WO2002045403A1

WO2002045403A1 - Method and systems for controlling document reproduction

Info

Publication number: WO2002045403A1
Application number: PCT/FR2001/003814
Authority: WO
Inventors: Peter Cole; Alfio Roberto Grasso
Original assignee: Gemplus
Priority date: 2000-12-01
Filing date: 2001-12-03
Publication date: 2002-06-06
Also published as: FR2817692B1; AU2002216160A1; FR2817692A1

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for controlling reproduction by reproduction means of documents subjected to copyright. The invention is characterised in that the method consists in associating with each document (1), an information concerning rights of reproduction of said document, the reproduction means (2) operating a verification of said information before authorising reproduction of said document.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEMS FOR REPRODUCING CONTROL OF

DOCUMENTS

The invention relates to a method and systems for controlling document reproduction.

The invention makes it possible to make available, for example in a library, systems for reproducing documents, some of which may be subject to copyright law and “reproduction limitations” or for which copyright royalties would be payable to the holders of said rights, in the event of reproduction.

In the following we will speak to simplify copyright.

The documents concerned can be in the form of printed documents (literary works, newspapers, articles, etc.) or images on paper or equivalent support (photos, printed or scanned images).

In the current systems of provision of reproduction services, no distinction is made between, on the one hand, the reproduction of documents coming under copyright and, on the other hand, that of documents in the public domain .

Libraries therefore see themselves

• obliged, in order to comply with copyright law, to pay copyright fees on any reproduction made inside the library, which involves unnecessary expenditure for. these libraries.

Furthermore, it is not possible to pay the reproduction rights, precisely, to copyright holders on individual works. There is, in addition, no way to prevent reproduction of documents not authorized by the copyright holder. In addition, readers who do not comply with copyright regulations may engage in unfair reproduction of documents, that is, reproduction beyond reasonable limits.

Another problem is that the repetitive reproduction of certain documents, which ^• are not physically fit for such treatment would cause their deterioration, so that librarians do would realize this repetitive reproduction • after the onset of damage in these documents. Reference may be made to the state of the art consisting of the following documents: PCT AU 92 00143, PCT AU 97 00017, PCT AU 99 01165.

The subject of the invention is a method of controlling the reproduction of a document subject to copyright called copyright, by means of reproduction, mainly characterized in that it consists in attaching to each document, information concerning reproduction rights. of said document, the reproduction means operating a verification of said information before authorizing the reproduction of said document.

According to another characteristic of the invention, information on rights ^• reproduction of said document includes data on royalties due under copyright.

According to another characteristic, the means of reproduction authorize the reproduction of a document as soon as a transaction leading to the payment of rights to copyright holders has taken place.

A subject of the invention is also a system for controlling the reproduction of copyrighted documents, said system comprising: information carriers relating to reproduction rights associated with each copyrighted document; reproduction means comprising data decoding means and means allowing transactions, said reproduction means being used for the reproduction of said documents; means of verification of information carriers to authorize the reproduction of a document as soon as a transaction leading to the payment of rights to copyright holders has taken place.

A solution according to the invention therefore consists in integrating data carriers in each document capable of being reproduced, said data carriers allowing the automatic identification of the document or of its copyright status; included in each equipment ^{"reproduction,} data reading means present on. said supports to identify the document or obtain its copyright material status, and integrate into the playback equipment, means for prevent reproduction as long as there has not been a transaction leading to the payment of an adequate reproduction right, to the copyright holder of this document.

In the case where the reproduction equipment is a photocopier, the data medium is an electronic label with electromagnetic interrogation, the data reading means are constituted by an interrogator of these electronic tags, and the transaction means are constituted by a reader / programmer for user identification card or library payment card, the adequate reproduction costs and the amounts of copyright being debited from said user identification or payment card or from a bank account associated with said card.

In this embodiment, the electronic tag can also be an electronic key for automatic control systems for the loan and return of documents by library users, as well as in automated departmental sorting and storage systems. detection, set up in the library for documents likely to be reproduced and borrowed.

