Portable Entitlement System for Secure Cross-Device Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital asset access systems require users to log in to playback devices, which can lead to unintended access by others if the user forgets to log out, and do not allow seamless access to digital assets like videos across different devices without authentication.
Innovation Solution
A portable entitlement system generates a playback envelope that allows a first user to access a digital asset on a second device without logging in, using a mobile device to initiate the request, with verification processes for location, play count, and lifetime restrictions, ensuring secure and controlled access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users are required to log in to playback devices to access digital assets, then security and access control are improved, but user convenience and ease of operation deteriorate due to frequent authentication requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary authentication when the portable device is near the playback device, generating an entitlement beforehand. This eliminates the need for repeated logins during playback sessions, as the entitlement is established in advance based on proximity detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary entitlement mechanism that acts as a temporary credential between the user's portable device and the playback device. This entitlement serves as a mediator that grants access without requiring continuous authentication, resolving the contradiction between security and convenience.
2Ease of operation
If users can access digital assets on multiple devices without logging in, then ease of operation is improved, but security and unauthorized access risks worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The entitlement is generated with local quality specific to each playback device and user combination. The system tailors the entitlement parameters (duration, device-specific identifiers) to the local context of the interaction, ensuring that access rights are appropriately scoped to each situation rather than providing universal access.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes entitlement parameters such as duration, device identifiers, and content identifiers based on the specific interaction context. These parameter changes ensure that each entitlement is unique and appropriately restricted, preventing unauthorized access while maintaining convenience for legitimate users.
3Measurement precision
If entitlements are permanently bound to specific user-device pairs, then access control precision is improved, but adaptability and versatility worsen when users need to switch devices
Solution Approach 1:
The entitlement system is dynamic rather than static. Entitlements can be generated for different playback devices as needed, with parameters that adapt to the specific device and user combination. This allows precise access control for each interaction while maintaining flexibility for device switching, as each new interaction can generate a new entitlement with appropriate parameters.
Data Source
AI summary
Some implementations include methods for generating a portable entitlement for a digital asset and may include generating a portable entitlement to a digital asset based on a request initiated by a first user having an entitlement to the digital asset, the portable entitlement to enable the first user to access the digital asset using a second computing device of a second user, the request initiated using a first computing device of the first user, the portable entitlement having a limited lifetime; and terminating the second computing device from accessing the digital asset based on one or more of determining that a proximity between the first and second computing devices violate the distance threshold and the lifetime of the portable entitlement has expired.