Millennium Group proposes new digital video copy protection system
The three companies, which comprise "The Millennium Group", say the new system addresses the needs of both the hardware and content communities. The system will cover video formats from standard to high definition TV and will be compatible with physical media such as DVD and videocassette, and transmission methods such as terrestrial and satellite broadcast, cable and the Internet.
Watermarking adds an imperceptible copy protection fingerprint to digital video that will trigger complementary watermark detectors integrated in the next generation of digital video recording devices. The watermark serves as a copy-control mechanism.
To further bolster system security, the new Millennium proposal also provides a play-control mechanism that complements the copy-control mechanism, called "Wobbletrack," a new proprietary method of manufacturing authentic DVD discs. When the Wobbletrack feature is combined with the copy-control watermark, the two will allow playback devices to discriminate between authentic and illegally copied discs and prevent playback of the illegal copies. The new Millennium proposal will also provide a copy-once watermark re-marking technology for applications in which one copy of a video program is allowed.
"To facilitate and accelerate the introduction of next generation digital recording devices, we have decided to offer the new Millennium solution to the industry with patent indemnification guarantees that we believe will be acceptable to all users," said John Ryan, Macrovision's Chairman and CEO. "The Millennium Group is offering a complete copy protection solution to the motion picture, CE, and PC industry that will allow consumers and the industry to benefit from the latest advances in digital video."
Edited by Tom Butts