Ethernet decoder device and method to access protected content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9742736-B2
Application number	US-201214112450-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 19, 2012
Priority date	Apr 19, 2011
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

The present invention aims to address the issue of deploying costly hardware by proposing a content protection layer with an easy distribution capability to clients. The aim is achieved by an network device for descrambling an access controlled audio/video content stream, said network device being configured to be connected to a network router comprises a memory to store a unique address UA specific to the network device, an network input/output interface, a descrambler to descramble the audio/video content stream, and a watermark engine configured to watermark the descrambled audio/video content stream by applying the unique address. A further object of the invention is a method to access scrambled audio/video content stream in a local or roaming mode by a multimedia reception device connected via an IP network to a network router having an IP port connected to the network device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A network device for descrambling an access controlled audio/video content stream, said network device being configured to be connected to a network router said network device comprising:
a memory to store a unique address specific to the network device;
a network input/output interface;
a descrambler to descramble the audio/video content stream; and
a watermark engine configured to watermark all or part of the descrambled audio/video content stream according to the unique address to embed the unique address identifying the network device, so as to obtain a personalized descrambled audio/video content stream designed to be sent to a multimedia reception device;

wherein the network device is configured to process a plurality of content streams in parallel by obtaining two or more content streams intended to the watermark engine and descrambling the obtained two or more content streams using respective content descrambling keys stored on the device before receipt of the streams: and
wherein the audio/video content stream is descrambled by using a descrambling key securely received by said network device from a conditional access system server where the network device is recorded with a user identification and the unique address.

2. The network device according to claim 1 , wherein the network device is configured as a removable hardware dongle adapted to be connected to an Ethernet port of the network router which is an element of a user network.

3. The network device according to claim 1 , wherein the connection with the network router complies with a Power over Ethernet standard or the IEEE 802.3af standard.

4. The network device according to claim 1 , wherein the connection with the network router is made through a Universal Serial Bus interface.

5. The network device according to claim 1 , wherein the network device is configured for an adaptive streaming feature in which the bandwidth of the content stream is adapted by changing resolution, quality or compression factor.

6. The network device according to claim 1 , further comprising an internal or external memory to store content and functionalities of a Personal Video Recorder.

7. A method to access scrambled audio/video content stream via an Internet Protocol (IP) network by using a multimedia reception device connected to a network router associated to a network device, said network device being identified by a unique address stored in a memory of said network device, said network device comprising a network input/output interface, a descrambler to descramble the audio/video content stream, and a watermark engine configured to watermark the descrambled audio/video content stream according to the unique address, the method comprising:
selecting a scrambled audio/video content stream from a list of scrambled audio/video content displayed by the multimedia reception device, said audio/video content stream being made available on the IP network by at least one content provider server;
notifying by the multimedia reception device the network device of the selected audio/video content stream;
connecting the network device to the content provider server to obtain the selected scrambled audio/video content stream;
securely connecting the network device to a conditional access system server and sending the unique address to said server;
obtaining an access right to the selected scrambled audio/video content stream;
descrambling by the network device, the scrambled audio/video content stream using the obtained access right;
watermarking all or a part of the descrambled audio/video content stream in order to embed the unique address identifying the network device, so as to obtain a personalized descrambled audio/video content stream; and
sending said personalized descrambled audio/video content stream to the multimedia reception device,
wherein the network device is configured to process a plurality of content streams in parallel by obtaining two or more content streams intended to the watermark engine and descrambling the obtained two or more content streams using respective content descrambling keys stored on the device before receipt of the streams; and
wherein the audio/video content stream is descrambled by using a descrambling key securely received by the network device from the conditional access system server where the network device is recorded with a user identification and the unique address.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the multimedia reception device includes a remote multimedia reception device connected to the network router and the network device in a roaming mode via Internet, said network router having an IP address linked to a Dynamic Domain Name System service is configured for port forwarding which points to the network device when connection requests to the content provider server are carried out by the remote multimedia reception device which finds the network device by using the Domain Name Service protocol.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the network device and the remote multimedia reception device create an encrypted Virtual Private Network tunnel to transfer the personalized descrambled audio/video content stream.

10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the remote multimedia reception device is selected from the group consisting of a smart phone, a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC or any user unit able to connect to the Internet.

11. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the audio/video content stream is transmitted via the network to the multimedia reception device or to the remote multimedia reception device by using a Real Time Streaming Protocol or a Secure Real Time Streaming Protocol.

12. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the connection of the network device to the conditional access system server is made secure by creating an encrypted Virtual Private Network tunnel, the network device and the conditional access system server being authenticated mutually allowing sending by said conditional access system server a unique key for descrambling, by the network device, the scrambled audio/video content stream.

Assignees

• Conus Joel
• Nicolas Christophe
• Nagravision Sa

Inventors

• Conus Joel
• Nicolas Christophe

Classifications

• H04L63/0428 Primary

  wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload · CPC title

• H04N21/222 Primary

  Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end {(provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56)} · CPC title

• H04N21/2347

  involving video stream encryption · CPC title

• H04N21/64784

  Data processing by the network (data processing in packet switching systems H04L12/56; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; intermediate storage or scheduling H04L49/90; provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56) · CPC title

• H04N21/6125

  involving transmission via Internet (transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82) · CPC title