Patent ID: 7120252

Claim:
A system for automatically protecting private video content using cryptographic security for legacy systems, comprising: a transportable storage medium, comprising: recording logic intercepting a substantially continuous video signal representing video content in the process of being recorded on a transportable storage medium; a frame buffer dividing the intercepted substantially continuous video signal into individual frames during recording, each individual frame storing a fixed amount of data in digital form, and combining decrypted frames into a substantially continuous video signal during playback; a processor encrypting each individual frame into encrypted video content using an encryption cryptographic key and storing the encrypted frames during recording and retrieving the encrypted frames and decrypting each encrypted frame using a decryption cryptographic key during playback; reading logic outputting the substantially continuous video signal as video content in the process of being played from the transportable storage medium; a removable storage medium storing at least one of the encryption cryptographic key and the decryption cryptographic key, where the removable storage medium is removable with respect to the transportable storage medium; an authentication 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, storing the encrypted original cryptographic hash as a digital signature on a transportable storage medium, 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 individual frame, and comparing the verification cryptographic hash and the original cryptographic hash; and a validation module validating the decryption cryptographic key against user-provided credentials prior to decrypting the encrypted frames; wherein the removable storage medium includes memory that is coupled to a standardized connector which enables utilization of at least one of a plurality of encryption cryptographic keys and a plurality of decryption cryptographic keys; wherein a set of cryptographic instructions is stored on the removable storage medium for employing at least one of the encryption cryptographic key and the decryption cryptographic key; wherein the removable storage medium comprises only the memory and is separate from a player which is capable of playing the video content on the transportable storage medium.