Secure streaming container

• US 8,001,608 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2007
• Issued: 08/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Digital Reg of Texas, LLC (DRM Technologies LLC)
• Original Assignee: Digital Reg of Texas, LLC (DRM Technologies LLC)
• Inventors: Ornstein, Seth, Venters, III, Carl Vernon, PHILLIPS, II, Eugene B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Revak; Christopher
• Application Number:
  US11/822,124
• Publication Number:
  US 20070256140A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,506 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0866 involving user or device identifiers, e.g. serial number, physical or biometrical information, DNA, hand-signature or measurable physical characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0891 Revocation or update of secret information, e.g. encryption key update or rekeying

Abstract

A system and method for securely streaming encrypted digital media content out of a digital container to a user'"'"'s media player. This streaming occurs after the digital container has been delivered to the user'"'"'s machine and after the user has been authorized to access the encrypted content. The user'"'"'s operating system and media player treat the data stream as if it were a being delivered over the Internet (or other network) from a streaming web server. However, no Internet connection is required after the container has been delivered to the user and the data stream suffers no quality loss due to network traffic or web server access problems. In this process of the invention, the encrypted content files are decrypted and fed to the user'"'"'s media player in real time and are never written to the user'"'"'s hard drive or storage device. This process makes unauthorized copying of the digital content contained in the digital container virtually impossible.

Claims

1. A method of providing streaming content, comprising the steps of:

creating a digital container that includes contents including streaming media content;

selecting one or more modules for inclusion in the digital container, the selection of the modules being based on at least one of a type of streaming media content;

encrypting at least a portion of the contents to produce a secured streaming container (SSC); and

transmitting the SSC to a target device for access of the SSC at the target device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step for encrypting includes encrypting all the streaming media content of the digital container.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more modules are executable files.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the target device includes one of a cell phone, a personal data assistant (PDA), a personal computer, a computing device, a portable music player, a tablet computer, a cable modem, satellite receiver, a television, and a cable television tuner.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital container is created by receiving input of at least one of the target device, one or more media files to be included in the digital container, a transaction option type, a digital rights management (DRM) option, a digital container graphic, and a search descriptor data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the transaction option type includes any one of:

a financial transaction type, a transaction update type, a transaction update address, a server address, demographics type, or a subscription type.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the financial transaction type includes at least a credit card type.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the subscription type includes at least a financial transaction defining a period of time.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting includes selecting one or more software modules based on a type of at least one of the one or more media files, which control streaming of the one or more media files in the environment of the target device.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the digital container graphic is either a static image and an animated image and is at least one of informational and promotional graphics that appears on a viewable electronic digital container cover before and after the digital container is opened.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising encoding the streaming media content for playback by one of a media player resident on the target device and a media player included with the digital container.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the streaming media content includes at least one of video, audio, animation, and text content.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the streaming media content is one or more streaming media files.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of creating one or more secondary files for inclusion in the digital container, the one or more secondary files include at least one of a hypertext markup language (html) file, an image file, and a segment of the one or more media files.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing an execution batch file in the digital container for controlling presentation of the streaming media content in at least one of a preset sequence, a relative sequence, and a timing interval.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of establishing limits on access to the streaming media content based on at least one of a period of time and a number of access instances.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the establishing limits includes limiting at least one of copying the streaming media content and transferring the streaming media content.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of registering the SSC with a digital container verification database including at least anyone of identifying the SSC and providing date information about the SSC.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting step is via email, file transfer protocol (FTP), download from a web-site, peer-to-peer file sharing, or instant messaging.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing permission to open the SSC based on criteria.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of providing permission includes transmitting the permission from a remote source to the target device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of providing permission is initiated by an attempt to access the SSC at the target device.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more modules are configured to control the streaming of the streaming media content at the target device.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more modules are configured to control streaming of the streaming media content at the target device while at least a portion of the media content remains protected from unauthorized access or copying.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more modules are configured to present promotional or marketing presentations at the target device, once the SCC is opened.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic content includes, a first streaming media module and a second streaming media module.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the selecting step selects at least one non-streaming media module and associates the at least one non-streaming media module with the first streaming media module, the at least one non-streaming module not being a decompression software module.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the selecting step selects at least one non-streaming media module and associates the at least one non-streaming media module with the second streaming media module.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the at least one non-streaming media module comprises a plurality of non-streaming media modules.

