Content protection message extraction

1. A system for extracting a video-watermark embedded in a video sequence, the system comprising a plurality of operatively connected modules including:

a decryption and decoding engine, the decryption and decoding engine being operative to:

receive the video sequence in a video-codec-encoded format and cryptographically-encrypted; then

decrypt the encrypted video sequence yielding a decrypted video sequence having the video-codec encoded format; then

decode the decrypted video-codec-encoded video sequence yielding a decrypted decoded video sequence; and then

output the decrypted decoded video sequence to a display device for rendering on the display device;

a decoder buffer to store data used by the decryption and decoding engine during decoding;

a measurement module to measure memory usage of the decoder buffer utilized by the decryption and decoding engine decoding at least part of the video sequence yielding a plurality of measurements of memory usage utilized by the decryption and decoding engine decoding the at least part of the video sequence;

a memory usage analyzer to: receive the measurements of memory usage from the measurement module; and analyze the measurements of memory usage in order to determine an arrangement of a plurality of video frames of at least one frame type in the video sequence; and

an encoding feature analyzer to: receive the arrangement of the video frames from the memory usage analyzer; and analyze the arrangement of the video frames of the at least one frame type in the video sequence in order to extract the video-watermark from the video sequence.

2. A system for extracting a content-protection message embedded in a video sequence, the system comprising a plurality of operatively connected modules including:

a measurement module to measure memory usage utilized by a decoder decoding at least part of the video sequence yielding a plurality of measurements of memory usage utilized by the decoder decoding the at least part of the video sequence; and

a content-protection message extractor to:

receive the measurements of memory usage from the measurement module; and

analyze the measurements of memory usage in order to extract the content-protection message from the video sequence,

wherein the content-protection message extractor includes:

a memory usage analyzer to: receive the measurements of memory usage from the measurement module; and analyze the measurements of memory usage in order to determine at least one encoding feature of the video sequence; and

an encoding feature analyzer to: receive the at least one encoding feature from the memory usage analyzer; and analyze the at least one encoding feature of the video sequence in order to extract the content-protection message from the video sequence.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the modules further include a decryption and decoding engine including the decoder, the decryption and decoding engine being operative to:

receive the video sequence in a video-codec-encoded format and cryptographically-encrypted; then

decrypt the encrypted video sequence yielding a decrypted video sequence having the video-codec encoded format; then

decode the decrypted video-codec-encoded video sequence yielding a decrypted decoded video sequence; and then

output the decrypted decoded video sequence to a display device for rendering on the display device.

4. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one encoding features includes an arrangement of a plurality of video frames of at least one frame type in the video sequence.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the arrangement of the video frames includes a plurality of positions of the video frames in the video sequence.

6. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the arrangement of the video frames includes a quantity of the video frames in different parts of the video sequence.

7. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the encoding feature analyzer is operative to analyze the arrangement of the video frames of the video sequence in order to extract the content-protection message from the video sequence.

8. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the content-protection message includes a video watermark.

9. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the watermark includes a copyright flag.

10. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the watermark includes an identification of a content item included in the video sequence.

11. A method for extracting a content-protection message embedded in a video sequence, the method comprising:

measuring memory usage utilized by a decoder decoding at least part of the video sequence yielding a plurality of measurements of memory usage utilized by the decoder decoding at least part of the video sequence;

analyzing the measurements of memory usage in order to determine at least one encoding feature of the video sequence; and

analyzing the at least one encoding feature of the video sequence in order to extract the content-protection message from the video sequence.

12. A system for extracting a content-protection message embedded in a video sequence, the system comprising a plurality of operatively connected modules including:

means for measuring memory usage utilized by a decoder decoding at least part of the video sequence yielding a plurality of measurements of memory usage utilized by the decoder decoding the at least part of the video sequence; and

means for analyzing the measurements of memory usage in order to extract the content-protection message from the video sequence.