Systems and methods for disabling software components to protect digital media

• US 7,500,267 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2004
• Issued: 03/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Barde, Sumedh, Alkove, James M., McKune, Jeffrey R., Grigorovitch, Alexandre, Chu, Chengyun
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand; Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shaifer Harriman; Dant B
• Application Number:
  US10/835,951
• Publication Number:
  US 20050257251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,768 Days
• Field of Search: 713/201
• US Class Current: 726/26
• 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]

Abstract

A list of computing components to be disabled can be distributed through a computer readable medium to computing devices. A process on these computing devices can read the list and disable listed components. The components can be permanently disabled, or disabled for a limited purpose. A list or list update may be provided with a digital media object that specifies a more or less stringent revocation policy for that object. A media object may also specify a maximum age for the list. This allows owners of digital media to control the stringency of media protection for their property. The process that accesses the list may prompt updates to the list, informing users of component disabling, and prompt replacement of disabled components. Finally, the invention provides techniques for securely transmitting and storing the list to protect it from alteration by unauthorized entities.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for disabling and replacing computing components, said instructions comprising:

instructions for a policy engine that reads at least one list of computing components that are used in circumventing digital media protection technology, said list identifying at least one computing component for global revocation and a Uniform Resource Locator (“

URL”

) for use in replacing said at least one computing component;

instructions for disabling by said policy engine said at least one computing component on said at least one list of computing components that are used in circumventing digital media protection technology, in response to an attempt to access a digital media object comprising at least one of a movie, song, book, illustration, photograph, or useful collection of data; and

instructions for assisting in replacing the at least one computing component, comprising instructions for accessing said URL in said list of computing components.

2. A computer readable medium according to claim 1, further comprising instructions for acquiring at least one updated list of computing components.

3. A computer readable medium according to claim 2, further comprising instructions for engaging a secure transmission protocol to ensure that said at least one updated list is authentic.

4. A computer readable medium according to claim 1, further comprising instructions for checking a signature of the at least one computing component prior to allowing said at least one computing component to operate in connection with a process for rendering digital media objects.

5. A computer readable medium according to claim 1, wherein said at least one list of computing components comprises at least one second list of computing components to be disabled only when a digital media object associated with the second list is accessed.

6. A computer readable medium according to claim 1, further comprising instructions for providing an opportunity to carry out said instructions for disabling, wherein if said opportunity is not selected then access to a media object is denied.

7. A method for preventing unauthorized access to digital media, comprising:

maintaining a list of computing components that are used in circumventing digital media protection technology, said list identifying at least one computing component for global revocation and a Uniform Resource Locator (“

URL”

) for use in replacing said at least one computing component, and identifying at least one computing component for limited revocation, and farther identifying a secure clock time; and

distributing said list of computing components to consumers of digital media objects, wherein said list of computing components is distributed in a computer readable medium.

8. A method according to claim 7, further comprising distributing software that reads said secure clock time and automatically initiates retrieval of said list of computing components.

9. A method according to claim 7, wherein said list of computing components indicates that said at least one computing component for global revocation should be disabled for use with all digital media objects.

10. A method according to claim 7, wherein said list of computing components indicates that said at least one computing component for limited revocation should only be disabled for use with digital media objects from a specified source.

11. A method according to claim 7, wherein said list of computing components is bundled with a digital media object and identifies at least one computing component for limited revocation only when the bundled digital media object is accessed.

12. A method according to claim 7, further comprising distributing software that automatically initiates replacement of at least one computing component on said list of computing components using said URL.

13. A method according to claim 7, further comprising distributing an empty list of computing components for the purpose of updating the an age of a previously distributed list of computing components.

14. A method according to claim 7, further comprising prompting a user to authorize disabling one or more computing components on said list, wherein if said opportunity is not selected, access to one or more media objects is denied.

15. A computer readable storage medium, comprising:

a digital media object; and

a list of computing components, said list being individually associated with said digital media object, wherein at least one computing component on said list is used in circumventing digital media protection technology and is prohibited from executing when said digital media object is accessed on a computer system equipped with a policy engine and secure digital media access platform.

16. A computer readable storage medium, comprising:

a digital media object; and

information specifying a maximum age of a list of computing components that are used in circumventing digital media protection technology and are prohibited from executing when said digital media object is accessed on a computer system equipped with a policy engine and secure digital media access platform.

17. A computer readable storage medium having computer executable instructions for protecting rights in digital media, comprising:

instructions for acquiring by a policy engine a list of computing components that are used in circumventing digital media protection technology provided by a digital media access platform; and

instructions for disabling at least one computing component on said list of computing components.

18. A computer readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein said list of computing components is associated with a digital media object.

19. A computer readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein said list of computing components comprises at least one computing component that said instructions for disabling will disable for all digital media objects.

20. A computer readable storage medium according to claim 17, further comprising instructions for recognizing unique identifiers for all computing components in a digital media rendering process, wherein said unique identifiers comprise any field or combination of fields associated with a computing component.

21. A computer readable storage medium according to claim 17, further comprising instructions for retrieving at least one updated list of computing components.

22. A computer readable storage medium according to claim 17, further comprising instructions for acquiring at least one replacement component on said list of computing components.

23. A computer readable storage medium according to claim 17, further comprising instructions for blocking access to at least one media object unless one or more components on said list of computing components is disabled.

24. A method for protecting digital media objects, comprising:

receiving by a policy engine a list of computing components that are used in circumventing digital media protections provided by a digital media access platform;

revoking at least one computing component identified for global revocation on said list;

verifying signatures associated with said computing components, said signatures demonstrating that the computing components are certified; and

allowing only certified computing components to operate in connection with a system for rendering digital media objects by revoking any uncertified computing component.

25. A method according to claim 24, further comprising not permitting a computing component to operate in connection with said system for rendering digital media objects when said verifying indicates that the computing component or information identifying the computing component does not correlate to a signature associated with the computing component.

26. A method according to claim 24, further comprising transmitting a list of computing components identifying at least one computing component that may no longer operate in connection with said system for rendering digital media objects.

27. A method according to claim 26, wherein said transmitting is done using a secure transmission protocol.

28. A method according to claim 24, further comprising enforcing a list of computing components associated with a single digital media object, wherein said list of computing components indicates at least one computing component that may not operate in connection with said system for rendering digital media objects when said single digital media object is rendered by said system for rendering digital media objects.

29. A method according to claim 24, further comprising enforcing a list of computing components associated with a plurality of digital media objects from a single source, wherein said list of computing components indicates at least one computing component that may not operate in connection with said system for rendering digital media objects when any of said plurality of digital media objects from a single source is rendered by said system for rendering digital media objects.