According to alternative embodiments of the invention, the labels can be read only, but in a preferred embodiment, said labels are read / write and are designed so that several labels, present at the same time in a field can all be read.

According to another characteristic, the label includes information indicating the most recent reproduction operations carried out there. According to another characteristic, the means for decoding the reproduction means are constituted by an interrogator for electronic labels.

The ^benefits' conferred by the invention are that it allows libraries to: - Monitor and .contrôler reproducing documents in relation to the copyright law.

Determine, in a precise manner, the amount of fees to be paid in return for a reproduction of documents and the persons to whom these fees must be paid, and collect these fees from the users performing this reproduction. prohibit the reproduction of certain documents, and authorize the reproduction of others documents at reduced prices.

Provide their users with a statement of costs related to the reproduction of documents and copyright. - Collect statistics describing, for each document, the frequency of the reproduction of their holdings, thus allowing the introduction of alternative means for the supply of copies of documents too fragile to resist repetitive reproduction.

According to another embodiment, the reproduction means consist of a digital scanner capable of providing digital and encrypted copies of a document. According to this embodiment, the information carriers concerning the reproduction rights associated with each copyrighted document consist of encrypted digital copies and the encryption key. According to this embodiment, the data decoding means comprise a decryption module associated with the verification means to authorize the reproduction of a 'document - as soon as a transaction leading to the payment of rights to copyright holders has taken place.

Advantageously, the document to be copied can be a work of visual art or a work of auditory art such as a musical score.

The transaction means include means for identifying the user.

The transaction means comprises a user transaction card capable of allowing the withdrawal of predetermined amounts.

The amounts relate to fees to be paid to copyright holders.

According to another characteristic, the means of reproduction are capable of limiting the reproduction of the whole of a document in accordance with laws. According to another characteristic, said means of reproduction are capable of limiting the number of copies that a user is entitled to make of a document in accordance with laws.

According to another characteristic, the information carriers include information indicating copyright status.

According to another characteristic, the transactions take place by electronic transfer of funds.

According to another characteristic, the system also includes a database participating in determining the copyright status of a document to be reproduced.

The system also includes a database in which the amounts to be paid to copyright holders are accumulated.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear clearly on reading the description which is given below and with reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1A illustrates a system according to a first embodiment making it possible to implement the invention in the case of the reproduction of pages of a book; FIG. 1B illustrates a system according to a second embodiment;

Figure 2 describes the structure of an electronic tag form.

Figure 3 illustrates a reader antenna for electronic tag.

FIG. 1 represents a reproduction control system comprising a photocopier 2. A document 1 to be reproduced is placed on the plate 15 of the photocopier 2 and includes an electromagnetic interrogation label 3. This label can be read by a reader 4 connected to one or ^'more drive interrogation antennas referenced 5, 6, and 7 and arranged so as to communicate with said electromagnetic interrogation tag 3, and regardless of the position of the document 1 to be reproduced.

. The reader 4 can also include a transaction printer allowing its output 11 to deliver a printed statement of the transactions concerning the reproductions and the costs related to these.

The photocopier 2 is arranged to contain a transaction module 8 for users. This module is of the smart card reader type. To this end, it has a card slot 9 and is capable of receiving a user transaction card 10. The user transaction card may be a card allowing the identification of a user, preferably in a secure manner, such as a smart card (s) or else a simple debit card allowing the collection of user fees. author and document reproduction costs.

FIG. 2 describes a preferred embodiment for the electronic label 3..

