Method and device for digital broadcasting

• US 20070124750A1
• Filed: 09/01/2004
• Published: 05/31/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Koppalkar, Nittin, Sisodia, Rajendra, Bhowmick, Animesh
• Application Number:
  US10/572,617
• Publication Number:
  US 20070124750A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26613 for generating or managing keys in general key distribution for secret or secure communication involving central third party, e.g. key distribution center [KDC] or trusted third party [TTP] H04L9/083; network support of key management H04L63/06; key management for network security in communication control or processing H04W12/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4405 involving video stream decryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4623 Processing of entitlement messages, e.g. ECM [Entitlement Control Message] or EMM [Entitlement Management Message] arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services H04H60/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/1675 Providing digital key or authorisation information for generation or regeneration of the scrambling sequence pseudo-random number generators in general G06F7/58

Abstract

This invention relates to a broadcasting system/method where a broadcasting signal is encoded on the basis of one or more region codes. During decoding a decryption key and/or a pay-mode key is used where the keys is dependent on a region code representing a physical location of a receiver. In this way, a simple, reliable and efficient way of enabling region dependent broadcasting is obtained. Further, it is possible to have different pay modes dependent on a physical location or region. Additionally, the pay modes may be changed dynamically since only the associations between the region codes and the pay-modes need to be updated.

Claims

1. A method of receiving a broadcast signal, the method comprising the steps of

receiving an encoded broadcast signal (100) in a receiver (200) from a broadcast device (300), where the encoded broadcast signal (100) have been encoded on the basis of at least one region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ) each representing a region,

obtaining a region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ) of a region that the receiver (200) is located in,

obtaining a decoding key (D_k) in the receiver (200), and

decoding the broadcast signal (100) using the obtained decoding key (D_k) and on the basis of the obtained region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ).

2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method further comprises the step of obtaining a pay-mode (PM1, PM2, . . . ) and in that the step of decoding the broadcast signal (100) further comprises using a pay-mode key (PM_k) being dependent on the obtained pay-mode (PM1, PM2, . . . ).

3. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that

the decryption key (D_k) is derived on the basis of the obtained region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ) and the pay-mode key (PM_k) is independent of the obtained region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ), or

the pay-mode key (PM_k) is derived on the basis of the obtained region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ) and the decryption key (D_k) is independent of the obtained region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ), or

the decryption-key (D_k) and the pay-mode key (PM_k) are derived on the basis of the obtained region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ).

4. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the pay-mode (PM) is derived on the basis of the obtained region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ).

5. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of obtaining a region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ) of a region that the receiver (200) is located in comprises:

obtaining Global Positioning System (GPS) data from location determination means (206) and using the obtained GPS data to derive the region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ).

6. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method further comprises the step of:

presenting to a user of the receiver (200) an amount to be paid in order to be presented with the broadcast signal (100) and presenting the broadcast signal (100) only if the user accept a payment of the amount.

7. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of obtaining a decoding key (D_k) comprises:

selecting a secure cryptographic key and obtaining the decoding key (D_k) by performing a function on the secure cryptographic key and the obtained region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ).

8. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the step of obtaining a pay-mode key (PM_k) comprises:

selecting a secure cryptographic key and obtaining the pay-mode key (PM_k) by performing a function on the secure cryptographic key and the obtained region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ).

15. A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for causing one or more processing units to execute the method according to claim 1.

9. A method of transmitting a broadcasting signal, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining, in a broadcast device (300), a signal (S) to be transmitted to a number of receivers (200),

encoding the signal (S) with a number of orthogonal encoding keys (E_k,1, E_k,2, E_k,3, . . . ) and on the basis of one or more a region codes (RC1, RC2, . . . ) representing a region, thereby generating an encoded broadcast signal (100), and

transmitting the encoded broadcast signal (100) to a number of receivers (200).

10. A method according to claim 9, characterized in that the method further comprises the step of:

encoding the signal (S) or the encoded broadcast signal (100) with at least one pay-mode (PM) or pay-mode key (PM_k) prior to transmitting the encoded broadcast signal (100).

11. A method according to claim 10, characterized in that

the encoding keys (E_k,1, E_k,2, E_k,3, . . . ) is dependent on the one or more region codes (RC1, RC2, . . . ) and the pay-mode key (PM_k) is independent of the one or more region codes (RC1, RC2, . . . ), or

the pay-mode key (PM_k) is dependent on the one or more region codes (RC1, RC2, . . . ) and the encoding keys (E_k,1, E_k,2, E_k,3, . . . ) are independent of the one or more region codes (RC1, RC2, . . . ), or

the encoding keys (E_k,1, E_k,2, E_k,3, . . . ) and the pay-mode key (PM_k) are dependent on the obtained region codes (RC1, RC2, . . . ).

12. A broadcast device (300) comprising

an encoder (302) for receiving a signal (S) to be transmitted to a number of receivers (200) and for encoding the signal (S) with a number of orthogonal encoding keys (E_k,1, E_k,2, E_k,3, . . . ) and on the basis of one or more a region codes (RC1, RC2, . . . ), thereby generating an encoded broadcast signal (100), and

a transmitter circuit (301) for transmitting the encoded broadcast signal (100) to a number of receivers (200).

14. A broadcasting system comprising at least one broadcast device (300) according to claim 12.

13. A receiver device (200) comprising

a receiver circuit (201) for receiving an encoded broadcast signal (100) from a broadcast device (300), where the encoded broadcast signal (100) have been encoded on the basis of at least one region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ) each representing a region,

location determination means (202, 206) for a obtaining a region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ) of a region that the receiver (200) is located in,

means (202) for obtaining a decoding key (D_k), and

a decoder (202) for decoding the broadcast signal (100) using the obtained decoding key (D_k) and on the basis of the obtained region code (RC1, RC2, . . . ).