Systems and methods for secure transaction management and electronic rights protection

• US 7,120,800 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2001
• Issued: 10/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Inventors: Ginter, Karl L., Spahn, Francis J., Shear, Victor H., Van Wie, David M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Darrow, Justin T.
• Application Number:
  US09/870,801
• Publication Number:
  US 20040054630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,957 Days
• Field of Search: 705/44, 705/51, 705/52, 705/53, 705/54, 705/59, 705/56, 713/156, 713/182, 713/185, 713/187, 713/189, 713/193, 708/135, 711/163, 714/38
• US Class Current: 713/193
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/1408 by using cryptography for digital transmission H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/109 by using specially-adapted hardware at the client
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/33 using certificates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/86 Secure or tamper-resistant housings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/007 Encryption, En-/decode, En-/decipher, En-/decypher, Scramble, (De-)compress
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2151 Time stamp
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/023 the neutral party being a clearing house
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/102 : applying security measure for e-commerce data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/103 : applying security measure for protecting copy right protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment, e.g. protection the software providers copyright G06F21/10; data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; secrecy systems or subscription systems H04N7/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 : for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2347 : involving video stream encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23476 : by partially encrypting, e.g. encrypting the ending portion of a movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 : Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2362 : Generation or processing of Service Information [SI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 : Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 : Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2547 : Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25875 : involving end-user authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; arrangements for secret or secure communication including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 : embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 : Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 : Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4405 : involving video stream decryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 : Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 : OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 : Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4753 : for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 : Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 : involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/835 : Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8355 : involving usage data, e.g. number of copies or viewings allowed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/83555 : using a structured language for describing usage rules of the content, e.g. REL
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 : involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 : Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 : Transmission or handling of upstream communications

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.”

Claims

1. A load module embodied on a computer-readable medium, the load module comprising:

a load module header including a public portion and a private portion;

said public portion including identification information and information describing at least one aspect of a hardware or software platform on which said load module is designed to execute;

said private portion including at least one correlation tag including information used to determine whether a method has authorization to call or load the load module; and

a load module body, including;

executable programming specifying that information relating to a use of the load module be communicated to a remote site; and

a reference to data, at least some of said data being associated with or used by said executable programming.

2. The load module of claim 1, in which said at least one aspect includes the level or degree of security present or available on such platform.

3. The load module of claim 1, in which said at least one aspect includes a type of computer.

4. The load module of claim 1, in which said at least one aspect includes a type of software running on such platform.

5. The load module of claim 1, in which said at least one aspect includes one or more computer languages recognized by said platform.

6. An operating system embodied on a computer-readable medium, comprising:

component assembling programming which assembles a plurality of elements into a component, said component assembling programming including;

(a) validation programming used to validate said elements, said validation programming including;

(1) tag checking programming used to check the identity, validity or integrity of elements by comparing tags incorporated in said elements to expected values; and

(2) element identification and referencing programming; and

(b) communications programming used to communicate at least one result of said tag comparison to a remote site; and

an object switch which controls and communicates objects, said object switch including;

one or more stream interfaces; and

a container manager used to manage secure containers.

7. The operating system of claim 6, in which:

said operating system is designed to operate correctly with applications programs written to run on one or more versions of a conventional operating system.

8. The operating system of claim 6, in which:

said operating system runs in a processing environment; and

said operating system includes at least one added component delivered at some point after the initial installation of said operating system at said processing environment.

9. The operating system of claim 8, in which:

said added component provides scalability to said operating system.

10. The operating system of claim 8, in which:

said added component comprises a component assembly made up of a plurality of elements.

11. The operating system of claim 6, said operating system further comprising:

channel definition programming which sets up and initializes channels in which component assemblies are assembled.

12. The operating system of claim 6, in which:

said component assembling program includes programming which checks said components for information regarding the manner in which said components are designed to be assembled into a component assembly,

said programming requiring that said components only be assembled in the manner specified by said information.

13. The operating system of claim 6, in which:

said tag checking programming includes comparison programming which compares the contents of a public tag associated with an element with the contents of a private tag associated with that element.

14. The operating system of claim 13, in which:

said comparison programming includes programming which decrypts said private tag prior to said comparison.

15. The operating system of claim 6, in which:

said tag checking programming includes comparison programming which compares the contents of a tag associated with an element with the contents of a tag associated with a process requesting said element.

16. The operating system of claim 15, in which:

said comparison programming includes programming which decrypts said tag associated with said element prior to said comparison.

