Digital rights management system and method
First Claim
1. A method for generating a signature for an end user device, the end user device comprising at least video display hardware and video display software, the method comprising:
- processing video data by the video display hardware and the video display software, thereby altering at least a portion of the video data according to a characteristic of at least one of the video display hardware and the video display software to form altered data, wherein said processing video data comprises generating pixel values for said video data, and wherein said altering at least a portion of the video data during processing comprises altering at least a portion of said pixel values;
forming the signature at the end user device based, at least in part, on said altered data;
generating a user profile for said end user device using said signature; and
transmitting said user profile to a headend for use in uniquely protecting content to be sent to said end user device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and a method for providing variable security mechanisms for securing digital content, in which a single security mechanism is not used for all content. Instead, at least one characteristic or feature of the security mechanism is varied between units, instances or categories of content. Therefore, even if unauthorized access is gained to a single unit of content, the overall integrity and security of the system for content distribution is not compromised. Preferably, security is provided though a general mechanism, which is then varied in order to provide variable, dissimilar security schemes for different types of content. By “type of content”, it is meant any of a single unit of content, a single instance of content or a single category of content. For example, for a category of content, the content may be characterized according to the identity of the content itself, such as the title of a movie for example, and/or according to the owner of a particular copy of the content. Thus, different security schemes may optionally and preferably be generated from a particular root structure. Related apparatus and methods are also provided.
123 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for generating a signature for an end user device, the end user device comprising at least video display hardware and video display software, the method comprising:
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processing video data by the video display hardware and the video display software, thereby altering at least a portion of the video data according to a characteristic of at least one of the video display hardware and the video display software to form altered data, wherein said processing video data comprises generating pixel values for said video data, and wherein said altering at least a portion of the video data during processing comprises altering at least a portion of said pixel values; forming the signature at the end user device based, at least in part, on said altered data; generating a user profile for said end user device using said signature; and transmitting said user profile to a headend for use in uniquely protecting content to be sent to said end user device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A signature generation apparatus comprising:
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video display hardware; and video display software, wherein the video display hardware and the video display software are operable to; process video data thereby altering at least a portion of the video data according to a characteristic of at least one of the video display hardware and the video display software to form altered data, wherein said processing video data comprises generating pixel values for said video data, and wherein said altering at least a portion of the video data during processing comprises altering at least a portion of said pixel values; form a signature based, at least in part, on said altered data; generate a user profile for said signature generation apparatus from said signature; and transmit said user profile to a headend for use in uniquely protecting content to be sent to said signature generation apparatus.
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17. Apparatus for generating a signature, said apparatus comprising:
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hardware means for processing video data; and software means for processing video data, wherein said hardware means and said software means are for; processing video data thereby altering at least a portion of video data according to a characteristic of at least one of the hardware and software means to form altered data, wherein said processing video data comprises generating pixel values for said video data, and wherein said altering at least a portion of the video data during processing comprises altering at least a portion of said pixel values; forming a signature based, at least in part, on said altered data; generating a user profile from said signature for said apparatus for generating a signature; and transmitting said user profile to a headend for use in uniquely protecting content to be sent to said apparatus for generating a signature.
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Specification