System and Method of Restricting Access to Media Content

• US 20090119696A1
• Filed: 11/01/2007
• Published: 05/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Piepenbrink, David, Rys, Stephen, Chow, Lee
• Granted Patent: US 8,924,997 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25816 involving client authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4405 involving video stream decryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4623 Processing of entitlement messages, e.g. ECM [Entitlement Control Message] or EMM [Entitlement Management Message] arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services H04H60/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/1675 Providing digital key or authorisation information for generation or regeneration of the scrambling sequence pseudo-random number generators in general G06F7/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed

Abstract

A method of restricting access to content delivered via a video distribution network is disclosed and includes receiving a control stream at a service delivery platform. The control stream is related to media content delivered via a video distribution network. The method also includes parsing the control stream and determining, from the parsed control stream, at least one geographical area in which access to programming associated with the video content channel is to be restricted. The method also includes automatically scheduling a conditional access event associated with the media content at least one video head-end of the video distribution network, the at least one video head-end serving the at least one geographical area. In a particular embodiment, the video distribution network can be an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) network.

Claims

1. A method of restricting access to content delivered via a video distribution network, the method comprising:

receiving a control stream at a service delivery platform associated with a video distribution network, wherein the control stream is related to media content delivered via the video distribution network;

parsing the control stream;

determining, from the parsed control stream, at least one geographical area in which access to the media content is to be restricted; and

automatically scheduling a conditional access event associated with the media content at least one video head-end of the video distribution network, the at least one video head-end serving the at least one geographical area.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising deriving conditional access information from the parsed control stream, wherein the conditional access information indicates the geographical area.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising scheduling a first type of conditional access event at a first video head-end based on the control stream and scheduling a second type of conditional access event at a second video head-end based on the control stream.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first type of conditional access event and the second type of conditional access event include a blackout event, a restriction of access to a subscription level, a restriction of access to users who pay to receive the media content, or a combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the control stream indicates that the media content is to be replaced with substitute media content.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining an acquisition point corresponding to the substitute media content.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising creating a substitution table at the at least one video head-end, wherein the substitution table indicates the media content and the substitute media content.

8. A method of restricting access to content to be delivered via a video distribution network, the method comprising:

sending a media content stream from a content provider to a super head-end associated with the video distribution network; and

sending a control stream from the content provider to the super head-end, wherein the control stream includes control data indicating at least one subscriber group for which access to media content associated with the media content stream is to be restricted;

wherein the video distribution network includes a system adapted to automatically schedule, based on the control data, a conditional access event associated with the media content at least one video head-end of the video distribution network, the at least one video head-end serving the at least one subscriber group.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the media content stream comprises a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) stream having a video portion, an audio portion, or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the control data indicates a conditional access start time, a conditional access end time, an affected channel, substitute content, or any combination thereof.

11. A system to restrict access to content delivered via a video distribution network, the system comprising:

a service delivery platform having processing logic and memory accessible to the processing logic, wherein the memory includes instructions executable by the processing logic to;

parse a control stream related to a media content channel;

derive conditional access information from the parsed control stream;

determine, from the conditional access information, a geographic area in which access to media content associated with the media content channel is to be restricted; and

automatically schedule a conditional access event associated with the media content at a video head-end of a video distribution network that serves the geographical area.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the service delivery platform is adapted to receive the control stream from an integrated receiver-decoder at a super video head-end.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the service delivery platform is adapted to receive the control stream via a proxy system.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the service delivery platform and the proxy system are included in a conditional access provisioning system.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the service delivery platform includes a database to log receipt of the conditional access information.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the memory includes instructions to schedule the conditional access event at the video head-end by calling a scheduling application programming interface (API) at the video head-end.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the conditional access information indicates the geographical area, a start time for the conditional access event, an end time for the conditional access event, primary content, substitute content, or any combination thereof.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the primary content, the substitute content, or any combination thereof, are indicated by a virtual channel.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the video distribution network is an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) network.

20. A computer-readable medium having processor-readable instructions executable by a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

parsing a control stream related to delivery of media content;

deriving conditional access information from the parsed control stream;

determining, from the conditional access information, a subscriber group to whom access to media content associated with the control stream is to be restricted; and

scheduling a conditional access event associated with the programming at least one video head-end of a video distribution network serving media content to the subscriber group.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the subscriber group includes a geographical area, users associated with at least one subscription level, users who have paid for access to the media content, or a combination thereof.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the method further comprises:

parsing second control stream data associated with delivery of the media content;

determining that the second control stream data indicates at least one update to the scheduled conditional access event; and

automatically updating the scheduled conditional access event at the at least one video head-end.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein updating the conditional access event includes changing a start time of the conditional access event, changing an end time of the conditional access event, changing substitute content to replace the media content, deleting the conditional access event, or any combination thereof.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises automatically updating a substitution table related to the conditional access event at the at least one video head-end.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises logging receipt of the second control stream data, logging a time at which the second control stream data was received, logging the updating of the conditional access event, or a combination thereof.