Offline content distribution networks

• US 9,374,685 B1
• Filed: 10/08/2015
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PCCW Vuclip (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Vuclip, Inc. (PCCW Limited)
• Inventors: Prakash, Arun, Reza, Areef, Jakatdar, Nickhil, Shen, Bo
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilles, Jude Jean
• Application Number:
  US14/878,360
• Time in Patent Office: 257 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/203, 709/204, 709/232, 709/219, 709/231
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services

Abstract

Approaches, techniques, and mechanisms are disclosed for the secure distribution of media content to devices having minimal or no Internet connectivity. Computing devices referred to herein as “local servers” are strategically deployed at various locations, such as stores and other public locations. Packages of media contents are stored on the local servers, and may be updated using various online and/or offline data transfer techniques. Portable devices may directly connect to the local servers via various types of proximity-based connections, such as by wireless local area networks, by wired connections over Universal Serial Bus cables, or by sharing of removable media such as Secure Digital cards. The local servers may copy their media contents to authorized devices when such connections are established. The contents on a device may be automatically be updated the next time the device connects to one of the local servers, so as to include newly selected and/or available content.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of:

sending copies of media content items from a central media server over a wide area network to certain mobile devices of a plurality of mobile devices;

storing copies of the media content items at a plurality of local media servers that are separate from the central media server;

establishing local connections between particular local servers of the local media servers and particular mobile devices of the plurality of mobile devices;

responsive to requests to the particular local servers for particular content items of which copies are stored at the particular local servers, the particular local servers transmitting copies of the particular content items to the particular mobile devices over the local connections;

receiving, at a digital rights management server, requests to unlock access for specific mobile devices, of the plurality of mobile devices, to specific content items of the media content items;

sending, from the digital rights management server, responses comprising rights information for the specific mobile devices to unlock access to the specific content items, the specific mobile devices configured to utilize the rights information to determine whether the specific mobile devices are permitted to play the specific content items.

2. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of:

a given device of the particular mobile devices establishing a wide area network connection with the central media server;

the given device downloading metadata describing the media content items from the central media server;

based on an interface displaying the metadata, the given device receiving user input selecting a first item of content of the media content items for download;

the given device downloading at least a portion of a copy of the first item over a local connection from one of the local media servers, instead of from the central media server.

3. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of:

a given mobile device establishing a first connection to a first local server of the plurality of local media servers;

the first local server directing the given mobile device to install a content access application;

the content access application causing the given mobile device to download copies of at least first content items of the media content items from the first local server;

the given mobile device subsequently establishing a second connection to a second local server of the plurality of local media servers;

upon detecting the second connection, the content access application automatically causing the given mobile device to download at least copies of second content items of the media content items from the second local server.

4. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of:

a given device downloading a first portion of a copy of a first item of content over a local connection with a local media server;

the given device downloading a second portion of the copy of the first item over a wide area network connection with the central media server.

5. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of:

presenting, at a first mobile device of the particular mobile devices, a list of first media content items of which copies are stored at one or more of the plurality of local media servers;

receiving, at the first mobile device, input selecting a content item of interest from the list when no connection to the one or more of the plurality of local media servers is available to the first mobile device;

automatically downloading the content item of interest to the first mobile device upon detecting the establishing of a first local connection with a first local server of the one or more of the plurality of local media servers.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of:

storing copies of a new media content item at the plurality of local media servers;

responsive to a given mobile device of the particular mobile devices re-establishing a local connection to one of the plurality of local media servers, based on subscription information associated with the given mobile device, automatically downloading the new media content item to the given mobile device.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of:

sending, from the particular local servers to the specific mobile devices, partial content-specific decryption keys for the specific content items;

wherein the rights information sent by the digital rights management server includes master keys;

generating, at the specific mobile devices, based on the partial content-specific decryption keys and the master keys, content-specific decryption keys for decrypting the specific content items of the media content items.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein at least a first local server of the particular local servers is not connected to the wide area network and is not connected to any others of the local media servers.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein each of the local connections is one of an 802.11 wireless-based connection, Bluetooth connection, or Universal Serial Bus connection, wherein the media content items include digital movie files, wherein at least two or more of the particular mobile devices are connected to a given one of the particular local servers concurrently.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of sending a first response of the responses, comprising first rights information of the rights information, the first rights information being for a first mobile device to unlock access to a first content item of the specific content items, via an SMS gateway.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of:

