# US 8,543,623 B2 · Secure distribution of media data > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,543,623 B2 - Document ID: US8543623B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 12/942,606 - Filed: 2010-11-09 - Published: 2012-05-10 - Granted: 2013-09-24 - Earliest claimed: 2010-11-09 - Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation - Applicants: Rob A. Gearhart; Liam Harpur; Mark Kelly; John Rice - Inventors: Rob A. Gearhart; Liam Harpur; Mark Kelly; John Rice - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8543623B2 ## CPC - G06F 21/10: Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material (protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16) {; Digital rights management [DRM]} - G06F 16/43: Querying - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A technique for playing a media file by a data processing system. A degraded initial version of the media file is received from a sending data processing system. A supplemental version of the media file is received from the sending data processing system. The degraded version of the media file is merged with the supplemental version of the media file to form a combined media file, with the combined media file being played. In one embodiment, the degraded version of the media data has a reduced quality that is obtained by removing portions of the data and filling in the removed portions with dummy data. During a subsequent rebuilding of the media data by the receiving/recipient data processing system, a supplemental version of the media data is received and merged/combined with the degraded version to form a copy that corresponds to the original, high-quality version of the media data. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for playing a media file by a data processing system, comprising steps implemented by the data processing system of: receiving a degraded initial version of the media file from a sending data processing system; sending at least a portion of the degraded initial version of the media file to the sending data processing system to confirm successful receipt of the degraded initial version of the media file at the data processing system; receiving a supplemental version of the media file from the sending data processing system as a result of the sending data processing system having confirmed an identity of a recipient of the degraded initial version of the media file at the data processing system; merging the degraded version of the media file received from the sending data processing system with the supplemental version of the media file received from the sending data processing system to form a combined media file; and playing the combined media file by the data processing system. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the degraded version of the media file received from the sending data processing system and the supplemental version of the media file received from the sending data processing system are merged by the data processing system based on a network bandwidth established between the sending data processing system and the data processing system at a particular moment in time. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the degraded version of the media file received from the sending data processing system comprises dummy data interspersed within the degraded version of the media file. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the merging step comprises the data processing system placing data from the supplemental version of the media file at locations where the dummy data is interspersed within the degraded version of the media file. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the supplemental version of the media file comprises dummy data interspersed within the supplemental version of the media file. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 further comprising a step of preventing the combined media file from being stored in a persistent storage of the data processing system. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein data in the combined media file is multimedia data comprising video and audio data. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia data is encrypted. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the degraded version of the media file received from the sending data processing system and the supplemental version of the media file received from the sending data processing system are merged by the data processing system responsive to an identifier included with at least one of the initial version of the media file and the supplemental version of the media file matching a session identifier of a communication session between the sending data processing system and the data processing system. ### Claim 10 A data processing system for playing a media file, the data processing system comprising: a central processing unit (CPU), a computer readable memory, and a computer readable storage media; first program instructions to receive a degraded initial version of the media file from a sending data processing system; second program instructions to send at least a portion of the degraded initial version of the media file to the sending data processing system to confirm successful receipt of the degraded initial version of the media file at the data processing system; third program instructions to receive a supplemental version of the media file from the sending data processing system as a result of the sending data processing system having confirmed an identity of a recipient of the degraded initial version of the media file at the data processing system; fourth program instructions to combine the degraded version of the media file received from the sending data processing system with the supplemental version of the media file received from the sending data processing system to form the media file; and fifth program instructions to play the media file by the data processing system. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the degraded version of the media file received from the sending data processing system and the supplemental version of the media file received from the sending data processing system are merged by the data processing system based on a network bandwidth established between the sending data processing system and the data processing system at a particular moment in time. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the degraded version of the media file received from the sending data processing system comprises dummy data interspersed within the degraded version of the media file. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the merging step comprises the data processing system placing data from the supplemental version of the media file at locations where the dummy data is interspersed within the degraded version of the media file. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The data processing system of claim 11, wherein the supplemental version of the media file comprises dummy data interspersed within the supplemental version of the media file. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The data processing system of claim 10 further comprising a step of preventing the combined media file from being stored in a persistent storage of the data processing system. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The data processing system of claim 10, wherein data in the combined media file is multimedia data comprising video and audio data. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the degraded version of the media file received from the sending data processing system and the supplemental version of the media file received from the sending data processing system are merged by the data processing system responsive to an identifier included with at least one of the initial version of the media file and the supplemental version of the media file matching a session identifier of a communication session between the sending data processing system and the data processing system. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage media have stored thereon program instructions for distributing media data, wherein the program instructions comprise program code for performing the steps of claim 1 when executed by the data processing system. ### Claim 19 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of: forming the degraded initial version of the media file from a high quality version of the media file, wherein the combined file formed by merging the degraded version of the media file received from the sending data processing system with the supplemental version of the media file received from the sending data processing system corresponds to the high quality version of the media file. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, wherein the degraded initial version of the media file received from the sending data processing system is formed by removing portions of data from the high quality version of the media file and filling in the removed portions with dummy data to form the degraded initial version of the media file. ### Claim 21 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, further comprising fifth instructions for forming the degraded initial version of the media file from a high quality version of the media file, wherein the combined file formed by merging the degraded version of the media file received from the sending data processing system with the supplemental version of the media file received from the sending data processing system corresponds to the high quality version of the media file. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the supplemental version of the media file received from the sending data processing system includes data extracted from the media file by the sending data processing system. ### Claim 23 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the supplemental version of the media file received from the sending data processing system includes data extracted from the media file by the sending data processing system. ### Claim 24 (depends on 18) The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the supplemental version of the media file received from the sending data processing system includes data extracted from the media file by the sending data processing system.