Patents Portfolio

U.S. Patent: 11,204,729

Patent Title

Internet based digital content services for pervasively providing protected digital content to smart devices based on having subscribed to the digital content service

Meta Information

Issued Date: December 21, 2021
Inventor: William Ho Chang et al
External Links: UPSTO, Google Patents

Technical Fields

Printer, Streaming Device, Laptop

Abstract

Internet based digital content services, and mobile devices accessing the Internet based digital content services, are herein disclosed and enabled. The digital content services provide encrypted digital content to the mobile devices for ensuring security of the digital content. The encrypted digital content is device dependent to render at a specific device. In an example, a user of the mobile device may access the digital content at a digital content service by providing appropriate authentication or subscription information to the digital content service. Based on successful authentication, the user may select digital content from one or more digital content provided by the service. The service then generates encrypted output data that is based on the selected digital content and transmits the output data to the mobile device. The generated output data is device dependent and is rendered at specific devices, including the mobile device and output devices.

Sample Claim

1. A method for providing protected digital content to an information apparatus from one or more servers over a network, that includes the Internet, the one or more servers providing, at least in part, a digital content service accessible by the information apparatus over the network, the one or more servers being distinct and separate from the information apparatus, the method comprising:
(a) executing a wireless discovery operation by the information apparatus and using wireless communication circuitry included in the information apparatus that are compatible, at least in part, with at least a protocol within IEEE 802.11 wireless standards for wireless communication, the executing of the wireless discovery operation is for a wireless electronic device to wirelessly discover, over the wireless communication, the information apparatus, the wireless electronic device being a separate device from the information apparatus and from the one or more servers,
(b) wirelessly sending, by the information apparatus, using the wireless communication circuitry included in the information apparatus that are compatible, at least in part, with at least a protocol within IEEE 802.11 wireless standards for the wireless communication, and over the wireless communication, first information from the information apparatus to the wireless electronic device that has wirelessly discovered the information apparatus in (a), and
(c) wirelessly receiving, from the wireless electronic device, by the information apparatus, using the wireless communication circuitry included in the information apparatus that are compatible, at least in part, with at least a protocol within IEEE 802.11 wireless standards for the wireless communication, and over the wireless communication, second information, the wireless receiving of the second information is based on the information apparatus having sent the first information to the wireless electronic device in (b),
wherein subsequent to steps (a) to (c), the method further comprises:
(1) establishing, using one or more wireless communication chips or chipsets included in the information apparatus, a wireless communication link to a network, the wireless communication chips or chipsets included in the information apparatus being compatible, at least in part, with at least a protocol within IEEE 802.11 standards for establishing the wireless communication link, the network includes a wireless local area network;
(2) wirelessly accessing, by the information apparatus and using the wireless communication link established in (1), the one or more servers over the network that includes the Internet, the one or more servers are for providing, at least in part, the digital content service to the information apparatus;
(3) wirelessly transmitting, by the information apparatus, using the wireless communication link established in (1) and from the information apparatus, one or more job objects to the one or more servers wirelessly accessed in (2), the one or more job objects including at least authentication information, security information, or subscription information, individually or in any combination, related, at least in part, to a user operating the information apparatus, the wirelessly transmitting of the one or more job objects to the one or more servers is for the information apparatus to access digital content that is available at the digital content service provided, at least in part, by the one or more servers wirelessly accessed in (2);
(4) wirelessly transmitting, by the information apparatus and over the wireless communication link established in (1), an object from the information apparatus to the one or more servers accessed in (2), the object including, at least in part, information or attributes related to one or more devices that are acceptable for receiving and rendering digital content provided by the digital content service, the one or more devices are distinct and separate devices from the one or more servers, and
wherein the one or more servers wirelessly receive, from the information apparatus and over the network that includes the Internet, the object transmitted by the information apparatus in (4), the object includes, at least in part, the information or attributes related to the one or more devices that are acceptable for receiving and rendering digital content provided by the digital content service;

(5) wirelessly receiving from the one or more servers, by a client application executing at the information apparatus and over the wireless communication link established in (1), at least part of a list of one or more digital content that is available at the one or more servers wirelessly accessed in (2), the wireless receiving of the list of one or more digital content is for selecting, at the information apparatus, digital content from the list of one or more digital content that is available at the one or more servers, and the wireless receiving of at least part of the list of one or more digital content being subsequent to the information apparatus having successfully transmitted the one or more job objects that includes the authentication information, security information, or subscription information, individually or in any combination, to the one or more servers in (3);
(6) obtaining, by the client application executing at the information apparatus, at least part of a digital content object that includes at least a pointer or a reference to selected digital content from the list of one or more digital content wirelessly received in (5);
(7) wirelessly transmitting, over the wireless communication link established in (1) and by the client application executing at the information apparatus, to the one or more servers at least part of the digital content object that includes at least the pointer or the reference to the selected digital content from the list of one or more digital content wirelessly received by the information apparatus in (5);
(8) wirelessly receiving, at the one or more servers and from the information apparatus over the network that includes the Internet, at least part of the digital content object that is wirelessly transmitted by the information apparatus in (7), the digital content object includes at least the pointer or the reference to the selected digital content from the list of one or more digital content wirelessly received by the information apparatus in (5);
(9) retrieving, by one or more server applications executing at the one or more servers, at least part of the selected digital content from the one or more servers employing, at least in part, the pointer or the reference to the selected digital content wirelessly received by the one or more servers from the information apparatus in (8);
(10) generating output data at the one or more servers and using the one or more server applications executable at the one or more servers, the output data corresponding to at least part of the selected digital content, the generating of the output data includes using, at least in part, the object that is wirelessly transmitted by the information apparatus and received by the one or more servers in (4), and the generating of the output data includes:
applying, by the one or more server applications, an encoding operation on at least part of the selected digital content, and
applying, by the one or more server applications, an encryption operation on at least part of the selected digital content, and
wherein, subsequent to applying the encoding operation and the encryption operation on at least part of the selected digital content, the generated output data is, at least in part, device dependent for rendering at the one or more devices, and
wherein the output data is related, at least in part, to the information or attributes included in the object wirelessly transmitted from the information apparatus to the one or more servers in (4), the output data is, at least in part, device dependent output data for rendering at the one or more devices; and
(11) wirelessly delivering, by the one or more servers over Internet and via the wireless communication link established in (1), at least part of the output data generated in (10) to the information apparatus for rendering at least part of the selected digital content at the one or more devices, the wireless transmitting of the least part of the output data generated in (10) being subsequent to the one or more servers having received the one or more job objects that are wirelessly transmitted from the information apparatus to the one or more servers in (3).