Information terminal having reconfigurable memory
First Claim
1. An information terminal comprisinga data receiver for receiving commands and data,a processor for interpreting the commands and data, andreconfigurable memory, responsive to the processor, configured to store a plurality of blocks of data in memory blocks depending on the requirements of information providers, each said information provider being allocated at least one memory block, all unallocated memory blocks being linked in an empty, said empty list for organizing said unallocated memory blocks until they are requested by said information providers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An information terminal includes a secure microprocessor and secure non-volatile memory. Data such as authorization data and other service provider related data for subscription information services are certified as to source, and portions thereof decrypted as necessary by the secure processor according to a service provider key and loaded into secure non-volatile memory. The secure data is loaded by multiple service providers or by subscribers themselves, each service provider being adaptably allocated a number of non-volatile storage cells of predetermined length. In this manner, scarce non-volatile memory resources may be conserved and yet made accessible to multiple information service providers upon demand or as requirements change. Once certified by a trusted entity, several information service providers may individually change or modify the reconfigurable memory of the present invention by remote, addressed communication without the intervention of head-end apparatus. Moreover, preferably the service provider signs messages, and may privately encrypt portions of the message, including the authorization data, with its own key and the encrypted data is certified as to source and decrypted upon receipt at the secure microprocessor. In this manner, authorization transactions are protected from service pirates. Moreover, in a similar manner, service acceptance data, such as impulse pay-per-view data, may be signed by an electronic signature of the subscriber, privately encrypted as appropriate with a subscriber provided key and returned to the service provider. Once the service acceptance data is successfully received at a billing computer, the data is erased from secure terminal memory.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. An information terminal comprising
a data receiver for receiving commands and data, a processor for interpreting the commands and data, and reconfigurable memory, responsive to the processor, configured to store a plurality of blocks of data in memory blocks depending on the requirements of information providers, each said information provider being allocated at least one memory block, all unallocated memory blocks being linked in an empty, said empty list for organizing said unallocated memory blocks until they are requested by said information providers.
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14. A method for reconfiguring a subscriber information terminal memory comprising the steps of
receiving a first command for storing a key certificate for a service provider, storing said key certificate in terminal memory, receiving a second command authorizing the information terminal to receive messages from the service provider, receiving a third command for storing a public key for the service provider, and storing said public key in a memory block of terminal memory for the service provider, the memory block obtained from an empty memory block list.
- 17. A secure terminal memory comprising a plurality of non-volatile storage cells of predetermined length, the storage cells being linked together by pointers, access to said memory controlled by a secure processor, at least one said non-volatile storage cell being allocated to a particular service provider, unallocated ones of said memory cells being preserved in an empty list.
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21. A method of communicating subscription information service related data for use in a subscription information system comprising the steps of
storing a key certificate at a trusted entity, certifying to a subscription information terminal the identity of a subscription information service provider, and responsive to the certification step, receiving messages at the subscription information terminal from the information service provider.
Specification