Article of manufacture for controlling the use of content by providing for the delegation of rendering rights

• US 8,352,374 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2010
• Issued: 01/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Swenson, Eric John, Ishiguro, Ryuji, Nagano, Motohiko, Chavanne, Pierre
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Nathan
• Assistant Examiner(s): WRIGHT, BRYAN F
• Application Number:
  US12/871,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20100325417A1
• Time in Patent Office: 862 Days
• Field of Search: 713/150
• US Class Current: 705/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/603 Digital right managament [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

Methods and systems for controlling the distribution of digital content are provided. A license holder acquires protected content and an original digital license to the protected content from a content provider system. The license holder in turn delegates all or part of the grants in that original license to other qualified devices or clients. The content remains in its original, protected or encrypted form while it is delivered from the license holder to the client along with a digital sublicense that the client receives from the original license holder, whereupon the content can then be rendered. The original digital license defines or governs the conditions under which such delegation occurs, and includes terms under which such delegation is permitted to continue in order to enforce the intent of the content provider.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture for use in distributing content originating from a content provider system and for use by a first device having a first device processing unit and for use by a secondary device having a secondary device processing unit, said secondary device being adapted for communication with the first device, said article of manufacture comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable media including at least one computer program embedded therein for use by the first and the secondary devices, the at least one computer program being adapted to cause the first and the secondary devices to perform:

storing the content and a first digital license on the first device, said first digital license being adapted to govern the use of the content by the first device and having a first expiration time period;

storing a first digital certificate on the first device, said first digital certificate originating from the content provider system and including a first set of data corresponding to the identity of the content provider system;

storing a second digital certificate on the secondary device, said second digital certificate originating from the content provider system and including a second set of data corresponding to the identity of the content provider system;

transmitting a first digital request and the second digital certificate from the secondary device to the first device, said first digital request corresponding to a first request for use of the content;

comparing the first set of data with the second set of data;

transmitting a second digital license from the first device to the secondary device after receipt by the first device of the first digital request and if the first and second sets of data correspond to the same content provider system, said second digital license governing the use of the content by the secondary device and having a second expiration time period that is less than the first expiration time period;

providing at least a first portion of the content from the first device to the secondary device, said at least the first portion of the content being encrypted;

decrypting the at least the first portion of the content at the secondary device during at least a portion of the second expiration time period;

transmitting a second digital request from the secondary device to the first device, said second digital request corresponding to a second request for use of the content;

transmitting a third digital license from the first device to the secondary device, said third digital license being adapted to govern the use of the content by the secondary device and having a third expiration time period that is less than the first expiration time period;

providing at least a second portion of the content from the first device to the secondary device, said at least the second portion of the content being encrypted; and

decrypting the at least the second portion of the content at the secondary device during at least a portion of the third expiration time period, wherein the second and third expiration time periods are each less than 60 minutes.

2. An article of manufacture for use in distributing content originating from a content provider system and for use by a first device having a first device processing unit and for use by a secondary device having a secondary device processing unit, said secondary device being adapted for communication with the first device, said article of manufacture comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable media including at least one computer program embedded therein for use by the first and the secondary devices, the at least one computer program being adapted to cause the first and the secondary devices to perform:

storing the content and a first digital license on the first device, said first digital license being adapted to govern the use of the content by the first device and having a first expiration time period;

storing a first digital certificate on the first device, said first digital certificate originating from the content provider system and including a first set of data corresponding to the identity of the content provider system;

storing a second digital certificate on the secondary device, said second digital certificate originating from the content provider system and including a second set of data corresponding to the identity of the content provider system;

transmitting a first digital request and the second digital certificate from the secondary device to the first device, said first digital request corresponding to a first request for use of the content;

comparing the first set of data with the second set of data;

transmitting a second digital license from the first device to the secondary device after receipt by the first device of the first digital request and if the first and second sets of data correspond to the same content provider system, said second digital license governing the use of the content by the secondary device and having a second expiration time period that is less than the first expiration time period;

providing at least a first portion of the content from the first device to the secondary device, said at least the first portion of the content being encrypted;

decrypting the at least the first portion of the content at the secondary device during at least a portion of the second expiration time period;

transmitting a second digital request from the secondary device to the first device, said second digital request corresponding to a second request for use of the content;

transmitting a third digital license from the first device to the secondary device, said third digital license being adapted to govern the use of the content by the secondary device and having a third expiration time period that is less than the first expiration time period;

providing at least a second portion of the content from the first device to the secondary device, said at least the second portion of the content being encrypted; and

decrypting the at least the second portion of the content at the secondary device during at least a portion of the third expiration time period, wherein the first device and the secondary device are located on a premises and wherein the content provider system is located other than on the premises.