Systems and Methods for Secure Transaction Management and Electronic Rights Protection
First Claim
1. A method of governing use of a piece of electronic content, the method comprising:
- receiving an encrypted piece of electronic content;
receiving a first electronic object, the first electronic object being associated with the piece of electronic content, the first electronic object comprising one or more permissions specifying one or more permitted and/or prohibited usages of the piece of electronic content, the first electronic object further comprising an encrypted cryptographic key, the encrypted cryptographic key being adapted for, upon decryption, use in decrypting the piece of electronic content;
receiving a second electronic object, the second electronic object specifying one or more conditions associated with use of a group of electronic content, the group including, at least in part, the piece of electronic content; and
using tamper-resistant hardware and/or software to securely decrypt and make at least one use of the piece of electronic content in accordance with the first electronic object and the second electronic object, the hardware and/or software being resistant to tampering by a user thereof.
2 Assignments
0 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.”
110 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method of governing use of a piece of electronic content, the method comprising:
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receiving an encrypted piece of electronic content; receiving a first electronic object, the first electronic object being associated with the piece of electronic content, the first electronic object comprising one or more permissions specifying one or more permitted and/or prohibited usages of the piece of electronic content, the first electronic object further comprising an encrypted cryptographic key, the encrypted cryptographic key being adapted for, upon decryption, use in decrypting the piece of electronic content; receiving a second electronic object, the second electronic object specifying one or more conditions associated with use of a group of electronic content, the group including, at least in part, the piece of electronic content; and using tamper-resistant hardware and/or software to securely decrypt and make at least one use of the piece of electronic content in accordance with the first electronic object and the second electronic object, the hardware and/or software being resistant to tampering by a user thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer-readable medium containing computer code tangibly embodied thereon that, when executed by an electronic appliance, is operable to cause an electronic appliance to perform steps comprising:
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receiving an encrypted piece of electronic content; receiving a first electronic object, the first electronic object being associated with the piece of electronic content, the first electronic object comprising one or more permissions specifying one or more permitted and/or prohibited usages of the piece of electronic content, the first electronic object further comprising an encrypted cryptographic key, the encrypted cryptographic key being adapted for, upon decryption, use in decrypting the piece of electronic content; receiving a second electronic object, the second electronic object specifying one or more conditions associated with use of a group of electronic content, the group including, at least in part, the piece of electronic content; and using tamper-resistant hardware and/or software to securely decrypt and make at least one use of the piece of electronic content in accordance with the first electronic object and the second electronic object, the hardware and/or software being resistant to tampering by a user thereof. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system comprising:
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means for receiving an encrypted piece of electronic content; means for receiving a first electronic object, the first electronic object being associated with the piece of electronic content, the first electronic object comprising one or more permissions specifying one or more permitted and/or prohibited usages of the piece of electronic content, the first electronic object further comprising an encrypted cryptographic key, the encrypted cryptographic key being adapted for, upon decryption, use in decrypting the piece of electronic content; means for receiving a second electronic object, the second electronic object specifying one or more conditions associated with use of a group of electronic content, the group including, at least in part, the piece of electronic content; and tamper-resistant hardware and/or software for securely decrypting and making at least one use of the piece of electronic content in accordance with the first electronic object and the second electronic object, the hardware and/or software being resistant to tampering by a user of the system. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification