Usage Rights and Authentication Mapping

The use case for usage rights and authentication mapping share many similarities with the general and feature/episodic use case workflows (here and here, respectively), but also includes significantly more detail for how HAND ID™s are created and tracked.

In production planning, production assets are inventoried based on storyboarding and/or a production bible. In the same timeframe, a HAND ID™ is created and assigned to the project, capturing it for reference in a Talent ID database. This Talent ID, combined with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), is also retained for Rights Management. Note contract procurement also includes several steps prior to hiring talent to whom a HAND ID™ applies, i.e.,

· Initial talent engagement

· Deal negotiation

· Contract creation

· Contract signing

A HAND ID™ is thereby only assigned at the point when talent is hired.

An Asset Management System (AMS) also interfaces with an Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR, eidr.org) – an open system for tracking entertainment industry assets – in which identification data is created. The AMS also uses the HAND ID™ from the Talent ID database – attached to a replica to create a complete asset – to pair the ID to the source file.

Digital Assets requiring a tracking identifier are captured through a variety of scanning methods, both real-time (e.g., photogrammetry, metadata capture, point cloud, 2D-to-3D Neural Radiance Fields, [NeRF)) and from existing digital libraries (e.g., volumetric, metadata); original sources files are created from these scans. Note many of these assets arise from direct digital capture of human characteristics (e.g., body, voice, and other Name/Image/Likeness [NIL] attributes) and all tags and metadata associated with it. With identification data created, an employment-based replica can then be stored in the AMS

Rights management utilizes both the AMS and Talent ID database (with the HAND ID™ attached to the contract) to perform its functions in contract automation, clearance provider and governance provider.

Digital assets from the HAND ID™-fed Talent ID database (see above), combined with those scanned and pulled from archives are then stored in an AMS through the auspices of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA); this allows all captured digital asset data to track with HAND ID™ identifiers via DOIs provided by the Talent ID and Rights Management databases.

Digital assets are then made available in the proper file format to the Creation/Production process of entertainment creation, e.g., production, virtual production, post-production, VFX, and Game/AR/VR. Any asset updates from these processes, including creation of new assets, are captured (along with their metadata) and tracked by the AMS (and HAND ID™). Once completed, digital assets are released for distribution.

At the distribution stage, HAND ID™’s tracking of digital assets provides services to studio operations and legal departments, specifically verifying usage rights and authentication against the Talent ID (see above) and C2PA. Verification and Authentication draws on many other workflow processes and comprises several asset-related steps:

· Lookup and matching of Talent ID in HAND’s central database

· Generation of transaction clearances

· Payments via a 3rd party provider

· Asset Governance, including reporting and performance analytics (where applicable)

· Asset Deployment

Once cleared, assets become available to product/service lines specific to studio content operations, including marketing, game development, VR/AR and Licensing. Digital asset utility for these B2B or B2C product/service lines focus primarily on their integration with a feature film or TV episode, but trailers or clips (for marketing), video games, experiential environments (from VR/AR) and licensed merchandise are also included.