Systems and methods for secure transaction management and electronic rights protection
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. An electronic appliance comprising:
- a secure processing unit;
a central processing unit; and
one or more computer-readable media external to the secure processing unit, the computer-readable media storing at least rights management software comprising programming operable to apply one or more electronic controls to govern usage of an electronic content item received by the electronic appliance separately from the electronic controls and via separate delivery, the electronic content item comprising audio, visual, and/or textual electronic content, at least part of the programming designed to cause the secure processing unit to decrypt information associated with the electronic content item, wherein the one or more electronic controls specify one or more permitted or prohibited uses of the electronic content item, and wherein the rights management software is designed to be resistant to tampering by users of the electronic appliance.
2 Assignments
Litigations
3 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides systems and methods for secure transaction management and electronic rights protection. Electronic appliances such as computers equipped in accordance with the present invention help to ensure that information is accessed and used only in authorized ways, and maintain the integrity, availability, and/or confidentiality of the information. Such electronic appliances provide a distributed virtual distribution environment (VDE) that may enforce a secure chain of handling and control, for example, to control and/or meter or otherwise monitor use of electronically stored or disseminated information. Such a virtual distribution environment may be used to protect rights of various participants in electronic commerce and other electronic or electronic-facilitated transactions. Distributed and other operating systems, environments and architectures, such as, for example, those using tamper-resistant hardware-based processors, may establish security at each node. These techniques may be used to support an all-electronic information distribution, for example, utilizing the “electronic highway.”
118 Citations
100 Claims
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1. An electronic appliance comprising:
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a secure processing unit; a central processing unit; and one or more computer-readable media external to the secure processing unit, the computer-readable media storing at least rights management software comprising programming operable to apply one or more electronic controls to govern usage of an electronic content item received by the electronic appliance separately from the electronic controls and via separate delivery, the electronic content item comprising audio, visual, and/or textual electronic content, at least part of the programming designed to cause the secure processing unit to decrypt information associated with the electronic content item, wherein the one or more electronic controls specify one or more permitted or prohibited uses of the electronic content item, and wherein the rights management software is designed to be resistant to tampering by users of the electronic appliance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. An electronic appliance comprising:
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a secure processing unit; a central processing unit; and one or more computer-readable media external to the secure processing unit, the computer-readable media storing rights management software comprising programming operable to apply one or more electronic controls to govern usage of an electronic content item received by the electronic appliance separately from the electronic controls and via separate delivery, the electronic content comprising audio, visual, and/or textual electronic content, at least part of the programming designed to cause the secure processing unit to access information required for usage of the electronic content item, wherein the one or more electronic controls specify one or more permitted or prohibited uses of the electronic content item, and wherein the rights management software is designed to be resistant to tampering by users of the electronic appliance. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. An electronic appliance comprising:
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a first processing unit; a second processing unit, the second processing unit comprising a microprocessor, internal memory, and internal memory interface logic for impeding unauthorized access to the internal memory by the first processing unit; and computer-readable media external to the second processing unit, the computer-readable media storing at least (a) a piece of electronic content;
(b) one or more electronic objects received by the electronic appliance separately from the piece of electronic content and via separate delivery, the one or more electronic objects specifying one or more permitted or prohibited uses of the piece of electronic content; and
(c) software configured for execution by the first processing unit, the software comprising programming for controlling usage of pieces of electronic content such as the first piece of electronic content in accordance with electronic objects such as the one or more electronic objects, the software further comprising programming for causing the second processing unit to access information required for usage of pieces of electronic content. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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69. A method performed by an electronic appliance comprising a processor and a memory encoded with program instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic appliance to perform the method, the method comprising:
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receiving, by the electronic appliance, a first piece of electronic content, the first piece of electronic content being encrypted at least in part; receiving, by the electronic appliance, separately from the first piece of electronic content, a first key, the first key being associated with the first piece of electronic content, and the first key being encrypted at least in part; decrypting, by the electronic appliance, the first key using (a) a second key and (b) a secure processing unit running on the electronic appliance, the second key being stored in memory of the secure processing unit; decrypting, by the electronic appliance, the first piece of electronic content using, at least in part, the first key; receiving, by the electronic appliance, separately from the first piece of electronic content, and via separate delivery, a first electronic object, the first electronic object specifying one or more permitted or prohibited uses of the first piece of electronic content; receiving, by the electronic appliance, a request to use the first piece of electronic content; and selectively granting, by the electronic appliance, the request in accordance with the first electronic object. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85)
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86. A method for governing usage of electronic content performed by an electronic appliance, the electronic appliance comprising a processor and a memory encoded with program instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic appliance to perform the method, the method comprising:
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receiving, by the electronic appliance, a first piece of electronic content, the first piece of electronic content being encrypted at least in part; receiving, by the electronic appliance, separately from the first piece of electronic content, and via separate delivery, a first electronic object, the first electronic object specifying one or more permitted or prohibited uses of the first piece of electronic content; receiving, by the electronic appliance, a request from a user of the electronic appliance to use the first piece of electronic content; and selectively granting, by the electronic appliance, the request in accordance with the first electronic object; wherein the electronic appliance comprises hardware and/or software operable to impede the user from tampering with performance of said selectively granting step. - View Dependent Claims (87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100)
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Specification