30. The method of claim 1, further including providing in the digital container, content order information and relative timing information to control timing between media files during playback.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the content includes at least one non-streaming media file and the streaming media content includes a main streaming media file and the at least one non-streaming media file is associated with the main streaming media file and the association being configured to be maintained during playback of the main streaming media file.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting step selects from among a plurality of eligible modules to select at least one module for inclusion in the digital container based on the type of streaming media content.

33. A method of creating and controlling streaming content, comprising the steps of:

creating a digital container that includes electronic contents including streaming media content;

selecting one or more modules for transmission with the digital container based on a characteristic of the streaming media content;

encrypting at least a portion of the electronic contents to produce a secured streaming container (SSC); and

transmitting the secured streaming container (SSC) with the streaming media content and the one or more modules to control playback of the streaming media content.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising the steps of transmitting the SSC to a target device.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the target device includes anyone of a cell phone, a personal data assistant (PDA), a personal computer, a computing device, a portable music player, a tablet computer, a cable modem, and a cable television tuner.

36. The method of claim 33, further comprising encoding the streaming media content for playback by one of:

a media player resident on a target device and a media player included with the digital container.

37. The method of claim 33, further comprising providing an execution batch file in the digital container for controlling the presentation of the streaming media content in at least anyone of a preset sequence, a relative sequence, and a timing interval.

38. The method of claim 33, further comprising including digital rights management (DRM) controls in the digital container to control access to the streaming media content using the DRM on subsequent accesses at a target device.

39. The method of claim 33, wherein the electronic content includes a first streaming media module and a second streaming media module.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the selecting step selects at least one non-streaming media module and associates the at least one non-streaming media module with the first streaming media module and the selecting step selects at least one other non-streaming media module and associates the at least one other non-streaming media module to the second streaming media module, the non-streaming modules not being decompression software modules.

41. The method of claim 33, wherein the electronic content includes a plurality of streaming media modules and the selecting step selects a plurality of non-streaming media modules and associates a first subset of the plurality of non-streaming media modules with a first of the plurality of streaming media modules and associates a second subset of the plurality of non-streaming modules with a second of the plurality of streaming media modules.

42. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer program product includes at least one component to cause or control execution of the following steps:

creating a digital container that includes contents including streaming media content;

selecting one or more modules for inclusion in the digital container, the selection of the modules being based on a type of the streaming media content;

encrypting at least a portion of the contents to produce a secured streaming container (SSC); and

transmitting the SSC to a target device for access of the SSC at the target device.

43. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the at least one component creates the digital container by receiving input of at least anyone of a target device type, one or more media files to be included in the digital container, a transaction option type, a digital rights management (DRM) option, a digital container graphic, and a search descriptor data.

44. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein:

the transaction option type includes a financial transaction type, a transaction update type, a transaction update address, a server address, demographics type, a subscription type,

the financial transaction type includes at least a credit card type, and

the subscription type includes at least a financial transaction defining a period of time.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the at least one component selects one or more software modules based on the type of the one or more media files, the one or more software modules adapted to control the streaming of the one or more media files in the environment of the target device type.

46. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the one or more software modules are configured to control the streaming of the one or more media files at the target device.

47. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the one or more software modules are configured to control the streaming of the one or more media files at the target device while at least a portion of the one or more media files remains protected from unauthorized access or copying.

48. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the electronic content includes a first streaming media module and a second streaming media module and the digital container includes at least one non-streaming media module associated with the first streaming media module, and at least one other non-streaming media module associated with the second streaming media module.

49. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein each of the at least one non-streaming media modules are a plurality of non-streaming media modules.

50. The program product of claim 48, wherein at least one of the non-streaming media modules includes a segment of a respective associated streaming media module.