DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT

• US 20090089398A1
• Filed: 12/11/2008
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle Corporation UK Limited (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sealedmedia Limited (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: LAMBERT, Martin R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,380,849 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• 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: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A digital rights management (DRM) system distributes the storage of rights and/or the rights management decision making process between a DRM client and a DRM server, in order to overcome the shortcomings inherent in exclusively client-side or exclusively server-side DRM systems.

Claims

1. A system for managing a consumer'"'"'s access to content to be rendered on a consumer content rendering device, the consumer content rendering device including a storage device, and wherein a DRM server is arranged to provide a copy of at least one right to the consumer content rendering device for storage in the storage device, the system comprising:

a DRM client on a consumer content rendering device that is arranged to attempt initially to retrieve a copy of at least one right from a storage device of the consumer content rendering device, and, in the event that a copy of the at least one right is not found in the storage device, to attempt to retrieve a copy of the at least one right from a said DRM server.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the DRM client is arranged to allow a copy of the at least one right to reside in the storage device for a predetermined time before being made void.

3. A system according to claim 2, wherein the DRM client is arranged to void the at least one right by removing the copy of the at least one right from the storage device.

4. A system according to claim 2, wherein the DRM client is arranged to allow the consumer to configure the predetermined time.

5. A system for making rights management decisions relating to access to content, the system comprising:

a DRM server for making a first rights management decision based on a request from a DRM client for a right to access content and for responding to the request accordingly such that a said DRM client can make a second rights management decision based on the response from the DRM server.

6. A system according to claim 5, wherein the DRM server is arranged so that the first rights management decision includes the DRM server refusing to grant a said DRM client the right to access the content on the basis that granting the right would cause a concurrent consumer limit to be exceeded.

7. A system according to claim 5, wherein the DRM server is arranged so that the first distributed rights management decision includes granting the right to access the content on a plurality of devices.

8. A system according to claim 5, wherein the DRM server is arranged so that the first distributed rights management decision includes limiting the number of devices that can be used to access the content.

9. A system according to claim 5, wherein the DRM server is arranged to modify at least one individual right specification based upon at least one item of consumer information received from a DRM client.

10. A system according to claim 5 wherein the DRM server is arranged to store a group right specification for at least one consumer of a group of consumers and to make a rights management decision based on the group right specification.

11. A system according to claim 5, wherein the DRM server is arranged to modify at least one individual right specification associated with a first publisher based upon at least one transaction associated with a second publisher.

12. A system for making rights management decisions for content, the system comprising:

a DRM client that is arranged to request from a DRM server a right to access content and to receive from a said DRM server the result of a first rights management decision made at the DRM server,

the DRM client further being arranged to make a second rights management decision based on a said result received from a said DRM server.

13. A system according to claim 12, wherein the DRM client is arranged so that the second rights management decision includes determining whether the DRM client has a right to print the content.

14. A system according to claim 12, wherein the DRM client is arranged so that the second rights management decision includes determining whether the DRM client has a right to save the content to a storage device.

15. A system for logging access to content by one or more consumers, the system comprising:

a DRM server that is arranged to log requests for access to content to produce a first log record and to receive from at least one DRM client a second log record of access to the content.

16. A system according to claim 15, wherein the DRM server is arranged to merge the first log record and the second log record.

17. A consumer DRM client arranged to log access to content by the DRM client to produce a log record, the DRM client further being arranged to transmit the log record to a DRM server.

18. A DRM client according to claim 17, wherein the DRM client is arranged to temporarily cache the log record and to send the log record to a said DRM server after a predetermined period of time.

19. A system for obtaining from a DRM server a right to access content on a consumer device, the right to access the content being stored in both the consumer device and the DRM server, the system comprising:

a DRM client; and

,

a consumer device with which the DRM client is associated;

the DRM client being arranged first to attempt to retrieve the right from the consumer device and then, if unable to retrieve the right from the consumer device, to attempt to retrieve the right from a said DRM server.

20. A system according to claim 19, wherein the consumer device has both persistent storage and non-persistent storage, the DRM client being arranged to attempt to retrieve the right in the following order:

from the non-persistent storage of the consumer device, and then, if the right cannot be retrieved from the non-persistent storage of the consumer device, from the persistent storage of the consumer device, and then, if the right cannot be retrieved from the persistent storage of the consumer device, from a said DRM server.