Rights expression profile system and method

• US 20040236717A1
• Filed: 03/10/2004
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ContentGuard Holdings, Inc. (Pendrell Corporation)
• Original Assignee: ContentGuard Holdings, Inc. (Pendrell Corporation)
• Inventors: Raley, Michael Charles, Demartini, Thomas M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,371 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• 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 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction

Abstract

A system, method and device for creating a rights expression for association with an item for use in a system for controlling use of the item in accordance with the rights expression, including specifying rights expression information indicating a manner of use of an item, the rights expression information including at least one element, the element having a variable and corresponding value for the variable; generating a profile of the rights expression information, including removing the value for the variable from the element; and generating an identification for the profile, whereby the rights expression information can be enforced on the device based on the variable and the identification for the profile.

Claims

1. A method for creating a rights expression for association with an item for use in a system for controlling use of the item in accordance with the rights expression, said method comprising:

specifying rights expression information indicating a manner of use of an item, said rights expression information including at least one element, said element having a variable and corresponding value for said variable;

generating a profile of said rights expression information, including removing said value for said variable from said element; and

generating an identification for said profile,

whereby said rights expression information can be enforced on a device based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting said identification for said profile to a device adapted to situationaly determine said variable and enforce said rights expression information based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said transmitting step comprises:

transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a predetermined order and situationally determining untransmitted variables.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said transmitting step comprises:

transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a non-predetermined order and situationally determining untransmitted variables.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting said identification for said profile along with machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions to a device adapted to follow said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions to determine said variable and enforce said rights expression information based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said transmitting step comprises:

transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a predetermined order and determining untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said transmitting step comprises:

transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a non-predetermined order and determining the untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting said identification for said profile to a device adapted to follow machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions to determine said variable and enforce said rights expression information based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said transmitting step comprises:

transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a predetermined order, determining the machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions associated with said profile, and determining untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said transmitting step comprises:

transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a non-predetermined order, determining the machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions associated with said profile, and determining the untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

11. A system for creating a rights expression for association with an item for use in a system for controlling use of the item in accordance with the rights expression, said system comprising:

means for specifying rights expression information indicating a manner of use of an item, said rights expression information including at least one element, said element having a variable and corresponding value for said variable;

means for generating a profile of said rights expression information, including removing said value for said variable from said element; and

means for generating an identification for said profile,

whereby said rights expression information can be enforced on a device based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for transmitting said identification for said profile to a device adapted to situationaly determine said variable and enforce said rights expression information based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said transmitting means comprises:

means for transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a predetermined order and situationally determining untransmitted variables.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein said transmitting means comprises:

means for transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a non-predetermined order and situationally determining the untransmitted variables.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for transmitting said identification for said profile along with machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions to a device adapted to follow said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions to determine said variable and enforce said rights expression information based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said transmitting means comprises:

means for transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a predetermined order and determining untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein said transmitting means comprises:

means for transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a non-predetermined order and determining the untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for transmitting said identification for said profile to a device adapted to follow machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions to determine said variable and enforce said rights expression information based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said transmitting means comprises:

means for transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a predetermined order, determining the machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions associated with said profile, and determining untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein said transmitting means comprises:

means for transmitting one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile in a non-predetermined order, determining the machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions associated with said profile, and determining the untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

21. The system of claim 11, wherein said means for specifying, said means for generating said profile and said means for generating said identification comprise devices of a computer system.

22. The system of claim 11, wherein said means for specifying, said means for generating said profile and said means for generating said identification comprise computer readable instructions recorded on a computer readable medium.

23. A device for controlling use of an item in accordance with a rights expression for use in system for creating the rights expression for association with the item, said device comprising:

means for receiving an identification for a profile of rights expression information and a variable from said rights expression information, said rights expression information indicating a manner of use of an item and including at least one element having said variable and a corresponding value for said variable, said profile of said rights expression information, including said value for said variable removed from said element; and

means for enforcing said rights expression information based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

24. The device of claim 23, further comprising:

means for situationaly determining said variable and enforcing said rights expression information based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

25. The device of claim 24, wherein said rights expression information includes one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile received in a predetermined order and the device further includes means for situationally determining untransmitted variables.

26. The device of claim 24, wherein said rights expression information includes one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile received in a non-predetermined order and the device further includes means for situationally determining the untransmitted variables.

27. The device of claim 23, further comprising:

means for receiving said identification for said profile along with machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions; and

means for following said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions to determine said variable and enforce said rights expression information based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

28. The device of claim 27, wherein said rights expression information includes one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile received in a predetermined order and the device further includes means for determining untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

29. The device of claim 27, wherein said rights expression information includes one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile received in a non-predetermined order and the device further includes means for determining the untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

30. The device of claim 23, further comprising:

means for receiving said identification for said profile; and

means for following machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions to determine said variable and enforce said rights expression information based on said variable and said identification for said profile.

31. The device of claim 30, wherein said rights expression information includes one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile received in a predetermined order and the device further includes means for determining the machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions associated with said profile, and means for determining untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

32. The device of claim 30, wherein said rights expression information includes one or more variables associated with said identification for said profile received in a non-predetermined order and the device further includes means for determining the machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions associated with said profile, and means for determining the untransmitted variables according to said machine-interpretable reconstruction instructions.

33. The device of claim 23, wherein said means for receiving and said means for enforcing comprise computer readable instructions recorded on a computer readable medium.