System and method of restricting access to media content

• US 8,924,997 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2007
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chow, Lee, Piepenbrink, David, Rys, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Jason K
• Application Number:
  US11/933,502
• Publication Number:
  US 20090119696A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,616 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 725/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25816 involving client authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4405 involving video stream decryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4623 Processing of entitlement messages, e.g. ECM [Entitlement Control Message] or EMM [Entitlement Management Message] arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services H04H60/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/1675 Providing digital key or authorisation information for generation or regeneration of the scrambling sequence pseudo-random number generators in general G06F7/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed

Abstract

A method of restricting access to content delivered via a video distribution network is disclosed and includes receiving a control stream at a service delivery platform. The control stream is related to media content delivered via a video distribution network. The method also includes parsing the control stream and determining, from the parsed control stream, at least one geographical area in which access to programming associated with the video content channel is to be restricted. The method also includes automatically scheduling a conditional access event associated with the media content at least one video head-end of the video distribution network, the at least one video head-end serving the at least one geographical area. In a particular embodiment, the video distribution network can be an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) network.

Claims

1. A method of restricting access to content delivered via a video distribution network, the method comprising:

receiving, at a service delivery platform from a first video head-end office, a control stream associated with a video distribution network, wherein the control stream is associated with media content delivered via the video distribution network, and wherein the control stream includes conditional access information associated with multiple second video head-end offices, wherein particular conditional access information of the control stream indicates restriction of the media content based on a geographic area, wherein the geographic area is associated with a particular second video head-end office of the multiple second video head-end offices;

parsing the control stream to create a substitution table, at the service delivery platform, based on the particular conditional access information for the geographic area, wherein the substitution table maps primary media content to substitute media content for the particular second video head-end office, indicates an acquisition server of the substitute media content, and associates a start time, an end time, and a channel with the substitute media content; and

sending the substitution table to the particular second video head-end office to automatically schedule, based on the substitution table, a conditional access event at the particular second video head-end office of the video distribution network, wherein the particular second video head-end office restricts access to the media content to subscribers in the geographic area based on the conditional access event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic area includes multiple sub-areas.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the service delivery platform, an update control stream associated with the video distribution network, wherein the update control stream includes updated conditional access information that includes an update to the conditional access event;

determining from the updated conditional access information whether the update corresponds to the geographic area;

automatically updating the substitution table that corresponds to the geographic area upon determining that the updated conditional access information corresponds to the geographic area, wherein the substitution table is updated according to the update for the geographic area; and

automatically sending the updated substitution table to the particular second video head-end office, wherein the conditional access event is updated using the substitution table.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the service delivery platform, a delete control stream associated with the video distribution network, wherein the delete control stream indicates that the conditional access event is to be deleted;

determining from the delete control stream that the conditional access event corresponds to the geographic area; and

causing the conditional access event to be deleted at the particular second video head-end office.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the conditional access information indicates, for the geographic area, that the primary media content is to be replaced with the substitute media content.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining an acquisition point corresponding to the substitute media content before creating the substitution table, wherein the acquisition point identifies the acquisition server.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the substitution table is stored at the particular second video head-end office.

7. A system comprising:

a service delivery platform comprising;

processing logic, and

a memory accessible to the processing logic, wherein the memory includes instructions executable by the processing logic to perform operations comprising;

receiving, at the service delivery platform from a first video head-end office, a control stream associated with a video distribution network, wherein the control stream is associated with media content delivered via the video distribution network, and wherein the control stream includes conditional access information associated with multiple second video head-end offices, wherein particular conditional access information of the control stream indicates restriction of the media content associated with the media content based on a geographic area, wherein the geographic area is associated with a particular second video head-end office of the multiple second video head-end offices;

parsing the control stream to create a substitution table, at the service delivery platform, based on the particular conditional access information for the geographic area, wherein the substitution table maps primary media content to substitute media content for the particular second video head-end office, indicates an acquisition server of the substitute media content, and associates a start time, an end time, and a channel with the substitute media content; and

sending the substitution table to the particular second video head-end office to automatically schedule, based on the substitution table, a conditional access event at the particular second video head-end office of the video distribution network, wherein the particular second video head-end office restricts access to the media content for the geographical area based on the conditional access event.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the service delivery platform is adapted to receive the control stream from an integrated receiver-decoder at the first video head-end office.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the service delivery platform is adapted to receive the control stream via a proxy system.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising the proxy system, wherein the video distribution network is a television network.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the service delivery platform includes a database to log receipt of the conditional access information.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise automatically scheduling the conditional access event at the particular second video head-end office by calling a scheduling application programming interface at the particular second video head-end office.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the primary media content, the substitute media content, or a combination thereof, is associated with a virtual channel.

14. A computer-readable storage device having processor-readable instructions executable by a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a service delivery platform from a first video head-end office, a control stream associated with a video distribution network, wherein the control stream is associated with media content delivered via the video distribution network, and wherein the control stream includes conditional access information associated with multiple second video head-end offices, wherein particular conditional access information of the control stream indicates restriction of the media content based on a geographic area, wherein the geographic area is associated with a particular second video head-end office of the multiple second video head-end offices;

parsing the control stream to create a substitution table, at the service delivery platform, based on the particular condition access information for the particular second video head-end office, wherein the substitution table maps primary media content to substitute media content for the geographic area, indicates an acquisition point of the substitute media content, and associates a start time, an end time, and a channel with the substitute media content; and

sending the substitution table to the particular second video head-end office to automatically schedule, based on the substitution table, a conditional access event at the particular second video head-end office of the video distribution network, wherein the particular second video head-end office restricts access to the media content for the geographical area based on the conditional access event.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14, wherein the geographic area includes multiple sub-areas.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

parsing second control stream data associated with delivery of the media content;

determining that the second control stream data indicates an update to the conditional access event; and

automatically updating the conditional access event at the particular second video head-end office.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein updating the conditional access event includes changing a start time of the conditional access event, changing an end time of the conditional access event, changing substitute content to replace the media content, deleting the conditional access event, or any combination thereof.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise automatically updating the substitution table related to the conditional access event at the particular second video head-end office.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise logging receipt of the second control stream data, logging a time at which the second control stream data was received, logging the updating of the conditional access event, or a combination thereof.