Providing Access To Content For a Device Using an Entitlement Control Message

• US 20090285401A1
• Filed: 05/19/2009
• Published: 11/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Peterka, Petr, Zhang, Jiang, Moroney, Paul
• Application Number:
  US12/468,839
• Publication Number:
  US 20090285401A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/278
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26606 for generating or managing entitlement messages, e.g. Entitlement Control Message [ECM] or Entitlement Management Message [EMM] arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services H04H60/14
• 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

Abstract

Providing access to content for devices is performed by providing multiple entitlement management messages (EMMs), each which including a service key, to the plurality of devices. Also, a same entitlement control message (ECM) is provided to the devices. The ECM includes an encrypted traffic key for decrypting content. Each of the devices derives an access key from the service key according to a business model level of access to the content for a user of the devices and uses the access key to decrypt the traffic key to access the content according to the business model level of access to the content for the each of the plurality of devices.

Claims

1. A method for providing authorized access to content for a plurality of devices, the method comprising:

providing multiple entitlement management messages (EMMs), each EMM including a service key, to the plurality of devices; and

providing a same entitlement control message (ECM) to the plurality of devices, wherein the same ECM comprises an encrypted traffic key for decrypting content, and each of the plurality of devices derives an access key from the service key according to a business model level of access to the content for a user of each of the plurality of devices, and uses the access key to decrypt the traffic key to access the content according to the business model level of access to the content for the each of the plurality of devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of devices has one of a plurality of different business model levels of access to a specific service.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one of a plurality of different business model levels of access to the content is selected from a group consisting of a long-term subscription, a short-term subscription, and access to a single program, wherein the short-term subscription has a shorter period of subscription than the long-term subscription.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the access key is derived from a long-term key, a short-term key, or a program key.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises:

deriving the short-term key from the long term key using a short term label and a cryptographic function.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

deriving the program key from the short-term key using a program label and a cryptographic function.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the long term key changes in a first predetermined time interval and the long term key is unique for the specific service.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the short-term key changes in a second predetermined time interval that is shorter than the first predetermined time interval and the short-term key is unique for the specific service.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the program key changes for each program and the program key is unique for each program interval of the specific service.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the service key comprises the long-term key, the short-term key, or the program key, and the service key is used for different business model levels of access to the content for the each of the plurality of devices.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of devices uses program data and a cryptographic function to derive the access key from the program key, and the program data is authenticated for the specific service if the access key is usable to access content for the specific service.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of devices decrypts the traffic key using the access key.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of devices decrypts the content using the traffic key.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the same ECM is provided to the plurality of devices for a single content channel time interval.

15. A computer system configured to facilitate authorized access to content for a plurality of devices, the computer system comprising:

a processor configured to provide multiple entitlement management messages (EMMs), each EMM including a service key, to the plurality of devices;

wherein the processor is further configured to provide a same entitlement control message (ECM) to the plurality of devices, and the same ECM comprises an encrypted traffic key for decrypting content, and

each of the plurality of devices derives an access key from the service key according to a business model level of access to the content for a user of the each of the plurality of devices, and uses the access key to decrypt the traffic key to access the content according to the business model level of access to the content for the each of the plurality of devices; and

an interface configured to transmit the EMMs and the ECM to the plurality of devices.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the business model level of access to the content is selected from a group consisting of a first time interval subscription, a second time interval subscription, and access to a single program, wherein the second time interval is shorter than the first time interval.

17. The computer system of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of devices derives the access key using a one-way function and the one-way function derives a short-term key or a program key in a one-way direction.

18. A device configured to access content from a service provider, the device comprising:

a processor configured to receive an entitlement management message (EMM) including a service key,

wherein the processor is further configured to receive an entitlement control message (ECM) from the service provider, and the ECM comprises an encrypted traffic key for decrypting content, and the device derives an access key from the service key according to a business model level of access to the content for a user of the device, and uses the access key to decrypt the traffic key to access the content according to the business model level of access to the content for the device,

wherein the same ECM is sent to multiple other devices and each of the other devices derives an access key from the service key according to a business model level of access to the content for a user of the other device;

an interface configured to receive the EMM and the ECM; and

a data storage storing information from the EMM and the ECM.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the business model level of access for the device is one of a plurality of different business model levels of access to a specific service, and the one of a plurality of different business model levels of access to a specific service is selected from a group consisting of a first time interval subscription, a second time interval subscription, and access to a single program, wherein the second time interval is shorter than the first time interval.

20. The device of claim 18, wherein the service key is selected from a group consisting of a long-term key, a short-term key, and a program key, and the processor is further configured to derive the short-term key from the long-term key, derive the program key from the short-term key, derive the access key from the program key, and decrypt the traffic key using the access key.