Patent · US Expired

Document copying deterrent method

US6086706A · kind A · utility

108Cited by
7References
25Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 20, 1993
Grant dateJul 11, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 20, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S283/901
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method of deterring the illicit copying of electronically published documents. It includes utilizing a computer system to electronically publish a plurality of copies of a document having electronically created material thereon for distribution to a plurality of subscribers and operating programming within the computer system so as to perform the identification code functions. The steps are to encode the plurality of copies each with a separate, unique identification code, the identification code being based on a unique arrangement of the electronically created material on each such copy; and, creating a codebook to correlate each such identification code to a particular subscriber. In some embodiments, decoding methods are included with the encoding capabilities. The unique arrangement of the electronically created material may be based on line-shift coding, word-shift coding, or feature enhancement coding (or combinations of these) and may be effected through bitmap alteration of document format file alteration.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.