JPH1145461A - Disk, its discriminating method and device and its reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To satisfactorily discriminate an illegal copy, to realize versatile and firm security and to simply discriminate a disk even visually. SOLUTION: A radial bar code 34 is formed on the inner circumferential side of a specular surface area 32 and a concentric circular bar code 36 is formed by a pit string on the outer circumferential side. The radial bar code 34 is read out by moving a beam spot of a pickup from Pa to Pb by rotating a disk 30. The concentric circular bar code 36 is read out by moving the beam spot from Pa to Pc by rotating the disk 30 and also by seeking the pickup. A read-out signal at that time is decoded to obtain the contents of security information bar code-demodulated. The contents are compared with contents stored previously in a memory and the disk is discriminated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disc, an identification method and apparatus for the disc, and a reproduction apparatus for the disc, and more particularly to an optical disc storing software for a TV game, and an improvement on copy security suitable for discrimination and reproduction of the optical disc. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Software products such as audio software, video software, and computer programs are used for copying various recording media, for example, copying to a flexible disk and copying to a hard disk of a personal computer.
Alternatively, it has the characteristic that it can be easily modified and copyright infringement is likely to occur. At present, many illegally copied products are rampant, especially in application software such as games.

[0003] For this reason, measures for preventing unauthorized copying have been taken on media for software products, and a number of techniques for preventing unauthorized copying have been proposed. These methods can be roughly classified into a logical method for identifying an illegal copy in a signal manner and a physical method for identifying an illegal copy in a physical form. In either case, the basic idea is to record some unique code logically or physically on the medium itself or outside the medium, and by reading this, an unauthorized copy is identified. For example, a unique code that cannot be copied is recorded on a recording medium. Even if you can copy the main information such as audio / video and programs that are the original information,
The unique code part is not copied. Therefore, if the unique code portion is decoded at the time of reproduction, it is possible to discriminate an illegally copied product from a genuine product based on the presence or absence of the decoding. In general, physical methods that require significant equipment
It is more effective than a logical method that can be handled with simple equipment.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-282931 discloses that an ID program of a CD-ROM to be reproduced is read from an application program in the CD-ROM and the ID data of a CD-ROM set in a reproducing apparatus is read.
A CD-ROM playback device is disclosed which executes the application program when a match is found. CD data that cannot be copied is CD
-A catalog number recorded in a ROM or a character string such as "ABC" recorded in a specific file on a CD-ROM is used.

[0005] In order to prevent the security information from being easily copied, the most common method is to place the security information in an area that is not accessed by a normal reproducing device and detect it by a special reproducing device. As such examples, JP-A-6-203412 and Nikkei Electronics '97 .1.6 (NO.679) P13,14 (International Publication W096 / 1640)
1, there is an optical disk described in Japanese Patent Application No. 8-51520).
According to these, a mirror surface outside the information area on the inner circumference of the disk is selected, and the barcode is recorded there. In practice, a logo character is used. These are also
Another advantage is that discrimination between genuine and unauthorized discs can be made visually.

[0006]

By the way, in order to prevent illegal copying, consideration must be given from the following viewpoints. (1) As a basic function of security information recording, it is preferable that security information is not output as main information and cannot be found from outside. In other words, data that is invisible from outside the signal processing device for disk data,
Meaningless data is recorded on the disk as security data when viewed from a bus outside the device such as SCSI or the OS level so that the main information is not output from the processing device.

(2) Even if an illegally copied disk is manufactured based on the main information data output from the disk processing device, the security information is not copied. Further, the security information can be reliably read by an authorized processing device, and the reproduction process can be performed normally.

(3) Although not essential, it is preferable to comply with the physical standards of the disk and maintain the compatibility in the standard, because the possibility of using the disk as a disk resource, such as the combined use of manufacturing apparatuses, is increased. For example, the compatibility is maintained by using the same standard as the physical standard of a disk corresponding to a CD player or a CD-ROM drive of a personal computer.

However, the barcode disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-203412 is very easy to duplicate, and therefore has a low copy protection capability. Therefore, it is necessary to further enhance security by adding security information. At this time, it is desirable that the optical reproducing means of the ordinary reproducing apparatus can be used as it is, and that addition of new hardware is kept to a minimum. Specifically, it is advantageous that the barcode recording / reproducing means can be directly used for recording / reproducing security information to be added. Further, similarly to the barcode, it is more convenient to be able to visually confirm whether or not the disc is a regular disc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of these circumstances, and its object is to identify and prevent illegal copying in a favorable manner, to be able to cope with simple equipment, and to maintain compatibility. It is. Another object is to realize strong security by various security information. Still another object is to easily determine whether the product is genuine or not by visual inspection.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the disk of the present invention is characterized in that a concentric bar code and a radial bar code containing security information are recorded in a non-information area. According to one of the main aspects, the concentric barcode is formed by a series of pits containing security information. In the disc identification of the present invention, the content of security information of the pit row of the concentric bar code, the radial bar code, or the concentric bar code is stored in a memory in advance, and the read content is compared with the stored content of the memory. Done in

