Secure streaming container

• US 20070283167A1
• Filed: 06/21/2007
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digital Reg of Texas, LLC (DRM Technologies LLC)
• Original Assignee: Digital Reg of Texas, LLC (DRM Technologies LLC)
• Inventors: Ornstein, Seth, Phillips, Eugene, Venters, Carl
• Granted Patent: US 7,987,502 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/189
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0866 involving user or device identifiers, e.g. serial number, physical or biometrical information, DNA, hand-signature or measurable physical characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0891 Revocation or update of secret information, e.g. encryption key update or rekeying

Abstract

A system and method for securely streaming encrypted digital media content out of a digital container to a user'"'"'s media player. This streaming occurs after the digital container has been delivered to the user'"'"'s machine and after the user has been authorized to access the encrypted content. The user'"'"'s operating system and media player treat the data stream as if it were a being delivered over the Internet (or other network) from a streaming web server. However, no Internet connection is required after the container has been delivered to the user and the data stream suffers no quality loss due to network traffic or web server access problems. In this process of the invention, the encrypted content files are decrypted and fed to the user'"'"'s media player in real time and are never written to the user'"'"'s hard drive or storage device. This process makes unauthorized copying of the digital content contained in the digital container virtually impossible.

Claims

1. :

A method of receiving electronic data, comprising the steps of;

receiving a secured streaming container (SSC) having streaming media content; and

accessing the SSC to acquire portions of the streaming media content while other portions of the streaming media content remain secure in the SSC.

2. :

The method of claim 1, further comprising playing the portions of the streaming media content while other portions remain secured in the SSC.

3. :

The method of claim 1, wherein the SSC includes digital rights management (DRM) which controls the access to the SSC.

4. :

The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving step receives the SSC on a target device.

5. :

The method of claim 4, wherein the target device includes at least one of a cell phone, a personal data assistant (PDA), a personal computer, a computing device, a portable music player, a tablet computer, a cable modem, a cable television tuner, and a satellite receiver.

6. :

The method of claim 4, wherein at least some of the contents of the SSC is configured to execute within the environment of the target device.

7. :

The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining permission to access the SSC.

8. :

The method of claim 7, wherein the obtaining permission includes at least one of (i) verifying a password, (ii) gathering demographic data, (iii) gathering personal data, (iv) gathering of the target device identification data, (v) processing a subscription transaction, and (vi) processing a financial transaction.

9. :

The method of claim 8, wherein the personal data includes at least one of a user identification (ID), a company ID, and a biometric data.

10. :

The method of claim 8, wherein the target device identification data includes at least one of an input from a removable storage media and an input provided from a secure device attached to a target device.

11. :

The method of claim 1, wherein in the accessing step, extensible markup language tags (XML) are read to determine at least one of a content file title, a digital rights management descriptor, a file size and a file type.

12. :

The method of claim 1, further including decrypting the SSC

13. :

The method of claim 12, wherein the decrypting includes decompressing the streaming media content

14. :

The method of claim 12, further including decoding the streaming media content as a hyper-text markup language (html) file.

15. :

The method of claim 1, further including the step of downloading a java applet in order to read the SSC content.

16. :

The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of supplying a password for a subsequent SSC access.

17. :

The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of;

successfully gaining permission to the SSC on a target device;

sending a portion of data which is unique to the target device to a verification server;

combining the portion of data and a digital container identification data previously registered to produce a permission token;

sending the permission token to the target device; and

rekeying an original key sent with the SSC using the permission token to securely rekey the streaming media content so that decrypting the streaming media content is locked to and performed only on the target device.

18. :

The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing step further includes;

detecting an attempt to access the SSC;

determining if permission has been previously granted to open the SSC and, if not,

supplying transaction information;

sending the transaction information to a digital container verification server in an encrypted session;

sending a permission token back to the SSC; and

granting permission to open the SSC.

19. :

The method of claim 18, wherein transaction information comprises supplying at least one of a financial information, a personal data, and a demographic data.

