Method and apparatus for content protection in a secure content delivery system

• US 6,763,370 B1
• Filed: 05/12/1999
• Issued: 07/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ferco International Ferrures Serrures Batiment (Gretsch-Unitas GmbH), Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Softricity Inc (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Eichin, Mark W., Schmeidler, Yonah, Atkins, Derek, Rostcheck, David J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M.
• Application Number:
  US09/310,229
• Time in Patent Office: 1,889 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/201, 709/203, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/227, 709/228, 709/229, 709/245, 709/247
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2137 Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2872 Termination of subscriber connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/102 applying security measure for e-commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/04 for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/062 for key distribution, e.g. centrally by trusted party cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving a central third party H04L9/0819
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• 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 21/2312 Data placement on disk arrays data placement in general G06F3/0604
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2347 involving video stream encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2408 Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 : Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25435 : involving characteristics of content or additional data, e.g. video resolution or the amount of advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26216 : involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 : Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4405 : involving video stream decryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 : Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 : for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8186 : specially adapted to be executed by a peripheral of the client device, e.g. by a reprogrammable remote control
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system for secure delivery of on-demand content over broadband access networks utilizes of servers and security mechanisms to prevent client processes from accessing and executing content without authorization. A plurality of encrypted titles are stored on a content server coupled to the network. An access server also coupled to the network contains the network addresses of the titles and various keying and authorization data necessary to decrypt and execute a title. A client application executing on a user'"'"'s local computer system is required to retrieve the address, keying and authorization data from the access server before retrieving a title from the content server and enabling execution of the title on a user'"'"'s local computer system.

Claims

1. A server apparatus connectable through a computer network to one or more client processes comprising:

a processor;

a server memory coupled to the processor, the server memory capable of storing a plurality of titles therein;

a network interface coupled to the server memory and processor;

authentication logic, responsive to a token received from a client process, the token containing data identifying a time period, and configured to determine whether the client process is authorized to access the server memory at a specific time; and

access logic, responsive to the token received from the client process, and configured to enable access to the server memory and a title uniquely identified by the token.

2. A computer program product for use with a server apparatus having a processor, a server memory and a network interface, the server apparatus connectable to one or more client processes over a computer network, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied thereon, the computer program code comprising:

authentication program code responsive to a token received from a client process, the token containing data identifying a time period, and configured to determine whether the client process is authorized to access the server memory at a specific time; and

access program code responsive to the token received from the client process, the token containing data uniquely identifying one of the titles stored in server memory, for accessing the server memory and a title uniquely identified by the token.

3. In a server apparatus comprising a processor, server memory and a network interface, the server apparatus connectable to one or more client process over a computer network, a method comprising:

(a) receiving a token from a client process through the network interface, the token containing data identifying a time period and data uniquely identifying a title;

(b) determining whether the client process is authorized to access the title at a specific time;

(c) if the client is authorized in step (b), accessing the server memory and a title uniquely identified by the token; and

(d) supplying to the client process at least a portion of the title identified by the token.

4. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave comprising:

authentication program code, responsive to a token received from a client process, the token containing data identifying a time period, and configured to determine whether the client process is authorized to access a server memory at a specific time; and

access program code, responsive to the token received from the client process, the token containing data uniquely identifying a title stored in the server memory, and configured to access the server memory and the title uniquely identified by the token.

5. An access server connectable to one or more requestor processes and one or more content servers over a computer network, each content sever including server memory storing one or more content titles in an unexecutable form, the access server comprising:

conversion logic configured to convert a title identifier received from a requestor process into a location identifier, the title identifier corresponding to a title selected by the requestor process, the location identifier indicating an address on the network for the content server storing the selected title;

activator generator logic configured to generate an activator usable by the requestor process, the activator containing data necessary to process the requested title stored on the content server into executable form; and

token generating logic configured to generate a token containing data identifying the title requested by the requester process and data specifying a time period for accessing the requested title from the content server.

6. The access server of claim 5, wherein the token generating logic provides the token with data identifying the access server.

7. The access server of claim 5, wherein the token generating logic provides the token a start time and an end time specifying the time period for accessing the title from the content server.

8. The access server of claim 5, wherein the data necessary to process the requested title stored on the content server into executable form includes cryptographic data.

9. The access server of claim 5, wherein the conversion logic is configured to compare the title identifier with a database stored on the access server, the database comprising a plurality of title identifiers and the corresponding location identifiers.

10. A content server connectable to a client system and an access server over a computer network, the content server comprising:

a processor,

a server memory coupled to the processor, the server memory storing one or more content titles in an unexecutable form,

a network interface coupled to the server memory and the processor, the network interface providing access to the computer network, and

program logic responsive to a token received from the client system containing data identifying a content title stored on the content server, the program logic configured to authenticate the title identification data and, after authentication, enabling access to at least a portion of the title identified by the token.

11. The content server of claim 10, wherein the token specifies a time period for providing access to the title identified by the token, the program logic of the content server being configured to enable access to at least a portion of the identified title only during the time period specified by the token.

12. The content server of claim 11, wherein the token further contains data specifying a start time and an end defining the specified time period.