Smart card chaining in pay television systems

• US 6,405,369 B1
• Filed: 04/03/1998
• Issued: 06/11/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: News Datacom Ltd (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tsuria, Yossef
• Primary Examiner(s): Faile, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Application Number:
  US08/875,868
• Time in Patent Office: 1,530 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.710, H04/N.704, 380/10, 380/21, 380/9, 380/22, 380/23, 380/210, 380/211, 380/241, 348/12, 348/13, 348/10, 348/6, 455/3.1, 455/6.1, 455/6.2, 455/6.3, 455/5.1, 235/282, 725/1, 725/5, 725/6, 725/8, 725/25, 725/27, 725/31, 725/104, 725/100, 725/131, 725/132, 725/139, 725/140, 725/151, 725/152
• US Class Current: 725/6
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4367 Establishing a secure communication between the client and a peripheral device or smart card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A pay television system including a pay television network and a subscriber unit which receives pay television transmissions via the pay television network and displays the pay television transmissions on televisions coupled thereto. The subscriber unit includes at least two pay television decoders, wherein a first decoder includes a first card reader and a second decoder includes a second card reader. The system also includes a first smart card which is operative, upon insertion in a first slot in the first card reader, to activate decoding of the pay television transmissions in the first decoder and a second smart card which is operative, upon insertion in a second slot in the second card reader, to activate decoding of the pay television transmissions in the second decoder. The second smart card deactivates in accordance with predetermined criteria and reactivates upon insertion in the first slot in the first card reader after removal of the first smart card from the first card reader.

Claims

1. A pay television subscriber system for use with a pay television network, the subscriber system comprising:

a subscriber unit which receives pay television transmissions via the pay television network and displays the pay television transmissions on televisions operatively associated therewith, the subscriber unit including at least two pay television decoders, wherein a first decoder includes a first card reader and a second decoder includes a second card reader;

a first smart card which is operative, upon insertion in a first slot in the first card reader, to activate decoding of the pay television transmissions in the first decoder; and

a second smart card which is operative, upon insertion in a second slot in the second card reader, to activate decoding of the pay television transmissions in the second decoder,

wherein said second smart card deactivates in accordance with predetermined criteria and reactivates upon insertion in said first slot in the first card reader after removal of said first smart card from the first card reader, and

said first smart card deactivates in accordance with second predetermined criteria and reactivates upon insertion in said second slot in the second card reader after removal of said second card from the second card reader.

3. A system according to claim 1 and wherein said predetermined criteria include at least one of a predetermined time and a predetermined date.

5. A system according to claim 1 and wherein said predetermined criteria include a predetermined date, and said first smart card deactivates at a first deactivation date, said second smart card deactivates at a second deactivation date, and said first deactivation date is later than said second deactivation date.

7. A system according to claim 1 and wherein at least one of said first smart card and said second smart card is also operable to control access to a video-cassette-recorder for recording pay television transmissions.

9. A system according to claim 5 and wherein said second smart card receives, upon reactivation, a new deactivation date which is later than said second deactivation date.

10. A system according to claim 9 and wherein said new deactivation date is provided by one of said first decoder, said first smart card and a pay television headend.

11. A system according to claim 10 and wherein said new deactivation date is provided by adding a time increment to a current system time, and calculation of said new deactivation date is performed at one of said first decoder, said first smart card, and the pay television headend.

12. A system according to claim 1 and wherein reactivation of said second smart card includes transmission of chaining data, said chaining data including one of a signature, a key and a seed which is employed to at least one of validate, identify, verify and authenticate said second smart card.

14. A system according to claim 12 and wherein said chaining data also includes a digital representation of a time increment which is associated with a current system time to provide a deactivation date.

15. A system according to claim 12 and wherein said one of a signature, a key and a seed is identical for the first smart card and for the second smart card.

16. A system according to claim 1 and wherein said predetermined criteria include a predetermined date, and said second smart card is deactivated at any time of day during said predetermined date.

17. A system according to claim 1 and wherein said first smart card and said second smart card are interchangeable.

33. A system according to claim 1 and wherein said predetermined criteria include a number of times premium programs have been purchased before deactivation of said second smart card.

36. A system according to claim 11 and wherein the calculation of said new deactivation date includes adding a constant number of hours to the time increment so as to achieve deactivation at a selected time of a day.

38. A system according to claim 11 and wherein the time increment is modifiable.

41. A system according to claim 11 and wherein said time increment is specified in at least one of hours, days and months.

2. A pay television subscriber system comprising:

a subscriber unit which receives pay television transmissions via the pay television network and displays the pay television transmissions on televisions operatively associated therewith, the subscriber unit including at least two pay television decoders, wherein a first decoder includes a first card reader and at least one additional card reader, and a second decoder includes a second card reader;

a first smart card which is operative, upon insertion in a first slot in the first card reader, to activate decoding of the pay television transmissions in the first decoder; and

a second smart card which is operative, upon insertion in a second slot in the second card reader, to activate decoding of the pay television transmissions in the second decoder,

wherein said second smart card deactivates in accordance with predetermined criteria and reactivates upon insertion in an additional slot in the additional card reader, and

said first smart card deactivates in accordance with second predetermined criteria and reactivates upon insertion of said second smart card in said additional slot in the additional card reader.

4. A system according to claim 2 and wherein said predetermined criteria include at least one of a predetermined time and a predetermined date.

6. A system according to claim 2 and wherein said predetermined criteria include a predetermined date, and said first smart card deactivates at a first deactivation date, said second smart card deactivates at a second deactivation date, and said first deactivation date is later than said second deactivation date.

8. A system according to claim 2 and wherein at least one of said first smart card and said second smart card is also operable to control access to a video-cassette-recorder for recording pay television transmissions.

13. A system according to claim 2 and wherein reactivation of said second smart card includes transmission of chaining data, said chaining data including one of a signature, a key and a seed which is employed to at least one of validate, identify, verify and authenticate said second smart card.

18. A system according to claim 2 and wherein said predetermined criteria include a predetermined date, and said second smart card is deactivated at any time of day during said predetermined date.

19. A system according to claim 2 and wherein said first smart card and said second smart card are interchangeable.

20. A pay television decoder comprising:

a smart card reader including a smart card slot via which a first smart card is read; and

a decoder memory, operatively associated with said smart card reader, which is operable;

to store a deactivation date of a second smart card, and one of a signature, a key and a seed identifying said first smart card,

to provide said one of a signature, a key and a seed identifying said first smart card to said second smart card, when said second smart card is inserted in said smart card slot in said smart card reader, in response to a first instruction transmitted by the second smart card, and

to provide said deactivation date to said second smart card in response to a second instruction transmitted by the second smart card.

21. A decoder according to claim 20 and wherein said second instruction is transmitted in response to a match between said one of a signature, a key and a seed identifying said first smart card, and a corresponding one of a signature, a key and a seed identifying said second smart card.

22. In a pay television system in which pay television programs are transmitted to a plurality of subscribers, each subscriber being entitled to receive selected programs, a pay television access control method comprising:

providing a first decoder activated by a first smart card to decode pay television transmissions, and a second decoder activated by a second smart card to decode pay television transmissions;

deactivating said second smart card in accordance with predetermined criteria;

removing said first smart card from a first card reader in said first decoder;

reactivating said second smart card by inserting said second smart card in said first card reader of said first decoder;

deactivating said first smart card in accordance with second predetermined criteria; and

reactivating said first smart card upon insertion in a second card reader in said second decoder after removal of said second card from the second card reader.

24. A method according to claim 22 and wherein said predetermined criteria include at least one of a predetermined time and a predetermined date.

25. A method according to claim 22 and wherein the predetermined criteria include a predetermined date, and the method comprises deactivating said first smart card at a first deactivation date, and deactivating said second smart card at a second deactivation date, wherein said first deactivation date is later than said second deactivation date.

26. A method according to claim 22 and comprising supplying a new deactivation date to said second smart card upon reactivation.

34. A method according to claim 22 and wherein said predetermined criteria include a number of times premium programs have been purchased before deactivation of said second smart card.

23. In a pay television system in which pay television programs are transmitted to a plurality of subscribers, each subscriber being entitled to receive selected programs, a pay television access control method comprising:

providing a first decoder activated by a first smart card to decode pay television transmissions, and a second decoder activated by a second smart card to decode pay television transmissions, wherein the first decoder includes a first card reader and a second card reader;

deactivating said second smart card in accordance with predetermined criteria;

inserting said first smart card in said first card reader;

reactivating said second smart card by inserting said second smart card in said second card reader;

deactivating said first smart card in accordance with second predetermined criteria; and

reactivating said first smart card by inserting said second smart card in said second smart card reader.

27. A method according to claim 23 and wherein said predetermined criteria include at least one of a predetermined time and a predetermined date.

28. A method according to claim 23 and wherein the predetermined criteria include a predetermined date, and the method comprises deactivating said first smart card at a first deactivation date, and deactivating said second smart card at a second deactivation date, wherein said first deactivation date is later than said second deactivation date.

29. A method according to claim 23 and comprising supplying a new deactivation date to said second smart card upon reactivation.

30. A method according to claim 29 and wherein said supplying includes adding a time increment to a current system time.

35. A method according to claim 23 and wherein said predetermined criteria include a number of times premium programs have been purchased before deactivation of said second smart card.

37. A method according to claim 30 and wherein said supplying includes adding a predetermined constant number of hours to the time increment.

39. A method according to claim 30 and wherein the time increment is modifiable.

40. A method according to claim 30 and comprising postponing deactivation of the second smart card for a predetermined time by operating a key in a remote control.

31. A pay television access control method comprising:

providing, in a pay television decoder, a smart card reader including a smart card slot via which a first smart card is read, and a decoder memory operatively associated with said smart card reader;

storing, in said decoder memory, a deactivation date of a second smart card, and one of a signature, a key and a seed identifying said first smart card;

inserting said second smart card in said smart card slot in said smart card reader;

supplying said one of a signature, a key and a seed identifying said first smart card to said second smart card in response to a first instruction transmitted by the second smart card; and

transmitting said deactivation date to said second smart card in response to a second instruction generated by the second smart card.

32. A pay television access control method comprising:

providing a decoder including a decoder memory and a smart card reader;

inserting a first smart card in said smart card reader;

transferring, from said first smart card to said decoder memory, chaining data for activating a second smart card;

removing said first smart card from said smart card reader;

inserting said second smart card in said smart card reader;

transmitting, from said decoder memory to said second smart card, said chaining data; and

enabling said chaining data to activate said second smart card.

42. A chaining method for use with a plurality of smart cards, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of decoders, each including a smart card reader;

inserting a smart card in each smart card reader;

deactivating at least some of the plurality of decoders in accordance with predetermined criteria while maintaining at least one decoder activated;

removing a smart card associated with said one activated decoder from a smart card reader associated with said one activated decoder;

removing smart cards associated with said some of the plurality of decoders from corresponding smart card readers associated with said some of the plurality of decoders;

separately inserting each of said smart cards associated with said some of the plurality of decoders in said smart card reader associated with said one activated decoder; and

activating at least one of said smart cards associated with said some of the plurality of decoders upon insertion in said smart card reader associated with said one activated decoder,

wherein said step of inserting a smart card in each smart card reader comprises transferring chaining data from each smart card to each corresponding smart card readers and said activating step comprises;

separately transmitting first chaining data from said one activated decoder to each of said smart cards associated with said some of the plurality of decoders; and

separately enabling said first chaining data to activate each of said smart cards associated with said some of the plurality of decoders.

43. A pay television decoder for use with a subscriber system for use with a pay television network, the subscriber system comprising a subscriber unit which receives pay television transmissions via the pay television network and displays the pay television transmissions on televisions operatively associated therewith, the subscriber unit including at least two pay television decoders, wherein a first decoder includes a first card reader and a second decoder includes a second card reader, a first smart card being operative, upon insertion in a first slot in the first card reader, to activate decoding of the pay television transmissions in the first decoder and a second smart card being operative, upon insertion in a second slot in the second card reader, to activate decoding of the pay television transmissions in the second decoder, the pay television decoder comprising:

a first card reader having a first slot,

wherein said second smart card deactivates in accordance with predetermined criteria and reactivates upon insertion in said first slot in the first card reader after removal of said first smart card from the first card reader, and

said first smart card deactivates in accordance with second predetermined criteria and reactivates upon insertion in said second slot in the second card reader after removal of said second card from the second card reader.