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail. First, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, the innermost peripheral portion of the optical disk disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-203412 will be described with reference to FIG.
A center hole 12 is provided at the center of the disk 10 for receiving a rotating shaft (not shown). Outside that, a clamp area 1 that does not act as a data storage area
4 are provided. Outside that, a mirror area 16 having a data recording layer is provided. Outside the area is an information area 18 in which main information such as music, video, programs and the like is recorded. Among these, the barcode 20 is formed in the mirror area 16 which is a non-information area. For example, the lot management of the disk manufacturing, the disk number or the like is modulated, or a desired symbol or the like is recorded as the radial barcode 20.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a disk 30 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 1A is a sectional view in the radial direction, and FIG. 1B is an enlarged view of a main part thereof. FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the disk 30. In these figures, the center hole 12 and the clamp area 14 at the center are shown in FIG.
Is the same as the background art. Next, as for the mirror surface region 32, a radial barcode 34 is formed on the inner peripheral side,
A concentric bar code 36 is formed on the outer peripheral side. The radial barcode 34 is a barcode similar to the background art described above. The concentric barcode 36 is composed of a pit row, and when viewed in combination with an adjacent mirror surface portion, is visually observed as a set of concentric rings. The concentric barcode 36 is modulated as a barcode when viewed from the radial direction of the disk 30.

The information area 18 outside the above non-information area is the same as in the background art. That is, the area is divided into a lead-in area 38, a data area 40, and a lead-out area 42 from the inner peripheral side. In the lead-in area 38, physical layer management information of the disk, for example, whether it is read-only, whether it is rewritable, the starting sector number of user data, and the like are recorded. The data area 40 is an area mainly used by the user, and stores, for example, user data, game programs, and the like. In the lead-out area 42,
Silence data etc. are recorded. The lead-out area 42 indicates the end of the data, and is a blank portion from the end of the data recording area to the outermost periphery of the disk.

Next, the reading operation of the bar codes 34 and 36 by the reproducing means of the disk 30 will be described.
When reading the radial barcode 34, the pickup (not shown) is fixed and the disk 30 is rotated. Thereby, the beam spot of the pickup moves from the position Pa to the position Pb in FIG. Next, when reading the concentric barcode 36, the disk 30 is rotated similarly and the pickup is moved to the concentric barcode 3.
Seek only in the radial width of 6. As a result, the trajectory of the beam spot moves from the position Pa to the position Pc in FIG. 3, and crosses the concentric barcode 36 obliquely.

The change in light amount and the change in tracking error when the barcode is traced as described above are barcode-modulated signals, which are read and decoded into security information. The security information itself may be anything, for example, a product number of the disc, characters such as "ABC" as disclosed in JP-A-6-282931, or other symbols.
Further, the format of the pit forming portion of the concentric barcode 36 does not have to be particularly readable by a reproducing device described later. That is, the format may be a special format that cannot be analyzed by the playback device, or may be a format similar to other signal portions that can be analyzed by the playback device to further enhance security.

Next, the configuration of the identification / playback apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, a signal output side of a pickup 50 for reading pit string data recorded on a disk 30 is connected to amplifiers 52 and 54.
It is connected to the. The RF signal output side of the amplifier 52 is R
It is connected to the F signal processing system 56 and the radial barcode decoder 58, respectively. The output side of the tracking error signal of the amplifier 54 is connected to the servo processing system 60 and the rectifier circuit 62.
It is connected to the. The output side of the RF signal processing system 56 is connected to a post-processing system (not shown) via a decoding processing system 64. The servo output side of the servo processing system 60 is fed back to the pickup 50 and the spindle motor 66.

The output side of the rectifier circuit 62 is connected to a disk processor 74 via a series circuit of a low-pass filter 68, a comparator 70, and a concentric bar code decoder 72.
It is connected to the. This disk processor 74 includes:
The security information memory 76 is connected. Also,
The disk processor 74 is also connected to an RF signal processing system 56, a servo processing system 58, a radial barcode decoder 58, and a host processor (not shown).

[0020] Of the above components, the pickup 50
This is for reading pit string data from the signal recording surface of the disk 30. In the RF signal processing system 56, the data read by the pickup 50 is deinterleaved,
Error correction and decoding are performed. In the signal decoding system 64,
Decoding of the decoded main data is performed in accordance with a standard such as MPEG, whereby an image signal or an audio signal is obtained. On the other hand, in the servo processing system 60, the servo control of the pickup 50 and the spindle motor 66 is performed based on the signal input from the amplifier 54 so that the light beam of the pickup 50 traces the pit row.

