DIGITAL CONTENT DISTRIBUTION AND SUBSCRIPTION SYSEM

• US 20180121633A1
• Filed: 12/22/2017
• Published: 05/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: BI, Depeng, GLADWIN, Stephen Christopher, DENKINGER, Troy Steven, FRANKLIN, Timothy Scott, CILFONE, Bart Richard, PEWTERBAUGH, Anne Marie, SPURGAT, Jeffrey Jonathan
• Application Number:
  US15/852,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20180121633A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2117 User registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/16 Copy protection or prevention
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0457 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply dynamic encryption, e.g. stream encryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for stream encryption H04L9/065
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/06 for supporting key management in a packet data network cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management H04L9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/30 Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy
• 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 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• 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 21/4753 : for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 : for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 : involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• 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 21/6582 : Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 : comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format

Abstract

Computer-implemented methods and systems are provided digital content data over a network. In accordance with one implementation, a method is provided that includes: generating, in response to a download request for digital content data, a download address for the digital content data, and transmitting the download address to a client; authenticating, at a content server, the download request; downloading, over the network to the client, the digital content data after the download address is authenticated; receiving, from the client, a request for a license to access and playback the downloaded digital content data; authenticating, at an application server, the license request; and providing, to the client device, the license for the digital content data after the license request is authenticated, the license enabling the client device to access and playback the digital content data.

Claims

1-82. -82. (canceled)

83. A computer-implemented method for controlling access to digital content data over a network, the method comprising the following steps implemented with at least one processor:

receiving, from a client, a request to download digital content data over the network;

generating, in response to the download request, a download address for the digital content data, the download address being transmitted to the client and including a token or checksum to enable an authentication of the download request;

authenticating, at a content server, the download request based on the token or checksum in the download address;

downloading, over the network to the client, the digital content data after the download address is authenticated by the content server;

receiving, from the client, a request for a license to access and playback the downloaded digital content data, the license request including at least one of a session identifier and a client identifier to enable an authentication of the license request;

authenticating, at an application server, the license request based on at least one of the session identifier or the client identifier;

providing, to the client device, the license for the digital content data after the license request is authenticated by the application server, the license enabling the client device to access and playback the digital content data; and

storing, in an administration server, information identifying the digital content data and license to enable royalty tracking and the determination of payments to a rights holder of the digital content data.

84. The computer-implemented method of claim 83, wherein the digital content data contains at least one of video data, audio data, or a data file.

85. The computer-implemented method of claim 83, wherein the request to download digital content data includes a session identifier obtained from a successful login request, and

the method further comprises:

in response to the download request, authenticating the download request based on the session identifier included in the download request.

86. The computer-implemented method of claim 85, wherein the session identifier is valid for a predetermined time period.

87. The computer-implemented method of claim 83, wherein the digital content data downloaded over the network to the client is encrypted.

88. The computer-implemented method of claim 87, wherein providing the license to the client device further comprises:

generating the license for decrypting the encrypted digital content data.

89. The computer-implemented method of claim 88, wherein the license is valid for only a predetermined time period.

90. The computer-implemented method of claim 88, wherein the method further comprises:

generating a separate license for each unit of the digital content data.

91. The computer-implemented method of claim 83, further comprising:

obtaining information identifying rights assignment for the license based on information identifying the digital content data, the information identifying rights assignment including a method for calculating royalty payment to the rights holder; and

calculating an amount royalty payment based on the method for calculating royalty payment and a time period during which the digital content data is cached in the client device.

92. The computer-implemented method of claim 91, wherein the method for calculating royalty payment indicates calculating the royalty payment according to a predetermined percentage of total rights of the digital content data assigned to the rights holder.

93. A digital content distribution system, comprising:

an application server, responsive to a receipt of a request to download digital content data from a client device over a network, to generate a download address for the digital content data and transmit the download address to the client device, the download address including a token or checksum to enable an authentication of the download request; and

a content server, responsive to a receipt of the download address from the client device over the network, to authenticate the download request based on the token or checksum in the download address, and download the digital content data after the download address is authenticated,

wherein, in response to a receipt for a license to access and playback the downloaded digital content data from the client device, the license request including at least one of a session identifier and a client identifier to enable an authentication of the license request, the application server is configured to;

authenticate the license request based on at least one of the session identifier or the client identifier; and

provide, to the client device, the license for the digital content data after the license request is authenticated, the license enabling the client device to access and playback the digital content data.

94. The digital content distribution system of claim 93, further comprising:

an administration server that stores information identifying the digital content data and license to enable royalty tracking and the determination of payments to a rights holder of the digital content data.

95. The digital content distribution system of claim 93, wherein the digital content data contains at least one of video data, audio data, or a data file.

96. The digital content distribution system of claim 93, wherein the request to download digital content data includes a session identifier obtained from a successful login request, and

the application server is further configured to, in response to the download request, authenticate the download request based on the session identifier included in the download request.

97. The digital content distribution system of claim 96, wherein the session identifier is valid for a predetermined time period.

98. The digital content distribution system of claim 93, wherein the digital content data downloaded over the network to the client is encrypted.

99. The digital content distribution system of claim 98, wherein the application server is further configured to:

generate the license for decrypting the encrypted digital content data.

100. The digital content distribution system of claim 99, wherein the generated license is valid for only a predetermined time period.

101. The digital content distribution system of claim 99, wherein the application server is further configured to:

generate a separate license for each unit of the digital content data.

102. The digital content distribution system of claim 94, wherein the administration server is further configured to:

obtain information identifying rights assignment for the license based on information identifying the digital content data and license, the information identifying rights assignment including a method for calculating royalty payment to the rights holder; and

calculate an amount royalty payment based on the method for calculating royalty payment and a time period during which the digital content data is cached in the client device.

103. A computer-readable medium that stores a set of instructions, the instructions being executable by at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to:

receive, from a client, a request to download digital content data over a network;

generate, in response to the download request, a download address for the digital content data, the download address being transmitted to the client and including a token or checksum to enable an authentication of the download request;

authenticate, at a content server, the download request based on the token or checksum in the download address;

download, over the network to the client, the digital content data after the download address is authenticated by the content server;

receive, from the client, a request for a license to access and playback the downloaded digital content data, the license request including at least one of a session identifier and a client identifier to enable an authentication of the license request;

authenticate, at an application server, the license request based on at least one of the session identifier or the client identifier;

provide, to the client device, the license for the digital content data after the license request is authenticated by the application server, the license enabling the client device to access and playback the digital content data; and

store, in an administration server, information identifying the digital content data and license to enable royalty tracking and the determination of payments to a rights holder of the digital content data.