Abstract:
User-to-user (“superdistribution”) of digital content allows for management and control of the distribution by a content owner, content distributor or other owner or licensee of the content. Provisions are also available for identifying senders and receivers of content for purposes of compensating or encouraging distribution. A sending user generates a referral key that is used to encrypt all, or a portion of, the content, or to encrypt other mechanisms (e.g., another key, ticket, etc.) that will ultimately be used to allow access to the content. The sending user creates a content referral object that includes the restricted referral key, an identification of the license server and an identification of the content. A receiving user receives the content referral object and contacts the license server to identify the transaction (e.g., content being referred, access rights desired, etc.) and to receive information (e.g., a key or ticket) to use the referral key to access the content.
Abstract:
A method of securing information. The method comprises: obtaining a path to the information; and performing a security check regarding the path.
Abstract:
According to the invention, a method for securing a plaintext object within a content receiver is disclosed. In one step, a secure portion of a secure object and a plaintext remainder of the secure object are received. Which portion of the secure object is the secure portion is determined. The secure portion is decrypted to provide a plaintext portion. The plaintext object that comprises the plaintext portion and the plaintext remainder is formed. The plaintext object is stored including authentication and authorization.
Abstract:
A scrambled data transmission is descrambled by communicating encrypted program information and authentication information between an external storage device and block buffers of a secure circuit. The program information is communicated in block chains to reduce the overhead of the authentication information. The program information is communicated a block at a time, or even a chain at a time, and stored temporarily in block buffers and a cache, then provided to a CPU to be processed. The blocks may be stored in the external storage device according to a scrambled address signal, and the bytes, blocks, and chains may be further randomly re-ordered and communicated to the block buffers non-sequentially to obfuscate the processing sequence of the program information. Program information may be also be communicated from the secure circuit to the external memory. The program information need not be encrypted but only authenticated for security.
Abstract:
A secure microprocessor is provided with reduced vulnerability to attack. In the past, the secure operation of such processors has been overcome by observing the behavior of the clock used by the processor. Such observations, and the prediction of subsequent clock pulses therefrom, are prevented by modulating the clock by a substantially random function to provide an unpredictable stream of clock pulses. The secure processor is responsive to the unpredictable stream of clock pulses for processing data in accordance with a security algorithm.