A dedicated disk processor 74 is used for such disk control. On the other hand, for example, a host processor is provided as a main CPU for the game, and division of labor with the disk processor 74 is performed.
Security information is stored in the memory 76 of the disk processor 74 in advance. As the security information, the radial barcode 34, the concentric barcode 36, and the data of the pit train of the concentric track are stored.

The radial barcode decoder 58 decodes the radial barcode 34 based on the sum of the RF signals, that is, the light amount signal. As a specific method of decoding the radial barcode 34, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 8-27744
No. 8 discloses this in detail. The concentric barcode decoder 72 may decode the concentric barcode 36 based on a servo tracking error signal in the present embodiment, although a similar light amount signal may be used. That is, the tracking error signal is first rectified by the rectifier circuit 62,
It is converted to DC. After that, the rectified signal is binarized (digitized) by the comparator 70 after unnecessary signal components are removed by the low-pass filter 68. The digitized signal is decoded by a concentric bar code decoder 72. If the bar code format is made common to the radial bar code and the concentric bar code, the bar code decoders 58 and 72 can be shared.
It has a separate configuration.

Next, an operation of disc identification, which is a characteristic operation of the present embodiment, will be described with reference to FIGS. 5B to 5D show main signal waveforms, and the flowchart of FIG. 6 mainly shows the operation of the disk processor 74. When the disk 30 is set (Y in FIG. 6, step S10), initialization for reading disk data is performed (step S12). More specifically, the disk 30 is rotated by the spindle motor 66, and the servo processing system 60 performs servo control so that the pickup 50 can read the pit string data. The disk processor 74 outputs a laser beam from the pickup 50 and issues an operation instruction to access the lead-in area 38.

Next, the disk processor 74 instructs the pickup 50 to seek inward from the lead-in area 38. As a result, the pickup 50 scans in the direction from Pa to Pb in FIG. 3 and the radial barcode 34 is read (step S14). The signal read by the pickup 50 is supplied to the radial barcode decoder 58 via the amplifier 52, where it is decoded and output to the disk processor 74. In the disk processor 74, the input radial bar code 34
It is determined whether or not the decryption result matches the security information stored in the memory 76 in advance. As a result, when they do not match (N in step S16),
The disc is identified as a copy, and the disc is ejected (step S18). Alternatively, the fact is transmitted to the host processor, and the decoding processing by the decoding processing system 64 is stopped. Conversely, if they match (step S
16 Y), proceed to the next step.

Next, the disk processor 74 instructs the pickup 50 to move slightly outward in order to read the concentric bar code 36. As a result, FIG.
As shown in (A), the pickup 50 seeks from Pa to Pc to the outer peripheral side by the width of the concentric barcode 36, and the concentric barcode 36 is read (step S20). FIG. 5A shows the locus of the beam spot at this time. As shown in FIG. 5 (B), the tracking error signal read by such scanning outputs a track-crossing signal in the pit formation portion,
No signal is output at the mirror portion. When this signal is rectified by the rectifier circuit 62 and the high-frequency component is further removed by the low-pass filter 68, the signal becomes a substantially binarized signal as shown in FIG. This is shown in FIG.
It is digitized as shown in (D).

The digital signal is supplied to a concentric bar code decoder 72, where it is decoded and output to a disk processor 74. The disk processor 74 decodes the input concentric barcode 36,
It is determined whether or not the security information previously stored in memory 76 matches. As a result, when they do not match (N in step S22), the disc is identified as a copy product, and the disc is ejected (step S18). Alternatively, the fact is transmitted to the host processor, and the decoding processing by the decoding processing system 64 is stopped.
Conversely, when they match (Y in step S22), the process proceeds to the next step.

Next, the disk processor 74 instructs the pickup 50 to move on the concentric track in order to read the information recorded by the pit train on the concentric track. As a result, a concentric track is read (step S24). The read signal is supplied to an RF signal processing system 56, where the read signal is decoded.
The result is supplied to the disk processor 74 and compared with the security information also stored in the memory 76. As a result, if they do not match (step S2
6N), the disc is identified as a copy, and the disc is ejected (step S18). Alternatively, the fact is transmitted to the host processor, and the decoding processing by the decoding processing system 64 is stopped. Conversely, if they match (Y in step S26), the disc is determined to be genuine and normal playback is performed (step S28). For example, an operation of reading a user file in the data area 40 and starting a game application is performed.

As a result, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Non-information areas that are not normally accessed are not copied. Therefore, even if the disc of the present embodiment is copied, the security information cannot be detected, and the main information is not reproduced. Therefore, extremely effective copy protection can be achieved.

(2) This is a quasi-logical recording method called a bar code, and it is not necessary to add a function for operating in an analog manner, such as a pit wobble, to a disk manufacturing apparatus. The disk manufacturing apparatus only needs to add a recording function to the non-information area, and can be handled with relatively simple equipment. Disk manufacturing costs are also low.

