METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPORTING CONTENT

• US 20110067112A1
• Filed: 11/15/2010
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: NAM, Su-hyun, KIM, Bong-seon, YOON, Young-sun
• Granted Patent: US 8,355,989 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/26
• 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: H04N 2005/91328 the copy protection signal being a copy management signal, e.g. a copy generation management signal [CGMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4367 Establishing a secure communication between the client and a peripheral device or smart card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8355 involving usage data, e.g. number of copies or viewings allowed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/913 for scrambling ; for copy protection
• 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

A method and apparatus for protecting digital content in a digital rights management (DRM) system are provided. The method includes: determining a usage rule for content included in a first content file based on usage constraint information included in the first content file; and generating a second content file complying with this usage rule. According to the method and apparatus, the security requirement of content creators and content providers can be satisfied and at the same time the requirement of content consumers for freer usage can be satisfied.

Claims

1. A method of importing a first content file into a second content file, the method comprising:

receiving at a computer implementing a digital rights management (DRM) system a first content file which does not comply with a DRM usage rule for the DRM system and which includes usage constraint information;

determining the DRM usage rule for content included in the first content file based on the usage constraint information included in the first content file; and

generating the second content file complying with the determined DRM usage rule,

wherein the second content file includes the determined DRM usage rule.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is usage constraint information of the content and in the determining of the DRM usage rule the DRM usage rule is determined based on the usage constraint information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the usage constraint information is information restricting the number of times of copying the content.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the usage constraint information is information indicating whether or not unrestricted redistribution of the content is prohibited.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising encrypting selectively the content based on the information, wherein in the generation of the second content file, the second content file including the DRM usage rule and the encrypted content is generated.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the usage bind of the content based on the information, wherein in the determining of the DRM usage rule, the DRM usage rule is determined with respect to each determined usage bind.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating and issuing a license of the content including the determined DRM usage rule, wherein in the generating of the second content file, the second content file including the issued license is generated.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising measuring the time to issue the license,

wherein in the generating and issuing of the license of the content, the license further including the measured time is generated and issued.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

electronically signing the determined DRM usage rule; and

generating and issuing a license of the content including the electronically signed usage rule,

wherein in the generating of the second content file, the second content file including the issued license is generated.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content file does not comply with the DRM rule of a DRM system and the second content file complies with the DRM rule of the DRM system.

11. An apparatus for importing a first content file as a second content file, the apparatus comprising:

a reception device which receives the first content file which does not comply with a digital rights management (DRM) usage rule for a DRM system;

a usage rule determination device which determines the DRM usage rule for content included in the first content file based on usage constraint information included in the first content file; and

a content file generation device which generates the second content file complying with the determined DRM usage rule,

wherein the second content file includes the determined DRM usage rule.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the information is usage constraint information of the content and the usage rule determination device determines the DRM usage rule based on the usage constraint information.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a usage bind determination device determining the usage bind of the content based on the information, wherein the usage rule determination device determines the DRM usage rule with respect to each determined usage bind.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a license issuance unit generating and issuing a license of the content including the determined DRM usage rule, wherein the content file generation device generates the second content file including the issued license.

15. A computer readable recording medium having embodied thereon a computer program for causing a computer to execute a method of importing a first content file into a second content file, wherein the method comprises:

receiving at a computer implementing a digital rights management (DRM) system a first content file which does not comply with a digital rights management (DRM) usage rule for the DRM system and which includes usage constraint information;

determining the DRM usage rule for content included in the first content file based on the usage constraint information included in the first content file;

and

generating the second content file complying with the determined DRM usage rule,

wherein the second content file includes the determined DRM usage rule.