Method and apparatus for selective and quantitative rights management

• US 6,807,542 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2001
• Issued: 10/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Karve, Alexei A., Bantz, David Frederick, Mastrianni, Steven J., Chefalas, Thomas E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEWIS, CHERYL RENEA
• Application Number:
  US09/929,216
• Publication Number:
  US 20030037026A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,162 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/10, 707/100, 707/2-5, 707/9, 709/201, 709/203, 713/200-202
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer implemented instructions for managing rights to a service in a data processing system. A request is received from a user for the service. The rights to the service are identified. Content for the service is received. The content is selectively modified based on the rights identified. The content is sent to the user.

Claims

1. A method in a data processing system for managing rights to a service, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a user for the service;

identifying the rights to the service based on time received request, wherein the rights may be of a type between zero access rights and full access rights, inclusively;

retrieving content for the service;

selectively modifying the content based on the rights identified, wherein if the rights are not full access rights and are not zero access rights, selectively modifying the content based on the rights includes degrading a level of quality of an output of the content such that the degraded level of quality of the output is less than a level of quality of output corresponding to full access rights but higher than a level of quality of output corresponding to zero access rights; and

sending the modified content to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is at least one of a document, a graphical image, a Web page, an audio file, and data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the service is at least one of a music service, a book service, and a stock research service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in a service manifest.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is modified if a subscription to the service has expired.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is selectively modified based on a level of service subscribed to by the user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising selectively modifying attributes of the service-based on the identified rights to the content, wherein the attributes of the service selectively modified include at least one of a quality of the service, an immediacy of the service, and a predictability of the service.

8. A method in a data processing system for managing rights to a service, the method comprising:

responsive to receiving a request for a service from a user, determining whether a subscription to the service by the user has expired;

responsive to a determination, that the subscription has expired, selectively modifying the content to form a modified content, wherein the modified content is a degraded quality version of the content that would be provided to the user if the user had a non-expired subscription; and

returning the modified content to the user such that the modified content is presented to the user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the content is a music file.

10. A method in a data processing system for managing rights to a service, the method comprising:

responsive to receiving a request for a service from a user, determining whether a subscription to the service by the user has expired;

responsive to a determination, that the subscription has expired, selectively modifying the content to form a modified content; and

returning the modified content to the user, wherein the content is a music file, and wherein the modified content includes noise added to the music file.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein on amount of the noise added to the music file is based on when the subscription expired.

12. A method in a data processing system for managing a subscription computing service, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a user for the subscription computing service;

identifying rights to the subscription computing service based on an identification of the user, wherein the rights may be of a type between zero access rights and full access rights, inclusively; and

selectively modifying the subscription computing service based on the rights identified, wherein if the rights are not full access rights and are not zero access rights, selectively modifying the subscription computing service based on the rights includes degrading a level of quality of the subscription computing service such that the degraded level of quality of the subscription service is less than a level of quality of a subscription computing service corresponding to full access rights but higher than a level of quality of a subscription computing service corresponding zero access rights.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the subscription computing service includes at least one of an on-line help desk, a backup service, and an application update service.

14. A service delivery system comprising:

a database of users and rights associated with the users;

a service delivery unit, wherein the service delivery system retrieves content; and

a service manifest, wherein the service manifest selectively modifies the content based on a right to the content associated with a user requesting the content, wherein the right may be of a type between zero-access rights and a full access right, inclusively, and wherein in the right is not a full access right and is not a zero access right, the service manifest selectively modifies the content by degrading a level of quality of an output of the content such that the degraded level of quality of the output is less than a level of quality of output corresponding to a full access right but higher than a level of quality of output corresponding to a zero access right.

15. The service delivery system of claim 14, wherein the service manifest includes a set of processing paths used to modify content, wherein each processing path within the set of processing paths modifies the content in a different manner.

16. The service delivery system of claim 14, when the database is located in a fulfillment subsystem.

17. The service delivery system of claim 14, wherein the service manifest is a proxy server.

18. The service delivery system of claim 14, wherein the service manifest modifies the content based on a policy.

19. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications unit connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set or instructions to receive a request for a user for a service;

identify the rights to the service based the received request, wherein the rights may be of a type between zero access rights and full access rights, inclusively;

retrieve content for the service;

selectively modify the content based on the rights identified, wherein if the rights are not full access rights and are not zero access rights, selectively modifying the content based on the rights includes degrading a level of quality of an output of the content such that the degraded level of quality of the output is less than a level of quality of output corresponding to full access rights but higher than a level of quality of output corresponding to zero access rights; and

send the modified content to the user.

20. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications unit connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to determine whether a subscription to a service by a user has expired in response to receiving a request for the service from the user;

selectively modify content to form a modified content in response to a determination that the subscription has expired, wherein the modified output is a degraded quality version of the content that would be provided to the user if the user had a non-expired subscription; and

return the modified content to the user such that the modified content is presented to the user.

21. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications unit connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to receive a request from a user for a subscription computing service;

identify rights to a subscription computing service based on an identification of a user, wherein the rights may be of a type between zero access rights and full access rights inclusively; and

selectively modify the subscription computing service based on the rights identified, wherein if the right is not a full access right and is not a zero access right, selectively modifying the subscription computing service includes degrading a level of quality of the subscription such that the degraded level of quality of the subscription computing service is less than a level of quality of a subscription computing service corresponding to a full access right but higher than a level of quality of the subscription computing service corresponding to a zero access right.

