Patents Portfolio

U.S. Patent: 10,346,114

Patent Title

Digital content services over the internet that transmit or stream protected digital content to mobile devices, display devices, audio output devices, printing devices, televisions, or television controllers

Meta Information

Issued Date: July 9, 2019
Inventor: William Ho Chang et al
External Links: UPSTO, Google Patents

Technical Fields

Smart Phone / Tablet, Smart TV, Smart Watch, Streaming Device, Laptop, Projector

Abstract

Digital content services provided over the Internet for transmitting or streaming protected digital content to client or output devices are herein disclosed and enabled. The protected digital content is encrypted and device dependent or specific for rendering or playing at a limited number of devices, including smart phones, information pads, audio players, wireless controllers, televisions, printers, etc. To illustrate, a client may include an application for accessing digital content from a subscribed content service or store over the Internet. To access the digital content, a client application may send, to the content service or store, authentication information, subscription information, and/or a reference to selected digital content. The service then generates encrypted device dependent output data, related to the selected digital content and associated with a device previously registered with the service, for transmitting or streaming to the client or output devices (e.g., smart phones, television controllers, speakers, printers) for rendering.

Sample Claim

1. A method for one or more serves to provide digital content over a network, that includes the Internet, to a client of the one or more servers, the one or more servers providing, at least in part, a digital content service accessible by the client over the network, the client being a client device or a client application executable at the client device, the one or more servers being distinct and separate from the client device, and the digital content service includes one or more server applications executable at the one or more servers for managing at least part of the digital content service, the method comprising:
receiving, from the client and by the one or more servers, authentication information associated with a user operating the client;
receiving, from the client and by the one or more servers, subscription information associated with the user for accessing the digital content that is available at the one or more servers;
receiving, at the one or more servers, a device object from the client over the network that includes the Internet, the device object including device information related to one or more devices that are distinct and separate devices from the one or more servers;
providing access to the client, by the one or more servers, to at least part of a list of one or more content that is available at the one or more servers, the providing of access being subsequent to having successfully received the authentication information and the subscription information from the client;
receiving, at the one or more servers and from the client, a pointer or reference to selected digital content from the list of one or more content provided, by the one or more servers, to the client;
retrieving, by the one or more server applications, at least part of the selected digital content from the one or more servers employing, at least in part, the pointer or reference to the selected digital content received from the client;
generating output data, at the one or more servers using the one or more server applications, the output data corresponding to at least part of the selected digital content retrieved by the one or more server applications, and the generating of the output data includes applying, by the one or more server applications, an encryption operation on at least part of the selected digital content, and the generated output data is, at least in part, device dependent for rendering at the one or more devices; and
transmitting, by the one or more servers, at least part of the generated output data to the client for rendering at least part of the selected digital content at the one or more devices, the transmitting of at least part of the generated output data being subsequent to having received the authentication information, and the transmitting of the generated output data being based on having received the subscription information; and
wherein the generated output data is, at least in part, device dependent to the one or more devices for rendering or playing at least part of the selected digital content at the one or more devices, and the generated output data is based, at least in part, on the device information included in the device object and received by the one or more servers from the client over the network that includes the Internet.