identifying a media profile that is preferred for media playback at a given device of the plurality of mobile devices;

based on the identified media profile selecting a specific version of a given content item for download from a given local server, of the local media servers, to the given device.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of:

a first mobile device establishing a first connection to a first local server of the plurality of local media servers;

the first mobile device downloading, through a content access application installed on the first mobile device, metadata describing a catalog of content items available at the first local server;

the first mobile device detecting a second mobile device on which the content access application is installed;

responsive to detecting the second mobile device, the first mobile device sharing the metadata describing the catalog to the second mobile device;

based on the metadata received from the first mobile device, the second mobile device displaying information about one or more content items that are newly available at one or more of the local media servers.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of:

a first mobile device establishing a first connection to a first local server of the plurality of local media servers;

the first mobile device downloading, through a content access application installed on the first mobile device, first content stored at the first local server;

the first mobile device detecting a second mobile device on which the content access application is installed;

responsive to detecting the second mobile device, the first mobile device sharing the first content with the second mobile device;

the second mobile device playing the first content responsive to reading rights information data from the digital rights management server indicating that the second mobile device is permitted to play the first content.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of:

directing a given mobile device to an installer file for a content access application responsive to the given mobile device establishing an initial connection to a first local server of the particular local servers, the content access application configured to cause the specific mobile devices to utilize the rights information to determine whether the specific mobile devices are permitted to play the specific content items.

15. A method comprising:

sending copies of media content items from a central media server over a wide area network to certain mobile devices of a plurality of mobile devices;

storing copies of the media content items at a plurality of local media servers that are separate from the central media server;

establishing local connections between particular local servers of the local media servers and particular mobile devices of the plurality of mobile devices;

responsive to requests to the particular local servers for particular content items of which copies are stored at the particular local servers, the particular local servers transmitting copies of the particular content items to the particular mobile devices over the local connections;

receiving, at a digital rights management server, requests to unlock access for specific mobile devices, of the plurality of mobile devices, to specific content items of the media content items;

sending, from the digital rights management server, responses comprising rights information for the specific mobile devices to unlock access to the specific content items, the specific mobile devices configured to utilize the rights information to determine whether the specific mobile devices are permitted to play the specific content items.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

storing copies of a new media content item at the plurality of local media servers;

responsive to a given mobile device of the particular mobile devices re-establishing a local connection to one of the plurality of local media servers, based on subscription information associated with the given mobile device, automatically downloading the new media content item to the given mobile device.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

sending, from the particular local servers to the specific mobile devices, partial content-specific decryption keys for the specific content items;

wherein the rights information sent by the digital rights management server includes master keys;

generating, at the specific mobile devices, based on the partial content-specific decryption keys and the master keys, content-specific decryption keys for decrypting the specific content items of the media content items.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising sending a first response of the responses, comprising first rights information of the rights information, the first rights information being for a first mobile device to unlock access to a first content item of the specific content items, via an SMS gateway.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

directing a given mobile device to an installer file for a content access application responsive to the given mobile device establishing an initial connection to a first local server of the particular local servers, the content access application configured to cause the specific mobile devices to utilize the rights information to determine whether the specific mobile devices are permitted to play the specific content items.

20. A system comprising:

a central media server configured to send copies of media content items from the central media server over a wide area network to certain mobile devices of a plurality of mobile devices;

a plurality of local media servers, separate from the central media server, configured to store copies of the media content items, the plurality of local media servers configured to;

establish local connections between particular local servers of the local media servers and particular mobile devices of the plurality of mobile devices;

responsive to requests to the particular local servers for particular content items of which copies are stored at the particular local servers, the particular local servers transmitting copies of the particular content items to the particular mobile devices over the local connections;

a digital rights management server configured to receive requests to unlock access for specific mobile devices, of the plurality of mobile devices, to specific content items of the media content items, and send, from the digital rights management server, responses comprising rights information for the specific mobile devices to unlock access to the specific content items;

wherein the specific mobile devices are configured to utilize the rights information to determine whether the specific mobile devices are permitted to play the specific content items.