Mechanism for automatically securing licensing for unlicenced codec

• US 6,785,885 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2000
• Issued: 08/31/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Norris, David J., Ganesan, Ramanan V.
• Primary Examiner(s): INGBERG, TODD D
• Application Number:
  US09/752,797
• Publication Number:
  US 20020087957A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,342 Days
• Field of Search: 717/178, 717/172, 386/46, 386/109, 386/112, 370/521, 370/464, 370/473, 704/200, 704/201, 709/200, 709/246, 709/247, 348/14.01
• US Class Current: 717/178
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]

Abstract

A method for licensing codecs in accordance with the invention includes initiating a call from a first endpoint, the first endpoint identifying a preferred codec, receiving the call at a second endpoint wherein a licensed copy of the preferred codec is not included, and generating a codec license request from the second endpoint to the first endpoint and/or at least one third party codec provider.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a first computing system, a call between the first computing system and a second computing system, wherein the first computing system contains an unlicensed codec;

in conjunction with receiving the call, receiving a codec identifier from the second computing system at the first computing system, wherein the codec identifier identifies the unlicensed codec as desired for use during the call;

in response to receiving the codec identifier at the first computing system, transmitting a request for a license to use the unlicensed codec;

after transmitting the request for a license to use the unlicensed codec, receiving a response that grants the license; and

after receiving the response that grants the license, automatically using the formerly unlicensed codec in the call.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the operation of transmitting a request for a license to use the unlicensed codec comprises transmitting an indication that a copy of the codec already exists on the first computing system.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the operation of transmitting a request for a license to use the unlicensed codec comprises transmitting the request to the second computing system.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the operation of receiving a response that grants the license comprises receiving the response from the second computing system.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the operation of transmitting a request for a license to use the unlicensed codec comprises transmitting the request to a third party.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the operation of receiving a response that grants the license comprises receiving the response from a third party.

7. A method according to claim 1, comprising:

receiving an authentication mechanism with the response that grants the license; and

using the authentication mechanism to provide security during the call.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the call involving the first and second computing systems comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony call.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the call involving the first and second computing systems utilizes a direct digital connection.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the call involving the first and second computing systems comprises an audio/visual (AV) conference call.

17. A computing system according to claim 3, wherein the call comprises an audio/visual (AV) conference call.

21. A program product according to claim 4, wherein the instructions comprise instructions to transmit the request for the license to the other processing system.

11. A computing system comprising:

a storage medium;

a processor communicatively coupled to the storage medium; and

computer instructions encoded in the storage medium, wherein the computer instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising;

receiving a call from another computing system;

in conjunction with receiving the call, receiving a codec identifier from the other computing system, wherein the codec identifier identifies a codec as desired for use during the call;

in response to receiving the codec identifier, determining whether the computing system contains an unlicensed copy of the codec;

if the computing system contains an unlicensed copy of the codec, transmitting a request for a license to use the codec;

after transmitting the request for a license to use the codec, receiving a response that grants the license; and

after receiving the response that grants the license, automatically using the formerly unlicensed copy of the codec in the call.

12. A computing system according to claim 11, wherein the operation of transmitting a request for a license to use the codec comprises:

transmitting an indication that the computing system already contains a copy of the codec.

13. A computing system according to claim 11, wherein the computer instructions comprises instructions to transmit the request for the license to the other computing system.

14. A computing system according to claim 11, wherein the computer instructions comprises instructions to transmit the request for the license to a third party.

15. A computing system according to claim 11, wherein the computer instructions comprises:

instructions to receive an authentication mechanism associated with the license; and

instructions to use the authentication mechanism to provide security during the call.

16. A computing system according to claim 11, wherein the call comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony call.

18. A computing system according to claim 11, wherein the call utilizes a direct digital connection.

19. A program product comprising:

a machine accessible medium; and

instructions encoded in the machine accessible medium, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations comprising;

receiving a call from another processing system;

in conjunction with receiving the call, receiving a codec identifier from the other processing system, wherein the codec identifier identifies a codec as desired for use during the call;

in response to receiving the codec identifier, automatically determining whether the processing system contains an unlicensed copy of the codec;

if the processing system contains an unlicensed copy of the codec, transmitting a request for a license to use the codec;

after transmitting the request for a license to use the codec, receiving a response that grants the license; and

after receiving the response that grants the license, automatically using the formerly unlicensed copy of the codec in the call.

20. A program product according to claim 19, wherein the operation of transmitting a request for a license to use the codec comprises:

transmitting an indication that the processing system already contains a copy of the codec.

22. A program product according to claim 19, wherein the instructions comprise instructions to transmit the request for the license to a third party.

23. A program product according to claim 19, wherein the instructions comprises:

Instructions to receive an authentication mechanism associated with the license; and

instructions to use the authentication mechanism to provide security during the call.

24. A program product according to claim 19, wherein the call comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony call.

25. A program product according to claim 19, wherein the call comprises an audio/visual (AV) call.

26. A program product according to claim 19, wherein the call utilizes a direct digital connection.

27. A method comprising:

initiating a call to a second computing system from a first computing system;

transmitting a codec identifier from the first computing system to the second computing system, wherein the codec identifier identifies a codec as desired for use during the call;

after transmitting the codec identifier to the second computing system, receiving a response from the second computing system, wherein the response indicates that the second computing system contains an unlicensed copy of the codec;

after receiving the response, automatically transmitting a license grant for the codec from the first computing system to the second computing system; and

after transmitting the license grant to the second computing system, using the codec during the call.

28. A method according to claim 27, wherein the call comprises an audio/visual (AV) conference call.