Deferred billing, broadcast, electronic document distribution system and method
First Claim
1. A receiving apparatus in a communication system having a broadcast center that sends a file as a plurality of packets, said receiving apparatus comprising:
- a memory; and
a broadcast receiver for, on a packet-by-packet basis, both receiving and decrypting each packet as it is received and storing the decrypted packet in said memory, wherein said broadcast receiver stores the decrypted packets in said memory so as to reassemble the file in order, wherein the broadcast center repeatedly sends the entire file, and wherein in response to an encrypted packet not being received by said broadcast receiver from a first sending by the broadcast center of the entire file, which results in a gap in the reassembled file, said broadcast receiver (i) keeps track of the gap in the reassembled file and (ii) receives the packet from a subsequent sending by the broadcast center of the entire file and decrypts the packet so as to fill in the gap in the reassembled file.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic document delivery system and method in which a broadcast center periodically sends a “catalog” of available documents to a receiving computer, thereby allowing a user to browse through the available documents without having to access the broadcast center. The documents are transmitted as packets, and the packets are decrypted as soon as they are received, eliminating the need to store both an encrypted and an decrypted version of the documents at the receiving computer. The receiving computer periodically receives information allowing it to decrypt received documents and to encrypt billing information for the receiving computer. The invention is not limited to text-only documents and can receive all types of documents, such as software, images, text, and full-motion video.
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Citations
56 Claims
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1. A receiving apparatus in a communication system having a broadcast center that sends a file as a plurality of packets, said receiving apparatus comprising:
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a memory; and
a broadcast receiver for, on a packet-by-packet basis, both receiving and decrypting each packet as it is received and storing the decrypted packet in said memory, wherein said broadcast receiver stores the decrypted packets in said memory so as to reassemble the file in order, wherein the broadcast center repeatedly sends the entire file, and wherein in response to an encrypted packet not being received by said broadcast receiver from a first sending by the broadcast center of the entire file, which results in a gap in the reassembled file, said broadcast receiver (i) keeps track of the gap in the reassembled file and (ii) receives the packet from a subsequent sending by the broadcast center of the entire file and decrypts the packet so as to fill in the gap in the reassembled file. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A receiving apparatus in a communication system having a broadcast center that sends a file as a plurality of encrypted packets over a communication link, said receiving apparatus comprising:
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a broadcast receiver for receiving the encrypted packets without storing the entire file in encrypted form; and
a memory wherein said broadcast receiver, on a packet-by-packet basis, decrypts each packet as it is received and stores the decrypted packets in said memory, wherein key seed information is used to generate a key used by said broadcast receiver to decrypt the received packets, wherein said broadcast receiver stores the decrypted packets in said memory so as to reassemble the file in order, and wherein in response to an encrypted packet not being received by said broadcast receiver from a sending by the broadcast center of the file, which results in a gap in the reassembled file, said broadcast receiver (i) keeps track of the gap in the reassembled file and (ii) requests retransmission of the packet so as to fill in the gap in the reassembled file. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. An apparatus comprising:
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a file ID receiving unit that is configured to receive via multicast information identifying a file to be multicast;
a key generating unit that is configured to generate a key in accordance with the information identifying the file to be multicast and one of a plurality of key seeds; and
a file receiving unit that is configured to (a) receive via multicast the file in the form of encrypted packets, (b) decrypt the encrypted packets into decrypted packets using the key generated by said key generating unit, and (c) reassemble the decrypted packets in order so as to obtain the file, wherein said apparatus receives the multicasting via satellite. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A receiving apparatus in a communication system having a broadcast center that sends a file as a plurality of encrypted packets over a communication link, said receiving apparatus comprising:
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a broadcast receiver for receiving the encrypted packets without storing the entire file in encrypted form; and
a memory wherein said broadcast receiver, on a packet-by-packet basis, decrypts each packet as it is received and stores the decrypted packets in said memory, wherein each different file sent by the broadcast center is to be decrypted using a different key, wherein said broadcast receiver stores the decrypted packets in said memory so as to reassemble the file in order, and wherein in response to an encrypted packet not being received by said broadcast receiver from a sending by the broadcast center of the file, which results in a gap in the reassembled file, said broadcast receiver (i) keeps track of the gap in the reassembled file and (ii) requests retransmission of the packet so as to fill in the gap in the reassembled file. - View Dependent Claims (56)
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Specification