Digital rights management engine systems and methods

• US 20070100768A1
• Filed: 10/18/2006
• Published: 05/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Inventors: Boccon-Gibod, Gilles, Boeuf, Julien
• Application Number:
  US11/583,646
• Publication Number:
  US 20070100768A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1013 to locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/603 Digital right managament [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0492 by using a location-limited connection, e.g. near-field communication or limited proximity of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0825 using asymmetric-key encryption or public key infrastructure [PKI], e.g. key signature or public key certificates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/302 involving the integer factorization problem, e.g. RSA or quadratic sieve [QS] schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3242 involving keyed hash functions, e.g. message authentication codes [MACs], CBC-MAC or HMAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3271 using challenge-response

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for performing digital rights management. In one embodiment, a digital rights management engine is provided that evaluates license associated with protected content to determine if a requested access or other use of the content is authorized. In some embodiments, the licenses contain control programs that are executable by the digital rights management engine.

Claims

1. A method for managing access to or use of a piece of electronic content, the method comprising:

retrieving a control program associated with the piece of electronic content, the control program comprising instructions that, when executed by a digital rights management engine, are operable to evaluate a first condition and, upon determining that the first condition has been satisfied, enable a first use of the piece of electronic content;

storing state information in a database under the digital rights management engine'"'"'s control, the state information relating to the first use of the piece of electronic content;

executing the control program a second time to determine if a second use of the piece of electronic content is authorized, evaluating the first condition and a second condition, the evaluation of the second condition depending, at least in part, on the state information;

upon determining that the second condition has been satisfied, updating the state information and storing the updated state information in the database.

2. The method of claim 1, in which the state information stored in the database comprises a count of the number of times the piece of electronic content has been accessed.

3. The method of claim 1, in which the state information stored in the database comprises a measure of duration of use of the piece of electronic content.

4. The method of claim 1, in which the control program is obtained from a link object, the link object forming part of an authorization graph from a first node to a second node.

5. The method of claim 4, in which the first condition comprises a requirement that the link object be valid.

6. The method of claim 4, in which the first node represents a computing device and the second node represents a user of the computing device.

7. The system of claim 4, in which the first node represents a computing device and the second node represents a subscription service.

8. The system of claim 4, in which the first node represents a computing device and the second node represents a home network domain.

9. A system for managing access to or use of a piece of electronic content, the system comprising:

means for retrieving a control program associated with the piece of electronic content, the control program comprising instructions that, when executed by a digital rights management engine, are operable to evaluate a first condition and, upon determining that the first condition has been satisfied, enable a first use of the piece of electronic content;

means for storing state information in a database under the digital rights management engine'"'"'s control, the state information relating to the first use of the piece of electronic content;

means for executing the control program a second time to determine if a second use of the piece of electronic content is authorized, evaluating the first condition and a second condition, the evaluation of the second condition depending, at least in part, on the state information; and

means for updating the state information and storing the updated state information in the database upon determining that the second condition has been satisfied.

10. The system of claim 9, in which the state information stored in the database comprises a count of the number of times the piece of electronic content has been accessed.

11. The system of claim 9, in which the state information stored in the database comprises a measure of duration of use of the piece of electronic content.

12. The system of claim 11, in which the control program is obtained from a link object, the link object forming part of an authorization graph from a first node to a second node.

13. The system of claim 12, in which the first condition comprises a requirement that the link object be valid.

14. The system of claim 12, in which the first node represents a computing device and the second node represents a user of the computing device.

15. The system of claim 12, in which the first node represents a computing device and the second node represents a subscription service.

16. The system of claim 12, in which the first node represents a computing device and the second node represents a home network domain.