Playlist burning in rights-management context

• US 20060235799A1
• Filed: 04/14/2005
• Published: 10/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Strom, Clifford P., Evans, Brian P., Prologo, Richard D., Dunbar, Geoffrey
• Granted Patent: US 7,856,404 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/59
• 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]

Abstract

A method is provided for a computing device to copy (burn) a playlist of tracks to a portable medium, where each track corresponds to a piece of digital content. At least one of the pieces of content is rights-management (RM) protected and accordingly is burned to the portable medium only in accordance with a corresponding digital license.

Claims

1. A method for a computing device to copy (burn) a playlist of tracks to a portable medium, each track corresponding to a piece of digital content, at least one of the pieces of content being rights-management (RM) protected and accordingly being burned to the portable medium only in accordance with a corresponding digital license, the method comprising:

constructing the playlist to include an identification of each track therein;

for each track corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content;

retrieving a license corresponding thereto, the license including a maximum playlist burn value setting forth a maximum number of times the license may be employed to burn the corresponding piece of content as a track within a particular playlist;

retrieving state information from a state store of the computing device including;

a maximum playlist burn count regarding how many track burns per playlist are available based on all available licenses for the track; and

a track-playlist burned count regarding how many times the track has been burned with regard to the playlist;

determining whether the track-playlist burned count is less than the maximum playlist burn count;

if the track-playlist burned count is not less than the maximum playlist burn count, performing a no-burn action;

if the track-playlist burned count is in fact less than the maximum playlist burn count, continuing;

until all tracks of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content have been processed;

after all tracks of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content have been processed, determining whether the no-burn action has been performed;

if the no-burn action has not been performed;

burning each track of the playlist to the portable medium; and

for each track of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content, incrementing the track-playlist burned count in the state store with regard to the track and the playlist, whereby such value is accurate and available should the track be again burned as part of the playlist.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising:

for each track corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content;

retrieving a license corresponding thereto, the license including a maximum track burn value and a maximum playlist burn value, the maximum track burn value in the license setting forth a maximum number of times the license may be employed to burn the piece of content as a track to a portable medium, the maximum playlist burn value setting forth a maximum number of times the license may be employed to burn the corresponding piece of content as a track within a particular playlist;

retrieving state information from a state store of the computing device including;

a track burns available count regarding how many track burns are left based on the license;

a maximum playlist burn count regarding how many track burns per playlist are available based on all available licenses for the track; and

a track-playlist burned count regarding how many times the track has been burned with regard to the playlist;

determining whether the track burns available count is zero;

if the track burns available count is zero, performing a no-burn action;

if the track burns available count is greater than zero, determining whether the track-playlist burned count is less than the maximum playlist burn count;

if the track-playlist burned count is not less than the maximum playlist burn count, performing the no-burn action;

if the track-playlist burned count is in fact less than the maximum playlist burn count, continuing;

until all tracks of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content have been processed;

after all tracks of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content have been processed, determining whether the no-burn action has been performed;

if the no-burn action has not been performed;

burning each track of the playlist to the portable medium; and

for each track of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content;

decrementing the track burns available count in the state store for the license corresponding to the track; and

incrementing the track-playlist burned count in the state store with regard to the track and the playlist, whereby such values are accurate and available should the track be again burned as part of the playlist.

3. The method of claim 1 comprising:

constructing the playlist to include an identification (TID) of each track therein;

constructing an identification (PID) of the playlist from the TIDs of the tracks of the playlist;

for each track corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content;

retrieving a license corresponding thereto, the license having an identification (LID);

retrieving state information from a state store of the computing device including;

a track burns available count stored according to the LID of the license;

a maximum playlist burn count stored according to the TID of the track; and

a track-playlist burned count stored according to the TID of the track and the PID of the playlist.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein constructing the PID of the playlist comprises ordering the TIDS of the tracks of the playlist in some predetermined manner, concatenating the ordered TIDs, and hashing the concatenated TIDs by way of a hashing algorithm to form the PID.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising constructing the playlist by receiving selections of the tracks thereof from a user of the computing device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein performing the no-burn action comprises halting and not taking any further action to burn the playlist.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein performing the no-burn action comprises setting a no-burn flag, noting a reason for doing so in a no-burn log, and continuing.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising, after all tracks of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content have been processed, and if the no-burn action has been performed, reporting out the no-burn log for review by a user of the computing device.

9. The method of claim 1 comprising retrieving state information from a state store of the computing device including a maximum playlist burn count regarding how many track burns per playlist are available based on all available licenses for the track, the maximum playlist burn count comprising a sum of the maximum playlist burn values from all of the available licenses for the track.

