Concealed Manifests for Streaming Content Protection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing streaming content delivery systems face challenges in preventing clients from blocking or altering protected content portions, such as advertisements, due to the ability of client devices to identify and remove specific content portions using manifests.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of a streaming content delivery system that generates and transmits concealed manifests with masked identifiers, which are converted into actual identifiers only when requested, preventing clients from distinguishing between different content portions and thus inhibiting their alteration or removal.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If clients use manifests to identify and remove specific content portions, then clients can block unwanted content such as advertisements, but content providers lose control over protected content portions

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveclient ability to block unwanted contentVSAvoidcontent provider control over protected content

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by encrypting content portion identifiers and embedding encrypted tracking codes in content portions before delivery. This pre-encryption prevents clients from identifying and blocking protected content, while the tracking codes enable later verification of content consumption without revealing content identities to clients.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism where encrypted identifiers and tracking codes serve as mediators between the content delivery system and clients. The encrypted identifiers hide the true nature of content portions from clients, while the tracking codes mediate verification between clients and content providers, preventing direct client access to content identification information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Ease of operation

If clients can identify and remove specific content portions, then clients can prevent viewing of protected content, but content providers cannot verify actual content consumption

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveclient ability to modify content streamVSAvoidcontent consumption verification data

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

Tracking codes serve as intermediaries that verify content consumption without revealing content identities. These codes are embedded in content portions and reported by clients, providing verification data to content providers while maintaining client ability to modify content streams, as the tracking codes remain functional regardless of other content modifications.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses tracking codes as informational copies that represent content consumption without being the content itself. These coded representations allow verification of consumption patterns while the actual content remains modifiable by clients, separating the verification function from the content function.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

3Difficulty of detecting and measuring

If manifests contain unencrypted identifiers of content portions, then clients can easily identify and block specific content, but content providers have no mechanism to prevent such blocking

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveclient ability to identify content portionsVSAvoidprotection of protected content portions

Core Design Contradiction:

Difficulty of detecting and measuringVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies parameter changes by encrypting content portion identifiers, transforming them from readable text to encrypted data. This encryption changes the state of the identifiers from identifiable to concealed, preventing clients from blocking content based on identification while maintaining the ability of the system to retrieve and verify content through the encrypted tracking codes.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentUS11902258B2Protecting content-stream portions from modification or removal

Publication Date: 2024.02.13 AMAZON TECH INC

AI summary

Systems and methods are described to enable delivery of streaming content while inhibiting or preventing removal, blocking, or skipping of portions within that streaming content. A content delivery system can generate a manifest indicating content portions that form the streaming content. Each content portion can be identified in the manifest using a concealed identifier, which conceals the actual identifier of the content portion from the client to inhibit or prevent the client from automatically removing or modifying the content portion. On receiving a request for a content portion, the content delivery system can convert the concealed identifier into the actual identifier, and return the appropriate content portion to the client. In some instances, the specific identifiers included within a concealed manifest may be modified or adapted based on monitoring information of the client device, to ensure clients view given portions of streaming content.