22. A data processing system for managing rights to a service, the data processing system comprising:

receiving means for receiving a request from a user for the service;

identifying means for identifying the rights to the service, wherein the rights may be of a type between zero access rights and full access rights inclusively;

retrieving means for retrieving content for the service;

modifying means for selectively modifying the content based on the rights identified, wherein if the rights are not full access rights and are not zero access rights, selectively modifying the content based on the rights includes degrading a level of quality of an output of the content such that the degraded level of quality of the output is less than a level of quality of output corresponding to full access rights but higher than a level of quality of output corresponding to zero access rights; and

sending means for sending the modified content to the user.

23. The data processing system of claim 22, wherein the content is at least one of a document, a graphical image, a Web page, an audio file, and data.

24. The data processing system of claim 22, wherein the service is at least one of a music service, a book service, and a stock research service.

25. The data processing system of claim 22, wherein the method is implemented in a service manifest.

26. The data processing system of claim 22, wherein the content is modified if a subscription the service has expired.

27. The data processing system of claim 22, wherein the content is selectively modified based on a level of service subscribed to by the user.

28. A data processing system for managing rights to a service, the data processing system comprising:

determining means, responsive to receiving a request for a service from a user, for determining whether a subscription to the service by the user has expired;

modifying means, responsive to a determination that the subscription has expired, for selectively modifying the content to form a modified content, wherein the modified content is a degraded quality version of the content that would be provided to the user if the user had a non-expired subscription; and

returning means for returning the modified content to the user such that the modified content is presented to the user.

29. The data processing system of claim 28, wherein the content is a music file.

30. A data processing system for managing rights to a service, the data processing system comprising:

determining means, responsive to receiving a request for a service from a user, for determining whether a subscription to the service by the user has expired;

modifying means, responsive to a determination that the subscription has expired, for selectively modifying the content to form a modified content; and

returning means for returning the modified content to the user, wherein the content is a music file, and wherein the modified content includes noise added to the music file.

31. The data processing system of claim 30, wherein an amount of the noise added to the music file is based on when the subscription expired.

32. A data processing system for managing a subscription computing service, the data processing system comprising:

receiving means for receiving a request from a user for the subscription computing service;

identifying means for identifying rights to the subscription computing service based on an identification of the user, wherein the rights may be of a type between zero access rights and full access rights inclusively; and

modifying means for selectively modifying the subscription computing service based on the rights identified, wherein if the rights are not full access rights and are not zero access rights, selectively modifying the subscription computing service based on the rights includes degrading a level of quality of the subscription computing service such that the degraded level of the subscription computing services is less than a level of quality of a subscription computing services corresponding to full access rights but higher than a level of quality of a subscription computing service corresponding to zero access rights.

33. The data processing system of claim 32, wherein the subscription computing service includes at least one of an on-line dash help desk, a backup service, and an application update service.

34. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for managing rights to a service, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions for receiving a request from a user for the service;

second instructions for identifying the rights to the service based on the received request, wherein the rights may be of a type between zero access rights and full access rights, inclusively;

third instructions for retrieving content for the service;

fourth instructions for selectively modifying the content based on the rights identified, wherein if the rights are not full access rights and are not zero access rights, selectively modifying the content based on the rights includes degrading a level of quality of an output of the content such that the degraded level of quality of the output is less than a level of quality of output corresponding to full access rights but higher than a level of quality of output corresponding to zero access rights; and

fifth instructions for sending the modified content to the user.

35. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the content is at least one of a document, a graphical image, a Web page, an audio file, and data.

36. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the service is at least one of a music service, a book service, and a stock research service.

37. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the method is implemented in a service manifest.

38. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the content is modified if a subscription to the service has expired.

39. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the content is selectively modified based on a level of service subscribed to by the user.

40. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for managing rights to a service, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions, responsive to receiving a request for a service from a user, for determining whether a subscription to the service by the user has expired;

second instructions, responsive to a determination that the subscription has expired, for selectively modifying the content to form a modified content, wherein the modified content is a degraded quality version of the content that would be provided to the user if the user had a non-expired subscription; and

third instructions for returning the modified content to the user such that the modified content is presented to the user.

41. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the content is a music file.

42. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for managing rights to a service, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions, responsive to receiving a request for a service from a user, for determining whether a subscription to the service by the user has expired;

second instructions, responsive to a determination that the subscription has expired, for selectively modified the content to form a modified content; and

third instruction for returning content to the user, wherein the content is a music file, and wherein the modified content includes noise added to the music file.

43. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein an amount of the noise added to the music file is based on when the subscription expired.

44. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for managing a subscription computing service, the computer programming product comprising:

first instructions for receiving a request from a user for the subscription computing services;

second instructions for identifying rights to the subscription computing service based on an identification of the user, wherein the rights may be of a type between zero access rights and full access rights, inclusively; and

third instructions for selectively modifying the subscription computing service based on the rights identified, wherein the rights are not full access rights are not zero access rights, selectively modifying the subscription computing service based on the rights includes degrading a level of quality of the subscription computing service such that the degraded level of quality of the subscription computing service is less than a level of quality of a subscription computing service corresponding to full access rights but higher than a level of quality of a subscription computing service corresponding to zero access rights.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the subscription computing service includes at least one of an on-line dash help desk, a backup service, and an application update service.