System and methods for secure transaction management and electronic rights protection

• US 7,133,845 B1
• Filed: 06/09/1999
• Issued: 11/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Inventors: Ginter, Karl L., Spahn, Francis J., Shear, Victor H., Van Wie, David M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Darrow, Justin T.
• Application Number:
  US09/328,668
• Time in Patent Office: 2,708 Days
• Field of Search: 713/200, 713/187, 713/164, 713/165, 713/167, 713/193, 705/54, 705/52, 705/51
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/1408 by using cryptography for digital transmission H04L9/00
• 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 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/86 Secure or tamper-resistant housings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/007 Encryption, En-/decode, En-/decipher, En-/decypher, Scramble, (De-)compress
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2151 Time stamp
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/023 the neutral party being a clearing house
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/389 Keeping log of transactions for guaranteeing non-repudiation of a transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 : applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/102 : applying security measure for e-commerce data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/103 : applying security measure for protecting copy right protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment, e.g. protection the software providers copyright G06F21/10; data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; secrecy systems or subscription systems H04N7/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 : for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2347 : involving video stream encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 : Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2362 : Generation or processing of Service Information [SI]
• 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 21/2543 : Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2547 : Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• 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 21/4143 : embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 : Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 : Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4405 : involving video stream decryption
• 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 21/443 : OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• 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 21/4753 : for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 : Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 : involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/835 : Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/83555 : using a structured language for describing usage rules of the content, e.g. REL
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 : involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 : Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 : Transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for secure transaction management and electronic rights protection. Electronic appliances such as computers equipped in accordance with the present invention help to ensure that information is accessed and used only in authorized ways, and maintain the integrity, availability, and/or confidentiality of the information. Such electronic appliances provide a distributed virtual distribution environment (VDE) that may enforce a secure chain of handling and control, for example, to control and/or meter or otherwise monitor use of electronically stored or disseminated information. Such a virtual distribution environment may be used to protect rights of various participants in electronic commerce and other electronic or electronic-facilitated transactions. Distributed and other operating systems, environments and architectures, such as, for example, those using tamper-resistant hardware-based processors, may establish security at each node. These techniques may be used to support an all-electronic information distribution, for example, utilizing the “electronic highway”.

Claims

1. A method for processing based on independent deliverables comprising:

delivering a first piece of executable code representing a first part of a commercial process, said commercial process involving a governed item, said first piece of executable code being separate from said governed item;

separately delivering a second piece of executable code representing a second part of said commercial process, said second piece of executable code being separate from said governed item;

ensuring the integrity of said first and second delivered pieces of executable code, by generating a first hash of at least a portion of said first piece of executable code and comparing said first hash with a first expected value, and by generating a second hash of at least a portion of said second piece of executable code and comparing said second hash with a second expected value;

ensuring that a calling process has authorization to call said first and second delivered pieces of executable code by verifying the calling process'"'"'s knowledge of a value of a first tag associated with said first piece of executable code and a value of a second tag associated with said second piece of executable code; and

performing said process involving said governed item based at least in part on said first and second delivered executable code pieces, wherein said process includes recording information regarding at least one performance of at least a portion of said process.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said first piece of code at least in part controls decrypting content.

3. The method of claim 1 further including securely and persistently associating at least one of said first and second executable code pieces with said process.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein at least said performing step is performed at an end user electronic appliance.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of delivering said first piece of executable code comprises securely delivering said first piece of code from at least one remote location over a telecommunications link, and the step of delivering a second piece of executable code comprises securely delivering said second piece of code from the same or different remote location over the same or different telecommunications link.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the performing step comprises executing said first and second delivered code pieces within the same secure processing environment.

7. The method of claim 1 further including combining said first and second code pieces to provide a combined executable.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing step includes the step of putting said first and second executable code pieces together to at least in part define said process.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of delivering said second piece of executable code is performed at a different time than said step of delivering said first piece of executable code.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein:

said step of delivering a first piece of executable code comprises delivering said first piece of executable code to an arrangement at a user site comprising an input/output bus connecting a first electronic appliance with at least a second electronic appliance, said first electronic appliance including a first electrical connector connected to said input/output bus, said second electronic appliance including a second electrical connector connected to said input/output bus;

said step of delivering a second piece of executable code comprises delivering said second piece of executable code to said arrangement at said user site; and

said method further comprises establishing a secure transmission channel on said input/output bus, and transferring at least a portion of a data item over said secure transmission channel from said first electronic appliance to said second electronic appliance through said first and second connectors and said input/output bus.

11. The method of claim 1, in which the first tag and the second tag are at least in part encrypted.

12. The method of claim 1, in which the first tag is included in a header associated with said first piece of executable code, and in which the second tag is included in a header associated with said second piece of executable code.

13. The method of claim 11, in which the first tag is included in a header associated with said first piece of executable code, and in which the second tag is included in a header associated with said second piece of executable code.

14. The method of claim 12, in which verifying the calling process'"'"'s knowledge of a value of the first tag and a value of the second tag comprises:

decrypting the first tag to obtain the value of the first tag;

comparing the value of the first tag with a first value provided by the calling process;

decrypting the second tag to obtain the value of the second tag; and

comparing the value of the second tag with a second value provided by the calling process.

15. The method of claim 14, in which the value of the first tag comprises a first random number having a predefined length, and in which the value of the second tag comprises a second random number having a predefined length.