Granular Digital Content Access via Portion-Level Policy Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies lack the ability to selectively enable access to multiple portions of digital content items based on specific policies, limiting granular control over access permissions and usage restrictions.
Innovation Solution
An access management system that includes an interface module to present and select multiple portions of digital content, associating access specifications with each portion, and a policy module to enforce access based on defined policies, using a document policy server to manage and monitor access, and a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) database to determine user permissions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional DRM technologies are used to protect digital content, then access control is provided, but granular control over specific portions of content is not available
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments digital content into multiple distinct portions (e.g., chapters in an e-book, scenes in a video, sections in a document) and applies separate access control policies to each segment. This allows different permission levels for different portions of the same content item, enabling granular control where users can have access to some portions but not others based on their licensing agreements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements local quality by assigning different access permissions to different portions of digital content. Each portion can have its own access control list (ACL) with unique permission settings, allowing the content owner to specify exactly which users or devices can access which portions, rather than applying a uniform permission structure to the entire content item.
2Ease of operation
If access control policies are applied to entire digital content items, then protection is provided, but selective access to specific portions is prevented
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adds a dimensional layer to access control by introducing portion-level permissions within the existing user-content relationship. Instead of a flat permission structure where a user either has access to entire content or not, the system creates a hierarchical dimension where permissions are applied at multiple levels (content item level and portion level), enabling more nuanced access control.
Solution Approach 2:
The access control structure implements a nested hierarchy where access control lists (ACLs) are nested within portions, which are nested within digital content items. This nested structure allows the system to maintain overall content protection while enabling selective access to specific portions, with each nesting level having its own permission requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method provide selective access to portions of digital content. A request to access a digital content item is received, the digital content item including multiple portions. Responsive to the request, multiple policies relating respectively to the multiple portions of the digital content item are identified. Access to the multiple portions of the digital content item is selectively enabled, based on the multiple policies.