Methods and apparatus for secure distribution of program content
First Claim
1. An apparatus operable to receive an encrypted program used in a rental system, the apparatus comprising:
- a network interface operable to provide communication with a network such that (i) a first communication link is established between a user of the apparatus and an administrator over the network, (ii) a request by the user of the apparatus to become a member of the rental system is transmitted to the administrator using the first communication link, the request including a machine ID of the apparatus, (iii) an electronic membership certificate associated with the apparatus is received from the administrator using the first communication link, (iv) a second communication link is established between the user of the apparatus and a distributor over the network, (v) a rental request by the user of the apparatus and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate are transmitted over the network to the distributor using the second communication link, (vi) a list or menu of titles available for rental is received over the network from the distributor, (vii) a user-selected one of the titles available for rental and a remittance to cover rental cost for the user-selected title are transmitted over the network to the distributor using the second communication link, (viii) an electronic payment ticket is received from the distributor using the second communication link, the electronic payment ticket indicating that the remittance to cover the rental cost for the user-selected title has been provided and conferring a particular level of rental rights based on the transmitted remittance, (ix) the electronic payment ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate are transmitted over the network to the administrator, (x) an electronic rental ticket is received over the network from the administrator that produced the electronic rental ticket in response to receiving the transmitted electronic payment ticket, the electronic rental ticket indicating that the user is now authorized to receive the encrypted program and conferring a same or greater level of rental rights than that conferred by the electronic payment ticket, (xi) the electronic rental ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate are transmitted over the network to the distributor, and (xii) the encrypted program, an encrypted decryption key and an encrypted virtual ID are received over the network from the distributor, the virtual ID being generated using at least the machine ID;
a decryption device operable to decrypt the encrypted decryption key, to decrypt the encrypted program using the decryption key, and to re-encrypt the decrypted program using the virtual ID; and
a first storage device operable to store the encrypted virtual ID and the re-encrypted program.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus in accordance with the present invention are operable to carry out certain functions including: receiving an encrypted program at a processing apparatus; transmitting a machine ID over a network to an administrator; receiving registration data over the network from the administrator in response to the machine ID; transmitting the registration data over the network to a distributor; receiving an encrypted decryption key and an encrypted virtual ID at the processing apparatus over the network from the distributor in response to the registration data; decrypting the encrypted decryption key using the virtual ID, and decrypting the encrypted program using the decryption key; re-encrypting the program using the virtual ID; and storing the encrypted virtual ID and the re-encrypted program in a first storage device.
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Citations
78 Claims
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1. An apparatus operable to receive an encrypted program used in a rental system, the apparatus comprising:
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a network interface operable to provide communication with a network such that (i) a first communication link is established between a user of the apparatus and an administrator over the network, (ii) a request by the user of the apparatus to become a member of the rental system is transmitted to the administrator using the first communication link, the request including a machine ID of the apparatus, (iii) an electronic membership certificate associated with the apparatus is received from the administrator using the first communication link, (iv) a second communication link is established between the user of the apparatus and a distributor over the network, (v) a rental request by the user of the apparatus and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate are transmitted over the network to the distributor using the second communication link, (vi) a list or menu of titles available for rental is received over the network from the distributor, (vii) a user-selected one of the titles available for rental and a remittance to cover rental cost for the user-selected title are transmitted over the network to the distributor using the second communication link, (viii) an electronic payment ticket is received from the distributor using the second communication link, the electronic payment ticket indicating that the remittance to cover the rental cost for the user-selected title has been provided and conferring a particular level of rental rights based on the transmitted remittance, (ix) the electronic payment ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate are transmitted over the network to the administrator, (x) an electronic rental ticket is received over the network from the administrator that produced the electronic rental ticket in response to receiving the transmitted electronic payment ticket, the electronic rental ticket indicating that the user is now authorized to receive the encrypted program and conferring a same or greater level of rental rights than that conferred by the electronic payment ticket, (xi) the electronic rental ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate are transmitted over the network to the distributor, and (xii) the encrypted program, an encrypted decryption key and an encrypted virtual ID are received over the network from the distributor, the virtual ID being generated using at least the machine ID; a decryption device operable to decrypt the encrypted decryption key, to decrypt the encrypted program using the decryption key, and to re-encrypt the decrypted program using the virtual ID; and a first storage device operable to store the encrypted virtual ID and the re-encrypted program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 59, 65, 66)
