Digital rights management system with confirmation notification to document publisher during document protection and distribution

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10079833-B2
Application number	US-201514673675-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2015
Priority date	Mar 30, 2015
Publication date	Sep 18, 2018
Grant date	Sep 18, 2018

Abstract

A digital rights management (DRM) method for protecting digital documents, implemented in a DRM system. When an operator (document publisher) scans a document on a scanner to generates a digital document and specifies a list of users who will be granted access rights to the document, the DRM system applies digital rights protection to the document according to the specified access rights, and distributes the document to the specified users; the system also sends a confirmation notification such as an email to the document publisher, which contains a list of the receiving users, a copy of the protected digital document, and a link to a web-based tool that will allow the publisher to modify the access rights granted to the users. In addition, when applying digital rights protection, the DRM system specifies the publisher as a user who will have access rights to the document.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method implemented in a digital rights management (DRM) system, comprising:
(a) receiving a digital document to be protected, user access rights information which specifies a list of selected users and access rights to be granted to the users with respect to the digital document, and a user ID of a publisher of the digital document;
(b) applying DRM protection to the digital document, including:
(b1) generating a unique document ID for the digital document;
(b2) embedding the document ID as metadata in the digital document;
(b3) generating an encryption key and encrypting the digital document; and
(b4) storing, in a DRM database, the user access rights information and the encryption key in association with the document ID, and storing the user ID of the publisher in association with the document ID as a user to be granted access rights to the digital document;
(c) providing a web-based policy modification tool which is configured to allow the publisher to modify the user access rights information associated with the digital document which has been stored in the DRM database in step (b4), including to grand access rights to additional users and to revoke access rights that were previously granted to some users;
(d) generating a link to the policy modification tool, the link containing the document ID of the digital document, the link allows the publisher to modify the user access right information associated with the digital document;
(e) distributing the digital document to the users in the list of selected users; and
(f) sending a confirmation notification to the publisher, the confirmation notification including: the list of selected users to be granted access to the digital document, a copy of the digital document or a download link for downloading a copy of the digital document, and the link to the web-based policy modification tool.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein in step (a), the DRM system receives the user ID of the publisher, the digital document and the user access rights information from a scanning device connected to the server.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein in step (a), the DRM system receives the user ID of the publisher, the digital document and the user access rights information from a client computer connected to the server.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DRM system includes a scanning device and a DRM server, and wherein step (a) is performed by the scanning device and includes scanning a hard copy document.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the confirmation notification is an email.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user access rights information includes a selected policy ID of a rights management policy, wherein the DRM database includes a policy table storing a plurality of rights management policies each specifying a list of users and access rights to be granted to the users under the policy, and wherein step (b4) includes storing, in a document-policy association table, an entry that associates the document ID of the digital document with the selected policy ID and, user ID of the publisher and the encryption key.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (b4) includes storing, in a document-policy association table of the DRM database, an entry that associates the document ID of the digital document with the list of selected users and access rights to be granted to the users contained in the user access rights information and the user ID of the publisher.

8. A computer program product comprising one or more computer usable non-transitory media having computer readable program code embedded therein for controlling a digital rights management (DRM) system, the computer readable program code configured to cause the DRM system to execute a DRM process, the process comprising:
(a) receiving a digital document to be protected, user access rights information which specifies a list of selected users and access rights to be granted to the users with respect to the digital document, and a user ID of a publisher of the digital document;
(b) applying DRM protection to the digital document, including:
(b1) generating a unique document ID for the digital document;
(b2) embedding the document ID as metadata in the digital document;
(b3) generating an encryption key and encrypting the digital document; and
(b4) storing, in a DRM database, the user access rights information and the encryption key in association with the document ID, and storing the user ID of the publisher in association with the document ID as a user to be granted access rights to the digital document;
(c) providing a web-based policy modification tool which is configured to allow the publisher to modify the user access rights information associated with the digital document which has been stored in the DRM database in step (b4), including to grand access rights to additional users and to revoke access rights that were previously granted to some users;
(d) generating a link to the policy modification tool, the link containing the document ID of the digital document, the link allows the publisher to modify the user access right information associated with the digital document;
(e) distributing the digital document to the users in the list of selected users; and
(f) sending a confirmation notification to the publisher, the confirmation notification including: the list of selected users to be granted access to the digital document, a copy of the digital document or a download link for downloading a copy of the digital document, and the link to the web-based policy modification tool.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein in step (a), the DRM system receives the user ID of the publisher, the digital document and the user access rights information from a scanning device connected to the server.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein in step (a), the DRM system receive the user ID of the publisher, the digital document and the user access rights information from a client computer connected to the server.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the DRM system includes a scanning device and a DRM server, and wherein step (a) is performed by the scanning device and includes scanning a hard copy document.

12. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the confirmation notification is an email.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the user access rights information includes a selected policy ID of a rights management policy, wherein the DRM database includes a policy table storing a plurality of rights management policies each specifying a list of users and access rights to be granted to the users under the policy, and wherein step (b4) includes storing, in a document-policy association table, an entry that associates the document ID of the digital document with the selected policy ID and, user ID of the publisher and the encryption key.

14. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein step (b4) includes storing, in a document-policy association table of the DRM database, an entry that associates the document ID of the digital document with the list of selected users and access rights to be granted to the users contained in the user access rights information and the user ID of the publisher.

Assignees

• Konica Minolta Laboratory Usa Inc

Inventors

• Pathak Rabindra
• Shiraishi Kyohei

Classifications

• H04L63/101 Primary

  Access control lists [ACL] · CPC title

• G06F21/6209

  to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself · CPC title

• G06F17/30011

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F2221/0768

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F21/10

  Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material (protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16) {; Digital rights management [DRM]} · CPC title