DTIC ADP011833: Status of Optical Disk Standards and Copy Protection Technology

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TITLE: Status of Optical Disk Standards and Copy Protection Technology
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Invited Paper

Status of Optical Disk Standards and Copy Protection Technology

Di Chen*, President, Chen and Associates Consulting, Mound, MN 55364

ABSTRACT

Optical data storage is now well into the second decade of continuing market and technology expansion. Media
removability, whish is the main attribute of this technology, presented the optical recording industry with unmatched
opportunities and also new challenges. On the one hand, data interchange between the media and drives from different
sources becomes a major concern, which can only be solved if international standards for all optical recording
disk/cartridge are available. Many standards organizations, with the help of world wide industrial support, took up the
challenge, and numerous international standards were established which are now being adapted. One the other hand, copy
protection technology must be developed to prevent illegal copying and distribution of contents using this removable media.
This need is accentuated by the proliferation of low cost CD and now DVD disks replication means and the availability of
recordable and rewritable CD and DVD devices. This paper provides an update of the brief summary of the current status
of the international optical disk standards published ealier 1 and a breif review of the copy protection technology.

Keyword: Optical recording, international standards, copy protection

I. INTRODUCTION

Research and development in optical data storage started more than three decades ago. Product introduction however was
not realized until early 1 980's. Initial devices were mainly read only or write-once-read mostly (W ORM) types. The very
first attempt to offer a guideline of a WORM disk standard was presented by T. A. Olson 2 at the Optical Data Storage
Topical Meeting in 1983. Subsequently, the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) took on the task to promote optical
disks international standards and held numerous meetings on the standards development. Participation of ANSI in
developing the optical disk standards started in 1984 and the X3 B1 1 committee was created. The first B1 1 Chairman was
Mike Deese, who held the first International Standardization Organization (ISO) SC23 meeting in Japan. In the ensuring
years, B1 1 committee was chaired by Joe Zajaeczkowski, Ken Hallam, Pat Sandell and now John Neumann. The B1 1
committee is now organized under National Committee for Information Technology Standards (NCITS). Concurrently, the
European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) added the optical disk standards to their standards activities and
formed a Technical Committee TC3 1 in 1984. These activities are now coordinated by the joint technical committee (JTC1)
under joint effort of ISO and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). All industrial nations, with US, Japan
and some European countries as the major contributors, joined this effort and resulted in numerous international standards,
including read only, WORM, recordable (Dye polymer or ablative media) and rewritable disks, (magneto optic or phase
change media) with disk diameters ranging from 80 mm to 356 mm. The most popular read only Compact Disc (CD-
ROM), started with a de-facto standard by Philips and Sony, are now also embraced by the international standards. More
recently, Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) technology was introduced. The standards work on this type of disks is on Fast
Track and the first group of DVD disc standards have been completed.

The ease of copying information to a recordable or rewritable CD or DVD optical disc brought about the need for copy
protection. The work was started over four years ago. The three industrial concerns, namely the Information Technology
(IT), the Consumer Electronics (CE) and the Content Providers such as the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and Secure
Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), realizing the importance of copyprotection, agreed to join force to develop the required

* Correspondence: Email dichen2127@cs.com

8

In Optical Storage and Optical Information Processing, Han-Ping D. Shieh, Tom D. Milster,
Editors, Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 4081 (2000) • 0277-786X/00/S15.00

technology. The work is coordinated under the Copy Protection Technology Working Group (CPT-WG), with Allen Bell of
IBM as the Chairman. CPT-WG meets monthly, participated by all industrial concerns, with the support of the DVD Forum
WG-9, Mt. Fuji, DVD-CCA, MPA, SDMI, and many other organizations. The technologies developed to date includes the
proprietary Content Scrambling System administrated by DVD-CCA, the use of Watermark in the content. More recently,
the proprietary Copy Protection techniques for Recordable Media and Prerecorded Media (CPRM and CPPM) were
developed which will be available for licensing.

