Method for providing reliable soft goods license authorization

• US 7,231,450 B1
• Filed: 04/24/2002
• Issued: 06/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Murphy, Lawrence E., Clifford, Andrew D., Guha, Arunabha, Mueller, Mark W., Sharples, Russell P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia; Rupal
• Assistant Examiner(s): Taylor; Nicholas R.
• Application Number:
  US10/131,552
• Time in Patent Office: 1,875 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229
• US Class Current: 709/229
• 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: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles

Abstract

The present invention is a method and system for providing authorization to a customer to access content on a network. A network access provider providing network access to the customer provides verification of the identity of the customer to a content provider. The content provider then determines whether that customer is authorized to access the content and, if so, provides the customer with such access. The invention provides content access based on the identity of the customer, rather than on the identity of a device the customer uses to access the content. In that way, the customer is not restricted to accessing the content through only an authorized device.

Claims

1. A method for authorizing a customer to access content on a network, the customer being connected through a gateway to an access provider providing access to the network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving by a network access provider (NAP) from the customer through the gateway a request for authorization to access content of a content provider;

identifying the customer using a customer identification database, wherein the customer identification is unique to the customer,

forwarding the request for authorization and the unique customer identification to the content provider;

receiving from the content provider authorization for the customer to access the content; and

forwarding the authorization to the customer enabling the customer to access the content through the gateway.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for authorization from the customer contains data associated with the content.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of forwarding the request for authorization to a content provider includes forwarding the data associated with the content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for authorization from the customer contains data associated with a device to be used to access the content.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of forwarding the request for authorization to a content provider includes forwarding the data associated with the device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the authorization received from the content provider is device-specific.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying the customer further comprises retrieving customer data from a database using data associated with the gateway.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is selected from a group consisting of digital music file, a digital video file, a subscription-based software application, a network game, a digital file and a digital still image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the authorization comprises a decryption key.

10. The method or claim 1, wherein the authorization is contingent on at least one criterion selected from the group consisting of a content access device type, the identification of the gateway, a time of day, a license term, gateway characteristics and a gateway physical location.

11. A method for authorizing a customer to access content on a network, the customer being connected through a gateway to an access provider for the network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving by a NAP from the customer through the gateway a request for authorization to access content of a content provider, the request including an identification of the gateway and an identification of the device to be used for accessing content;

retrieving from a database a customer identification database based on the identification of the gateway, wherein the customer identification is unique to the customer, wherein the unique customer identification is communicated through a gateway to a network access provider (NAP) to a content provider;

forwarding the customer identification and the device identification to a content provider;

receiving from the content provider a decryption key for decrypting the content; and

forwarding the decryption key to the customer enabling the customer to access the content through the gateway.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the gateway between the customer and the network access provider is established using an identifier selected from the group consisting of a password, biometric data, possession of an identity card and possession of a credit card.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the gateway between the customer and the network access provider is established using the identity of a network connection device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the request for authorization from the customer contains data associated with the content.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of forwarding the request for authorization to a content provider includes forwarding the data associated with the content.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the content is selected from a group consisting of a digital music file, a digital video file, a subscription-based software application, a network game, a digital text file and a digital still image.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the decryption key permits accessing the content using more than one device.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the decryption key may be used with only one device.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the authorization is contingent on at least one criterion selected from the group consisting of a content access device type, the identification of the gateway, a time of day, a license term, gateway physical and logical characteristics and a gateway physical location.

20. A method for authorizing a customer to access content, wherein the customer and a content provider are connected through a network access provider, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving by a NAP from the network access provider an identification of the customer determined by the network access provider using the unique customer identification database through a gateway connecting the customer and the network access provider;

determining that the customer is authorized to access the content based on the identification of the customer, wherein the identification of the customer is unique to the customer;

creating an authorization for the customer to access the content; and

sending the authorization to the network access provider For forwarding to the customer enabling the customer to access the content through the gateway.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of receiving from the network access provider an identification of the customer also comprises receiving data associated with the content.

22. The method or claim 21, wherein the step of determining that the customer is authorized to access the content is also based on the data associated with the content.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of receiving from the network access provider an identification of the customer also comprises receiving data associated with a device to be used to access the content.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the step of creating an authorization for a customer to access the content includes creating a device-specific decryption key.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the content is selected from a group consisting of a digital music file, a digital video file, a subscription-based software application, a network game, a digital text file and a digital still image.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the authorization is contingent on at least one criterion selected from the group consisting of a content access device type, the identification of the gateway, a time of day, a license term, gateway physical and logical characteristics and a gateway physical location.