Set top box with sharing of external hard disk drive

Abstract

An audio/video content management apparatus, for use with an external hard drive, includes a control circuit that performs a trust token generation operation. The trust token generation operation includes obtaining first identification information and hard drive identification information, encrypting and combining the first identification information and the hard drive identification information as a trust token, and sending the trust token to the external hard drive. The control circuit also performs a trust token validation operation including obtaining the first identification information, the hard drive identification information, and the trust token from the external hard drive. The control circuit decrypts and separates the trust token into decrypted identification information and decrypted hard drive identification information, compares the decrypted identification information and the decrypted hard drive information with the first identification information and the hard drive identification information, respectively, obtained in the trust token validation operation.