protection pulses of the type known as automatic gain control (AGC) or pseudo-sync pulses.

Abstract: In a known copy protection process for preventing recording of video signals, pseudo sync and AGC pulses are present on predetermined lines within the blanking intervals of the video signal so that any subsequent video tape recording of the video signal shows a picture of very low entertainment quality. This copy protection process is defeated first by determining the location of the video lines containing the copy protection using the color burst signal or chroma in the horizontal blanking interval to determine on-line detection. Then some or all of the lines including copy protection signals are modified so as to render the overall video signal recordable. The modification is accomplished in a number of ways, including gain shifting portions of the video signal, level shifting portions of the video signal, bandwidth limiting certain portions of the video signal or replacing certain portions of the video signal with other video elements.

Abstract: A technique is disclosed for preventing unauthorized playback of scrambled video/audio signals recorded on, for example, a video tape cassette, which technique includes several cooperating processes and apparatus which further prevent the playback of recorded video/audio when the playback apparatus is in a still or pause mode of operation. The technique includes selected combinations of processes of inverting and re-clamping the luminance component of the video signal just prior to FM modulation; blanking an overscan portion, or portions, of the video signal and adding a video retrace signal to the overscan portion(s); inverting the normal control track signal and position modulating the normally unused edge; and selectively scrambling the audio signal and recording the scrambled audio signal in an audio track or in a Hi-Fi track. A selected user specific authorization code is recording in and recovered from the audio track.

Abstract: A method and system for preventing a visible video copy being made of a projected image on a screen. In a theater environment, an image is projected upon a screen by a film projector or a video projector. A form of film piracy is accomplished by copying the image on the screen with a video camcorder. Most of these video camcorders are sensitive to the visual spectrum as well as portions of the infra red spectrum. To prevent the copying of a projected image by such a video camcorder, a focused or unfocused image in the infra red spectrum is projected on top of the visual image. This infra red image will not be visible to the audience in the theater. However a recording of the visual image by a video camcorder sensitive to the infra red spectrum will be distorted beyond use.When a focused infra red image is projected onto the screen it may include a message indicating the date and source of the recording. Other messages could be used including a message to the video pirate that he has been caught.

Abstract: A technique for improving the scrambling concealment of a video signal and the like when displayed on a television set or monitor, includes the pulse width and/or pulse position modulation of a horizontal sync pulse in a horizontal blanking interval by time shifting the leading edge of the sync pulse while maintaining the trailing edge thereof stationary, by shifting the leading and/or trailing edge of the pulse, or by position modulating a sync pulse of specialized width. In modifications to the pulse width and pulse position modulation overlay techniques, the negative edge of the end of video lines may be modulated in the same way that the leading edge of the sync pulse is modulated, with the two edges locked together or modulated independently.

Abstract: In a known copy protection process for preventing recording of video signals, pseudo sync and AGC pulses are present on predetermined lines within the blanking intervals of the video signal so that any subsequent video tape recording of the video signal shows a picture of very low entertainment quality. This copy protection process is defeated first by determining the location of the video lines containing the copy protection using the color burst signal or chroma in the horizontal blanking interval to determine on-line detection. Then some or all of the lines including copy protection signals are modified so as to render the overall video signal recordable. The modification is accomplished in a number of ways, including gain shifting portions of the video signal, level shifting portions of the video signal, bandwidth limiting certain portions of the video signal or replacing certain portions of the video signal with other video elements.

Abstract: A video-scrambling system induces a random wobble i.e., time shifting, in the location of active portion of the video frame, without affecting the horizontal sync signal and colorburst in each video line, thus providing both security and concealment. The security is enhanced by filling in the gap between the nominal beginning of active video and the actual beginning of active video with a synthesized video signal which replicates the adjacent active video using a digitally generated filling pattern. Also, a random noise overlay further conceals the location of the gap. Additional concealment is provided by wiggling in time the location of the horizontal sync signal using one or two frequencies and also by randomly altering the location of the vertical sync signal. The NTSC digital encoding in accordance with the invention is simplified by using only two channels, chrominance and luminance, and by a heterodyne circuit for chrominance stability.

Abstract: A video-scrambling system induces a random wobble i.e., time shifting, in the location of active portion of the video frame, without affecting the horizontal sync signal and colorburst in each video line, thus providing both security and concealment. The security is enhanced by filling in the gap between the nominal beginning of active video and the actual beginning of active video with a synthesized video signal which replicates the adjacent active video using a digitally generated filling pattern. Also, a random noise overlay further conceals the location of the gap. Additional concealment is provided by wiggling in time the location of the horizontal sync signal using one or two frequencies and also by randomly altering the location of the vertical sync signal. The NTSC digital encoding in accordance with the invention is simplified by using only two channels, chrominance and luminance, and by a heterodyne circuit for chrominance stability.

Abstract: In the known color stripe process for preventing recording of video signals, the color burst present on each line of active video is modified so that any subsequent video tape recording of the video signal shows variations in the color fidelity that appear as undesirable bands or stripes of color error. This color stripe process is defeated first by determining the location of the video lines including the color stripe process, either by prior experimentation or by on-line detection. Then some or all of the lines including the modified color bursts are modified so as to render the overall video signal recordable. The modification is accomplished in a number of ways, including phase shifting the color stripe burst into the correct phase, replacing some of the color stripe bursts or a portion of particular color stripe bursts so that they are no longer effective, and mixing the color stripe burst with color stripe signals of the correct phase so as to eliminate most or all of the phase error present.

Abstract: A system for providing security and tracking data for rental video media, including digital video discs and digital video cassettes. Those new formats for video players and media allow for inclusion of security features which both allow tracking of rental of such media and prevent unauthorized rental thereof. Each player includes a decision circuit which plays a particular disc (or tape) only if a player identification number recorded on a special separate authorization memory card is the same as the player identification stored in the player, and if a movie identification number optically read from the disc matches a movie identification number recorded on the special card. A corresponding apparatus is provided at the video rental store which, at the time of rental, records on the authorization card in encrypted form the movie identification number and the number of the particular disc player for which that rental is intended.

Abstract: Enhancements to a video anticopying process that causes an abnormally low amplitude video signal to be recorded on an illegal copy. 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.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for inserting source identification data into a video signal prior to its transmission, recording or display. The source identification data (Finger Print) is injected into the active picture area of a video signal without disturbing the viewing of the video signal and the data is retrieved by a data reader, called a Fingerprint Reader. The data injection or "fingerprinting" process consists of dynamically offsetting the video pedestal to carry information which can then be read back from any videotape made from the output of the data-injecting unit. In particular, the fingerprint carries the ID number of the unit used and the current date. The offset lasts for one entire field and has an amplitude of approximately 0.5 IRE-- that is, a given field either has the nominal setup or a setup value differing from nominal by 0.5 IRE. The data is repeated every 128 fields in order to provide ample samples for the reader to detect and display the source identification data.