(3) It is possible to change the presence or absence and contents of security information of radial and concentric bar codes and their pit string data according to the title and lot of the disk, and furthermore, the change processing can be performed in real time on the production line. Can also be done. Also, a large number of types of security information can be created by combining them, and as much security as possible can be realized. That is, even if the security information of one disk is analyzed, the security information is different for other lots and products, so that the security information of all products is not analyzed at once.

(4) Both radial and concentric bar codes have a low recording density and are recorded in a wide area. For this reason, it is possible to visually confirm the barcode and confirm whether or not the disc is a legitimate disc without requiring an identification device, which is very simple. Further, since the existence of these barcodes is clear, there is an advantage that it is rather hard to notice that they are security information.

(5) Since the main information reproducing apparatus is the same as a normal reproducing apparatus, an LSI can be used as it is. The disk identification can be dealt with by improving only the firmware of the disk processor, which is advantageous in cost.

(6) This is an operation for a non-information area not related to the main information, and the user data is not processed at all. Therefore, the reliability of the user data is maintained as it is.

There are many embodiments of the present invention, and various modifications can be made based on the above disclosure.
For example, the following is also included. (1) In the above-described embodiment, a radial barcode, a concentric barcode, and a pit row in the concentric barcode are used as security information, but only one of them may be used. Or a combination of the two. In this way, by using various combinations, it is possible to achieve security according to the degree of the request.

(2) The recording format of the radial and concentric barcodes may be common or different. If the common format is used, the decoder can be used in common, and the device configuration can be simplified. Also,
If a different format is used, the data is read by a separate decoder, but there is an advantage that the analysis of security information becomes more difficult. The same applies to the contents of the barcode, and the recorded contents of the radial and concentric barcodes may be common or different.

(3) Although the above embodiment is an example of a single-sided disk, this may be applied to each side of a double-sided disk.

(4) Although the above-described embodiment uses a general optical disk as an example, if a non-information area exists, a CD-ROM, a mini disk, an MO disk, a DVD (Digital Video
sc) -Applicable to various recording media such as a ROM and a magnetic disk.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since a concentric barcode and a radial barcode are formed in the non-information area, and the contents of the pit row of the concentric barcode and the concentric barcode are used as security information, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Unauthorized copying can be satisfactorily identified and prevented. (2) Simple equipment can be used, and compatibility can be maintained. (3) Strong security can be realized by various security information. (4) A legitimate product and a fraudulent product can be easily distinguished by visual inspection.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a disk according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view showing a disc of the background art.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the appearance of the disk of the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main part of the identification / playback apparatus of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a signal waveform of a main part of the identification / reproduction device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing main operations of a disk processor of the identification / playback apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 30 Disc 12 Center hole 14 Clamp area 16, 32 Mirror area 18 Information area 34 Radial barcode 36 Concentric barcode 38 Lead-in area 40 Data area 42 Lead-out area 50 Pickup 52, 54 Amplifier 56 RF signal processing system 58 Radial bar code decoder 60 Servo processing system 62 Rectifier circuit 66 Spindle motor 68 Low pass filter 70 Comparator 72 Concentric bar code decoder 74 Disk processor 76 …memory

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A disc including an information area and a non-information area, wherein a concentric barcode containing security information is recorded in the non-information area. 2. A disc including an information area and a non-information area, wherein a radial barcode containing security information is recorded in the non-information area, wherein the non-information area contains concentric circles containing security information. A disc on which a barcode is recorded. 3. The disk according to claim 1, wherein the concentric barcode is formed by a pit row containing security information. 4. A disc identification method for discriminating a disc according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the security information as the content of the concentric barcode and the security information as the content of a pit string of the concentric barcode is used. . 5. A first memory means for storing the contents of the security information of the concentric bar code; a first read decoding means for reading and decoding the concentric bar code; 4. A first identification unit for identifying a disc by comparing the security information obtained by the decoding with the content decoded by the first reading decoding unit.
Disc identification device as described. 6. A second memory means for storing security information of a pit string of the concentric barcode; a reading means for reading pit string information of the concentric barcode; security stored in the second memory means Information and
4. The disc identification device according to claim 3, further comprising: second identification means for identifying the disc by comparing the pit string information read by said reading means. 7. A third memory means for storing the contents of the security information of the radial barcode; a second reading and decoding means for reading and decoding the radial barcode; a security stored in the third memory means. 7. The disc identification device according to claim 5, further comprising: third identification means for comparing the information with the content decoded by the second read decoding means to identify the disc. 8. An identification device according to claim 5, further comprising an exclusion unit for excluding the disk when the disk is identified as an illegal copy by any one of the identification units. A disk reproducing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.