Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Wayne M Smith

Lewis S Ostrover

Christopher J Cookson

Alan E Bell

Jamie Kellner

An optical disc used for storing content includes a theft control area selected to render the disc unreadable. The disc must be exposed to radiation of a specific wavelength before it can be read by a regular device. The theft control area may include an area that contains data that instructs the device not to read the disc. This area includes a coating that changes its optical characteristics when exposed to the radiation. The material could be radiochromic or thermochromic. Alternatively, the theft control area includes an RFID device that includes an element that is radiation sensitive. In this embodiment, when the disc is irradiated, the element changes its electrical characteristics.

Optical disc with a theft deterrent coating

A program includes sequential program segments, commercial segments, segment dividers delimiting the program and commercial segments and extraneous signals inserted into the segments. The extraneous signals are selected to mimic segment dividers and thus discourage recording of the program by a commercial skipping recorder device.

Method and apparatus for discouraging commercial skipping

A video signal processor is used to receive programs in the form of a composite video signal which incorporates a video broadcast channel, a main audio channel and an additional audio channel. The main audio channel may carry a standard audio track for the program while the additional audio channel carries a different audio track, such as dialogue in a foreign language, DVS audio track, or a modified audio track that has been changed from the main audio track slightly. The video signal processor selects one of the audio tracks as the active audio track based on the contents of the additional audio channels and/or a viewers' preferences. The video signal processor may be a stand-alone device, or may be incorporated into a TV receiver, VCR, DVD player, etc.

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La Cañada, CA, United States of America

Wayne M Smith