Intertrust Technologies Corporation

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Sony Corporation

Nvidia Corporation

Sony Electronics Inc

Quicksilver Technology, Inc.

Silcon Graphics, Inc.

Ralph D Hill

John P Hwa

Talal G Shamoon

Chris D Radcliffe

David M Van Wie

W Olin Sibert

Eric David Bloch

Gordon Durand

Jeffrey Evan Beall

Eric J Swenson

Motomasa Futagami

Pierre Chavanne

Carl E Quinn

Lakshmana Pamarthy

Atsushi Mituszawa

A novel method and apparatus for protection of streamed media content is disclosed. In one aspect, the apparatus includes control means for governance of content streams or content objects, decryption means for decrypting content streams or content objects under control of the control means, and feedback means for tracking actual use of content streams or content objects. The control means may operate in accordance with rules received as part of the streamed content, or through a side-band channel. The rules may specify allowed uses of the content, including whether or not the content can be copied or transferred, and whether and under what circumstances received content may be 'checked out' of one device and used in a second device. The rules may also include or specify budgets, and a requirement that audit information be collected and/or transmitted to an external server. In a different aspect, the apparatus may include a media player designed to call plugins to assist in rendering content. A 'trust plugin' is disclosed, along with a method of using the trust plugin so that a media player designed for use with unprotected content may render protected content without the necessity of requiring any changes to the media player. In one aspect, the streamed content may be in a number of different formats, including MPEG-4, MP3, and the RMFF format.

Methods and apparatus for persistent control and protection of content

A novel method and apparatus for protection of streamed media content is disclosed. In one aspect, the apparatus includes control means for governance of content streams or content objects, decryption means for decrypting content streams or content objects under control of the control means, and feedback means for tracking actual use of content streams or content objects. The control means may operate in accordance with rules received as part of the streamed content, or through a side-band channel. The rules may specify allowed uses of the content, including whether or not the content can be copied or transferred, and whether and under what circumstances received content may be 'checked-out' of one device and used in a second device. The rules may also include or specify budgets, and a requirement that audit information be collected and/or transmitted to an external server. In a different aspect, the apparatus may include a media player designed to call plugins to assist in rendering content. A 'trust plugin' is disclosed, along with a method of using the trust plugin so that a media player designed for use with unprotected content may render protected content without the necessity of requiring any changes to the media player. In one aspect, the streamed content may be in a number of different formats, including MPEG-4, MP3, and the RMFF format.

A process for scheduling operations using a cost function is provided. A number of scheduling options are determined for an operation and a cost is computed for each scheduling option. The process then schedules the operation based on a computed cost.

Method for estimating cost when placing operations within a modulo scheduler when scheduling for processors with a large number of function units or reconfigurable data paths

A software architecture and control protocol that provides seamless playback of multiple clips of media data across a data network. Conventional server-based data network architecture where playback logic resides on the servers does not provide the capability of seamless playback of multiple clips stored in different servers. The present invention allows users to specify a playlist and provides control on the client with the implementation of a 'client pull' data transport model. According to the present invention, the playlist is translated into a plurality of frame accurate requests, which are sent from the client to the servers one request at a time. The servers, upon receiving the requests, retrieve the corresponding frames of media data and transmit the media data back to the client. In this way, the present invention allows a user-interface to provide seamless playback of multiple clips that reside on different servers on the client workstation.

Seamless playback of multiple clips of media data across a data network

Systems and methods for protection of streamed media content are disclosed. In one aspect, the system includes control means for governing content streams or objects, decryption means for decrypting content streams or objects, and feedback means for tracking use of content streams or objects. The control means may operate in accordance with rules received in the streamed content or through a side-band channel. The rules may specify allowed uses of the content, including whether the content can be copied or transferred, and whether content may be 'checked out' of one device and used in another. The rules may also include budgets, and a requirement that audit information be collected and/or transmitted to server. In another aspect, a media player is disclosed that uses plugins to assist in rendering content. A 'trust plugin' is used to enable a media player designed to render unprotected content to render protected content.

Protection of digital content using a specific application of block cipher cryptography is described. The digital content is encrypted using an encryption key and a calculated initialization vector. The digital content includes a plurality of strides of data and each stride includes a string of data to be encrypted and a block of data to be encrypted. The calculated initialization vector to be used to encrypt the block of data is derived from the string of data in the stride to be encrypted. Furthermore, the initialization vector is calculated by performing an exclusive disjunction function on a seed value and the string of data for each stride.

Protection of digital content using block cipher crytography

A software architecture and control protocol that provides applications with control over the transport that is frame-accurate, random-access, real-time and stream-based. Conventional server-based data network where media data resides on the server does not provide a frame accurate control of media data playback on a client workstation. The present invention provides control on the client with the implementation of a &ldquo;client pull&rdquo; data transport model. According to the present invention, requests for media data are sent from the client to the server one request at a time. The server, upon receiving the requests, retrieves the corresponding frames of media data and transmits the media data back to the client one frame at a time. In this way, the present invention allows a user-interface to provide frame accurate controls on the client workstation, while allowing for real-time playback of media data that resides on the server.

Frame-accurate transport of media data across a data network

The present invention is directed to a system and method for enabling a user to view a moving picture with synchronized audio using a workstation connected to a digital network. The user may change both speed and direction, as well as jump between arbitrary points in the movie being played. According to the present invention, digitized movie data may be accessed from different sources (e.g., network servers, local disks). These sources vary in speed and response time as a result of their capabilities (e.g., limited I/O bandwidth) and transient events (e.g., resource contention). The present invention adapts to these varying conditions in order to maintain a stable output.

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Los Gatos, CA, United States of America

Ralph D Hill