Patent ID: 6748537
Filing Date: 2004-06-08
Classification: G06F,G06Q,G11B,H04N

Abstract:
A digital storage medium having stored thereon digital data comprising:a plurality of segments of digital content data stored on the storage medium and adapted to be unreadable on a computer system; a protected version of the plurality of segments of digital content data stored on the storage medium and readable on the computer system; and a plurality of instructions stored on the storage medium and adapted to be executed by the computer system, the instructions which, when executed, define a series of steps to be used to control the use of the protected version of the plurality of segments of digital content data, said steps comprising: automatically producing at least one copy, but no more than a predetermined maximum number of copies, of the protected version of the plurality of segments of digital content data; automatically storing said at least one copy on a storage device connected to the computer system; and controlling access to said at least one copy.