Method and Apparatus for Delivering Encrypted On-Demand Content Without Use of an Application Defined Protocol

• US 20080075285A1
• Filed: 09/24/2007
• Published: 03/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mack, Robert, Zimmerman, Charles, Vince, Lawrence, Amorese, Joseph, Poli, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,885,823 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/211
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23895 involving multiplex stream encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6408 Unicasting
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A method for delivering encrypted content to a subscriber terminal on-demand through a communication network is provided. The method begins when SRM receives a request for content from the subscriber terminal. In response to the request, the SRM directs a video server to transmit the content as an unencrypted transport stream to an encryptor. The packets in the unencrypted transport stream include a header with a destination address associated with the subscriber terminal. The encryptor encrypts the content in the unencrypted transport stream to generate an encrypted transport stream. The encryptor also inserts in the packet headers of the packets in the encrypted transport stream the destination address associated with the subscriber terminal obtained from the packet headers in the unencrypted transport stream. Finally, the encrypted transport stream is transmitted to the subscriber terminal over the communication network.

Claims

1. A method for delivering encrypted content to a subscriber terminal on-demand through a communication network, comprising:

receiving a request for content from the subscriber terminal;

in response to the request, transmitting the content as an unencrypted transport stream to an encryptor, wherein packets in the unencrypted transport stream include a header with a destination address associated with the subscriber terminal;

encrypting the content in the unencrypted transport stream to generate an encrypted transport stream;

inserting in packet headers of packets in the encrypted transport stream the destination address associated with the subscriber terminal obtained from the packet headers in the unencrypted transport stream; and

transmitting the encrypted transport stream to the subscriber terminal over the communication network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is encrypted using common tier encryption.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the destination address is an IP address of the subscriber terminal.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the destination address is an IP address of a network element in the communication network which forwards the encrypted transport stream to the subscriber terminal.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the encryptor comprises a plurality of transport encryptors and further comprising limiting the number of unencrypted transport streams or aggregate bandwidth of the transport streams being transmitted to selected ones of the transport encryptors.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising maintaining in the encrypted transport stream a packet order existing in the unencrypted transport stream.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the encryptor comprises a plurality of transport encryptors and further wherein the unencrypted transport stream is transmitted to a selected one of the transport encryptors based on the subscriber terminal to which the encrypted transport stream is to be transmitted.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the packet order existing in the unencrypted transport stream is determined on a per stream basis.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the packet order existing in the unencrypted transport stream is determined on a destination address basis.

10. A video on-demand system, comprising:

a session resource manager for coordinating a video on-demand session in which content is requested by a subscriber terminal;

a video on-demand server on which unencrypted content resides; and

at least one transport encryptor in operative communication with the video on-demand server for receiving an unencrypted transport stream that includes packets with a header having a destination address associated with the subscriber terminal, generating an encrypted transport stream in which packets include as their destination address the destination address associated with the subscriber terminal, and transmitting the encrypted transport stream to the subscriber terminal over a communication network.

11. The video on-demand system of claim 10 wherein the transport encryptor is further configured to maintain packet order in each transport stream.

12. The video on-demand system of claim 10 further comprising a conditional access system for providing a key to the subscriber terminal to access the encrypted transport stream, wherein the conditional access system employs common tier encryption.

13. The video on-demand system of claim 10 further comprising:

a plurality of transport encryptors;

a load balancer operatively coupling the video on-demand server to the plurality of transport encryptors for selectively distributing unencrypted transport streams among the transport encryptors.

14. The video on-demand system of claim 13 wherein unencrypted transport streams designated for a given subscriber terminal are distributed to a common transport encryptor.

15. The video on-demand system of claim 13 wherein the load balancer limits distribution of the unencrypted transport stream based on resource capabilities of the video on-demand server.

16. A switched digital video (SDV) system, comprising:

a SDV manager for coordinating a SDV session in which an SDV channel is requested by a subscriber terminal;

a content source of unencrypted content to be broadcast over the SDV channel; and

at least one transport encryptor in operative communication with the content source for receiving the unencrypted content as an unencrypted transport stream that includes packets with a header having a multicast destination address associated with the unencrypted content, generating an encrypted transport stream from the unencrypted transport stream, the encrypted transport stream including packets having as their destination address the multicast destination address associated with the unencrypted content, and transmitting the encrypted transport stream to the subscriber terminal over a communication network.

17. The switched digital video system of claim 16 wherein the transport encryptor is further configured to maintain packet order in each transport stream.

18. The switched digital video system of claim 16 further comprising a conditional access system for providing a key to the subscriber terminal to access the encrypted transport stream, wherein the conditional access system employs common tier encryption.

19. The switched digital video system of claim 18 further comprising:

a plurality of transport encryptors;

a load balancer operatively coupling the unencrypted transport stream to the plurality of transport encryptors and for selectively distributing the unencrypted transport streams among the transport encryptors.

20. The switched digital video system of claim 19 wherein unencrypted transport streams designated for a SDV channel are distributed to a common transport encryptor.

21. The switched digital video system of claim 19 wherein the load balancer limits distribution of the unencrypted transport stream based on resource capabilities of the content source.