Management of data in a receiver/decoder

1. A method of restricting access to data broadcast in a digital broadcast system, said method comprising:

assigning a plurality of sets of access rights to the data, each set of access rights being assigned to at least one party;

storing the sets of access rights and identifiers for the parties within the data;

transmitting the data to at least one receiver/decoder; and

at the receiver/decoder having a memory, downloading and storing the transmitted data in the memory of the receiver/decoder;

comparing the identifier of a party requesting access to the data with the identifiers stored in the memory; and

providing the party with the set of access rights assigned thereto in the memory of the receiver/decoder.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data is transmitted in a digital datastream.

3. The method according to claim 1 , in which a further set of access rights is assigned to at least one party whose identifier is not stored in the memory of the receiver/decoder, such a party requesting access to the data being provided with the further set of access rights.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a particular set of access rights is assigned to one party only, preferably the author of the data.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a particular set of access rights is assigned to a group of parties, identifiers for each of the members of the group being stored in the memory of the receiver/decoder.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a set of access rights is used to determine whether a party is prohibited from reading the data.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a set of access rights is used to determine whether a party is prohibited from overwriting the data.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data is stored as files and directories in the memory of the receiver/decoder.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data is stored in a Flash memory volume of the receiver/decoder.

10. An apparatus for restricting access to data stored in a memory of a receiver/decoder, the data having a plurality of sets of access rights being assigned thereto, each set of access rights being assigned to at least one party, and an identifier for each party being stored in the receiver/decoder, the apparatus comprising:

means for comparing the identifier of a party requesting access to the data with the identifiers stored in the memory; and

means for providing the party with the set of access rights assigned thereto in the memory of the receiver/decoder.

11. The receiver/decoder comprising a memory for storing data, a plurality of sets of access rights assigned to the data and an identifier for each party, and apparatus for restricting access to the data as claimed in claim 10 .

12. A transmission system, comprising:

means for assigning a plurality of sets of access rights to the data, each of the access rights being assigned to at least one party;

means for storing the access rights and identifiers for the parties within the data; and

means for transmitting a bitstream including said data.