Sandboxed Application Content Protection via API

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current digital rights management (DRM) schemes are intrusive and lack effective security and privacy, particularly for sandboxed applications that cannot access secure media paths or verify the trustworthiness of environments outside their sandbox.

Innovation Solution

A method and system where a sandboxed application issues a request for content protection through an application programming interface (API) to an unsandboxed application, using certificates and public keys to verify and enable High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) or secure media paths, allowing protected audio and video content to be output.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If DRM schemes run with full access to a user's system, then content protection capability is improved, but security and privacy are worsened

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontent protection capabilityVSAvoidsecurity and privacy

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system divides the application into sandboxed and unsandboxed portions, allowing DRM code to run in a restricted environment while still accessing content protection capabilities through controlled interfaces, thus maintaining security while enabling content protection

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

An intermediary service or interface is introduced between the sandboxed DRM code and the system resources, allowing the DRM code to request and verify content protection status without having direct full-system access, thereby balancing protection capability with security

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Object-affected harmful factors

If sandboxed applications are restricted from accessing secure media paths, then security is improved, but content protection capability is worsened

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovesecurityVSAvoidcontent protection capability

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements a feedback mechanism where the sandboxed application requests content protection status, receives verification information from the secure media path, and uses this feedback to determine whether to output protected content, enabling capability within security constraints

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The verification mechanism is designed to be universal, allowing sandboxed applications to access content protection capabilities through standardized interfaces while maintaining security boundaries, making the solution applicable across different sandboxed applications

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Object-affected harmful factors

If sandboxed applications cannot verify the trustworthiness of environments outside their sandbox, then security is improved, but reliability of content protection is worsened

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovesecurityVSAvoidreliability of content protection

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system replaces direct environmental verification with a cryptographic verification mechanism using certificates and digital signatures, allowing the sandboxed application to trustlessly verify the authenticity of content protection status without directly inspecting the external environment

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentUS9152798B1Securely enabling content protection across a sandboxed application boundary

Publication Date: 2015.10.06 GOOGLE LLC

AI summary

A sandboxed application issues a request to enable content protection for audio and video content. The request is sent via an application programming interface to an unsandboxed application. The request is received from the unsandboxed application by an output device. After receiving the request, content protection is enabled and the output device employs a certificate to create a signed message indicating the content protection is enabled. The sandboxed application verifies the request has been fulfilled based on the signed message, and provides protected audio and video content.