17. The operating system of claim 6, in which:

said tag checking programming includes comparison programming which compares the contents of a tag associated with an element with the contents of a tag stored in a secure processing unit;

said comparison designed to determine whether said tag associated with said element is the same as the tag most recently assigned to said element by said secure processing unit.

18. The operating system of claim 6, further comprising:

e-mail management programming.

19. The operating system of claim 18, in which:

said e-mail management programming includes programming which recognizes and controls secure e-mail or secure e-mail attachments.

20. The operating system of claim 19, in which:

said e-mail management programming includes programming which routes secure e-mail or secure e-mail attachments to a secure memory location.

21. The operating system of claim 6, further comprising:

an object repository manager.

22. The operating system of claim 21, in which:

said object repository manager provides services relating to access to an object repository.

23. The operating system of claim 6, in which:

said validation programming includes certificate programming which checks digital certificates associated with said elements.

24. The operating system of claim 23, in which:

said certificate programming includes programming which compares an expiration date on at least some of said digital certificates with the current date.

25. The operating system of claim 23, in which:

said certificate programming includes programming which extracts one or more keys from at least one of said digital certificates and uses said one or more keys to decrypt information associated with the digital certificate from which said one or more keys was extracted.

26. The operating system of claim 6, in which:

said object switch includes a stream router which includes programming which routes streams to and from said stream interfaces.

27. The operating system of claim 6, in which:

said one or more stream interfaces include at least one real time stream interface.

28. The operating system of claim 27, in which:

said real time stream interface includes programming designed to accept and route real time data stream information.

29. The operating system of claim 11, in which:

said channels further serve to pass events to methods and load modules specified to process the events.

30. The operating system of claim 6, in which:

said component assembling programming includes programming which uses a blueprint in said component assembly process.

31. A component assembly embodied on a computer readable medium, comprising:

a first load module and a second load module, each load module comprising;

a load module header, made up of a public portion and a private portion;

said public portion including identification information and information describing at least one aspect of a hardware or software platform on which said load module is designed to execute;

said private portion including at least one correlation tag including information used to determine whether a method has authorization to call or load the load module; and

a load module body, including;

executable programming; and

a reference to data, at least some of said data being associated with or used by said executable programming,

said first load module executable programming including programming requiring the storage of audit information relating to use of the component assembly.

32. The component assembly of claim 31, in which said at least one aspect includes the level or degree of security present or available on such platform.

33. The component assembly of claim 31, in which said at least one aspect includes a type of computer.

34. The component assembly of claim 31, in which said at least one aspect includes the type of software running on such platform.

35. The component assembly of claim 31, in which said at least one aspect includes one or more computer languages recognized by said platform.

36. A component assembly embodied on a computer readable medium, comprising:

a first load module and a second load module, each load module comprising;

a load module header, made up of a public portion and a private portion;

said public portion including identification information;

said private portion including at least one correlation tag and information on the stack size used by or required by said load module, said correlation tag including information used to determine whether a method has authorization to call or load the load module; and

a load module body, including;

executable programming; and

a reference to data, at least some of said data being associated with or used by said executable programming,

said first load module executable programming including programming requiring the storage of information uniquely identifying a device at which said component assembly is stored.

37. A component assembly embodied on a computer readable medium, comprising:

a first load module and a second load module, each load module comprising;

a load module header, made up of a public portion and a private portion;

said public portion including identification information;

said private portion including at least one correlation tag, and an access tag, said access tag being made up of at least two fields, each of which can be accessed and used separately and said correlation tag including information used to determine whether a method has authorization to call or load the load module; and

a load module body, including;

executable programming; and

a reference to data, at least some of said data being associated with or used by said executable programming,

said first load module executable programming including programming requiring communicating a unique identification for a device at which said component assembly is stored to a remote location.

38. A computer processing system comprising:

a processing unit operable to execute computer programming, wherein the computer programming comprises;

a component assembler which assembles a plurality of elements into a component assembly, said plurality of elements each including at least one tag, said component assembler including a validator that validates each of said plurality of elements, said validator including a tag checker that checks at least one of;

(a) the identity, (b) the validity or (c) the integrity, of said plurality of elements by comparing said tags incorporated in said plurality of elements to expected values; and

an object switch coupled to said component assembler, said object switch including;

(a) a stream router that communicates component assemblies;

(b) one or more stream interfaces coupled to said stream router;

(c) a container manager that, in use, manages said component assemblies; and

(d) an object switch interface that interfaces said object switch with said component assembler; and

a communications module which communicates a unique identifier of the computer processing system or a user of the computer processing system to a remote location.