SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING CONTENT PROTECTION IN A WIRELESS DIGITAL SYSTEM

• US 20080232588A1
• Filed: 03/12/2008
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Wiquest Communications Incorporated
• Inventors: Christison, Gregory L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,744,081 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/270
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0464 using hop-by-hop encryption, i.e. wherein an intermediate entity decrypts the information and re-encrypts it before forwarding it
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0631 Substitution permutation network [SPN], i.e. cipher composed of a number of stages or rounds each involving linear and nonlinear transformations, e.g. AES algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4408 involving video stream encryption, e.g. re-encrypting a decrypted video stream for redistribution in a home network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic

Abstract

A system includes a line-based receiver for receiving protected content from a source and a line-based transmitter for providing the protected content to a destination. The protected content is secure, such as by using a High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) mechanism. Between the line-based transmitter and receiver is a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver. The wireless transmitter establishes an encrypted wireless link with the wireless receiver according to a second encryption mechanism. The wireless transmitter is further configured for receiving the protected content from the line-based receiver, encrypting the protected content according to the second encryption mechanism, and wirelessly transmitting the encrypted protected content. The wireless receiver is further configured for receiving the wirelessly transmitted protected content from the wireless transmitter and decrypting the protected content according to the second encryption mechanism.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a receiver for receiving protected content from a source, the received protected content being encrypted according to a first encryption mechanism;

a wireless transmitter for establishing a secure encrypted wireless link with a wireless receiver according to a second encryption mechanism, wherein the wireless transmitter is further configured for receiving the protected content from the receiver, encrypting the protected content according to the second encryption mechanism, and wirelessly transmitting the encrypted protected content,

the wireless receiver for establishing the secure encrypted wireless link with the wireless transmitter, the wireless receiver being further configured for receiving the wirelessly transmitted protected content from the wireless transmitter and decrypting the protected content according to the second encryption mechanism; and

a transmitter for receiving the protected content from the wireless receiver and transmitting the protected content to a destination, the transmitted protected content being encrypted according to the first encryption method.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of either the receiver or the wireless transmitter is further configured to decrypt the protected content according to the first encryption mechanism, and wherein at least one of either the wireless receiver or the transmitter is further configured to encrypt the protected content according to the first encryption mechanism.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) message handling device for establishing a content-protected connection between the source and destination.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the receiver and transmitter use line-based video transmission.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the receiver is a High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (“

HDCP”

) compliant receiver.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the transmitter is a High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (“

HDCP”

) compliant transmitter.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the first encryption method is an HDCP encryption method.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the second encryption method is Advanced Encryption Standard (“

AES”

).

9. A method for providing a secure content delivery mechanism for protectable subject matter (PSM), the method comprising:

receiving the PSM encrypted according to a first encryption mechanism (PSM1) dictated by a source over a first wired link;

converting the PSM1 to a PSM encrypted to a second encryption mechanism (PSM2), wherein the second encryption mechanism is different from the first encryption mechanism;

transmitting the PSM2 via a secure wireless link;

receiving the wirelessly transmitted PSM2;

converting the received PSM2 back to the PSM1; and

transmitting the converted PSM1 message to a destination over a second wired link.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein converting the PSM1 to PSM2 includes decrypting the PSM1 message to the PSM, and then encrypting the PSM according to the second encryption mechanism.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of wireless transmitting the PSM2 includes:

establishing a wireless link; and

authenticating the wireless link.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of authenticating the wireless link utilizes a session key.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the converting the PSM1 to the PSM2 and the converting the received PSM2 back to the PSM1 utilizes a content key.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the first encryption mechanism is HDCP and the second encryption mechanism is AES.

15. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

performing message handling between the source and destination to establish a secure content delivery mechanism there between.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein the first wired link includes an HDCP receiver.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein the second wired link includes an HDCP transmitter.

18. A high-bandwidth digital content repeater comprising:

two physical components separated by a secure, wireless encrypted link, each component including a high-bandwidth digital content endpoint connectable to a high-bandwidth digital content compliant device and a wireless endpoint connected to the secure, wireless encrypted link.

19. A receiver for receiving protected content from a wireless digital source, the protected content being formatted according to high-bandwidth digital content standard, and being encrypted according to a wireless encryption mechanism, the receiver comprising a wireless terminal for receiving a wireless signal comprising the protected content, logic for decrypting the wireless signal according to the wireless encryption mechanism, and logic for retrieving the protected content according to the high-bandwidth digital content standard, wherein the receiver is built-in to a high-bandwidth digital content destination device.

20. A transmitter for transmitting protected content to a wireless digital destination, the protected content being formatted according to high-bandwidth digital content standard, and being encrypted according to a wireless encryption mechanism, the transmitter comprising a wireless terminal for transmitting a wireless signal comprising the protected content, logic for encrypting the wireless signal according to the wireless encryption mechanism, and logic for transmitting the protected content according to the high-bandwidth digital content standard, wherein the transmitter is built-in to a high-bandwidth digital content source device.