PERSONAL DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT AGENT-SERVER

• US 20080162353A1
• Filed: 12/27/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Original Assignee: Spansion LLC (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Inventors: Werner, Jeremy Isaac Nathaniel, Tom, Joe Yuen, Barck, Russell
• Application Number:
  US11/616,385
• Publication Number:
  US 20080162353A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/51
• 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 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources

Abstract

Systems and methods that facilitate the management of digital content in a local environment between a limited number of parties. A digital rights management (DRM) agent-server can be created in hardware in which both the agent-server and agent are trusted. A content owner can send digital content along with a rights attachment indicating a scope of the use rights associated with the content. The content can be accessed by the agent and perceived in a presentation component that will only permit the agent to use the content in accordance with the rights granted as to the content. The DRM agent-server can be implemented by an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Further, the DRM agent-server can be implemented on a portable electronic device such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a laptop computer, for example.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented system that facilitates transfer of content and rights from an agent-server component to an agent component, comprising:

the agent-server component that transfers rights and content to the agent component, the agent-server component and the agent component are mutually authenticated; and

the agent component that uses a subset of the content in accordance with the rights associated with the content.

2. The system of claim 1, the agent component comprises an application agent that enforces the rights associated with the content, the application agent is received by the agent component from one of the agent-server component or an entity that is mutually trusted by the agent-server component and the agent component.

3. The system of claim 1, the agent-server component comprises an agent that receives content from a content provider and uses the content.

4. The system of claim 1, the rights comprise at least one of a length of time for use of the content, a number of times for use of the content, or automatic deletion of the content from a memory in the agent component.

5. The system of claim 1, the agent-server further comprises a server component that generates a rights object and transfers the rights object to the agent component, the rights object contains information associated with the rights associated with the content.

6. The system of claim 5, the rights object and the content are encrypted by the agent-server component prior to transferring the rights object and content to the agent component.

7. The system of claim 1, the agent-server component further comprises a memory, the memory is at least one of volatile memory or non-volatile memory.

8. The system of claim 7, the non-volatile memory comprises at least one of flash memory, read only memory, or programmable ROM.

9. The system of claim 1, the agent-server component is implemented in one of a cellular phone, an MP3 player, an iPod, a personal digital assistant, or a laptop computer.

10. The system of claim 1, the agent-server component comprises an application specific integrated circuit.

11. The system of claim 1, the agent-server component is implemented on a single integrated circuit chip.

12. A method for facilitating transfer of content and rights from an agent-server device to an agent device, comprising:

providing the agent-server device comprising an agent component and a server component;

mutually authenticating the agent-server device and the agent device;

transferring the content and the rights associated with the content from a memory in the agent-server device to the agent device; and

using the content in accordance with the rights granted by the agent-server device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

monitoring the use of the content; and

updating information associated with the use and the rights associated with the content;

the monitoring and the updating are performed by the agent device.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

enforcing the rights, the rights are enforced by the agent device; and

automatically deleting the content from the agent device when the agent device no longer has valid rights to the content.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

automatically generating a signature associated with the content after deletion of the content; and

sending the signature to the server component.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

at least one of transferring an application agent from the agent-server device to the agent device, or downloading the application agent from a mutually trusted third party.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

encrypting the content and the rights prior to transferring the content and the rights to the agent device;

activating the application agent;

returning a signature associated with the content to the agent-server device;

verifying the content, the rights, and software associated with the application agent are intact;

transferring a decryption key from the agent-server device to the agent device, the decryption key is associated with the encryption associated with the content; and

decrypting the content and the rights.

18. The method of claim 12, the memory comprises at least one of volatile or non-volatile memory.

19. The method of claim 18, the non-volatile memory comprises at least one of flash memory, read only memory, or programmable ROM.

20. A system that facilitates transfer of content from an agent-server to an agent, comprising:

means for providing the agent-server;

means for communicating with the agent;

means for mutually authenticating the agent-server and the agent;

means for transferring content and rights associated with the content to the agent;

means for monitoring the use of the content by the agent;

means for enforcing the rights associated with the content; and

means for automatically deleting the content from the agent when the rights associated with the content are exhausted or discontinued.