Lan Thu Tran

20030044006, Mar 6, 2003

Sep 6, 2001

09/947641

Christopher Riddick - Herndon VA, US
Lan Tran - Reston VA, US

CLWT, LLC

H04L009/00

380/044000

In a media protection system and method, an original media item is encrypted before it is distributed. At the point of sale (POS) or point of distribution, the consumer presents his personal smart token to the clerk who inserts it into a POS reader along with a companion digital identifier (CDI™). The POS reader extracts a digital key from the CDI™ and merges it with the player list in the consumer's smart token. The POS reader then destroys the CDI™ and returns the smart token to the consumer. The digital key for the media item is now stored on the consumer's personal smart token, merged with the player identifiers for the players possessed by the user. When the user returns home, he inserts the media item into his player along with his smart token, and the digital key is extracted and used to decrypt the encryption key for the material that is stored on the media item itself. Then, the player decrypts the media item as it is played. The consumer may remove the smart token, and the encryption key is stored in the player. If the consumer wants to play the media item in a player other than the one on his list at the time he bought the media item, he inserts his smart token in the new player and its public key is transferred to his smart token. He then inserts the smart token into one of his currently authorized players and activates a “new player” function, which generates a new set of records on the smart token encrypted with the pubic key of the new player and accessible only to the new player.

20030046568, Mar 6, 2003

Jan 9, 2002

10/041981

Christopher Riddick - Herndon VA, US
Lan Tran - Reston VA, US

G06F012/14

713/193000, 705/065000

In a media protection system and method, an original media item is encrypted before it is distributed. A digital encryption key for the media item is stored on the consumer's personal smart token. To play the media item, the user inserts the media item into his player along with his smart token, and the digital encryption key is extracted by a hardware decryption module (HDM) in the player (or host device), and is used to determine that the decryption key is linked to the HDM. Once that determination is made, the HDM decrypts the media item as it is played. The HDM provides a USB or other standard interface between a plug connected to the player (or host device) and a socket which receives the smart token. The HDM comprises a decryption processor, a control processor, an internal memory, an external interface, and a memory element, such as a read-only memory (ROM). The HDM is implemented as a self-contained, tamperproof subsystem of the media protection system with which it is associated.