Enforcing Geographic Constraints in Content Distribution

• US 20080022003A1
• Filed: 06/21/2007
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Alve, Jukka
• Granted Patent: US 8,230,087 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• 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 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS

Abstract

Enforcement of geographic and location based constraints on content distribution is provided to allow distribution of content to remote devices while preventing unauthorized use and consumption of the content. Content requested by a device may be protected using a variety of content protection mechanisms that support geographic constraints. The requesting device may be required to validate and/or obtain the device'"'"'s physical location prior to being granted access to the protected content. The requesting device may validate and/or obtain its physical location by requesting location information from a location server or another geographic aware device. The distribution of the location information from the location server may be limited to a predefined proximity. The proximity limit on the dissemination of the location information prevents remote devices from fraudulently using the location information. Location information may be encapsulated and may be formatted as a content file.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving content protected by a geographic constraint;

identifying, at a first device, a second device that is capable of determining a geographic location of the second device;

determining whether the second device is within a predefined proximity of the first device; and

in response to determining that the second device is within the predefined proximity;

requesting location information from the second device;

receiving a response from the second device including the requested location information; and

determining whether the requested location information satisfies the geographic constraint associated with the protected content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the second device is within a predefined proximity of the first device includes determining a round trip transmission time of data between the first device and the second device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein requesting location information from the second device includes transmitting a template specifying at least one of a format and a protocol for sending the requested location information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device complies with a content protection and copy management scheme.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined proximity includes a predefined physical distance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein requesting location information from the second device includes specifying a geographic location format.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the location information is provided in the specified geographic location format.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the response from the second device includes an error code indicating that the specified geographic location format is unsupported.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing a secure authentication channel between the first device and the second device upon identifying the second device.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the request and the response is authenticated using an authentication key corresponding to the established secure authentication channel.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the requested location information to access the protected content in response to determining that the requested location information satisfies the geographic constraint.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the response from the second device is encapsulated according to one or more protection protocols.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the requested geographic information is received as a content file discoverable using a content discovery protocol.

14. A terminal comprising

a processor;

and

memory storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform a method comprising;

receiving content protected by a geographic constraint;

identifying, at a first device, a second device that is capable of determining a geographic location of the second device;

determining whether the second device is within a predefined proximity of the first device; and

in response to determining that the second device is within the predefined proximity;

requesting location information from the second device;

receiving a response from the second device including the requested location information; and

determining whether the requested location information satisfies the geographic constraint associated with the protected content.

15. The terminal of claim 14, wherein determining whether the device is within a predefined proximity of the terminal includes determining a round trip transmission time between the terminal and the device.

16. The terminal of claim 14, wherein requesting location information from the device includes transmitting a template specifying at least one of:

a format and a protocol for sending the requested location information.

17. The terminal of claim 14, wherein the terminal complies with a content protection and copy management scheme.

18. The terminal of claim 14, wherein the predefined proximity includes a predefined physical distance.

19. The terminal of claim 14, wherein requesting location information from the device includes specifying a geographic location format.

20. The terminal of claim 19, wherein the location information is provided in the specified geographic location format.

21. The terminal of claim 19, wherein the response from the device includes an error code indicating that the specified geographic location format is unsupported.

22. The terminal of claim 14, the memory further comprising instructions for establishing a secure authentication channel between the terminal and the device upon identifying the device.

23. The terminal of claim 22, wherein at least one of the request and the response is authenticated using an authentication key corresponding to the established secure authentication channel.

24. The terminal of claim 14, the memory further comprising instructions for accessing the protected content using the requested location information in response to determining that the requested location information satisfies the geographic constraint.

25. The terminal of claim 14, wherein the response from the device is encapsulated according to one or more usage protection protocols.

26. The method of claim 14, wherein the requested geographic information is received as a content file discoverable using a content discovery protocol.

27. A system comprising:

means for receiving content protected by a geographic constraint;

means for identifying, at a first device, a second device that is capable of determining a geographic location of the second device;

means for determining whether the second device is within a predefined proximity of the first device; and

means for, in response to determining that the second device is within the predefined proximity;

requesting location information from the second device;

receiving a response from the second device including the requested location information; and

determining whether the requested location information satisfies the geographic constraint associated with the protected content.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the response from the second device is encapsulated according to one or more usage protection protocols.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the requested geographic information is received as a content file discoverable using a content discovery protocol.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the means for determining whether the second device is within a predefined proximity of the terminal includes means for determining a round trip transmission time between the terminal and the second device.

31. The system of claim 27, wherein the means for requesting location information from the device includes means for transmitting a template specifying at least one of a format and a protocol for sending the requested location information.

32. The system of claim 27, wherein the system includes means for enforcing a content protection and copy management protocol.