Methods, Systems, and Apparatus for Fragmented File Sharing

• US 20080172718A1
• Filed: 01/17/2008
• Published: 07/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Inventors: Bradley, William Benjamin
• Granted Patent: US 8,402,556 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1083 Partial license transfers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1085 Content sharing, e.g. peer-to-peer [P2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks

Abstract

Systems, methods, software, and apparatus are described for facilitating the distribution and management of fragmented content. In one embodiment, a packager packages content into fragments and generates a manifest including policies and metadata associated with the content. A downloader obtains the manifest, and uses it to obtain the content from one or more uploaders. For example, a downloader might forward a search request to one or more trackers, which, in turn, are operable to locate one or more uploaders that can meet the request, subject to any relevant policy limitations. The uploaders forward fragments to the downloader, subject to any relevant policy. The downloader assembles the content from the fragments. The operations and interactions of the entities can be subject to policy limitations associated with the fragments, the content as a whole, or the like.

Claims

1. A method for policy-based sharing of digital content, comprising:

obtaining a first content fragment, the first content fragment forming at least a first portion of a piece of digital content, the first content fragment having policy information securely associated therewith;

obtaining a second content fragment, the second content fragment forming at least a second portion of the piece of digital content; and

constructing at least part of the piece of digital content by combining the first content fragment and the second content fragment under at least partial control of the policy information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy information includes information related to a license.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy information is located in a manifest securely associated with the piece of digital content and/or the first content fragment.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising obtaining the manifest from a tracker.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

requesting the first content fragment from an uploader; and

presenting authorization information to the uploader to enable the uploader to determine if policy information associated with the first content fragment permits the uploader to provide the first content fragment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the authorization information comprises identity information of an entity performing said requesting step.

7. A system for policy-based sharing of digital content, comprising:

a plurality of content fragments, the plurality of content fragments forming at least a portion of a piece of digital content;

a manifest configured to identify the plurality of content fragments, the manifest comprising policy information associated with at least one of the content fragments and/or the piece of digital content;

an uploader configured to provide at least one of the content fragments;

a downloader configured to obtain the plurality content fragments and, in accordance with the policy information, make at least one use of the content fragments; and

a tracker configured to facilitate discovery of the uploader by the downloader.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the manifest includes at least one element of information selected from the group consisting of:

a unique digital content identifier;

digital content metadata;

digital content distribution policy information;

digital content integrity policy information; and

digital content confidentiality policy information.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the manifest further includes at least one content fragment descriptor.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one content fragment descriptor includes at least one element of information selected from the group consisting of:

a unique fragment identifier;

fragment integrity information;

fragment level distribution policy information; and

fragment metadata.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the tracker is configured to enforce content-level policies and fragment-level policies.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the tracker is configured to provide information about uploaders that are authorized to transfer content fragments to the downloader.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the uploader is configured to provide at least one service selected from the group consisting of:

providing the content fragments to the downloader;

enforcing content-level and fragment-level policies; and

distributing information related to the location of one or more content fragments.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the downloader is configured to perform at least one action selected from the group consisting of:

verifying the content fragments;

enforcing the content-level and fragment-level policies;

reassembling the content fragments into the content; and

distributing the information related to the location of one or more content fragments.

15. A method for distributing digital content, comprising:

receiving complete digital content;

transforming the complete digital content into a plurality of content fragments;

associating a policy with the digital content via a manifest.

16. The method of claim 15, in which the policy requires a potential uploader to provide certain authentication information.

17. The method of claim 15, in which the policy requires a potential downloader to obtain at least some of the content fragments in a predefined order.

18. The method of claim 17, in which the policy requires a potential downloader to obtain a valid license fragment before obtaining any of the plurality of fragments.

19. The method of claim 17, in which the policy requires a potential downloader to obtain one or more fragments containing advertisements before obtaining one or more other fragments containing other content.

20. The method of claim 15, in which the policy requires a potential downloader to present information obtained from a DRM license in order to obtain at least some of the plurality of content fragments.