Systems and methods for secure transaction management and electronic rights protection
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides systems and methods for secure transaction management and electronic rights protection. Electronic appliances such as computers equipped in accordance with the present invention help to ensure that information is accessed and used only in authorized ways, and maintain the integrity, availability, and/or confidentiality of the information. Such electronic appliances provide a distributed virtual distribution environment (VDE) that may enforce a secure chain of handling and control, for example, to control and/or meter or otherwise monitor use of electronically stored or disseminated information. Such a virtual distribution environment may be used to protect rights of various participants in electronic commerce and other electronic or electronic-facilitated transactions. Distributed and other operating systems, environments and architectures, such as, for example, those using tamper-resistant hardware-based processors, may establish security at each node. These techniques may be used to support an all-electronic information distribution, for example, utilizing the “electronic highway.”
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Citations
239 Claims
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1-90. -90. (canceled)
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91. A method performed by a user'"'"'s electronic appliance, the method comprising:
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receiving an electronic object, the electronic object including an encrypted piece of electronic content, the encrypted piece of electronic content including at least a first electronic fingerprint;
receiving control information specifying one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content; and
using, at least in part, tamper-resistant hardware and/or software to decrypt the encrypted piece of electronic content and to enable the user to make at least one of the one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content, the at least one of the one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content including releasing the piece of electronic content in clear form with at least the first electronic fingerprint embedded therein. - View Dependent Claims (92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115)
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116. A method performed by a user'"'"'s electronic appliance, the method comprising:
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receiving an encrypted piece of electronic content;
receiving control information specifying one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content; and
using, at least in part, tamper-resistant hardware and/or software to (i) decrypt the encrypted piece of electronic content, (ii) embed an electronic fingerprint into the piece of electronic content, and (iii) make at least one of the one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content. - View Dependent Claims (117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126)
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127. A method comprising:
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inserting at least a first electronic fingerprint into a piece of electronic content;
encrypting the piece of electronic content;
packaging the piece of electronic content into an electronic object;
associating control information with the electronic object, the control information specifying one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content; and
distributing the electronic object and the control information to a user'"'"'s electronic appliance, wherein the user'"'"'s electronic appliance comprises tamper-resistant hardware and/or software operable to apply the control information to govern use of the piece of electronic content. - View Dependent Claims (128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149)
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150. A method comprising:
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receiving a first request for a piece of electronic content from a first user, the piece of electronic content having control information associated therewith, the control information specifying one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content;
inserting a first electronic fingerprint into a copy of the piece of electronic content to obtain a first fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
encrypting the first fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
distributing the encrypted first fingerprinted piece of electronic content to the first user;
receiving a second request for the piece of electronic content from a second user;
inserting a second electronic fingerprint into a copy of the piece of electronic content to obtain a second fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
encrypting the second fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
distributing the encrypted second fingerprinted piece of electronic content to the second user;
wherein the first electronic fingerprint and the second electronic fingerprint are different, at least in part. - View Dependent Claims (151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157)
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158. A computer-readable medium, the computer readable medium comprising computer code that, when executed by an electronic appliance comprising a protected processing environment, is operable to cause the electronic appliance to perform steps comprising:
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decrypting an encrypted piece of electronic content in accordance with control information associated therewith, the control information specifying one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content, and enabling a user to make at least one of the one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content, the at least one of the one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content including releasing the piece of electronic content in clear form with at least a first electronic fingerprint embedded therein. - View Dependent Claims (159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170)
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171. A computer-readable medium, the computer readable medium comprising computer code that, when executed by an electronic appliance, is operable to cause the electronic appliance to perform steps comprising:
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inserting at least a first electronic fingerprint into a piece of electronic content;
encrypting the piece of electronic content;
associating control information with the piece of electronic content, the control information specifying one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content; and
distributing the piece of electronic content and the control information to a user'"'"'s electronic appliance, wherein the user'"'"'s electronic appliance comprises tamper-resistant hardware and/or software operable to apply the control information to govern use of the piece of electronic content. - View Dependent Claims (172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186)
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187. A computer-readable medium, the computer readable medium comprising computer code that, when executed by an electronic appliance, is operable to cause the electronic appliance to perform steps comprising:
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receiving a first request for a piece of electronic content from a first user, the piece of electronic content having control information associated therewith, the control information specifying one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content;
inserting a first electronic fingerprint into a copy of the piece of electronic content to obtain a first fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
encrypting the first fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
distributing the encrypted first fingerprinted piece of electronic content to the first user;
receiving a second request for the piece of electronic content from a second user;
inserting a second electronic fingerprint into a copy of the piece of electronic content to obtain a second fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
encrypting the second fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
distributing the encrypted second fingerprinted piece of electronic content to the second user; and
wherein the first electronic fingerprint and the second electronic fingerprint are different, at least in part. - View Dependent Claims (188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194)
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195. An electronic appliance comprising:
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means for receiving an electronic object, the electronic object including an encrypted piece of electronic content;
means for receiving control information specifying one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content; and
tamper-resistant hardware and/or software for decrypting the encrypted piece of electronic content and enabling a user to make at least one of the one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content, the at least one of the one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content including releasing the piece of electronic content in clear form with at least a first electronic fingerprint embedded therein. - View Dependent Claims (196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214)
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215. A system comprising:
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means for inserting at least a first electronic fingerprint into a piece of electronic content;
means for encrypting the piece of electronic content;
means for associating control information with the piece of electronic content, the control information specifying one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content; and
means for distributing the piece of electronic content and the control information to a user'"'"'s electronic appliance, wherein the user'"'"'s electronic appliance comprises tamper-resistant hardware and/or software operable to apply the control information to govern use of the piece of electronic content. - View Dependent Claims (216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231)
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232. A system comprising:
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means for receiving a first request for a piece of electronic content from a first user, the piece of electronic content having control information associated therewith, the control information specifying one or more permitted uses of the piece of electronic content;
means for inserting a first electronic fingerprint into a copy of the piece of electronic content to obtain a first fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
means for encrypting the first fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
means for distributing the encrypted first fingerprinted piece of electronic content to the first user;
means for receiving a second request for the piece of electronic content from a second user;
means for inserting a second electronic fingerprint into a copy of the piece of electronic content to obtain a second fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
means for encrypting the second fingerprinted piece of electronic content;
means for distributing the encrypted second fingerprinted piece of electronic content to the second user; and
wherein the first electronic fingerprint and the second electronic fingerprint are different, at least in part. - View Dependent Claims (233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239)
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Specification