Method and Apparatus for Enabling Digital Rights Management in File Transfers

• US 20080270307A1
• Filed: 04/25/2007
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Peterka, Petr, Olson, William L., Yacobellis, Robert H., Moroney, Paul, Moore, Morris A., Rzeszewski, Theodore S., Ilderem, Vida, Kitson, Frederick L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,140,439 B2
• 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]

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention generally provide a method and apparatus for enabling digital rights management in file transfers. One embodiment of a method for transferring digital content from a first user to a second user, includes transferring ownership of an instance of the digital content to the second user, where the instance of the digital content resides on a first device belonging to the first user. Copies of the digital content are then deleted from one or more additional devices belonging to the first user (including at least one offline device).

Claims

1. A method for transferring digital content from a first user to a second user, the method comprising:

transferring ownership of an instance of the digital content to the second user, the instance of the digital content residing on a first device belonging to the first user; and

automatically deleting one or more copies of the digital content from one or more additional devices belonging to the first user, the one or more additional devices including at least one offline device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically deleting comprises:

syncing the first device and the one or more additional devices before transferring the instance of the digital content, to create a group of synced devices;

searching the group of synced devices for copies of the digital content; and

deleting any copies of the digital content that are found.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the searching is performed in the background operations of the synced devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the deleting comprises:

detecting when the at least one offline device is online;

searching the at least one offline device for a copy of the digital content; and

deleting the copy of the digital content, if a copy of the digital content is found.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, until the at least one offline device has been searched and any copies of the digital content have been deleted therefrom, the at least one offline device is prevented from doing at least one of:

receiving new digital content, receiving a key for existing digital content or participating in a home domain functionality.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital content includes at least one of:

a digital music file, a digital text file, a digital image file or a digital video file.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device and the one or more additional devices include at least one of:

a personal computer, a personal digital assistant, a digital video recorder, a portable media player, a digital music player or a cellular telephone.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

conveying at least partial ownership rights in the instance of digital content to the second user at a time of the transferring; and

conveying full ownership rights in the instance of digital content to the second user, once deletion of the one or more copies is confirmed.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

conveying full ownership rights in the instance of digital content to the second user at a time of the transferring.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more additional devices are, by default, prohibited from transferring digital content to other devices.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is an offline device that has been granted the right to transfer the digital content.

12. A computer readable medium containing an executable program for transferring digital content from a first user to a second user, where the program performs the steps of:

transferring ownership of an instance of the digital content to the second user, the instance of the digital content residing on a first device belonging to the first user; and

automatically deleting one or more copies of the digital content from one or more additional devices belonging to the first user, the one or more additional devices including at least one offline device.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the automatically deleting comprises:

syncing the first device and the one or more additional devices before transferring the instance of the digital content, to create a group of synced devices;

searching the group of synced devices for copies of the digital content; and

deleting any copies of the digital content that are found.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the automatically deleting comprises:

searching the group of synced devices for copies of the digital content; and

deleting any copies of the digital content that are found.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the searching is performed in the background operations of the synced devices.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the deleting comprises:

detecting when the at least one offline device is online;

searching the at least one offline device for a copy of the digital content; and

deleting the copy of the digital content, if a copy of the digital content is found.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the digital content includes at least one of:

a digital music file, a digital text file, a digital image file or a digital video file.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the first device and the one or more additional devices include at least one of:

a personal computer, a personal digital assistant, a digital video recorder, a portable media player, a digital music player or a cellular telephone.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

conveying at least partial ownership rights in the instance of digital content to the second user at a time of the transferring; and

conveying full ownership rights in the instance of digital content to the second user, once deletion of the one or more copies is confirmed.

20. A system for transferring digital content from a first user to a second user, the system comprising:

means transferring ownership of an instance of the digital content to the second user, the instance of the digital content residing on a first device belonging to the first user; and

means for automatically deleting one or more copies of the digital content from one or more additional devices belonging to the first user, the one or more additional devices including at least one offline device.