Method of managing the display of event specifications with conditional access
The object of the invention is a method of managing the display of event specifications with conditional access, particularly to display an electronic program guide for Pay-TV. This aim is reached by a method including the following steps: sending data forming an electronic program guide (EPG) to a decoder (STB), this electronic guide serving to display the events which will be broadcasted, these data including, for each event, at least one identifier, textual data and a condition block comprising the conditions required for the access to this event, sending at least one authorization message (EMM) to a security module (SC) associated with the decoder, this message defining access rights to an event; sending the condition block (PECM) to said security module (SC), processing, in the security module, the access condition contained in said condition block (PECM), and return by the security module of a message indicating, according to the access condition for each event and to the access rights contained in the security module, if the right exists or not for each event in the security module. This method allows the management of requests in structured language and makes it possible to manage complex access conditions.
1. A method of managing a display of events with conditional access, the method comprising:
sending data forming an electronic program guide (EPG) to a decoder, the EPG displaying a list of events being broadcast, the data for the list of events including, for each event of the list of events, at least one identifier, textual data and a condition block, the condition block including conditions required for accessing the event,
sending at least one authorization message to a security module associated with the decoder, the at least one authorization message defining access rights to the event, wherein
the access conditions contained in the condition block are expressed in a form of an operation described by a request in a structured language, the operation based on at least two parameters, a first parameter of the at least two parameters being directly linked to the event or to a channel on which the event is broadcast and a second parameter of the at least two parameters being independent of the event or of a channel on which the event is broadcast; and
a structured language motor seeks, in the security module, the operation contained in the condition block, and the structured language motor executes the operation, wherein said execution uses at least said first parameter that is directly linked to the event or to the channel on which the event is broadcast and said second parameter independent of the event of the event or of the channel on which the event is broadcast, the execution of said operation resulting in a grant or a denial of an access right, depending on both first and second parameters;
returning to the decoder a result of the execution; and
displaying the list of events in the EPG based on the execution result of the operation and identifying a displayed event from another displayed event in the list of events based on the access rights.
2. The management method according to claim 1 , wherein the request is written in SQL language (Structured Query Language).
3. The management method according to claim 1 , wherein the one event to be broadcast is encrypted by at least one control word, the at least one control word is transmitted to the decoder in the form of an encrypted control message and the encrypted control message including the access conditions, wherein at least a portion of the encrypted control message is transmitted in the conditional block.
4. The management method according to claim 3 , wherein the condition block only includes the data relating to the access conditions contained in the control message.
5. The management method according to claim 4 , wherein the data related to the access conditions is sent in an encrypted form in the condition block.
6. The management method according to claim 4 , wherein the data related to the access conditions is sent in an unencrypted form in the condition block.
7. The management method according to claim 1 , wherein the second parameter of the at least two parameters includes at least one of a viewing history of the subscriber, at least one occasion specific to the subscriber and a subscription of at least one channel not directly linked to the event being broadcast.