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15. A method carried out by an apparatus operable to receive an encrypted program used in a rental system, the method comprising:
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establishing a first communication link between a user of the apparatus and an administrator over a network; transmitting a request to become a member of the rental system by the user of the apparatus to the administrator using the first communication link, the request including a machine ID of the apparatus; receiving an electronic membership certificate associated with the apparatus from the administrator using the first communication link; establishing a second communication link between a user of the apparatus and a distributor over the network; transmitting a rental request by the user of the apparatus and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic certificate over the network to a distributor using the second communication link; receiving a list or menu of titles available for rental from the distributor over the network; transmitting a user-selected one of the titles available for rental and a remittance to cover rental cost for the user-selected title over the network to the distributor using the second communication link; receiving an electronic payment ticket from the distributor using the second communication link, the electronic payment ticket indicating that the remittance to cover the rental cost for the user-selected title has been provided and conferring a particular level of rental rights based on the transmitted remittance; transmitting the electronic payment ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate are over the network to the administrator; receiving an electronic rental ticket over the network from the administrator that produced the electronic rental ticket in response to receiving the transmitted electronic payment ticket, the electronic rental ticket indicating that the user is now authorized to receive the encrypted program and conferring a same or greater level of rental rights than that conferred by the electronic payment ticket; transmitting the electronic rental ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate over the network to the distributor; receiving the encrypted program, an encrypted decryption key and an encrypted virtual ID at the apparatus over the network from the distributor, the virtual ID being generated using at least the machine ID; decrypting the encrypted decryption key using the virtual ID, and decrypting the encrypted program using the decryption key; re-encrypting the program using the virtual ID; and storing the encrypted virtual ID and the re-encrypted program in a first storage device. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 60, 67, 68)
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29. An apparatus operable to distribute an encrypted program used in a rental system, the apparatus comprising:
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an input interface operable to receive the encrypted program and a non-activated decryption key from an administrator, the non-activated decryption key, when activated, being usable to decrypt the encrypted program; a network interface operable to provide communication with a network such that (i) a request to activate the non-activated decryption key is transmitted to an administrator over the network, and (ii) activation grant information is received from the administrator over the network in response to the activation request; a data processor operable to convert the non-activated decryption key into an activated decryption key using the activation grant information; and a database operable to store a plurality of such activated decryption keys corresponding to a plurality of encrypted programs; the network interface being further operable to (iii) establish a communication link with a user of a processing apparatus over the network, (iv) receive a rental request by the user of the apparatus and at least one of a machine ID or an electronic membership certificate over the network from the processing apparatus, the electronic membership certificate being associated with the processing apparatus, (v) verify the received at least one of a machine ID or an electronic certificate, and (vi) in response to successfully verifying the received at least one of a machine ID or an electronic certificate, to (a) transmit a list or menu of titles available for rental over the network to the processing apparatus, (b) receive a user-selected one of the titles available for rental and a remittance to cover rental cost for the user-selected title over the network from the processing apparatus, (c) transmit an electronic payment ticket over the network to the processing apparatus, the electronic payment ticket indicating that the remittance to cover the rental cost for the user-selected title has been provided and conferring a particular level of rental rights based on the received remittance, (d) receive an electronic rental ticket over the network from the processing apparatus, the electronic rental ticket being produced by the administrator in response to receiving the electronic payment ticket, indicating that the user is now authorized to receive the encrypted program, and conferring a same or greater level of rental rights than that conferred by the electronic payment ticket, and (e) transmit at least one of the plurality of encrypted programs over the network to the processing apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 61, 69, 70, 71)
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40. A method performed by an apparatus operable to distribute an encrypted program used in a rental system, the method comprising:
