APPARATUS FOR PROTECTION OF DATA DECODING ACCORDING TO TRANSFERRED MEDIUM PROTECTION DATA, FIRST AND SECOND APPARATUS PROTECTION DATA AND A FILM CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM, TO DETERMINE WHETHER MAIN DATA ARE DECODED IN THEIR ENTIRETY, PARTIALLY, OR NOT AT ALL
View Patent ↗In a reproduction apparatus, for reproducing an original signal conveyed as main data by a data medium such as a recording disk or broadcasting system, with medium protection data which are specific to the data medium being conveyed together with the main data, the apparatus includes a section for generating apparatus protection data which are specific to the reproduction apparatus, a section for combining the apparatus protection data with the medium protection data to define a protection level, and a section for applying the protection level to restrict reproduction of the original signal, with stepwise variations in restriction occurring in accordance with changes in protection level. The medium protection data may include information for specifying restricted reproduction of portions of the original signal, such as by producing degraded resolution within specified regions of specified frames of a video signal.
1. A decoding apparatus providing decoding protection with a video data encoding method using a DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) method of an MPEG algorithm, for operating on information which is transferred through a medium and comprises main data which are to be decoded, the apparatus comprising:
means for detecting medium protection data which are also transferred through said medium;
means for limiting decoding based upon at least a film classification system;
means for generating apparatus protection data which comprise at least first apparatus protection data and second apparatus protection data,
wherein said first apparatus protection data are specific to a region or a country in which said decoding apparatus is to be used, said first apparatus protection data being fixed and unmodifiable by a user of said decoding apparatus and said second apparatus protection data being modifiable by the user to selectively define a plurality of protection levels including at least two levels which are respectively specific to adults and to children;
means for defining a protection level based on said medium protection data and on said apparatus protection data, in combination; and
means for executing decoding of said main data in accordance with said protection level,
wherein the combination of said medium protection data and said first apparatus protection data specifies that said main data are decoded either in their entirety or not at all, and the combination of said medium protection data and said second apparatus protection data specifies that said main data are decoded in their entirety, partially, or not at all,
wherein said data medium transfers both said medium protection data and said main data in an identical form.
2. A decoding apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein said means for executing operates in response to said combination of said medium protection data with said first apparatus protection data to cause said decoding apparatus to decode said main data either in their entirety or not at all,
said means for executing operating in response to said combination of said medium protection data and said second apparatus protection data to cause said decoding apparatus to decode said main data in their entirety, partially, or not at all.