Renewing an Expired License
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A hardware television tuner capable of:
- receiving, from a device capable of rendering entertainment content, a request to renew a license, the license permitting the device to render entertainment content indicated in the license for a period having an expiration time and signed with a digital signature;
receiving the license;
computing an integrity key using a secret;
verifying that the license has not been altered based on the digital signature and using the integrity key;
requesting renewal of the license from a remote source;
receiving permission to renew the license and a new expiration time from the remote source;
renewing the license by altering the license to include the new expiration time effective to provide a renewed license;
signing the renewed license using the integrity key; and
issuing, to the device, the renewed license signed with the integrity key effective to enable the device to use the entertainment content indicated in the license until such use expires based on the new expiration time.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This document describes tools capable of renewing an expired license to entertainment content. The tools, in some embodiments, may repeatedly renew a license using very little resources, such as by forgoing retention of the license, encryption keys, or the entertainment content between renewals. The tools, for example, may provide a license to a particular content receiver (e.g., a laptop computer), and, when that license expires, renew the license with as little as a single retained secret. By so doing the tools enable, among other things, fewer computing resources to be used in renewing a license while maintaining the security of that license'"'"'s entertainment content.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A hardware television tuner capable of:
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receiving, from a device capable of rendering entertainment content, a request to renew a license, the license permitting the device to render entertainment content indicated in the license for a period having an expiration time and signed with a digital signature; receiving the license; computing an integrity key using a secret; verifying that the license has not been altered based on the digital signature and using the integrity key; requesting renewal of the license from a remote source; receiving permission to renew the license and a new expiration time from the remote source; renewing the license by altering the license to include the new expiration time effective to provide a renewed license; signing the renewed license using the integrity key; and issuing, to the device, the renewed license signed with the integrity key effective to enable the device to use the entertainment content indicated in the license until such use expires based on the new expiration time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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- 8. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions therein that, when executed by a computing device, repeatedly renew a license to use entertainment content that is bound to a single content receiver, each act of renewal issuing a renewed license bound to that single content receiver using an integrity key computed using a secret and each act of renewal not retaining the license or the entertainment content between each act of renewal.
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15. A method implemented at least in part by a computing device, the method comprising:
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issuing a license to entertainment content, the license bound to a single content receiver and having a policy that includes an expiration time or a maximum number of uses of the entertainment content, the license signed with a digital signature; receiving the license and the digital signature after the expiration time has passed or the maximum number of uses has been reached; verifying the integrity of the license using the digital signature; altering the expiration time or the maximum number of uses in the license effective to renew the license; re-signing the renewed license with a new digital signature; and issuing the renewed license with the new digital signature effective to enable the single content provider to continue use of the entertainment content. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification