Secure cached subscription service

• US 6,647,411 B2
• Filed: 10/29/1999
• Issued: 11/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Kisor, Gregory, Towell, Timothy N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrell, Robert B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): POLLACK, MELVIN H
• Application Number:
  US09/430,518
• Publication Number:
  US 20030050991A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,474 Days
• Field of Search: 709/213, 709/203, 709/208, 709/216-219, 709/225, 709/229, 705/52, 725/1, 725/2, 725/4, 725/14, 725/25, 725/39, 725/40, 725/46, 725/47, 725/115, 725/119, 725/120, 725/132, 725/134, 725/139, 725/140, 725/142
• US Class Current: 709/213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2885 Hierarchically arranged intermediate devices, e.g. for hierarchical caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25875 involving end-user authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; arrangements for secret or secure communication including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• 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 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2747 Remote storage of video programs received via the downstream path, e.g. from the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• 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 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• 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 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system and method for a secure cached subscription system is described. In one embodiment, the system comprises a content provider and a caching device connected to the content provider. The content provider speculatively downloads information into the caching device based upon a user'"'"'s data. A processing device is connected via a high-bandwidth connection to the caching device for processing the information.

Claims

1. A secure cached subscription system comprising:

At least one content provider having fee-based, on-demand information and also having billing software to bill a user account when the fee-based, on-demand information is requested by the user;

At least one primary caching device connected to the at least one content provider to receive the fee-based, on-demand information from the at least one content provider, wherein the at least one content provider is to speculatively download the fee-based, on-demand information into the caching device based upon viewing-habit data of the user;

At least one secondary caching device connected to the at least one primary caching device to receive the fee-based, on-demand information from the at least one primary caching device, wherein the at least one secondary caching device is to receive the fee-based, on-demand information from the at least one primary caching device based upon viewing-habit data of the user; and

At least one processing device connected via a high-bandwidth connection to the at least one secondary caching device to process the fee-based, on-demand information, the content provider to charge the user account a fee after the processing device has processed the fee-based, on-demand information.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the content provider is to also download the fee-based, on-demand information based on a user profile.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a decoding device to decode the fee-based, on-demand information before processing the fee-based on-demand information.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the decoding device is a set-top box.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one caching device comprises:

a content cache to store the fee-based, on-demand information; and

a decoder to decode the fee-based information in the content cache prior to processing by the processing device.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least one secondary caching device is connected via a high-bandwidth connection to the processing device.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one caching device comprises:

a content cache to store the fee-based, on-demand information.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one caching device comprises:

a decoder to decode the fee-based, on demand information.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one processing device comprises:

a decoder to decode the fee-based, on-demand information before processing.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one caching device is remotely connected to the at least one content provider.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one caching device is to receive the fee-based, on-demand information from the at least one content provider during off-peak hours.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one caching device is to receive the fee-based, on-demand information from the at least one content provider on a separate channel.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one content provider comprises a profiler to maintain user preference information.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising a subscription manager to update the profiler with user preference information.

15. The system of claim 1 further comprising an authentification manager configured to control access to the fee-based, on-demand information.

16. A secure cached subscription system comprising:

At least one content provider having fee-based, on-demand information and also having billing software to bill a user account when the fee-based, on-demand information is requested by the user, and having an encoder to encode the fee-based, on-demand information;

At least one primary caching device connected to the at least one content provider to receive the encoded, fee-based, on-demand information from the at least one content provider, wherein the at least one content provider is to speculatively download the encoded, fee-based, on-demand information into a content cache in the primary caching device based upon viewing-habit data of the user;

At least one secondary caching device connected to the at least one primary caching device to receive the encoded, fee-based, on-demand information from the at least one primary caching device, wherein the at least one secondary caching device is to receive the encoded, fee-based, on-demand information from the at least one primary caching device into a content cache in the secondary caching device based upon viewing-habit data of the user;

At least one decoding device connected to the at least one secondary caching device to decode the encoded, fee-based, on-demand information to produce unencoded, fee-based, on-demand information; and

At least one processing device connected via a high-bandwidth connection to the at least one decoding device to process the unencoded, fee-based, on-demand information, the processing device connected to the content provider, and the content provider to charge the user account a fee after the processing device has processed the unencoded, fee-based, on-demand information.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

a profiler connected to the at least one content provider to maintain user preference information;

a subscription manager to update the profiler with current user preference information; and

an authentification manager configured to control access to the fee-based, on-demand information.

18. A method for providing a secure cached subscription system, comprising:

Speculatively downloading fee-based, on-demand information from a content provider into a primary caching device based upon viewing-habit data of a user, the content provider having billing software to bill a user account;

Speculatively downloading fee-based, on-demand information from a primary caching device into a secondary caching device based upon viewing-habit data of a user;

Transferring the fee-based, on-demand information from the caching device to a processing device, upon a request of the user, so that the user can view the fee-based, on-demand information; and

Charging the user account a fee after the fee-based, on-demand information has been transferred to the processing device.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

decoding the fee-based, on-demand information after speculatively downloading the fee-based, on-demand information into the caching device.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

authenticating access to the fee-based, on-demand information.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising speculatively downloading the fee-based, on-demand information from the content provider based upon user data.

22. The method of claim 18 further comprising speculatively downloading the fee-based, on-demand information from the content provider based upon a user profile.

23. The method of claim 18 wherein the caching device is remotely connected to the content provider.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein speculatively downloading fee-based, on-demand information from the content provider is done during off-peak hours.

25. The method of claim 18 wherein speculatively downloading fee-based, on-demand information from the content provider is done on a separate channel.

26. The method of claim 18 further comprising decoding the fee-based, on-demand information before processing the fee-based, on-demand information.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

accumulating billing information during decoding of the fee-based, on demand information; and

transferring the billing information to the content provider.

28. A system for providing a secure cached subscription system, comprising:

Means for speculatively downloading fee-based, on-demand information from the at least one content provider into an at least one primary caching device, and then into an at least one secondary caching device, based upon viewing-habit data of a user, the content provider having billing software to bill a user account;

Means for transferring the fee-based, on-demand information from the secondary caching device to a processing device, upon a request of the user, so that the user can view the fee-based, on-demand information; and

Means for charging the user account a fee after the fee-based, on-demand information has been transferred to the processing device.

29. An article of manufacture having one or more computer-readable media with executable instructions therein, which when executed by a processing device, causes the processing device to:

Speculatively download fee-based, on-demand information from a content provider into an at least one primary caching device, and then into an at least one secondary caching device, based upon viewing-habit data of a user, the content provider having billing software to bill a user account;

Transfer the fee-based, on-demand information from the caching device to a processing device, upon a request of the user, so that the user can view the fee-based, on-demand information; and

Charge the user account a fee after the fee-based, on demand information has been transferred to the processing device.