Concurrent Session Limiting via Account Manager Mediator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing multi-screen video architectures lack effective mechanisms to limit and manage concurrent viewing sessions across user devices, potentially exceeding the maximum allowed by subscription packages, leading to unauthorized access and quality control issues.
Innovation Solution
A system that includes a video content management system (VCMS) and digital rights management (DRM) server to enforce entitlement rights, issue licenses, and manage concurrent sessions by using device registration tokens, entitlement databases, and tracking counters to ensure compliance with subscription limits and quality settings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multi-screen video architecture provides cross-platform access to a single content source, then user accessibility and convenience are improved, but the system cannot effectively limit and manage concurrent viewing sessions, leading to potential exceeding of subscription limits
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an account manager as an intermediary component between the content delivery system and user devices. This account manager maintains entitlement databases and tracking counters that mediate session management, allowing cross-platform access while enforcing subscription limits through centralized coordination of concurrent session tracking across multiple devices
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the account manager continuously monitors concurrent viewing sessions through tracking counters and compares them against maximum allowed sessions stored in entitlement databases. When limits are approached or exceeded, the system provides feedback to block additional session initiation, thereby enforcing subscription limits while maintaining cross-platform accessibility
2Ease of operation
If the system allows concurrent viewing sessions on multiple user devices, then user convenience and content accessibility are improved, but unauthorized access and quality control issues arise
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by requiring device registration and storing device identifiers in the entitlement database before content delivery. Tracking counters are pre-configured with maximum allowed session values, and entitlement rights are established in advance, enabling the system to automatically enforce quality control and prevent unauthorized access while maintaining convenient concurrent viewing
Solution Approach 2:
The account manager serves as an intermediary that verifies device entitlements and monitors session concurrency in real-time. It coordinates between content delivery and user devices, ensuring that only authorized devices with valid entitlement rights can access content, while maintaining convenient concurrent viewing within licensed parameters
Data Source
AI summary
System devices include network interfaces to communicate with user devices associated with a user, memories for storing instructions to be executed by processors, and the processors. The processors are configured to execute the instructions to receive, from a first user device, among the user devices, a request for content; initiate an upload of the requested content to the first user device in response to the request; receive a request for a license key from the first user device in response to the initiation of the upload; determine whether a number of concurrent sessions with the user devices exceeds a maximum number; and send the license key to the first user device when the processors determine that the number of concurrent sessions does not exceed the maximum number.