System and method for supplying and managing usage rights based on rules

• US 20040034582A1
• Filed: 06/03/2003
• Published: 02/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ContentGuard Holdings, Inc. (Pendrell Corporation)
• Original Assignee: ContentGuard Holdings, Inc. (Pendrell Corporation)
• Inventors: Wang, Xin, Tadayon, Bijan, Gilliam, Charles P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,206,765 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/31
• CPC Class Codes: 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]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system and method for enforcing rights expressions specifying manners of use of an item, include specifying by a potential recipient of an item a first rights expression indicating a first manner of use of the item proposed by the recipient; specifying by a provider of the item a second rights expression indicating a second manner of use of the item proposed by the provider; determining if there is a correspondence between the first rights expression and the second rights expression; and applying a rule to a determined correspondence between the first rights expression and the second rights expression to determine if the recipient should be granted use of the item.

Claims

1. A method for enforcing rights expressions specifying manners of use of an item, said method comprising:

specifying by a potential recipient of an item a first rights expression indicating a first manner of use of said item proposed by said recipient;

specifying by a provider of said item a second rights expression indicating a second manner of use of said item proposed by said provider;

determining if there is a correspondence between said first rights expression and said second rights expression; and

applying a rule to a determined correspondence between said first rights expression and said second rights expression to determine if said recipient should be granted use of said item.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing access to said item by said recipient if said correspondence is within a range.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said first rights expression and said second rights expression includes a prohibited manner of use of said item and said method further comprises:

denying access to said item by said recipient if at least one of said first rights expression and said second rights expression matches said prohibited manner of use.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing partial access to said item by said recipient if said correspondence is partial.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said first rights expression and said second rights expression include respective conditions for accessing said item and said method further comprises:

matching said respective conditions between said first rights expression and said second rights expression to determine said correspondence.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said respective conditions include respective ranges and said method further comprises:

matching said respective ranges of said conditions between said first rights expression and said second rights expression to determine said correspondence.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said first rights expression and said second rights expression include respective ranges for the respective manners of use and said method further comprises:

matching said respective ranges between the respective manners of use to determine said correspondence.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

specifying by said recipient of said item a plurality of first rights expressions indicating respective manners of use of said item by said recipient; and

specifying by said provider of said item a plurality of second rights expressions indicating respective manners of use of said item.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

resolving conflicts between the plural first rights expressions and the plural second rights expression based on said rule.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

resolving conflicts between said first rights expression and said second rights expression based on said rule,

wherein said rule specifies that said conflicts are resolved in manner most favorable to said recipient.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

resolving conflicts between said first rights expression and said second rights expression based on said rule,

wherein said rule specifies that said conflicts are resolved in manner most favorable to said provider.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

resolving conflicts between said first rights expression and said second rights expression based on said rule,

wherein said rule specifies that said conflicts are resolved in manner specified by said system.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the plural first rights expressions and the plural second rights expressions include respective conditions for accessing said item.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining a most restrictive manner of use of the plural first rights expressions and the plural second rights expressions,

wherein said rule specifies that said conflicts are resolved in manner consistent with said most restrictive manner of use unless a condition of said respective conditions for accessing said item is met.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining a least restrictive manner of use of the plural first rights expressions and the plural second rights expressions,

wherein said rule specifies that said conflicts are resolved in manner consistent with said least restrictive manner of use unless a condition of said respective conditions for accessing said item is not met.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing access to said item by said recipient if said manner of use specified in said first rights expression is a subset of said manner of use specified in said second rights expression.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said first manner of use and said second manner of use comprise a first usage right and a second usage right, respectively.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein said use of said item includes access to said item.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein said recipient includes at least one of a user of said item, a distributor of said item and a consumer of said item.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said item includes at least one of digital content, digital goods, digital services, non-digital content, non-digital goods and non-digital services.

21. A computer system comprising one or more memories and one or more processors and configured to perform the method of claim 1.

22. A computer-readable medium bearing instructions arranged to cause one or more processors to perform the method of claim 1.

23. A system for enforcing rights expressions specifying manners of use of an item, said system comprising:

means for specifying by a potential recipient of an item a first rights expression indicating a first manner of use of said item proposed by said recipient;

means for specifying by a provider of said item a second rights expression indicating a second manner of use of said item proposed by said provider;

means for determining if there is a correspondence between said first rights expression and said second rights expression; and

means for applying a rule to a determined correspondence between said first rights expression and said second rights expression to determine if said recipient should be granted use of said item.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein said means for specifying said first rights expression, said means for specifying said second rights expression, said means for determining and said means for applying comprise devices of a computer system.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein said means for specifying said first rights expression, said means for specifying said second rights expression, said means for determining and said means for applying comprise computer readable instructions recorded on a computer readable medium.