VIDEO STREAMING ENTITLEMENT DETERMINED BASED ON THE LOCATION OF THE VIEWER

• US 20120124612A1
• Filed: 11/17/2010
• Published: 05/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: ADIMATYAM, Venkata, RUIZ-VELASCO, Enrique, RUNNE, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,726 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/27
• 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 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/63345 by transmitting keys key distribution for secret or secure communication H04L9/08; network support of key management H04L63/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/63775 for uploading keys, e.g. for a client to communicate its public key to the server key management H04L9/08; network support of key management H04L63/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/835 Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10

Abstract

Users of portable devices may stream video content to the portable device based on an entitlement determination that includes determining the location of the portable device. A device may receive a request to authenticate the portable device to receive the streaming video content and determine whether the portable device is in a geographic location corresponding to a customer premise of an account associated with the portable device. The video content may be streamed when the portable device is in the geographic location corresponding to the customer premise.

Claims

1. A method implemented by one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a request to authenticate a portable device to receive streaming video content;

determining, by the one or more computing devices, whether the portable device is in a geographic location corresponding to a customer premise of an account associated with the portable device; and

streaming, by the one or more computing devices, the video content when the portable device is in the geographic location corresponding to the customer premise.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the one or more devices, whether the account is associated with the portable device based on an Internet Protocol (IP) address or media access control (MAC) address of an access point to which the portable device is connected.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the account associated with the portable device is subscribed to the video content, and

where the streaming of the video content is performed when the account associated with the portable device is subscribed to the video content and when the portable device is in the geographic location corresponding to the customer premise.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

streaming an encrypted version of the video content to the portable device; and

storing a key file that includes a decryption key needed to decrypt the encrypted version of the video content.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a request, from the portable device, for the key file; and

transmitting, in response to the request for the key file, the key file to the portable device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

streaming an encrypted version of the video content to the portable device, where the encrypted version of the video content is encrypted using a different encryption key for each of a plurality of sections of the encrypted version of the video content; and

receiving a plurality of requests, from the portable device, for a decryption key, corresponding to respective sections of the encrypted version of the requested video content.

7. The method of claim 1, where the portable device includes a tablet computer, a smart phone, or a laptop computer.

8. The method of claim 1, where the video content includes streaming video corresponding to a television channel.

9. A computing device implemented method comprising:

requesting, by the computing device, authentication of the computing device to receive a video stream, the authentication being based on whether an account associated with the computing device is subscribed to receive the video stream and based on whether the computing device is in a geographic location authorized to receive the video stream;

periodically requesting, by the computing device, a key to decrypt the video stream;

receiving, by the computing device, the requested key;

receiving, by the computing device, the video stream;

decrypting, by the computing device and using the requested key, the received video stream; and

playing back, by the computing device, the video stream.

10. The method of claim 9, where the geographic location authorized to receive the video stream includes a customer premise corresponding to the account associated with the computing device.

11. The method of claim 9, where the computing device includes a tablet computer, a smart phone, or a laptop computer.

12. The method of claim 9, where the authentication is based on a media access control (MAC) address or internet protocol (IP) address of an access point to which the computing device is connected.

13. The method of claim 9, where a key used to encrypt the video stream is periodically altered.

14. A computer-readable medium containing programming instructions for execution by one or more processors, the computer-readable medium comprising:

instructions to receive a request to authenticate a portable device to receive streaming video content;

instructions to determine whether the portable device is in a geographic location corresponding to a customer premise of an account associated with the portable device; and

instructions to stream the video content when the portable device is in the geographic location corresponding to the customer premise.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

instructions to determine whether the account is associated with the portable device based on an Internet Protocol (IP) address or media access control (MAC) address of an access point to which the portable device is connected.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

instructions to determine whether the account associated with the portable device is subscribed to the video content, and

where the instructions to stream the video content includes instructions to stream the video content when the account associated with the portable device is subscribed to the video content and when the portable device is in the geographic location corresponding to the customer premise.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

instructions to stream an encrypted version of the video content to the portable device; and

instructions to store a key file that includes a decryption key needed to decrypt the encrypted version of the video content.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

instructions to receive a request, from the portable device, for the key file; and

instructions to transmit, in response to the request for the key file, the key file to the portable device.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

instructions to stream an encrypted version of the video content to the portable device, where the encrypted version of the video content is encrypted using a different encryption key for each of a plurality of sections of the encrypted version of the video content; and

instructions to receive a plurality of requests, from the portable device, for a decryption key, corresponding to respective sections of the encrypted version of the requested video content.

20. A system, comprising:

a content server to store encrypted video content that is to be transmitted to a portable device associated with a subscriber to television content;

an entitlement server to store keys needed to decrypt the encrypted video content, the entitlement server authenticating, in response to an authentication request associated with the portable device, the portable device when the portable device is in a geographic location corresponding to a customer premise of an account associated with the portable device, where the entitlement server is further to

receive requests, from the portable device, for the keys needed to decrypt the encrypted video content, and

return, in response to the requests for the keys, the keys to the portable device when the portable device is authenticated; and

a content aggregator to receive broadcast television content and provide the television content, as the encrypted video stream, to the content server.

21. The system of claim 20, where the entitlement server additionally authenticates the portable device based on whether an account associated with the portable device is subscribed to the television content.

22. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

an authentication server to receive an authentication request from the portable device and, in response to the authentication request, provide session authorization information to the portable device, where

the entitlement server determines whether the portable device is authenticated based on the session authorization information.

23. The system of claim 20, where the authentication is based on a media access control (MAC) address or internet protocol (IP) address of an access point to which the portable device is connected.

24. The system of claim 20, where a key used to encrypt the video stream is periodically altered.