Systems and methods for the copy-protected distribution of electronic documents
First Claim
1. A system for distributing electronic documents, said system comprising:
- a first computer;
a second computer;
a third computer; and
a network over which information may be transferred from said second and third computers to said first computer, wherein said first computer is configured for;
receiving operating sequence command data;
accessing an electronic document over said network by downloading, via at least two separate downloads, a plurality of data segments that are associated with an electronic document and that represent an encrypted form of said electronic document, at least one of said downloads being from said second computer and at least one of said downloads being from said third computer, said electronic document being encrypted by the effect of said operating sequence command data determining the order of said data segments, said plurality of data segments not being usable by a user as downloaded;
accessing reconstruction data over said network; and
using said reconstruction data and said encrypted form of said electronic document to make said electronic document available for use in a suitable decrypted form.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A peer-to-peer system for distributing electronic documents in which each peer computer is configured for receiving operating sequence command data, and for accessing an electronic document over a network by downloading, via at least two separate downloads, a plurality of data segments that are associated with an electronic document and that represent an encrypted form of the document. The document is encrypted by the effect of the operating sequence command data determining the order of the data segments, and the data segments are not usable by a user as downloaded. At least one of the downloads is from the second computer and at least one of the downloads is from a third computer. The system is further configured for accessing reconstruction data over the network and for using the reconstruction data and the encrypted form of the document to make the document available for use in a suitable decrypted form.
-
Citations
62 Claims
-
1. A system for distributing electronic documents, said system comprising:
-
a first computer;
a second computer;
a third computer; and
a network over which information may be transferred from said second and third computers to said first computer, wherein said first computer is configured for;
receiving operating sequence command data;
accessing an electronic document over said network by downloading, via at least two separate downloads, a plurality of data segments that are associated with an electronic document and that represent an encrypted form of said electronic document, at least one of said downloads being from said second computer and at least one of said downloads being from said third computer, said electronic document being encrypted by the effect of said operating sequence command data determining the order of said data segments, said plurality of data segments not being usable by a user as downloaded;
accessing reconstruction data over said network; and
using said reconstruction data and said encrypted form of said electronic document to make said electronic document available for use in a suitable decrypted form. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A peer-to-peer system for distributing electronic documents, said system comprising:
-
a first peer computer that is associated with a first user; and
a network over which information may be transferred from said first peer computer to a second peer computer that is associated with a second user, wherein said first peer computer is configured for;
dividing an electronic document into a plurality of data segments;
producing an encrypted form of said electronic document that is encrypted via an arrangement of said data segments, said arrangement being determined by a set of operating sequence command data;
transmitting said plurality of data segments to said second peer computer; and
generating a set of data that is useable for generating said set of operating sequence command data. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A method of distributing electronic documents, said method comprising the steps of:
-
receiving a request for an electronic document from a first peer computer connected to a network;
identifying a plurality of data network addresses, each of said plurality of data network addresses corresponding to a location of at least one of a plurality of data segments associated with said electronic document, said plurality of data segments being stored, in a distributed manner, on a plurality of peer computers;
providing an operating sequence command set that comprises said plurality of data network addresses; and
transmitting said operating sequence command set to said first peer computer so that said first peer computer may use said operating sequence command set to access at least one of said plurality of data segments. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
-
-
32. A method of distributing electronic documents, said method comprising the steps of:
-
receiving operating sequence command data;
accessing an electronic document over a network by downloading, via one or more downloads from each of a plurality of computers, a plurality of data segments that are associated with an electronic document and that represent an encrypted form of said electronic document, said electronic document being encrypted by the effect of said operating sequence command data determining their order, said plurality of data segments not being usable by a user as downloaded;
accessing reconstruction data over said network; and
using said reconstruction data and said encrypted form of said electronic document to make said electronic document available for use in a suitable decrypted form.
-
-
33. A system for distributing electronic documents within a peer to peer network, said system comprising:
-
a first peer computer associated with a first user;
a second peer computer associated with a second user; and
a data server unit, wherein;
said first peer computer is configured for dividing an electronic document into two or more data segments, said two or more data segments being associated with at least one correct playback sequence;
said data server unit is configured for generating an encryption sequence for said two or more data segments, said encryption sequence being different than said correct playback sequence; and
said second peer computer is configured for;
(a) receiving at least one of said data segments from said first computer, and (b) storing said at least one data segment in a file that corresponds to an encrypted form of said electronic document in which the data segments that comprise said electronic document are stored in said encryption sequence. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
-
-
36. A system for distributing electronic documents of a predetermined document data structure in a publicly accessible electronic data network, said system comprising:
-
a plurality of participant units that are connected to the electronic data network at least part of the time, each of the participant units being associated with a user and being constructed for executing a download of an electronic document by a participant unit or a server unit connected to the data network as well as for opening the electronic document by means of a playback unit, and wherein;
the participant units are constructed for accessing the electronic document over the publicly accessible electronic data network in such a way that multiple downloads of a plurality of associated data segments are executed, where at least one download is done by another participant unit that is associated with another user;
the participant units receive document and/or participant specific operating sequence command data from a command data unit connected to the electronic data network;
the plurality of electronic data segments are available to the participant through a plurality of downloads, are associated with the electronic document, and represent the form of the electronic document, the electronic document being encrypted by the effect of the operating sequence command data determining the order of the electronic data segments, which are not usable by the user in the way provided;
a reconstruction unit is connected to the electronic data network, the reconstruction unit being configured for storing reconstruction data related to an electronic document in an encrypted form; and
each of the participant units comprises a local decryption unit that is designed for at least one access to the reconstruction unit for each electronic document over the electronic data network and to bring together the encrypted form for making said electronic document available for use in a suitable decrypted form. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
-
-
43. A system for distribution of electronic documents of a predetermined data structure in a publicly accessible electronic data network, said system comprising:
-
a plurality of participant units connected to the electronic data network at least part of the time, each of said participant units being;
associated with a user, configured for executing a download of an electronic document from a participant unit connected to the electronic data network or from a server unit, and configured for opening the electronic document by means of a user-side playback unit, wherein each of said participant units comprises a publication unit that is configured for;
dividing the electronic document into a plurality of data segments;
producing a distributable version of the electronic document, the distributable version being encrypted via the arrangement of the data segments, and the arrangement of data segments being determined by operating sequence command data;
transmitting the plurality of electronic data segments to at least one other participant unit; and
recording document-specific data on a document name unit that is connected to the electronic data network and that comprises a data server unit that is connected to the electronic data network and that is configured for storing data about one or more data segments stored on at least one other participant unit, said data being used to generate operating sequence commands. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
-
-
61. A method of distributing copyright-protected electronic documents of a predetermined document data structure in a publicly accessible electronic data network, comprising the steps of:
-
receiving an inquiry for an electronic document from a participant unit connected to the electronic data network;
identifying a plurality of addresses that correspond to the storage locations of a plurality of data segments that are associated with the electronic document, the data segments being stored on a plurality of participant units in a distributed manner;
providing an operating sequence command set that contains the addresses in a predetermined sequence;
transmitting the operating sequence command set to the participant unit; and
using the operating sequence command set to access the plurality of data segments for purposes of storing the plurality of data segments on a participant-side in the predetermined sequence. - View Dependent Claims (62)
-
Specification