The label 3 comprises a label body 12, generally made of flexible plastic (or paper), on which an antenna 13 has been printed, generally under shape of a thin metallic spiral. This label also includes a microcircuit (electronic chip) 14 with possibly resonant capacitors forming, with the inductance 13 of the label antenna, a circuit resonant at the interrogation frequency, this in order to improve - electromagnetic coupling. Such devices are well known in the prior art and are described in detail in the cited references.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary embodiment of a reader antenna 16 for reading the information contained in the microcircuit of the label. This antenna is in the form of a single loop 16 of conductive material which can surround the plate 15 of the photocopier, and possibly having two terminals 17 allowing the establishment of a connection with the reader 4 of the electronic label. . This form of antenna is suitable for establishing a near field magnetic coupling with said antenna 13.

For the operation of the system, the user must insert a transaction card into the slot 9 of the module 8 (or transaction reader), and place the document to be copied 1 in a suitable position on the photocopier 2. The reader 4 d electronic label 3, interrogates the label 3 in the document to be reproduced by means of the interrogation antennas 5, 6, and 7, in order to determine, beforehand, whether there is only one document to copy . It is advantageous, for this purpose, that the tags and the interrogator are designed to make it possible to read a plurality of tags present simultaneously in the field. On reading the information on the label, the reader checks, either from data directly incorporated into the label or from data associated with the document in a database linked to said reader, whether the ^• document can be copied and in what proportion it can be copied.

Such verification may include the use of a central database 40 in the library, the. reader 4 being in this case connected to said base as illustrated in FIG. 1.

Before the reproduction of the document (photocopy) is carried out, a transaction takes place for the irrevocable withdrawal of an appropriate reproduction right from the debit card 10 of the user or from an account associated with the card. the user and the irrevocable transfer of an appropriate reproduction right to bank accounts held in the name of the copyright holder. At the same time, provision may be made for updating statistics kept in the library database, said statistics relating to the number of reproductions made, possibly on the basis of a count per document. To this end, a program is provided in the central unit of the database 40 to operate such an update which, moreover, falls within the general knowledge of those skilled in the art. At the end of the transaction, the user can optionally receive a printed status of the transaction through the slot 11 of the printer of the reader 4. In another preferred embodiment, the user can be identified by presenting an identification number, and possibly a security code (secret code) instead of inserting an identification card 10 or a transaction card.

In such an embodiment, either the transaction is recorded in the form of a user claim vis-à-vis the library, or funds are withdrawn from a user transaction account previously opened and fed

In other embodiments, transaction recording data and copyright royalties to be paid are either automatically loaded into a memory of the copier, either loaded manually into memory, or downloaded by direct connection to a database. library data, or through an Internet connection.

In another preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1B, the control system comprises a scanner 30 (instead of a photocopier as illustrated in FIG. 1A). The scanner 30 makes digital copies of the copyrighted document. These copies are then encrypted in such a way that reproduction is only possible by providing a K key.

Such a key K can be recorded in the chip card (s) for identification of the user or financial transaction, or be recorded in the debit card proper and encrypted so that any attempt to find the key is impossible .

In such embodiment, the reproduction of the digital copy ^• in a useful and understandable by a person can be performed in another device called decoding module 31, which only works in conjunction with such a chip card (s) or debit card and only when necessary, during a transaction guaranteeing the payment of additional royalties to copyright holders. Such an irrevocable payment - of additional fees can be made advantageously by a network link on the Internet.

The decoding module 31 is for example produced by a microcomputer provided with a chip card reader 32. The microcomputer then comprises a program for decoding the coded image file obtained by the scanner and is preferably connected to a screen 33.

Such an embodiment of the invention is suitable for controlling the reproduction of visual works of art or auditory works of art such as paintings (photos, images) and musical scores.

In another embodiment of the invention, the user may be billed for the wear of the document subjected to reproduction. In yet another embodiment, when reproducing printed articles, bar codes can be printed on the surface of copies of copyrighted or substituted documents made available as a result of damage to certain reproduced documents. excessively repetitive.

Such encrypted bar codes can be used to disseminate copyright information, possibly in collaboration with a database. Such codes can be scanned by an equipment added to the copier, to allow a document control ^'does not yet wearing electronic tags.

