Contactless authentication of optical disk drives

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9043875-B2
Application number	US-201313782330-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2013
Priority date	Mar 1, 2013
Publication date	May 26, 2015
Grant date	May 26, 2015

Abstract

An optical disc drive (ODD) includes a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader. The reader includes a circuit and a coil antenna which has a rotational symmetry with respect to a rotation axis of a motor, shaft and turntable of the ODD. The coil antenna can be secured to a wall of a housing of the ODD or around the motor and/or shaft. The reader can read an RFID tag on an optical disc. The RFID tag includes a circuit and a coil antenna which has a rotational symmetry with respect to the disc. As a result, the RFID tag can be read while the disc is rotating. A magnetic insulating material such as a ferrite polymer composite film is used to magnetically insulate the coil antenna. An authentication code can be read from the RFID tag to control access to content of the optical disc.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical disc drive, comprising:
a turntable;
a shaft which connects the turntable to a motor;
a cover around the shaft;
a coil antenna around the cover, the coil antenna comprises a coil which is wound around the cover in multiple turns along a length of the cover, and the coil antenna has rotational symmetry about an axis of the shaft;
an RFID reader circuit connected to the coil antenna; and
a processor in communication with the RFID reader circuit, the processor receives data from the RFID reader circuit.

2. The optical disc drive of claim 1 , further comprising:
a magnetic insulating material between the coil antenna and the cover.

3. The optical disc drive of claim 2 , wherein:
the magnetic insulating material comprises a ferrite polymer composite film.

4. The optical disc drive of claim 1 , wherein:
the processor communicates the data to a host computing device to determine whether the data satisfies an authentication protocol and allows access to an optical disc if the host computing device indicates that the data satisfies the authentication protocol.

5. The optical disc drive of claim 1 , wherein:
the processor activates the RFID reader circuit to read the data when an optical disc is seated on the turntable and the shaft is rotating.

6. The optical disc drive of claim 1 , wherein:
the coil antenna has an impedance which is matched to an impedance of the RFID reader circuit using a shunt capacitor and a series capacitor.

7. The optical disc drive of claim 1 , further comprising:
a clamp above the turntable, wherein the shaft, the cover and the coil antenna are below the turntable.

8. An optical disc drive, comprising:
a housing;
a turntable within the housing;
a shaft which connects the turntable to a motor;
a cover around the shaft;
a coil antenna within the housing, the coil antenna has rotational symmetry about an axis of the shaft and is spaced apart from the turntable, and the coil antenna comprises a coil which is wound around the cover along a length of the cover;
a magnetic insulating material between the coil antenna and the housing;
an RFID reader circuit connected to the coil; and
a processor in communication with the RFID reader circuit, the processor receives data from the RFID reader circuit.

9. The optical disc drive of claim 8 , wherein:
the magnetic insulating material comprises a ferrite polymer composite film.

10. The optical disc drive of claim 9 , wherein:
the ferrite polymer composite film is secured to a wall of the housing and the coil antenna is secured to the ferrite polymer composite film.

11. The optical disc drive of claim 8 , wherein:
the processor activates the RFID reader circuit to read the data when an optical disc is seated on the turntable and the turntable is rotating.

12. The optical disc drive of claim 8 , wherein:
the RFID reader circuit comprises a shunt capacitor and a series capacitor which match an impedance of the RFID reader circuit to an impedance of the coil antenna.

13. A method for authenticating an optical disc, comprising:
rotating a turntable on which an optical disc is seated, wherein a shaft connects the turntable to a motor and a cover is around the shaft;
while the turntable is rotating, activating an RFID reader circuit which is connected to a coil antenna having a rotational symmetry with an axis of the turntable, the coil antenna comprising a coil which is wound around the cover along a length of the cover;
at the RFID reader circuit, reading an authentication code from an RFID tag carried by the optical disc; and
determining whether to allow access to the optical disc based on the authentication code.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein:
the determining whether to allow access comprises communicating the authentication code to a host computing device, and receiving a reply from the host computing device indicating whether to allow access to the optical disc.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein:
the host computing device access an online resource using the authentication code and receives a reply indicating whether to allow access to the optical disc.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein:
the RFID tag is carried in a hub of the optical disc, the hub extends around a central aperture in the optical disc; and
the RFID tag comprises a circuit and a coil antenna, the coil antenna of the RFID tag extends around the central aperture in multiple turns and has a rotational symmetry with the axis of the turntable when the optical disc is seated on the turntable.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein:
the coil antenna of the RFID tag is printed on a substrate which is attached to a surface of the optical disc.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein:
the coil antenna of the RFID tag comprises conductive ink.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein:
the coil antenna of the RFID tag is embedded in the optical disc.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein:
the coil antenna of the RFID tag is provided in a flexible printed circuit board which is attached to a surface of the optical disc.

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Mahanfar Alireza
• Shewan Benjamin
• Carole Remy
• Casebolt Mark
• Yu Tse-Ching
• Griffis Jeffrey
• De Luis Javier Rodriguez

Classifications

• G11B20/00876 Primary

  wherein physical copy protection means are attached to the medium, e.g. holograms, sensors, or additional semiconductor circuitry · CPC title

• H04L63/10

  for controlling access to devices or network resources · CPC title

• G06F21/30 Primary

  Authentication, i.e. establishing the identity or authorisation of security principals · CPC title

• G11B23/284

  on the record carrier · CPC title

• G11B23/042

  Auxiliary features (sensing such features G11B15/06) · CPC title