10. The method of claim 1 for the computing device to burn a playlist of unencrypted tracks to the portable medium, the method comprising burning each unencrypted track of the playlist to the portable medium.

11. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions implementing a method for a computing device to copy (burn) a playlist of tracks to a portable medium, each track corresponding to a piece of digital content, at least one of the pieces of content being rights-management (RM) protected and accordingly being burned to the portable medium only in accordance with a corresponding digital license, the method comprising:

constructing the playlist to include an identification of each track therein;

for each track corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content;

retrieving a license corresponding thereto, the license including a maximum playlist burn value setting forth a maximum number of times the license may be employed to burn the corresponding piece of content as a track within a particular playlist;

retrieving state information from a state store of the computing device including;

a maximum playlist burn count regarding how many track burns per playlist are available based on all available licenses for the track; and

a track-playlist burned count regarding how many times the track has been burned with regard to the playlist;

determining whether the track-playlist burned count is less than the maximum playlist burn count;

if the track-playlist burned count is not less than the maximum playlist burn count, performing a no-burn action;

if the track-playlist burned count is in fact less than the maximum playlist burn count, continuing;

until all tracks of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content have been processed;

after all tracks of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content have been processed, determining whether the no-burn action has been performed;

if the no-burn action has not been performed;

burning each track of the playlist to the portable medium; and

for each track of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content, incrementing the track-playlist burned count in the state store with regard to the track and the playlist, whereby such value is accurate and available should the track be again burned as part of the playlist.

12. The medium of claim 11 wherein the method comprises:

for each track corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content;

retrieving a license corresponding thereto, the license including a maximum track burn value and a maximum playlist burn value, the maximum track burn value in the license setting forth a maximum number of times the license may be employed to burn the piece of content as a track to a portable medium, the maximum playlist burn value setting forth a maximum number of times the license may be employed to burn the corresponding piece of content as a track within a particular playlist;

retrieving state information from a state store of the computing device including;

a track burns available count regarding how many track burns are left based on the license;

a maximum playlist burn count regarding how many track burns per playlist are available based on all available licenses for the track; and

a track-playlist burned count regarding how many times the track has been burned with regard to the playlist;

determining whether the track burns available count is zero;

if the track burns available count is zero, performing a no-burn action;

if the track burns available count is greater than zero, determining whether the track-playlist burned count is less than the maximum playlist burn count;

if the track-playlist burned count is not less than the maximum playlist burn count, performing the no-burn action;

if the track-playlist burned count is in fact less than the maximum playlist burn count, continuing;

until all tracks of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content have been processed;

after all tracks of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content have been processed, determining whether the no-burn action has been performed;

if the no-burn action has not been performed;

burning each track of the playlist to the portable medium; and

for each track of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content;

decrementing the track burns available count in the state store for the license corresponding to the track; and

incrementing the track-playlist burned count in the state store with regard to the track and the playlist, whereby such values are accurate and available should the track be again burned as part of the playlist.

13. The medium of claim 11 wherein the method comprises:

constructing the playlist to include an identification (TID) of each track therein;

constructing an identification (PID) of the playlist from the TIDs of the tracks of the playlist;

for each track corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content;

retrieving a license corresponding thereto, the license having an identification (LID);

retrieving state information from a state store of the computing device including;

a track burns available count stored according to the LID of the license;

a maximum playlist burn count stored according to the TID of the track; and

a track-playlist burned count stored according to the TID of the track and the PID of the playlist.

14. The medium of claim 13 wherein constructing the PID of the playlist comprises ordering the TIDS of the tracks of the playlist in some predetermined manner, concatenating the ordered TIDs, and hashing the concatenated TIDs by way of a hashing algorithm to form the PID.

15. The medium of claim 11 wherein the method comprises constructing the playlist by receiving selections of the tracks thereof from a user of the computing device.

16. The medium of claim 11 wherein performing the no-burn action comprises halting and not taking any further action to burn the playlist.

17. The medium of claim 11 wherein performing the no-burn action comprises setting a no-burn flag, noting a reason for doing so in a no-burn log, and continuing.

18. The medium of claim 17 wherein the method further comprises, after all tracks of the playlist corresponding to a piece of RM-protected content have been processed, and if the no-burn action has been performed, reporting out the no-burn log for review by a user of the computing device.

19. The medium of claim 11 wherein the method comprises retrieving state information from a state store of the computing device including a maximum playlist burn count regarding how many track burns per playlist are available based on all available licenses for the track, the maximum playlist burn count comprising a sum of the maximum playlist burn values from all of the available licenses for the track.

20. The medium of claim 11 for the computing device to burn a playlist of unencrypted tracks to the portable medium, the method comprising burning each unencrypted track of the playlist to the portable medium.