In this paper, we will review the activities of of ISO/IEC JTC 1 , ANSI, ECMA and other organizations including OSTA,
and DVD-Forum. The status of copy protection technologies developed to date will then be discussed.

n. ANSINCITS Bll STANDARDS ACTIVITIES

The American National Standards Institute started the pioneering effort in optical disk standards and established the X3
B 1 1 (now NCITS Bll) committee in 1984. Much of the early work was in the WORM disks using ablative recording media
with 300 mm and 1 30 mm disk diameters. By late 1980 and early 1 990. recordable and rewritable disks was introduced. 90
mm, 120 mm (CD) and 130 mm disk sizes standards were advancing rapidly. Test and measurement standards were also
introduced. In the mid 1 990, DVD discs were developed. DVD-ROM, DVD-recordable and DVD-rewritable disc standards
are currently under intense development. The ANSI NCITS B1 1 activities and accomplishments over the past fifteen years
are monumental indeed. This is a tribute to the world wide contributions and cooperation from all national bodies,
companies, and individuals in this field.

Over the years, developers of optical recording media and drive have generated a set of important parameters which
collectively defines a disk standard. Nearly all disk and cartridge standards, irrespective to the size and usage, have
included detailed values and margins of these parameters to insure data interchange. These essential disk parameters are:

(1) Environmental: Operating, transportation and storage

(2) Mechanical and Physical:

(3) Optical:

(4) Reference Drive:

(5) Track Format:

(6) Data Format:

(7) Read /Write/Erase Laser Power and power control

(8) Data Coding: Modulation Code, Error Correction Code

(9) Defect management

(10) Test and measurement:

(11) Annexes: Optional features as permitted

Besides these, there are many variations and additions which may be required for a specific case.

With this many parameters which must be defined in detail for each disk standard, and be agreed by all concerns, the task
to establish a standard is indeed overwhelming. From the start of the acceptance of project proposal, going through a
number of versions of draft standards for review and comments with letter ballots, and eventually resolving all objections
and reach the final publication of an international standard, typically takes years of work. The projects developed under B1 1
committee and the resulting standards published are summarized in Table I.

As the optical disk standards activities gravitated into the international arena in the past two years, the work under NCITS
B1 1 has now dropped from an active to a maintenance mode.

ffl. ISO/IEC JTC1 STANDARDS ACTIVITIES

9

The members of the International Organization of Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission
participate in the development of International Standards through the joint technical committees established by the
respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in
fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. ISO/IEC
information technology technical committee JTC 1 was established to work on the standards in the information industry
including the optical disks. Within JTC 1 , there are a number of subcommittees (SC) each addressing a specific area of
work. Working groups (WG) within the SC are where the most significant work being conducted to address the technical
issues, and to resolve differences. All National Bodies (country members of ISO and IEC) can participate in this standards
work. Under the standard 5-stage development procedure, any standards project must first be approved, and editor(s)
assigned to prepare the working draft international standard (WD). The draft is then reviewed and modified by all National
Bodies. The working group is the venue where the National Bodies participate in resolving technical issues. The standards
so prepared then go through several letter ballots: Committee Draft (CD) and Final Committee Draft (FCD) at the SC level,
and Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) at the JTC 1 level. This balloting procedure can be as short as 6 months, or as
long as 1 8 months, depending on the technical maturity of the WD when it is first balloted. At long last, an international
standard will be published.. JTC 1 has also offered an additional method of producing an International Standard known as
the Fast Track procedure. In this case, after the approval of the standards project, and assignment of the editor(s), a draft
international standard (DlS)will be prepared. The draft is reviewed and modified by all national bodies and the working
groups will participate in resolving technical issues. The standards so prepared will go through one of more letter ballot
procedure..

IV. ECMA STANDARDS ACTIVITIES

The European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) was formed in 1 96 1 . In 1 987, a technical committee TC 97
became part of ISO/IEC JTC 1 , ECMA became A-liaison member of JTC 1 , thereby accelerating the process by which
ECMA standards can be adapted as an International Standard. Mr. Dora Hekimi held the position of Secretary General
from 1961 to 1991. This position is now taken over by Mr. J. van den Beld. The ECMA optical disk/ cartridge standards
activities are organized under TC 3 1 . From 1 987 to 1 99 1 , the work has been in the development of 1 30 mm WORM and
R/W disk standards, 90 mm R/W and CD-ROM. From 1992-1996, 90 mm and 130 mm disks of different applications were
included, together with SSF and CCS servo methods, and CD and PD format disks. Since 1997, 120mm and 80mm DVD
disk standards have been the center of action. The classification of Optical Disk Case/cartridge Standards defined by ECMA
and ISO/IEC is summarized in Table II 4 .

