PARING METHOD BETWEEN SM AND TP IN DOWNLOADABLE CONDITIONAL ACCESS SYSTEM, SET-TOP BOX AND AUTHENTICATION DEVICE USING THIS

• US 20110051933A1
• Filed: 11/23/2009
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Kwon, O-Hyung, Koo, Han-seung, Lee, Soo-in
• Application Number:
  US12/812,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20110051933A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/278
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/603 Digital right managament [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/76 Proxy, i.e. using intermediary entity to perform cryptographic operations network architectures or network communication protocols using hop-by-hop encryption H04L63/0464
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/04 for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0844 with user authentication or key authentication, e.g. ElGamal, MTI, MQV-Menezes-Qu-Vanstone protocol or Diffie-Hellman protocols using implicitly-certified keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3249 using RSA or related signature schemes, e.g. Rabin scheme
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3268 using certificate validation, registration, distribution or revocation, e.g. certificate revocation list [CRL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43853 involving multiplex stream decryption arrangements using cryptography for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/23
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44236 Monitoring of piracy processes or activities protecting computer platforms against harmful, malicious or unexpected behaviour or activities using intrusion detection and counter measures G06F21/566; computer virus detection and handling G06F21/56
• 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

Abstract

The present invention relates to a technology of paring a secure micro (SM) and a transport processor (TP) in a downloadable conditional access system (DCAS). More specifically, predetermined security components generated by a trusted authority which is a certificate authority are previously embedded into the SM and the TP, and pairing between the SM and the TP is performed by association of the security components with the TA. Accordingly, safe pairing can be assured and the leakage of security information from the SM by malicious hacking can be prevented.

Claims

1. A method of pairing a secure micro (SM) for security processing and a transport processor (TP) for descrambling scrambled contents, the method comprising:

exchanging, between the SM and TP, the security components of each of the SM and the TP;

receiving a result of a validation check with respect to the security components; and

generating encryption keys for encrypting data to be transmitted between the SM and the TP based on the validation check result.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the security components include at least one of a trusted authority (TA) certificate, device certificates which each include an identification of each of the SM and the TP, a Rivest-Shamir-Adelman (RSA) private key, and a Diffie-Hellman (DH) prime(n) and a DH base(g) for a DH key exchange algorithm.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the security components exchanged between the SM and the TP are device certificates.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating of the encryption key comprises:

generating public keys at the SM and the TP using the validation check result and exchanging the generated public keys between the SM and the TP;

generating authentication keys at the SM and the TP using the exchanged public keys; and

exchanging the authentication keys between the SM and the TP and generating the encryption keys.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the exchanging of the public keys comprises exchanging DH public keys using a Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the authentication keys are generated using a hash function.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the validation check with respect to the security components is performed by a trusted authority (TA) which is a certificate authority.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the security components are previously assigned to the SM and the TP by a trusted authority (TA) which is a certificate authority.

9. A method of pairing a secure micro (SM) for security processing and a transport processor (TP) for descrambling scrambled contents, the method comprising:

assigning, at a trusted authority (TA), security components to the SM and the TP;

receiving, at the TA, the security components of the SM and the TP and performing a validation check with respect to the received security components; and

informing the SM or the TP of the validation check result.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the security components include more than one of a TA certificate, device certificates which each include an identification of each of the SM and the TP, a Rivest-Shamir-Adelman (RSA) private key, and a Diffie-Hellman (DH) prime(n) and a DH base(g) for a DH key exchange algorithm.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the validation check result is encrypted prior to the informing.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein when the security components are valid, a key pairing key (KPK) required for generating the authentication key is transmitted to the SM.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the validation check is performed with respect to identifications of the respective SM and TP which are included in the security components.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the validation check is performed based on a certificate revocation list (CRL) according to whether or not a certificate containing either the identification of the SM or the identification of the TP is revoked.

15. A set-top box of a downloadable conditional access system (DCAS), the set-top box comprising:

a secure micro (SM) for security processing; and

a transport processor (TP) for descrambling scrambled contents,

wherein the set-top box receives a validation check result with respect to security components assigned to the SM and the TP and generates an encryption key to be used for encrypting data to be transmitted between the SM and the TP based on the received validation check result.

16. The set-top box of claim 15, wherein the security components include more than one of a trusted authority (TA) certificate, device certificates which each include an ID of each of the SM and the TP, an RSA private key, and a Diffie-Hellman (DH) prime(n) and a DH base(g) for a DH key exchange algorithm.

17. The set-top box of claim 15, wherein the security components are assigned by a trusted authority (TA) which is a certificate authority.

18. An authentication device of a downloadable conditional access system (DCAS) which is connected with a set-top box through an authentication proxy, wherein the set-top box includes a secure micro (SM) for security processing and a transport processor (TP) for descrambling scrambled contents and the authentication device assigns security components to the SM and the TP, performs validation check with respect to the security components of the SM and the TP and informs the SM or the TP of a validation check result.

19. The authentication device of claim 18, wherein the security components include more than one of a trusted authority (TA) certificate, device certificates which each include an ID of each of the SM and the TP, an RSA private key, and a Diffie-Hellman (DH) prime(n) and a DH base(g) for a DH key exchange algorithm.

20. The authentication device of claim 18, wherein when the security components are valid, a key pairing key (KPK) required for generating the authentication key is provided to the SM.