Hosted media content service systems and methods

• US 8,499,343 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2011
• Issued: 07/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Lemus, Anthony M., Krishnaswamy, Velmurugan, Okonkwo, Chukuemeka, Nambiar, Chivas, Perumandla, Aravind, Shehata, Ashraf M., Davis, Rickey A. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Paliwal, Yogesh
• Application Number:
  US13/153,857
• Publication Number:
  US 20120311688A1
• Time in Patent Office: 785 Days
• Field of Search: 726/8, 726/9, 726/10
• US Class Current: 726/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/33 using certificates

Abstract

An exemplary system includes 1) at least one computing device within a first computing subsystem associated with a hosted media content service, the at least one computing device configured to authenticate a user to the hosted media content service and provide at least one encrypted token to a user device associated with the user, and 2) at least one other computing device within a second computing subsystem associated with the hosted media content service, the at least one other computing device configured to store hosted media content associated with the hosted media content service, receive the at least one encrypted token from the user device, validate the at least one encrypted token, and perform, in response to the validation, at least one action on media content as part of the hosted media content service. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one computing device within a first computing subsystem associated with a hosted media content service, the at least one computing device configured to

authenticate a user to the hosted media content service, and

provide an encrypted time token and an encrypted content token to a user device associated with the user, the encrypted time token including a user identifier and a time constraint and the encrypted content token including a user identifier and a content identifier; and

at least one other computing device within a second computing subsystem associated with the hosted media content service, the at least one other computing device configured to

store hosted media content associated with the hosted media content service,

receive the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token from the user device,

validate the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token by

decrypting the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token,

determining that the user identifier included in the time token and the user identifier included in the content token match, and

determining that the time constraint included in the time token is satisfied, and

perform, in response to the validation, at least one action on media content as part of the hosted media content service.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one action comprises facilitating an uploading of the media content by the user device to the second computing subsystem or a downloading of the media content by the user device from the second computing subsystem.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the validating further comprises determining that the uploading of the media content was requested by the user authenticated by the first computing subsystem.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one action comprises:

receiving the media content from the user device; and

storing the media content to a data storage within the second computing subsystem.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one action comprises:

granting the user device access to the media content; and

transmitting the media content to the user device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first computing subsystem is located within a data center associated with the hosted media content service; and

the second computing subsystem is located within a point of presence to an Internet backbone network.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the data center is located at a first physical site and the point of presence is located at a second physical site separate from the first physical site.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein there is no communication between the first computing subsystem and the second computing subsystem in relation to the validation of the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first computing subsystem is configured to provide user authentication functionality for the hosted media content service; and

the second computing subsystem is not equipped to provide user authentication functionality for the hosted media content service.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one computing device within the first computing subsystem is configured to use a single-sign-on (“

SSO”

) technology to authenticate the user for access to the hosted media content service.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one computing device within the first computing subsystem is configured to authenticate the user to the hosted media content service by

receiving user credentials for the user from the user device;

and

determining that the user credentials are valid.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one other computing device within the second computing subsystem is further configured to validate the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token by determining that the content identifier and the user identifier included in the content token match an organization of a data file structure used to store the hosted media content.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the determining that the content identifier and the user identifier match the organization of the data file structure used to store the hosted media content comprises determining that the content identifier is associated with hosted media content that is stored within a user folder that is associated with the user identifier.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the validating further comprises determining that the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token were encrypted by the first computing subsystem.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining that the time constraint included in the time token is satisfied comprises determining that the request is received during an active and authenticated user session with the hosted media content service.

16. A method comprising:

authenticating, by a first computing subsystem, a user to a hosted media content service;

providing, by the first computing subsystem, an encrypted time token and an encrypted content token to a user device associated with the user, the encrypted time token including a user identifier and a time constraint and the encrypted content token including a user identifier and a content identifier;

receiving, by a second computing subsystem separate from the first computing subsystem, the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token from the user device;

validating, by the second computing subsystem, the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token by

decrypting the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token,

determining that the user identifier included in the time token and the user identifier included in the content token match, and

determining that the time constraint included in the time token is satisfied; and

performing, by the second computing subsystem in response to the validation, at least one action on media content as part of the hosted media content service.

17. The method of claim 16, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

18. A method comprising:

authenticating, by a first computing subsystem, a user to a hosted media content service;

providing, by the first computing subsystem in response to the authenticating, an encrypted time token to a user device associated with the user, the encrypted time token including a user identifier and a time constraint;

receiving, by the first computing subsystem, a content upload request from the user device;

generating and storing, by the first computing subsystem in response to the content upload request, a content token including a user identifier and a content identifier;

providing, by the first computing subsystem, an encrypted copy of the content token to the user device;

receiving, by a second computing subsystem separate from the first computing subsystem, the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token from the user device;

validating, by the second computing subsystem, the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token by

decrypting the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token,

determining that the user identifier included in the time token and the user identifier included in the content token match, and

determining that the time constraint included in the time token is satisfied;

allowing, by the second computing subsystem in response to the validation, an upload of media content from the user device; and

receiving and storing, by the second computing subsystem, the uploaded media content to a data storage within the second computing subsystem.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computing subsystem, a content access request from the user device; and

providing, by the first computing subsystem in response to the receiving of the content access request, an encrypted copy of the content token to the user device.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving, by the second computing subsystem separate from the first computing subsystem, the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token provided by the first computing subsystem in response to the content access request from the user device;

validating, by the second computing subsystem, the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token by

decrypting the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token,

determining that the user identifier included in the time token and the user identifier included in the content token match, and

determining that the time constraint included in the time token is satisfied;

granting, by the second computing subsystem in response to the validation, the user device access to hosted media content stored within the second computing subsystem; and

transmitting, by the second computing subsystem, the media content to the user device.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the validating further comprises determining that the encrypted time token and the encrypted content token were encrypted by the first computing subsystem.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the validating further comprises determining that the content upload request is from the user authenticated by the first computing subsystem.

23. A method comprising:

authenticating, by a first computing subsystem, a user to a hosted media content service;

providing, by the first computing subsystem in response to the authenticating, an encrypted time token to a user device associated with the user, the encrypted time token including a user identifier and a time constraint;

receiving, by the first computing subsystem, a content access request from the user device;

providing, by the first computing subsystem in response to the content access request, an encrypted content token to the user device, the encrypted content token including a user identifier and a content identifier;

receiving, by a second computing subsystem separate from the first computing subsystem, the encrypted time and content tokens from the user device;

validating, by the second computing subsystem, the encrypted time and content tokens by

decrypting the encrypted time and content tokens,

determining that the user identifier included in the time token and the user identifier included in the content token match, and

determining that the time constraint included in the time token is satisfied;

granting, by the second computing subsystem in response to the validation, the user device access to hosted media content stored within the second computing subsystem; and

transmitting, by the second computing subsystem, the media content to the user device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the validating further comprises determining that the content identifier and the user identifier included in the content token match an organization of a data file structure used to store the hosted media content.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the determining that the content identifier and the user identifier included in the content token match the organization of the data file structure used to store the hosted media content comprises determining that the content identifier is associated with hosted media content that is stored within a user folder that is associated with the user identifier.