Process for the broadcasting of programmes with progressive conditional access and separation of the information flow and the corresponding receiver

• US 5,742,681 A
• Filed: 04/04/1995
• Issued: 04/21/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Orange S.A., Telediffusion De France SA
• Original Assignee: Orange S.A., Telediffusion De France SA
• Inventors: Guillou, Louis, Giachetti, Jean-Luc, Pacaud, Jean-Claude
• Primary Examiner(s): Cain, David C.
• Application Number:
  US08/415,987
• Time in Patent Office: 1,113 Days
• Field of Search: 380/20, 380/23, 380/4, 380/5, 380/49
• US Class Current: 380/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23476 by partially encrypting, e.g. encrypting the ending portion of a movie
• 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

Process for the broadcasting of programmes with progressive conditional access and separation of the information flow, as well as the corresponding receiver,

In order to form the elementary flow, groups of m successive elements of the multiplex are taken and for forming the complimentary flow groups of p successive elements of the multiplex are taken.

Application to television with entitlement checking.

Claims

1. A method for broadcasting programs with progressive conditional access, comprising the steps of:

breaking an information flow of a program into a first flow and a second flow, said breaking step comprising,

arranging said first flow into a channel of order i in groups of m successive fixed length frames, said fixed length frames comprising variable length channels arranged in plural orders,

arranging said second flow into the channel of order i in groups of p successive fixed length frames;

scrambling the second flow with a control word; and

transmitting an entitlement checking message with said program so that a receiver equipped with an access right may descramble and restore the information flow, reception of the first flow resulting in a partially discernable program and reception of said second flow, once descrambled, resulting in complete restoration of the program, said transmitting step comprising the steps of,

transmitting said program in said channel of order i, and

multiplexing said groups of m successive fixed length frames alternately with said groups of p successive fixed length frames.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein said scrambling step comprises the steps of:

scrambling the groups of m successive fixed length frames of said first flow by another control word; and

scrambling the groups of p successive fixed length frames of the second flow by the control word.

3. The process according to claim 2, wherein said step of scrambling the groups of m successive fixed length frames comprises scrambling the groups of m successive fixed length frames with the another control word which comprises at least one of a known control word of the receiver and a transmitted control word that is conveyed within the entitlement checking message.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein said step of transmitting an entitlement checking message comprises:

transmitting said said program in a channel of order i of said variable length channels, where said groups of m successive fixed length frames of said first flow comprise m unscrambled frames and said p successive elements of said second flow comprise p scrambled frames.

5. The process according to claim 2 or 4, wherein said step of transmitting an entitlement checking message comprises the steps of:

transmitting numbers corresponding to respective values of m and of p; and

transmitting indicia regarding which of said groups of m successive fixed length frames and said group of p successive fixed length frames is a first scrambled frame and which of said control word and said another control word scrambled the first scrambled frame.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein:

said scrambling step comprises scrambling with said another control word and said control word, said another control word and said control word having respective limited phases;

said multiplexing step comprises alternately multiplexing said groups of m successive fixed length frames and said p successive fixed length frames with an even phase and an odd phase;

said step of transmitting an entitlement checking message comprises transmitting at least one of said control word and said another control word as a current control word of a current phase and a future control word of a following phase, one of said current word and said future control word being called an even word used during an even phase and the other of being called an odd word used during an odd phase, comprising,

changing respective parities of the another control word and the control word at a same time,

using the even word and the odd word relative to the control word,

using the even and odd words relative to the another control word, and

transmitting a parity information about the even and odd words used.