V. OTHER STANDARDS ACTIVITIES

Much of the ANSI and ECMA standards work are in coordination with the Japanese standards organizations. In fact, much
of the recent technical work on optical disk/cartridge was developed in Japan. DVD-Forum, chaired by Koli Hase of
Toshiba was founded in 1995 by 10 companies (Hitachi, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Philips, Pioneer, Sony, Thomson
Multimedia, Time Warner, Toshiba and Victor Company of Japan), with purpose of maintanence and development of DVD
specifications.. Currently there are 100 members who take part in the Forum activities, promoting and developing products
based on DVD Specifications, and receive information., to One of the main contribution of DVD Forum to DVD disc
standards is through the publication of DVD books. The DVD books published to date is listed in Table III 3 . There are
many verification laboratories established world wide, inlcuding Philips in Europe; Hitachi, JVC, MEI, Pioneer, Sony, and
Toshiba in Japan; ITRI in Taiwan, and Warner in US, to serve as the clearing house for disc or drive conformation to the
standards set by the books.

With respect to rewritable DVD discs, there is the Mount Fuji working group which deals with all aspects of the issues
related to Content Protection, Real Time recording, and Access Control. On audio recording, Secure Digital Music
Initiative (SDMI) is leading the effort.

10

Besides these organizations, a world wide trade association named OSTA (Optical Storage Technology Association) was
organized by Ray Freeman in 1 992, consisting of members from optical product manufacturers from three continents. The
purpose is to promote the use of writeable optical technologies and products for storage of computer data and images. In the
past, OSTA has been working on the migration path for the 130 mm and 90 mm writeable drives, to insure that technology
advances will not cause premature obsolicence. More recently, OSTA has been working on the Universal Data Format
(UDF), and compatibility issues for CD and DVD discs. A MutiRead technology was advanced which defined the
requirements for the readablility of CD-ROM, CD-R and CD-RW discs by all CD devices. This technology is being
extended for DVD drives.

There are many other standards activities world wide which will have an direct impact to Optical Disk standards. The data
format such as UDF as mentioned above, and the Multi Media Command Set Standards proposal under NCITS T10 for
example, can directly affect the ability for data interchange of optical disks. These activities should be taken into
consideration carefully in the development of disk/drives comforming to the specified International Standards.

VI. COPY PROTECTION TECHNOLOGY

In the US, there is a concerted effort to address the Content Protection Technology. The future market development in DVD
recordable technology depends on the availability of acceptable Content Protection standards. Development of the
technologies for the protection of intellectual properties has been in progress since the mid 1 990's. This effort involves
many complex issues such as the technology development, the legal reminification, the business interests, and the consumer
acceptance. To be acceptable to all concerns, this work has a goal to prevent illegal copying of contents, to be invisible to
users, to be compatible to existing architecture, to require minimum management, to be low cost, to encourage voluntary
compliant, to be robust and to allow technology growth.

There are many organizations currently involved in the development and administration of the copy protection
technologies. The Copy Protection Technology Working Group (CPT-WG) is the coordinating organization which ia
working with the Information Technology Inductry Association (ITI), the Content Providers such as the Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the Consumer Electronic
Manufacturers Association (CEMA) together to develop the required technology.. There is a monthly meeting to review
progresses and resolve issues. The DVD Forum has the WG-9 working group to addresses the DVD copyprotection in total
systems. The Technical Working Groups such as the ad hoc group AhO-3 within TC-3 1 which deals with the DVD-R
devices. To address the copy protection as data is transmitted, there is the Data Transmission Group which deals with
protection in the data interface. For the read only media such as DVD-ROM, a proprietory Content Scrambling System
(CSS) has been developed. This system is now implemented and available for licensing through DVD-CCA. An earlier
version of CSS unfortunately was broken by a hacker late last year, resulting in much legal and technological debate. The
other technique is the use of Water Mark which is embedded in the content and provides a way for tracking and control of
the stored information. This system is however still under development and not yet implemented for a number of reasons.
One is related the selection of the two proposed Water Mark techniques namely the Millennium system and the Galaxy
system. Decision has yet to be made as to which one to use. Also there has been much debates on the location where the
Water Mark detection should take place. It could reside in the drive or in the data processing system.

IBM, Intel, Toshiba and Matsushita (4C) have advance a general guide line of the architectural aspects of copy protection,
(copyprotection systems achitectural CPSA). 4C also introduced copyprotection techniques in two proposals, one for
recordable media (CPRM) and one for prerecorded media (CPPM). The system is based on three technical elements:

(1) Key management for interchangable media, (2) Content encryption and (3) Media Based renewability. Deteail of these
proposal can be accessed through 4C web site 5 . These proposals are currently under discussion and the technologies are
expected to be available for licensing in the near future.