20. :

The method of claim 19, wherein the financial information is credit card information.

21. :

The method of claim 19, wherein the personal data is at least one of a biometric data, a personal identification, and a password.

22. :

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer program product includes at least one component to;

receive a secured streaming container (SSC) having streaming media content; and

access the SSC to acquire portions of the streaming media content while other portions of the streaming media content remain secure in the SSC.

23. :

The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the at least one component plays the portions of the streaming media content while other portions remain secure n the SSC.

24. :

The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the at least one component receives the SSC on a target device.

25. :

The computer program product of claim 24 wherein at least some of the contents of the SSC is configured to execute within the environment of the target device.

26. :

The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the target device includes at least one of a cell phone, a personal data assistant (PDA), a personal computer, a computing device, a portable music player, a tablet computer, a cable modem, a television, a cable television tuner, and a satellite receiver.

27. :

The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the at least one component obtains permission to access the SSC.

28. :

The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the permission is obtained using at least one of (i) verifying a password, (ii) demographic data, (iii) personal data, (iv) target device identification data, (v) processing a subscription transaction, and (vi) processing a financial transaction.

29. :

The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the personal data includes at least one of a user identification (ID), a company ID, and a biometric data.

30. :

The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the target device identification data includes at least one of an input from a removable storage media and an input provided from a secure device attached to the target device.

31. :

The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the at least one component reads extensible markup language tags (XML) to determine at least one of a content file title, a digital rights management descriptor, a file size and a file type.

32. :

The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the at least one component decrypts the SSC.

33. :

The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the at least one component decompresses the streaming media content.

34. :

The computer program product of claim 33, the at least one component decodes the streaming media content as a hyper-text markup language (html) file.

35. :

The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the at least one component downloads a java applet in order to read the contents of the SSC.

36. :

The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the at least one component requires a password for subsequent SSC access.

37. :

The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the at least one component;

successfully gains permission to the SSC on a target device;

sends a portion of data uniquely associated with the target device to a verification server;

combines the portion of data and a digital container identification data previously registered with the verification server to produce a permission token,

sends the permission token to the target device; and

rekeys an original key sent with the SSC using the permission token to securely rekey the streaming media content so that decrypting the streaming media content is locked to and performed only on the target device.

38. :

The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the at least one component;

detects an attempt to access the SSC;

determines if permission has been previously granted to open the SSC and, if not,

supplies transaction information;

sends the transaction information to a digital container verification server in an encrypted session and the digital container verification server sends a permission token back to the SSC; and

the at least one component grants permission to open the SSC.

39. :

The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the transaction information includes at least one of a financial information, a personal data, and a demographic data.

40. :

The computer program product of claim 39, wherein the financial information is credit card information.

41. :

The computer program product of claim 39, wherein the personal data is biometric data.

42. :

The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the at least, one component plays the streaming media content from a location on a target device so that the streaming media content plays without interruption avoiding network connectivity delays and disruptions.

43. :

The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the at least one component requires a password to replay the streaming media content.

44. :

The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the streaming media content is protected and cannot be copied.

45. :

A method of receiving information comprising the steps of;

receiving a secured streaming container (SSC) having streaming media content;

accessing the SSC using management controls; and

playing the streaming media content on a target device wherein the streaming media content by-passes non-volatile memory or persistent storage.

46. :

A streaming media apparatus, comprising;

a means for controlling access to a digital container having streaming media content;

a means for securely streaming the streaming media content from the digital container once access is obtained to the digital container; and

a means for playing the streaming media content such that one or more segments of the streaming media content are sequentially presented to a media player from the digital container while remaining segments of the streaming media content remain secure in the digital container until sequentially played.

47. :

The streaming media apparatus of claim 46, wherein streaming media content is one or more encrypted files of streaming media content and the means for securely streaming includes a means for streaming the one or more encrypted files of streaming media content so that the one or more files are invulnerable to copying or unauthorized access.