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Copy Generation Management System - Analog (CGMS-A) is a copy protection mechanism for analog television signals. It is not related to the Broadcast flag, which is designed for use in digital television signals. There is a digital form of CGMS specified as CGMS-D which is required by the DTCP ("5C") protection standard.

History

CGMS-A has been in existence since 1995, and has been standardized by various organizations including the IEC and IEA/CEA. It is used in devices such as PVRs/DVRs, DVD players and recorders, D-VHS, and Blu-ray recorders, as well certain television broadcasts. More recent TiVo firmwares comply with CGMS-A signals.

Applications

Implementation of CGMS-A is required for certain applications by DVD CCA license. D-VHS and some DVD recorders comply with CGMS-A signal on analog inputs. The technology requires minimal signal processing.

Standardization

CGMS-A is standardized in IEC 61880 to appear in the 525i and 480i video signal as vertical blanking interval (VBI) data on line 20. IEC 61880-2 and in EIA-J (without specifying the meanings of the bits) places it to line 41 of 520p signal. EIA/CEA-608-B puts it to line 21 for 525i and 480i. EIA/CEA-805 for component video interfaces standardizes it to line 41 for 480p signal, line 24 for 720p signal, and line 19 for 1080i signal.

Signalling

EIA-608-B specifies meaning of the 7-bit field placed on the data lines. The bits 4 and 3 contain the CGMS-A values, the bits 2 and 1 contain the Analog Protection System (APS) value, the bit 0 is the Analog Source Bit (ASB) specifying if the signal originates from a pre-recorded material, bits 5 and 6 are reserved.

CGMS-A is signalled by 2 bits in the vertical blanking interval (VBI) signal of analog television broadcasts according to the following matrix:

0	0	CopyFreely	Unlimited copies may be made of the content.
0	1	CopyNoMore*	One generation of copies has already been made; no further copying is allowed.
1	0	CopyOnce	One generation of copies may be made
1	1	CopyNever	No copies may be made of the content.

- CopyNoMore was not a part of the original standard. The 0,1 value originally was "Reserved".

Removal

The signal itself can be easily stripped by normalizing the VBI, eg. using some of the video stabilizers in use to counter the side effects of Macrovision butchering of the VBI.

The scheme can be made more robust by adding the Rights Assertion Mark (RAM); when the RAM is present but CGMS-A is not, the copying is denied, turning the scheme into a permission-based one. The RAM can be encoded by using the VEIL technology.

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-'''Continious Glucose Monitoring System''':
-A system in witch a small chip under the skin monitors the sugar "glucose" levels of a diabetic.
-Would be nice if this technology were to tell the user "with a beeping sound" when the glucose levels are low or high. At the moment a doctor must download the data in 3 day intervals. This is suppose to help the diabetic in their daily routine.  While the diabetic really wants to know at that time that the glucose is low.  Not three days later. With Wi-Fi technology and the ability of cell phones to download data. There is no reason the user should have to wait the three days for the glucose information...  With technology advancing maybe someone will see this and please help the diabetic community and implement this idea for the user and not for the doctor three days after the fact.
 '''Copy Generation Management System - Analog''' ('''CGMS-A''') is a [[copy protection]] mechanism for [[analog signal|analog]] [[television]] signals. It is not related to the [[Broadcast flag]], which is designed for use in [[digital television]] signals.  There is a digital form of CGMS specified as CGMS-D which is required by the [[DTCP]] ("5C") protection standard.