The above mentioned technologies are media and drive related. There is also some interest to develop copy protection in the
data tr ansmi ssion between PC (video traqnsmission) and the display device (video receiver). A Digital Visual Interface

ii

(DVI) specification has been proposed by Intel, in corporation with Silicon Image. Information may be obtained from DVI
web site 6 .

Copy Protection technology is still at the stage of rapid development. It appears that all currently available techniques are
privately developed and details are not in the public domain. However, for the protection of content providers, disc and
drive manufacturers are urged to participate and endorse the copy protection technologies, for the benefit and health of the
entire industry.

vn. CONCLUSION

The creation of the international standards of optical data storage disks and cartridges is a major endeavor of this industry..
Earlier effort, with the exception of CD, was initiated in the US. Earlier US participants includes major companies such as
3M, DEC, IBM, Kodak, HP, Verbatim, and start-up companies such as ISI, MaxOptix, and Optotech. The critical
parameters and other pioneering work for optical disk standards were developed during this period. By 1 990's, the effort in
the development of optical data storage devices and media in US decreases drastically. Associated with the reduced US
drive and media industrial participation, the standards work started to migrated from US to Europe and Japan. At present,
ANSI NCITS B1 1 committee has reduced its work from the active to a maintenance mode. ECMA is now leading the
optical disk standards activities, and many of the hard technology and engineering work in standards are being carried out
in Japan. For the DVD disc standards work, major companies in Japan, such as Hitachi, MCC, Matsushita, Pioneer, Ricoh,
Sony, Toshiba, Yamaha, together with Philips in Europe, and HP in US, are now the main driving forces.

As the optical recording technology advances, the optical standards activities will continue to expand. Although it is
important to encourage new development, we must not loss sight in the ability to recover information stored in optical
disks. Studies have shown that most optical disks will have a data retention life of over 50 years. The main concern is
whether there will be a drive which can recover the data stored on the disk at that time. This may be the ultimate test of
Data Interchange that we should be addressing.

The ease of record data on optical disks brought about a concern for copy protection. The Information Industry, the Content
Provider and the Consumer Electronics Industry are joining force to develop user friendly, low cost solution to the copy
protection technology. Many approaches advanced to date are either being implemented or will be implemented in the near
future. It is however important to realize that any protection technology are susceptible to tempering, and in time could be
broken. Any copy protection technology must establish a clear path for migration to higher level of protection as the need
arises. This may be the best strategy to insure a long term solution for this complex problem

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors wish to a acknowledge helpful discussions with John Neumann and Paul Wehrenberg.

REFERENCE

1 . Di Chen, John Neumann, “Status of International Optical Disk Status”, Proc. SPIE vol. 3806, pp 94-1 02, 1 999

2 Olson, T. A. , Optical Data Storage, Ed. D. Chen, SPIE Vol 382, pp 164, 1983

3. ECMA Standardizing Information and Communication Systems, 1999, www.ecma.ch

4. After DVD-Forum, presented by Koji Hase at the #48 CPT-WG Meeting, March, 2000

5. 4C Entity, LLC web site: http://www.4Centity.com

6. DVI web site: www.digital-cp.com.

12

Table I. Summary of the Status of Projects Under NCITS Bll Committee:

Project

Disk

Dia.

(mm)

408-L

300

483-L

300

480-L

120

456-M

356

457-M

130

481-M

130

659-M

130

655-M

130

607-M

130

736-L

86

760-M

86

679-M

356

879-M

130

883-D

90

884-M

130

893-M

130

915-M

90

950-M

90

953-M

90

985-D

130

1000-L

130

1001-L

130

1004-M

130

1029-D

356

Read Worm MO PC Servo Cap. Publication Yr Note
only (MB) Pub

ISO 13614

ISO 13403

650 ISO 10149

ISO 10885

325/s X3 21 1

325/s X3 211

325/s X3 214

650/s X3 191

325/s X3 212

128 ISO 10090

113 X3214

X3 191

ISO 10089

X3 234

2000 ISO 13842 95

ISO 15041

X3 244

X3 246

2000 Bll 94/154 94

1000 ISO 13481 93

1300 ISO 13549 93

2600 ISO 14517

DIS 15882

CD-ROM

Unrecorded

Recordable

4/15 mod.

