Validating client-receivers

• US 7,861,082 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2004
• Issued: 12/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta LLC (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mattox, Mark D., Pinder, Howard G., Wasilewski, Anthony J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Orgad; Edan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wang; Harris C
• Application Number:
  US10/873,805
• Publication Number:
  US 20040237100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,380 Days
• Field of Search: 725/31, 713/168
• US Class Current: 713/168
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2347 involving video stream encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25816 involving client authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26606 for generating or managing entitlement messages, e.g. Entitlement Control Message [ECM] or Entitlement Management Message [EMM] arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services H04H60/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42684 Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4367 Establishing a secure communication between the client and a peripheral device or smart card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4405 involving video stream decryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4408 involving video stream encryption, e.g. re-encrypting a decrypted video stream for redistribution in a home network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4623 Processing of entitlement messages, e.g. ECM [Entitlement Control Message] or EMM [Entitlement Management Message] arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services H04H60/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/63345 by transmitting keys key distribution for secret or secure communication H04L9/08; network support of key management H04L63/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• 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 7/163 by receiver means only
• 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

Abstract

In a subscriber television system having a headend, a server, and plurality of client-receivers, the server, which is remote from the headend, is adapted to receive a validation-message from one or more client-receivers. The validation-message includes content and an authentication-token. The server validates that the sender of the validation-message is a valid client-receiver of the subscriber television system using an authentication-token and a validator that is known to both the server and to at least one of the client-receivers.

Claims

1. In a subscriber television system having a headend, a server, which is remote from the headend, and a plurality of client-receivers for receiving programming from the headend and the server,

a validation-message generated by a given client-receiver of the plurality of client-receivers and embodied in a computer readable medium for validating the given client-receiver with the server, the validation-message comprising:

a client-identifier associated with the given client-receiver; and

an authentication-token, wherein the authentication-token is produced by providing an input to a one-way function, wherein the input to the one-way function includes at least a portion of a validator and at least a portion of the client-identifier, wherein the validator is transmitted from the headend to both the server and the given client-receiver, and wherein responsive to the server receiving the validation-message, the server determines whether the given client-receiver is a valid client-receiver of the subscriber television system using at least a portion of the authentication-token and at least a portion of the validator.

2. A method of validating a client-receiver in a digital networks, the digital network having a headend, a plurality of client-receivers for receiving programming from the headend and the server, and a server in communication with the headend and with the plurality of client-receivers, the server and the plurality of client-receivers located at a client location remote from the headend, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving by the server a validation-message from a particular client-receiver of the plurality of client-receivers, the validation-message including a message content and a first authentication-token generated by the particular client-receiver, wherein the message content includes at least a client-identifier and the first authentication-token is the output of a one-way function having at least a portion of a validator and at least a portion of the client-identifier of the message content of the validation-message as inputs, wherein the validator is known to the particular client-receiver and other client-receivers of the plurality of client-receivers;

generating by the server a local authentication-token using the message content, wherein the local authentication-token is the output of a one-way function having at least a portion of the validator as an input; and

determining by the server whether the particular client-receiver is a valid client-receiver of the digital network using at least the first and local authentication-tokens by comparing the first authentication token and the local authentication-token to determine if they are the same.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the digital network is a subscriber television system, the validator is a shared-secret, and the shared-secret is implemented by the server to decrypt services of the subscriber television system.

4. The method of claim 2, further including the steps of:

prior to said receiving, generating and determining steps, receiving by the server the validator in a secure-message from a headend, wherein the validator is encrypted using a public-key of a private-key/public-key pair belonging to the server;

decrypting the encrypted validator using the private-key of the private-key/public-key pair belonging to the server; and

storing the decrypted validator in a memory of a secure-element, wherein the secure-element includes a processor and the memory is accessible to only the processor, and wherein the private-key of the private-key/public-key pair belonging to the server is stored in the memory.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the secure-message is further comprised of a digest that has been processed by digitally signing the digest at the headend which converts a value of the digest from an original value to a different value, the method further including the steps of:

generating a local message-authenticator, wherein the local message-authenticator is an output of a one-way function having at least a portion of the decrypted validator as an input;

changing the different value of the digest included in the secure-message to its original value with a public-key of a private-key/public-key belonging to the headend to generate a reprocessed digest; and

comparing the local message-authenticator and the reprocessed digest to see if they are the same, wherein the steps of generating the authentication-token and determining whether the particular client-receiver is a valid client-receiver of the subscriber television system are done only if the local message-authenticator and the reprocessed digest are the same.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the message content of the validation message further comprises a second authentication-token, the method

further including the step of:

comparing the second local authentication-token and the second authentication-token, wherein the step of determining whether the particular client-receiver is a valid client-receiver of the subscriber television system is done only if the local authentication-token and the second authentication-token are the same.

7. The method of claim 2, further including the step of:

responsive to determining the particular client-receiver is valid, providing the particular client-receiver with an instance of service.