Secure IP based streaming in a format independent manner

• US 20030188152A1
• Filed: 04/02/2002
• Published: 10/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lotspiech, Jeffrey B., Nusser, Stefan, Westerink, Peter, Brew, Glenn E., Belknap, William R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,249,264 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/153
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

A system, method and computer readable medium for providing secure IP-based streaming in a format independent manner is disclosed. The method on a content mastering system begins with an encoded media file consisting of content data and associated metadata. First, the metadata is read from the encoded media file. Next, the encoded media file including the content data and the associated metadata is encrypted. Then, in a streaming server system, the encoded/encrypted media file is divided into more than one data packet, streamed in accordance with one or more parameters in the metadata. Each data packet includes a portion of the encoded/encrypted media file and an offset value corresponding to a location within the encoded/encrypted media file. The data packets are then streamed to a client information processing system (i.e., the client) over a network.

Claims

1. A method on a server information processing system for providing streaming data, comprising:

receiving a media file including content data and associated metadata, wherein the media file has been encoded and encrypted;

receiving plain metadata associated with the media file;

dividing the media file which has been encoded and encrypted into more than one data packet, wherein each data packet includes a portion of the media file and an offset value corresponding to a location within the media file; and

streaming the more than one data packets over a network to a client as directed by one or more parameters in the metadata associated with the media file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first receiving step comprises:

receiving an encoded media file including content data and associated metadata, wherein the media file has been encrypted using a stream cipher.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first receiving step further comprises:

wherein the media file has been encoded using the MPEG 2 compression algorithm.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second receiving step comprises:

receiving plain metadata associated with the media file, wherein the plain metadata includes a bitrate value.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the streaming step comprises:

streaming the more than one data packets over a network to a client using the RTP protocol.

6. A method on a client information processing system for receiving streaming data, comprising:

requesting a media file including content data and associated metadata;

receiving one or more data packets associated with the requested media file, wherein each data packet includes a portion of the media file which has been encrypted and encoded and wherein each data packet includes an offset value corresponding to a location within the media file;

decrypting each data packet using the offset values in each data packet;

decoding each data packet; and

rendering the content data in each data packet.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the decrypting step comprises:

decrypting each data packet using the offset values in each data packet, wherein a stream decipher algorithm is used for the decrypting.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the decoding step comprises:

decoding each data packet, wherein the MPEG 2 decoding algorithm is used for decoding.

9. A computer readable medium including computer instructions on a server information processing system for providing streaming data, the computer instructions providing instructions for:

receiving a media file including content data and associated metadata, wherein the media file has been encoded and encrypted;

receiving plain metadata associated with the media file;

dividing the media file which has been encoded and encrypted into more than one data packet, wherein each data packet includes a portion of the media file and an offset value corresponding to a location within the media file; and

streaming the more than one data packets over a network to a client as directed by one or more parameters in the metadata associated with the media file.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the first instructions for receiving comprise:

receiving an encoded media file including content data and associated metadata, wherein the media file has been encrypted using a stream cipher.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first instructions for receiving further comprise:

wherein the media file has been encoded using the MPEG 2 compression algorithm.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the second instructions for receiving comprise:

receiving plain metadata associated with the media file, wherein the plain metadata includes a bitrate value.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions for streaming comprise:

streaming the more than one data packets over a network to a client using the RTP protocol.

14. A computer readable medium including instructions on a client information processing system for receiving streaming data, the computer instructions providing instructions for:

requesting a media file including content data and associated metadata;

receiving one or more data packets associated with the requested media file, wherein each data packet includes a portion of the media file which has been encrypted and encoded and wherein each data packet includes an offset value corresponding to a location within the media file;

decrypting each data packet using the offset values in each data packet;

decoding each data packet; and

rendering the content data in each data packet.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions for decrypting comprise:

decrypting each data packet using the offset values in each data packet, wherein a stream decipher algorithm is used for the decrypting.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions for decoding comprise:

decoding each data packet, wherein the MPEG 2 decoding algorithm is used for decoding.

17. A server information processing system for providing streaming data, comprising:

an encoded media file including content data and associated metadata;

an encrypter for encrypting the media file including the content data and the associated metadata; and

a streaming server for dividing the media file which has been encoded and encrypted into more than one data packet, wherein each data packet includes a portion of the media file and an offset value corresponding to a location within the media file, and streaming the data packets to a client over a network as directed by one or more parameters in the metadata.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the encrypter comprises:

an encrypter for encrypting the media file including the content data and the associated metadata, wherein a stream cipher is used for encrypting.

19. A client information processing system for receiving streaming data, comprising:

a request for a media file including content data and associated metadata;

one or more data packets, wherein each data packet includes a portion of the media file, which has been encoded and encrypted, and an offset value corresponding to a location within the media file;

a decrypter for decrypting each data packet using the offset values in each data packet;

a decoder for decoding each data packet; and

a renderer for rendering the content data in each data packet.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the decrypter comprises:

a decrypter for decrypting each data packet using the offset values in each data packet, wherein a stream decipher is used for decrypting.