Patent ID: 7136487

Claim:
A system for automatically protecting private video content using embedded cryptographic security, comprising: a recorder frame buffer dividing a substantially continuous video signal representing raw video content into individual frames which each store a fixed amount of data in digital form; an encryption module encrypting each individual frame into encrypted video content using an encryption cryptographic key and storing the encrypted frames on a transportable storage medium; a decryption module retrieving encrypted frames from the transportable storage medium and decrypting each encrypted frame into decrypted frames using a decryption cryptographic key that is verified prior to decryption; a playback frame buffer combining the decrypted frames into a substantially continuous video signal representing the raw video content in reconstructed form; a signature module generating a fixed-length original cryptographic hash from at least one such individual frame, encrypting the original cryptographic hash using an encryption cryptographic key, and storing the encrypted original cryptographic hash as a digital signature on the transportable storage medium; a verification module retrieving the digital signature from the transportable storage medium, decrypting the encrypted original cryptographic hash using a decryption cryptographic key, generating a verification fixed-length cryptographic hash from at least one such corresponding decrypted frame, and comparing the verification cryptographic hash and the original cryptographic hash; a validation module validating the decryption cryptographic key against user-provided credentials prior to decrypting the encrypted frames; a set of cryptographic instructions employing at least one of the encryption cryptographic key and the decryption cryptographic key; and a removable storage medium storing at least one of the encryption cryptographic key or the decryption cryptographic key such that a plurality of encryption or decryption cryptographic keys, associated with the removable storage medium, are capable of being utilized for encrypting or decrypting the individual frames, wherein the removable storage medium comprises only memory that stores the set of cryptographic instructions and the plurality of the encryption or decryption cryptographic keys, and is separate from a player which is capable of playing the video content on the transportable storage medium or a recorder which is capable of recording the video content on the transportable storage medium; wherein only encrypted and signed video content passes a first physical boundary separating the recorder from the transportable storage medium; wherein only the encrypted and signed video content passes a second physical boundary separating the transportable storage medium from the player.