Signaling and Handling Content Encryption and Rights Management in Content Transport and Delivery

• US 20140020111A1
• Filed: 07/12/2013
• Published: 01/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wang, Xin, Zhang, Shaobo, Giladi, Alexander, Liu, Yongliang, Liu, Tao
• Granted Patent: US 9,342,668 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: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/205 involving negotiation or determination of the one or more network security mechanisms to be used, e.g. by negotiation between the client and the server or between peers or by selection according to the capabilities of the entities involved negotiation of communication capabilities H04L69/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2362 Generation or processing of Service Information [SI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; 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 21/26613 for generating or managing keys in general key distribution for secret or secure communication involving central third party, e.g. key distribution center [KDC] or trusted third party [TTP] H04L9/083; network support of key management H04L63/06; key management for network security in communication control or processing H04W12/04
• 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

Abstract

An apparatus comprising a memory, a processor coupled to the memory and configured to obtain a protection description for media content comprising a plurality of content items, wherein the protection description comprises data signaling at least two protection mechanisms for at least two content items in a media content, wherein each of the at least two content items is protected by one or more of the at least two protection mechanisms, and wherein the protection mechanisms for the at least two content items are different, determine the protection mechanisms for the at least two content items from the data, and process the at least two content items according to their associated protection mechanisms.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

obtain a protection description for media content comprising a plurality of content items,

wherein the protection description comprises data signaling at least two protection mechanisms for at least two content items in a media content, wherein each of the at least two content items is protected by one or more of the at least two protection mechanisms, and wherein the protection mechanisms for the at least two content items are different;

determine the protection mechanisms for the at least two content items from the data; and

process the at least two content items according to their associated protection mechanisms.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one protection mechanism is selected from a group consisting of:

encryption algorithms, encryption keys, encryption key locations, initialization vectors, initialization vector locations, digital rights licenses, and digital rights license locations.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least two content items are encrypted using a common encryption algorithm.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the protection description is obtained using a Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) (DASH) or Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) Media Transport (MMT) protocol.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data is received prior to receiving all of the content items.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data further signals at least one system required for processing the at least two content items, and wherein the system is selected from a group consisting of:

Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems, content protection systems, and key management systems.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a first portion of the at least two content items originates from a first source and a second portion of the at least two content items originates from a second source.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data signals the at least two protection mechanisms using at least one predefined template form, wherein the data is received prior to receiving the at least two content items, and wherein the data signals the protection mechanisms for the at least two content items without considering the internal format of the at least two content items.

9. A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium such that when executed by a processor cause a network element (NE) to:

obtain a protection description for media content, wherein the media content comprises a plurality of encrypted content items, and wherein the protection description comprises data signaling at least two protection mechanisms for at least two encrypted content items described in a media description, where each of the at least two encrypted content items is protected by one or more of the at least two protection mechanisms, and wherein the protection mechanisms for the at least two encrypted content items are different;

determine the protection mechanisms for the at least two encrypted content items from the data for the at least two encrypted content items; and

process the at least two encrypted content items according to their associated protection mechanisms.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the protection mechanisms signaled by the data are selected from a group consisting of:

encryption algorithms, encryption keys, encryption key locations, initialization vectors, initialization vector locations, digital rights licenses, and digital rights license locations.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of encrypted content items are encrypted using a common encryption algorithm.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the data signals the at least two protection mechanisms in a predefined template form.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the data is received prior to receiving the encrypted content items, and wherein the data signals the at least two protection mechanisms for the at least two encrypted content items without considering the internal format of the at least two encrypted content items.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein a first portion of the plurality of encrypted content items originates from one source and a second portion of the plurality of encrypted content items originates from another source.

15. A method comprising:

obtaining a media content comprising at least two content items, wherein each of the at least two content items are protected by one or more of at least two protection mechanisms, and wherein the protection mechanisms for each of the at least two content items is different;

developing a protection description for the media content, wherein the protection description comprises data sufficient to signal the protection mechanisms for the at least two content items; and

transmitting the protection description and the media content to a client.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the protection description comprises data sufficient to indicate to the client at least one of the following as the at least two protection mechanisms:

the encryption system, the key management system, the initialization vector (IV) information for a single period, and the IV information for several constant-length periods.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the protection description comprises data sufficient to signal a key uniform resource identifier (URI) associated with a period, wherein the key URI is used to retrieve a key resource.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the protection description comprises data describing the global properties of protection mechanisms used in all periods for the media presentation.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the protection description comprises data describing the global properties of a key system used in all periods for the media presentation.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein at least a portion of the media content is encrypted using a common encryption algorithm.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

obtain a media content comprising at least two content items, wherein each of the at least two content items are protected by one or more of at least two protection mechanisms, and wherein the protection mechanisms for each of the at least two content items is different;

develop a protection description for the media content, wherein the protection description comprises data sufficient to signal the protection mechanisms for the at least two content items; and

transmit the protection description and the media content to a client.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein at least a portion of the content items are obtained from a first source and at least a portion of the content items are obtained from a second source.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the protection description is transmitted using a Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) (DASH) or Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) Media Transport (MMT) protocol.