6. A method for broadcasting programs with progressive conditional access, comprising the steps of:

breaking an information flow of a program into a first flow and a second flow, said breaking step comprising,

arranging said first flow into a channel of order i in groups of m successive packets, and

arranging said second flow into the channel of order i in groups of p successive packets;

scrambling the second flow with a control word; and

transmitting an entitlement checking message with said program so that a receiver equipped with an access right may descramble and restore the information flow, reception of the first flow resulting in a partially discernable program and reception said second flow, once descrambled, resulting in complete restoration of the program, said transmitting step comprising,

multiplexing said groups of m successive packets alternately with said groups of p successive packets.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said scrambling step comprises scrambling said groups of m successive packets by another control word.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said step of scrambling said groups of m successive packets comprises scrambling with the another control, where said another control word comprises at least one of a known control word of the receiver and a transmitted control word conveyed within the entitlement checking message.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein said step of transmitting comprises:

transmitting said group of m successive packets as unscrambled packets and said group of p successive packets as scrambled packets.

10. The method according to claim 7 or claim 9, wherein:

said breaking step comprises,

arranging said first flow into a channel of order i in groups of said m successive packets, each packet comprising a header, and

arranging said second flow into the channel of order i in groups of said p successive packets, each packet comprising the header; and

said transmitting step comprising,

transmitting indicia regarding which of said control word and said another control word is transmitted in the header of respective of said m successive packets and said p successive packets.

11. The method according to claim 6, wherein:

said step of arranging said first flow into the channel of order i in groups of m successive packets comprises arranging said first flow where m is a variable; and

said step of arranging said second flow into the channel of order i in groups of p successive packets comprises arranging said second flow where p is a variable.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein:

said scrambling step comprises scrambling with said another control word and said control word, said another control word and said control word having respective limited phases;

said multiplexing step comprises alternately multiplexing said groups of m successive packets and said p successive packets with an even phase and an odd phase;

said step of transmitting an entitlement checking message comprises transmitting at least one of said control word and said another control word as a current control word of a current phase and a future control word of a following phase, one of said current word and said future control word being called an even word used during an even phase and the other of being called an odd word used during an odd phase, comprising,

changing respective parities of the another control word and the control word at a same time,

using the even and odd words relative to the control word,

using the even and odd words relative to the another control word, and

transmitting a parity information about the even and odd words used.

14. A receiver for receiving programs transmitted with progressive conditional access, comprising:

means for subdividing a transmitted information flow into a first flow of m successive elements and a second flow of p successive elements, the respective groups of m successive elements alternating with the groups of p successive elements;

means for recognizing at least one entitlement checking message in the transmitted information flow and for extracting therefrom at least one control word and at least one access condition;

means for checking if said at least said one access condition is satisfied by said receiver;

means for descrambling at least the second information flow using said at least one control word if the at least one of said access condition is satisfied as checked by said means for checking; and

at least one of a video, an audio and a data receiver configured to receive at least the second flow of p successive elements and a descrambled complimentary flow corresponding to said second flow of p successive elements if the access condition is satisfied.

15. The receiver according to claim 14, wherein:

said means for recognizing the at least one entitlement checking message comprises means for recognizing two entitlement checking messages and restoring two control words and two access conditions;

said means for checking if said at least one access condition is satisfied comprises means for checking if the two access conditions are satisfied; and

said means for descrambling at least the second information flow comprises means for descrambling the first information flow based on the first control word.

16. The receiver according to claim 14, wherein:

said means for recognizing at least one entitlement checking message comprising means for recognizing a single entitlement checking message and restoring a single control word and a single access condition;

said means for checking if at least one access condition is satisfied checks only whether one of said at least one access condition is satisfied; and

said means for descrambling at least the second information flow solely descrambles the second information flow using a single restored control word of the at least one control word.

17. The receiver according to claim 16, wherein the means for descrambling at least the second information flow comprises means for descrambling the first information flow based on a known control word of the receiver.

18. The receiver according to claim 14, wherein:

said means for recognizing at least one entitlement checking message comprises means for extracting four control words comprising first and second even words and first and second odd words; and

the receiver further comprises,

a parity memory with at least one bit, and

means for recognizing a state of a group of two received bits.

19. The receiver as in one of the claims 14-18 wherein said at least one of a video, an audio, and a data receiver receives both descrambled signals and scrambled signals.

20. The receiver as in one of the claims 14-18, wherein said at least one of a video, an audio, and data receiver only receives descrambled signals.