RZ modulation

Test method

CCW Tech.

Test method

Test Method

MCAV

Extended Cap

Test Method

Test Method

3

Table EL Classification of Optical Disk and Case/Cartridge Standards (After ECMA ) 3

iize

in mm

Maximum

Capacity

ECMA

Standard

1SO/IEC

Standard

Recording

Technology

Media Types

MO

PC

R/W

WORM

wo

p-

ROM

O-ROM

80

5,3 Gbytes **

ECMA-268

ISO/IEC 16449

TVD-

*OM

90

128 Mbytes

ECMA-154

ISO/IEC 10090

X

X

X

X

X

90

230 Mbytes

ECMA-201

ISO/IEC 13963

X

X

X

X

90

385 Mbytes

ECMA-223

none

X

X

90

640 Mbytes

none

ISO/IEC 15041

X

X

X

X

90

650 Mbytes

ECMA-239

ISO/IEC 15498

X

X

X

X

90

1,3 Gbytes

none

ISO/IEC 14760

X

X

X

120

660 Mbytes

ECMA-130

ISO/IEC 10149

:d-

*om

120

650 Mbytes

ECMA-240

ISO/IEC 15485

X

X

120

17.0 Gbvtes **

ECMA-267

ISO/IEC 16448

120

5,2 Gbytes

ECMA-272

ISO/EC 16824

TVD-

*OM

120

Case

ECMA-273

ISO/IEC 16825

Hase

120

6.0 Gbvtes

ECMA-274

ISO/IEC 16969

t-RW

130

650 Mbvtes

none

9171

X

130

650 Mbvtes

none

ISO/IEC 10089

X

X

130

650 Mbvtes

ECMA-153

ISO/IEC 11560

X

X

130

1 Gbvte

ECMA- 183

ISO/IEC 13481

X

X

X

130

1 .3 Gbvtes

ECMA- 184

ISO/IEC 13549

X

X

X

X

X

130

2 Gbvtes

ECMA- 195

ISO/IEC 13842

X

X

X

X

X

130

2.6 Gbvtes

none

ISO/IEC 14517

X

X

X

X

130

2.6 Gbytes

ECMA-238

ISO/IEC 15486

X

X

130

5.2 Gbvtes*

none

CD 15286

X

X

X

X

X

300

12 Gbvtes

ECMA- 189

ISO/IEC 13614

X

300

12 Gbytes

ECMA- 190

ISO/IEC 13403

X

356

6.8 Gbvtes

none

ISO/IEC 10885

X

356

14 8 Rr. 75 Gbvtes

F.CMA-760

TSfWFr 1 5RQR

X

15

Legend

X specified in the standard, * Double sided, ** Double sided, double layered
none no ECMA or ISO/IEC standard in existence for this ODC

Table m. DVD Book Construction (after DVD-Forum) 4

Book Name

DVD Specification

Version

DVD-ROM Part 1

Physical Specifications

1.0 2

DVD-ROM Part 2

File System Specifications

1.0 2

DVD-Video Part 3

Video Specifications

1.1.

DVD-Video Part 3

Reference Information- JacketPicture Format

1.0,

DVD-Video Part 3

Reference Information-IEC958 to convey non-PCM encoded
Audio bitstream

1.0,

DVD- Audio Part 4

Audio Specifications

1.1

DVD- Audio Part 4

Reference Information-Packed PCM: MLP Reference
Information

1.0

DVD-R (3.9 G) Part 1

Physical Specifications

1.0

DVD-R (3.9 G) Part 2

File System Specifications

1.0

DVD-R for General (4.7 G)
Part 1

Physical Specifications

1.95

DVD-R for General (4.7 G)
Part 2

File System Specifications

to be
issued

DVD-R for Authoring Part 1

Physical Specifications

2.0

DVD-R for Authoring Part 2

File System Specifications

1.9

DVD-RAM (2.6G) Part 1

Physical Specifications

1.0

DVD-RAM (2.6G) Part 2

File System Specifications

1.0

DVD-RAM (4.7G) Part 1

Physical Specifications

2.1

DVD-RAM (4.7G) Part 2

File System Specifications

2.0

DVD-RW Part 1

Physical Specifications

1.0

DVD-RW Part 2

File System Specifications

1.0

DVD-Video Recording Part 3

Video Recording

1.1

16