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receiving an encrypted program and a non-activated decryption key from an administrator, the non-activated decryption key, when activated, being usable to decrypt the encrypted program; transmitting a request to activate the non-activated decryption key to an administrator over a network, and receiving activation grant information from the administrator over the network in response to the activation request; converting the non-activated decryption key into an activated decryption key using the activation grant information; storing, in a database, a plurality of such activated decryption keys corresponding to a plurality of encrypted programs; establishing a communication link with a user of a processing apparatus over the network; receiving, over the network from the processing apparatus, a rental request by the user of the apparatus and an electronic membership certificate associated with the processing apparatus,; verifying the received at least one of a machine ID or an electronic certificate; and in response to successfully verifying the received at least one of a machine ID or an electronic certificate, transmitting a list or menu of titles available for rental over the network to the processing apparatus, receiving a user-selected one of the titles available for rental and a remittance to cover rental cost for the user-selected title over the network from the processing apparatus, transmitting an electronic payment ticket over the network to the processing apparatus, the electronic payment ticket indicating that the remittance to cover the rental cost for the user-selected title has been provided and conferring a particular level of rental rights based on the received remittance, receiving an electronic rental ticket over the network from the processing apparatus, the electronic rental ticket being produced by the administrator in response to receiving the electronic payment ticket, indicating that the user is now authorized to receive the encrypted program, and conferring a same or greater level of rental rights than that conferred by the electronic payment ticket, and transmitting at least one of the plurality of encrypted programs over the network to the processing apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 62, 72, 73, 74)
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51. An apparatus operable to administer distribution of an encrypted program used in a rental system, the apparatus comprising:
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a network interface operable to provide communication with a network such that (i) respective communication links are established over a network with each of one or more processing apparatuses, (ii) respective requests by users of the one or more processing apparatuses to become members of the rental system are received over the network using the respective communication links, each of the requests including a specific machine ID associated with its respective processing apparatus, (iii) respectively associated electronic membership certificates are transmitted to each of the processing apparatuses using the respective communication links in response to receiving the machine IDs, (iv) an electronic payment ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate respectively associated with a given one of the processing apparatuses are further received over the network from that processing apparatus, the electronic payment ticket indicating that a remittance to cover rental cost for a user-selected title has been transmitted by that processing apparatus to a distributor and conferring a particular level of rental rights based on the transmitted remittance (v) in response to receiving the electronic payment ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate, an electronic rental ticket indicating that the user of that processing apparatus is now authorized to receive the encrypted program and conferring a same or greater level of rental rights than that conferred by the electronic payment ticket is produced, and (v) the electronic rental ticket is transmitted over the network to that processing apparatus; and a database operable to store the received machine IDs and the respectively associated electronic membership certificates; wherein the electronic rental ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic certificate is used by the associated processing apparatus to obtain an encrypted program, an associated encrypted decryption key and an associated encrypted virtual ID from the distributor over the network, the virtual ID being generated using at least the machine ID of that processing apparatus, the encrypted decryption key is decrypted by the processing apparatus using the virtual ID, and the encrypted program is decrypted by the processing apparatus using the decryption key. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 63, 75, 76)
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55. A method performed by an apparatus operable to administer distribution of an encrypted program used in a rental system, the method comprising:
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establishing respective communication links over a network with each of one or more processing apparatuses; receiving respective requests to become members of the rental system by users of the one or more processing apparatuses over the network using the respective communication links, each of the requests including a specific machine ID associated with its respective processing apparatus; transmitting respectively associated electronic membership certificates to each of the processing apparatuses using the respective communication links in response to receiving the machine IDs; receiving, from a given one of the processing apparatuses over the network, an electronic payment ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate respectively associated with that processing apparatus, the electronic payment ticket indicating that a remittance to cover rental cost for a user-selected title has been transmitted by that processing apparatus to a distributor and conferring a particular level of rental rights to based on the transmitted remittance; producing, in response to receiving the electronic payment ticket and the at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate, an electronic rental ticket indicating that the user of that processing apparatus is now authorized to receive the encrypted program and conferring a same or greater level of rental rights than that conferred by the electronic payment ticket; transmitting the electronic rental ticket over the network to that processing apparatus; and storing the received machine IDs and the respectively associated electronic certificates in a database; wherein the electronic rental ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic certificate is used by the associated processing apparatus to obtain the encrypted program, an associated encrypted decryption key and an associated encrypted virtual ID from the distributor over the network, the virtual ID being generated using at least the machine ID of that processing apparatus, the encrypted decryption key is decrypted by the processing apparatus using the virtual ID, and the encrypted program is decrypted by the processing apparatus using the decryption key. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 64, 77, 78)
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Specification