System and method for protecting digital contents with digital rights management (DRM)

Abstract

An approach for protecting digital contents includes a content delivery phase wherein a client stores digital contents or retrieves them in streaming, transmits to a user device the digital content in a protected format along with an enabling code for enabling the user device to access or read the protected digital content. The approach includes a key generation phase in a DRM (Digital Right Management) server which derives at least one key for encrypting the digital contents. A key transmission phase involves the derived key being transmitted from the DRM server to the client. For decrypting the digital content, the user device requests the key from the DRM server, with the request including a key identification defined by the enabling code transmitted by the client to the user device which is used by the DRM server to derive the key for the user device.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present application relates to a system and method for protecting digital contents with DRM. More particularly, the embodiments relate to an approach including a phase for delivering the contents from a client or content provider to a user device, the client storing the digital contents and codes for enabling or disabling the user device to read the protected digital contents, after delivery.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Known approaches for protecting digital contents with DRM (Digital rights management) prevent unauthorized redistribution and restrict the ways a user can copy purchased content, thus limiting the piracy of commercially marketed digital material, which recently increased especially through the widespread use of peer-to-peer file exchange programs.[0003]A known approach for protecting digital contents may be implemented by embedding a code in the digital content which prevents its copy to an unauthorized user device. Further protect...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

A limitation of the above cited approach is that the client or content provided is responsible not only to deliver the digital content in protected format but also to implement the DRM, generating the code for the user device and storing it.

Moreover, this approach has a limitation of security because the code enabling the reading of the protected digital content is transmitted to the user device and is at last available to the user; in other words, the code is not consumed or destroyed after reading the protecting digital content in the user device and it remains available for the user.

In a subscription rental service, consumers get access to content for a longer period of time so issues like the portability of the content (moving content between devices or accessing it multiple times on different devices), device upgrades and updates to the DRM technology may be considered.

A Microsoft Playready DRM client for example, may not be available on all the devices used by the content service's target consumers.

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