44. A pay television decoder for use with subscriber system for use with a pay television network, the subscriber system comprising a subscriber unit which receives pay television transmissions via the pay television network and displays the pay television transmissions on televisions operatively associated therewith, the subscriber unit including at least two pay television decoders, wherein a first decoder includes a first card reader and at least one additional card reader, and a second decoder includes a second card reader, a first smart card being operative, upon insertion in a first slot in the first card reader, to activate decoding of the pay television transmissions in the first decoder and a second smart card being operative, upon insertion in a second slot in the second card reader, to activate decoding of the pay television transmissions in the second decoder, the pay television decoder comprising:

a first card reader having a first slot; and

at least one additional card reader having an additional slot,

wherein said second smart card deactivates in accordance with predetermined criteria and reactivates upon insertion in the additional slot in the additional card reader, and

said first smart card deactivates in accordance with second predetermined criteria and reactivates upon insertion of said second smart card in said additional slot in the additional card reader.

45. A pay television subscriber system for use with a pay television network, the subscriber system comprising:

a subscriber unit which receives pay television transmissions via the pay television network and displays the pay television transmissions on televisions operatively associated therewith, the subscriber unit including at least two pay television decoders, at least one of the two pay television decoders comprising;

a smart card reader including a smart card slot via which a first smart card is read; and

a decoder memory, operatively associated with said smart card reader, which is operable;

to store a deactivation date of a second smart card, and one of a signature, a key and a seed identifying said first smart card,

to provide said one of a signature, a key and a seed identifying said first smart card to said second smart card, when said second smart card is inserted in said smart card slot in said smart card reader, in response to a first instruction transmitted by the second smart card, and

to provide said deactivation date to said second smart card in response to a second instruction transmitted by the second smart card.

46. A pay television decoder comprising:

a decoder memory; and

a smart card reader,

wherein, when a first smart card is inserted in said smart card reader, said decoder is operative to transfer, from said first smart card to said decoder memory, chaining data for activating a second smart card, and

when said first smart card is removed from said smart card reader and said second smart card is inserted therein, said decoder is operative to transmit, from said decoder memory to said second smart card, said chaining data, and

said chaining data activates said second smart card.

47. A pay television subscriber system for use with a pay television network, the subscriber system comprising:

a subscriber unit which receives pay television transmissions via the pay television network and displays the pay television transmissions on televisions operatively associated therewith, the subscriber unit including at least two pay television decoders, at least one of the two pay television decoders comprising;

a decoder memory; and

a smart card reader,

wherein, when a first smart card is inserted in said smart card reader, said decoder is operative to transfer, from said first smart card to said decoder memory, chaining data for activating a second smart card, and

when said first smart card is removed from said smart card reader and said second smart card is inserted therein, said decoder is operative to transmit, from said decoder memory to said second smart card, said chaining data, and

said chaining data activates said second smart card.

48. A pay television subscriber system for use with a plurality of smart cards, the system comprising:

a subscriber unit which receives pay television transmissions via a pay television network and displays the pay television transmissions on televisions operatively associated therewith, the subscriber unit including a plurality of decoders, each including a smart card reader operative to receive a smart card, said smart card being inserted into said smart card reader,

wherein at least some of the plurality of decoders deactivate in accordance with predetermined criteria while maintaining at least one decoder activated, and

upon removing a smart card associated with said one activated decoder from a smart card reader associated with said one activated decoder, removing smart cards associated with said some of the plurality of decoders from corresponding smart card readers associated with said some of the plurality of decoders and separately inserting each of said smart cards associated with said some of the plurality of decoders in said smart card reader associated with said one activated decoder, at least one of said smart cards associated with said some of the plurality of decoders is activated upon insertion in said smart card reader associated with said one activated decoder, and

when said smart card is inserted into said smart card reader chaining data is transferred from each smart card to each corresponding smart card reader, and said at least one of said smart cards is activated by;

separately transmitting first chaining data from said one activated decoder to each of said smart cards associated with said some of the plurality of decoders; and

separately enabling said first chaining data to activate each of said smart cards associated with said some of the plurality of decoders.

49. A smart card chaining method comprising:

providing a plurality of smart cards comprising at least a first smart card and a second smart card;

deactivating the first smart card in accordance with at least a first predetermined criterion;

reactivating the first smart card by sending a first message from the second smart card to the first smart card; and

after the deactivating the first smart card and the reactivating the first smart card;

deactivating the second smart card in accordance with at least a second predetermined criterion; and

reactivating the second smart card by sending a second message from the first smart card to the second smart card.

50. The method according to claim 49 and wherein at least one of the first message and the second message comprises chaining data.