Systems and methods for retrofitting electronic appliances to accept different content formats
First Claim
1. A method of packaging electronic content and control information for use by a system including a retrofitting appliance, the method comprising the steps of:
- encrypting the electronic content and the control information;
transforming the encrypted electronic content and control information into a format that can be rendered by an electronic appliance;
storing the transformed, encrypted electronic content and control information on a computer readable medium for provision to an electronic appliance operable to render the transformed, encrypted electronic content and control information and output the encrypted electronic content and control information to an input of the retrofitting appliance, the retrofitting appliance being operable to decrypt the encrypted electronic content and control information, to make a determination based on the control information as to whether to permit use of the electronic content, and to selectively transmit the electronic content to an output device based on the results of the determination.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are disclosed for using an arbitrary fixed channel to carry third-party information. In one embodiment, the present invention provides systems and methods for enabling existing content rendering devices to accept content encoded in a proprietary format, such as an encoding format used by a digital rights management system. The encoded content is rendered by the device in the normal manner, and decoded by a retrofitting appliance connected to the device'"'"'s output. The retrofitting appliance may apply decoded rules and controls to the decoded content, thereby managing use of the content.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of packaging electronic content and control information for use by a system including a retrofitting appliance, the method comprising the steps of:
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encrypting the electronic content and the control information; transforming the encrypted electronic content and control information into a format that can be rendered by an electronic appliance; storing the transformed, encrypted electronic content and control information on a computer readable medium for provision to an electronic appliance operable to render the transformed, encrypted electronic content and control information and output the encrypted electronic content and control information to an input of the retrofitting appliance, the retrofitting appliance being operable to decrypt the encrypted electronic content and control information, to make a determination based on the control information as to whether to permit use of the electronic content, and to selectively transmit the electronic content to an output device based on the results of the determination. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform steps comprising:
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packaging electronic content and the control information; transforming the packaged electronic content and control information into a format that can be rendered by an electronic appliance; and storing the transformed, packaged electronic content and control information on a computer readable medium for provision to an electronic appliance operable to render the transformed, packaged electronic content and control information and output the packaged electronic content and control information to an input of a retrofitting appliance, the retrofitting appliance being operable to unpackage the packaged electronic content and control information, to make a determination based on the control information as to whether to permit use of the electronic content, and to selectively transmit the electronic content to an output device based on the results of the determination. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus comprising:
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a storage device including stored instructions; and a processor for executing the stored instructions, the stored instructions including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform steps comprising; packaging electronic content and the control information, transforming the packaged electronic content and control information into a format that can be rendered by an electronic appliance, and storing the transformed, packaged electronic content and control information on a computer readable medium for provision to an electronic appliance operable to render the transformed, packaged electronic content and control information and output the packaged electronic content and control information to an input of a retrofitting appliance, the retrofitting appliance being operable to unpackage the packaged electronic content and control information, to make a determination based on the control information as to whether to permit use of the electronic content, and to selectively transmit the electronic content to an output device based on the results of the determination. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A method comprising:
providing encoded electronic content and encoded control information to an electronic appliance operable to render the encoded electronic content and encoded control information and output the encoded electronic content and encoded control information to an input of a retrofitting appliance, the retrofitting appliance being operable to decode the encoded electronic content and encoded control information, to determine whether to permit the use of the decoded electronic content based on the decoded control information, and to transmit the decoded electronic content to an output device based on the determination. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
Specification