SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY EXTENDING A DRM SYSTEM USING AUTHENTICATED EXTERNAL DPR MODULES

• US 20070208742A1
• Filed: 08/15/2006
• Published: 09/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Nusser, Stefan, Contessa, Luca, Koeppen, Eckhart, Medina, David, Mahlbacher, James
• Granted Patent: US 7,712,146 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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]

Abstract

A rights management module controls access to a data set by processing requests for flexibly defined types of access to the data set and determines if the requested access may be granted. The requester'"'"'s right for the requested type of access is verified by a verification module that may be part of the rights management core or verified through expansion rights verification modules. Extension verification modules may be contained within the data set itself or obtained from a separate store. Extension verification modules are authenticated by the rights management core.

Claims

1. A method for controlling access to a data set, the method on an information processing system comprising:

retrieving a digital property rights list associated with a data set, wherein the digital property rights lists includes at least one usage right associated with the data set;

retrieving a digital rights extension module from a location external to a digital rights management core; and

granting a request for access to the data set in response to the digital rights extension module verifying that a required set of usage conditions associated with the usage right has been satisfied.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

validating a format of the digital property rights list.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the granting further comprises:

storing, in response to the validating, the digital property rights list.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for access to the data set; and

determining a usage right associated with the request for access.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving the digital property rights list further comprises:

retrieving the digital property rights list from the data set.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving the digital property rights list further comprises:

retrieving the digital property rights list from a remote computer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving the digital rights extension module further comprises:

dynamically retrieving the digital rights extension module from a package including the data set and the digital rights extension module.

8. An information processing system for controlling access to a dataset, the information processing system comprising:

a memory;

a processor communicatively coupled to the memory;

a digital rights management core communicatively coupled to the processor and memory, wherein the digital rights management core is adapted to retrieve a digital property rights list associated with a data set, wherein the digital property rights lists includes at least one usage right associated with the data set; and

a digital property rights module interface adapted to dynamically retrieve a digital rights extension module from a location external to the digital rights management core, wherein the digital rights management core grants a request for access to the data set in response to the digital rights extension module verifying that a required set of usage conditions associated with the usage right has been satisfied.

9. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the digital rights management core validates a format of the digital property rights list.

10. The information processing system of claim 9, wherein the digital rights management core stores the digital property rights list in response to the format of the digital property rights list being validated.

11. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the digital rights management core further receives a request for access to the data set and determines a usage right associated with the request for access.

12. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the digital rights management core retrieves the digital property rights list from the data set.

13. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the digital rights management core retrieves the digital property rights list from

14. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the digital rights management core retrieves the digital property rights list from a data package including the data set and the digital rights extension module.

15. A computer readable medium for controlling access to a data set, the computer readable medium comprising instructions for:

retrieving a digital property rights list associated with a data set, wherein the digital property rights lists includes at least one usage right associated with the data set;

retrieving a digital rights extension module from a location external to a digital rights management core; and

granting a request for access to the data set in response to the digital rights extension module verifying that a required set of usage conditions associated with the usage right has been satisfied.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions for:

validating a format of the digital property rights list.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions for the granting further comprises instructions for:

storing, in response to the validating, the digital property rights list.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions for:

receiving a request for access to the data set; and

determining a usage right associated with the request for access.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions for retrieving the digital property rights list further comprise instructions for at least one of:

retrieving the digital property rights list from the data set; and

retrieving the digital property rights list from a remote computer.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions for dynamically retrieving further comprise instructions for:

retrieving the digital rights extension module from a package including the data set and the digital rights extension module.