Open Competition 1 - Information Technology

Content Specific Camcorder Jamming for Digital Projectors

Sponsor: Dolby Laboratories (formerly CINEA, Inc.)

• Project Performance Period: 11/1/2002 - 10/31/2005
• Total project (est.): $2,347,603.00
• Requested ATP funds: $2,000,000.00

The motion picture industry loses an estimated $3 billion annually due to piracy. A large portion of that loss is attributable to people using camcorders to illegally record movies shown in theaters, and then duplicate these recordings for resale. The motion picture industry is concerned that new digital cinema technology will create more opportunities for piracy due to the higher quality of the recordings and the increasing ease of sending video files over the Internet. These concerns have impacted the roll-out of digital cinema. Existing technologies can protect digital content only up until the time of presentation, or provide forensic information after piracy is discovered. To deter recording in theaters, Cinea plans a two-year project to develop and test prototype technology for distorting unauthorized recordings of digital movies without affecting human visual perception of the original version. Based on a previous feasibility study, the company will modify the timing and modulation of the light used to create the displayed image such that frame-based capture by recording devices is distorted. Any copies made from these devices will show the disruptive pattern. The research will focus on generating the optical distortions, providing the tools to integrate them into digital video streams through production systems, adapting projector systems to recognize when to include distortion and what distortion to include, analyzing overall effectiveness both qualitatively and quantitatively, and ensuring that the technology cannot be defeated by removal of the optical disruptions from copied material. Cinea plans to integrate its new technology with the dominant digital projectors but also will demonstrate that the approach can work on other platforms. Sarnoff Corporation (Princeton, N.J.) will conduct research on image manipulation and analyze the distortion and possible countermeasures, and the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, Calif.) will evaluate the system in testing with human subjects. The ATP funding is needed because Cinea is a small company and lacks the resources to develop the technology on its own, and private investors are wary because of the risks involved in this research effort. If successfully developed, the technology could reduce piracy losses by at least 50 percent, remove a barrier to market penetration by digital cinema and high-definition television, and provide a piece of the infrastructure for digital rights management.

For project information:

Laurence Roth, (571) 323-0070
lroth@cinea.com

ATP Project Manager

Barbara Cuthill, (301) 975-3273
barbara.cuthill@nist.gov