Method of storing and accessing header data from memory

• US 8,069,298 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2007
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sandisk Technologies Incorporated (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Sabet-sharghi, Farshid, Liu, Xian Jun, Wang, Junzhi, Li, June, Yan, Mei, Jogand-Coulomb, Fabrice, Yang, Chieh-Hao, Yuan, Po, Qawami, Bahman, Chang, Robert C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thai; Tuan V.
• Application Number:
  US11/771,804
• Publication Number:
  US 20090006724A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,614 Days
• Field of Search: 711/164, 711/100, 711/103, 711/112, 711/113, 711/117, 711/118, 711/147, 711/154
• US Class Current: 711/103
• 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]

Abstract

Methods of storing and accessing data using a header portion of a file are disclosed. In an embodiment, a method of storing content in a non-volatile memory is disclosed. The method includes reading a content file including media content and including a trailer, storing information related to the trailer together with secure data in a header portion of a file, and storing the file to a storage element of the non-volatile memory or a memory area of a host device coupled to the non-volatile memory device.

Claims

1. A method of storing content, the method comprising:

in a data storage device with a non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including a storage element, wherein the data storage device is configured to be operably coupled to a host device that includes a memory area, performing;

reading media content including a trailer, the trailer including trailer data related to the media content;

extracting trailer location information related to the trailer data for storage with secure data in a header portion of a file, wherein the secure data includes at least one encryption key ID associated with an encryption key to encrypt the media content; and

storing the file to at least one of the storage element of the non-volatile memory and the memory area of the host device coupled to the data storage device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the header portion includes metadata including ID3 data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein an application programming interface (API) is used in connection with storing the trailer data with the secure data in the header portion of the file.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the trailer location information comprises a cluster number and a sector offset.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one encryption key ID is provided by the host device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the media content from an external system via a data download process.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the media content is stored in the data storage device prior to distribution of the data storage device to a consumer.

8. A method of retrieving content, the method comprising:

from a data storage device with a non-volatile memory, wherein the data storage device is configured to be operably coupled to a host device, performing;

reading the content from the non-volatile memory;

reading trailer location information associated with the content from a portion of a file, the portion further including secure data items related to the content, wherein the secure data items include at least one encryption key ID associated with a decryption key to decrypt the content; and

providing the trailer location information to a display device of a host device having access to the non-volatile memory.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the host device has access to read the content for playback.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the content includes audio data and video data.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein an application programming interface (API) is used in connection with reading the trailer data information from the file and wherein the host device passes a file name and a metadata structure to a file system toolkit, and wherein the file system toolkit uses the API to write the metadata to the file.

12. A method of accessing media content, the method comprising:

in a data storage device with a non-volatile rewritable memory, the non-volatile rewritable memory including a storage element, wherein the data storage device is configured to be operably coupled to a host device, performing;

reading a content file including encrypted media content from the non-volatile rewritable memory, the content file including trailer location information stored with secure data in a header portion of the content file;

receiving information regarding access rights to the encrypted media content;

storing the access rights in a secure memory area of the non-volatile rewritable memory, the secure memory area including encryption key IDs associated with content decryption keys, the access rights permitting access to the content decryption keys for decrypting the encrypted media content stored in the non-volatile rewritable memory; and

supplying a decrypted version of at least one selected encrypted media content item.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving authentication information, and decrypting the at least one selected encrypted media content item using the content decryption keys after receiving the authentication information.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the host device includes a playback device for rendering the decrypted version of the at least one selected encrypted media content item, the method further comprising:

connecting the host device to a server;

sending a purchase authorization from the host device to the server;

receiving information regarding the authentication information and the access rights at the host device; and

supplying the authentication information and the access rights to the non-volatile rewriteable memory.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the host device is one of a phone device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a computer.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the metadata includes an artist name, a length of the artist name, a content name, a length of the content name, an album name, a length of the album name, or any combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising altering the access rights to provide access to the content decryption keys in response to receiving authentication information so as to permit access to selected encrypted media content items stored in the non-volatile rewritable memory.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising connecting the host device to a service provider;

sending a purchase authorization from the host device to the service provider; and

receiving the authentication information and information for altering the access rights from the service provider.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying information related to the metadata.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising rendering the decrypted version of the at least one selected encrypted media content item while concurrently displaying information related to the metadata.

21. A method of storing content, the method comprising:

in a data storage device with a non-volatile memory, the non-volatile memory including a storage element, wherein the data storage device is configured to be operably coupled to a host device having a memory area, performing;

reading a content file including media content and including a trailer related to the media content, wherein the trailer is defined by trailer location information identifying a portion of the media content;

storing the content file together with secure data in a file, wherein the secure data includes at least one encryption key ID associated with an encryption key to encrypt the media content from the content file; and

storing the content file to at least one of the storage element of the non-volatile memory and the memory area of the host device coupled to the non-volatile memory device.