MICRONAS implements 'Secure MP3' (9916)

SDMI recommendations for download security realized:

Freiburg, November 1999 - At Comdex '99, the Swiss semiconductor company MICRONAS presents its future MP3 strategy. The core objective is the implementation of download security concepts conforming to the guidelines of the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI). The market leader in MP3 decoder technology will achieve this aim through strategic cooperation with internet content providers and the music industry.

Right from the start, the boom of the digital audio standard MP3 (short for MPEG Layer 3) has been accompanied by a fierce debate on the subject of download security. The music industry in particular wanted to put a stop to "internet piracy" as swiftly as possible. These endeavours led, at the beginning of 1999, to the biggest joint initiative in the history of the entertainment industry: the SDMI. Around 150 companies from all the sectors involved (disk companies, internet service providers, software manufacturers, internet content providers, technology companies, equipment and PC manufacturers) drew up guidelines for the legal use and reproduction of digital audio data. The SDMI initiative is intended to assure the (legal) future of digital standards such as MP3 and thereby provide the companies concerned with a reliable development perspective.

Diversity of standards

SDMI does not aim at a standard download security system, but only defines the requirements and the basic specifications. As with the digital audio standards (MP3, AAC, ATRAC, EPAC, MS Audio 4.0 etc.), it is to be left to the market to decide which systems will ultimately prove successful for which applications.

This development seems to present problems, however. That is, the consumers of entertainment electronics equipment are - unlike PC/internet users - unaccustomed to keeping up with changing standards and software releases or even frequently investing in new hardware. Therefore, MICRONAS will use its role as world market leader in the MP3 consumer sector to establish a reliable system which the end-user can comprehend.

The block diagram illustrates this concept for the secure copying of audio data:

1. An authenticated software module for secure data transfer conforming to SDMI (Licensed Compliant Module, LCM) is installed on the user's PC.

2. Within the LCM environment, the audio data downloaded from the internet in any standard are re-coded into the MP3 or AAC format to reduce the de-coding effort required on the playback side.

3. Then the data are encrypted with the ID of the target medium (e.g. a flash memory).

4. The encrypted data are transferred to the target medium in the playback device.

5. In the playback device, the data are decrypted and de-coded by a MICRONAS audio processor of the MAS 3509F family.

In terms of both the content providers and the storage media, MICRONAS will seek the cooperation of the market leaders and thereby ensure that both the end-customers and the equipment manufacturers can depend on reliable standards and thus achieve the required investment security.

MAS 3509F, the new MP3 chip generation from MICRONAS which will be available in the first quarter of next year, will already fully comply with the SDMI requirements regarding the security of copyrights and reproduction rights.