The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 05, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 10, 1998
Vipin Bharathan, New York, NY (US);
Ajit V Rajasekharan, East Brunswick, NJ (US);
Sugeet K Shah, West Paterson, NJ (US);
Guy A Story, Jr, New York, NY (US);
Audible, Inc., Wayne, NJ (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for cloning protection of a player. The present invention provides a method and apparatus for providing cloning protection of a software digital information playback device by using an activation procedure prior to use of the playback device. In one embodiment, the playback device is deactivated in order to move the playback device to a different computer system or to otherwise vary the operating conditions of the playback device. To activate the playback device a unique identifier is generated by the playback device. The identifier is communicated to a server and linked to the playback device generating the identifier. In one embodiment, the identifier and a digital signature authenticating the information from the server are communicated to the playback device along with any digital programming. Only digital programming including the identifier and the signature are played by the playback device.