It should be noted that, in one of the modes of preferred embodiment of the invention, the possibility of reading several labels present simultaneously in a field allows the detection and prevention of any fraudulent reproduction which may occur when a document is copied by covering it with another document not subject to copyright.

Within the framework of this possibility, the libraries will be entitled, according to the principle of the invention, to apply a policy allowing the reproduction of a document that does not bear a label or other encrypted indication of its copyright status. , or alternatively a policy aimed at preventing the reproduction of any document that does not bear a label or visual encrypted indication indicating its copyright status.

It is also possible, within the framework of the prevention of fraudulent reproduction, to analyze, at least in the case of scanner devices, the content of a document subjected to reproduction, and to compare this content with the prior registration stored in a database.

Claims

1. Method of controlling reproduction of document subject to copyright called copyright, by means of reproduction, characterized in that it consists in attaching to each document, information concerning rights of reproduction of said document, the means of reproduction operating a verification of said information before authorizing the reproduction of said document.

2. A method of controlling the reproduction of a document subject to copyright according to claim .1, characterized in that it consists in verifying the information relating to reproduction rights of said document, said information comprising - data corresponding to the amount of the royalties to pay under copyright.

3. A method of controlling document reproduction according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the reproduction means authorize the reproduction of a document as soon as a transaction has led to the payment of rights to the copyright holders.

4. System for controlling the reproduction of copyrighted material comprising: information carriers relating to reproduction rights associated with each copyrighted document; reproduction means comprising means for decoding data and means allowing transactions, said means of reproduction being used for the reproduction of said documents; means of verification of information carriers to authorize the reproduction of a document as soon as a transaction leading to the payment of rights to copyright holders has taken place.

5. System according to claim 4, characterized in that the reproduction means are constituted by a photocopier.

6. System according to claims 4 .and 5, characterized in that ^' said information carriers consist of an electronic label with electromagnetic interrogation.

7. System according to claim - 6, characterized in that said electronic label is used in the management of documents by a library.

8. System according to claim 6, characterized in that said label is writable and capable of being read.

9. System. According to claim 6, characterized in that said electronic label includes written information corresponding to the most recent reproduction operations which have been carried out there.

10. System according to one of claims 4 to 9, characterized in that said decoding means consist of an interrogator for labels electronic.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that said interrogator comprises a plurality of label reader antennas arranged so as to receive the responses coming from the labels regardless of the positioning of a document to be reproduced.

12. System according to claim 4, characterized in that:

- The means of reproduction consist of a digital scanner capable of providing digital and encrypted copies of a document.

13. System according to claim 12, characterized in that the information carriers relating to reproduction rights associated with each copyrighted document consist of encrypted digital copies and the encryption key.

14. System according to claim 12, characterized in that: the data decoding means comprise a decryption module associated with the verification means to authorize the reproduction of a document as soon as a transaction leading to the payment of rights to the holders of the copyright has taken place.

15. System according to claims 12 or 13, characterized in that • the document to be copied is a work of visual art or- a work of auditory art such as a musical score.

16. The system of claim 4, characterized in that said transaction means comprise means serving to identify the user.

17. The system of claim 16, characterized in that said transaction means comprises a user transaction card capable of allowing the withdrawal of predetermined amounts.

18. System according to claim 17, characterized in that said amounts relate to royalties to be paid to copyright holders.

19. The system of claim 4 or 5 or 12, characterized in that said reproduction means are capable of limiting the reproduction of the whole of a document in accordance with laws.

20. System according to claim 4 or 5 or 12, characterized in that said means of reproduction are capable of limiting the number of copies that a user is entitled to make of a document in accordance with laws.

21. The system of claim 4, characterized in that the information carriers include information indicating copyright status.

22. System according to claim 4, characterized in that the transactions take place by electronic transfer of funds.

23. System according to claim 4, characterized in that it also includes a database participating in determining the copyright status of a document to be reproduced.

24. System according to claim 4, characterized in that the system also includes a database in which the amounts to be paid to copyright holders are accumulated.