Validating client-receivers

1. In a subscriber television system having a headend, a server, which is remote from the headend, and a plurality of client-receivers for receiving programming from the headend and the server,

a validation-message generated by a given client-receiver of the plurality of client-receivers and embodied in a computer readable medium for validating the given client-receiver with the server, the validation-message comprising:

a client-identifier associated with the given client-receiver; and

an authentication-token, wherein the authentication-token is produced by providing an input to a one-way function, wherein the input to the one-way function includes at least a portion of a validator and at least a portion of the client-identifier, wherein the validator is transmitted from the headend to both the server and the given client-receiver, and wherein responsive to the server receiving the validation-message, the server determines whether the given client-receiver is a valid client-receiver of the subscriber television system using at least a portion of the authentication-token and at least a portion of the validator.

2. A method of validating a client-receiver in a digital networks, the digital network having a headend, a plurality of client-receivers for receiving programming from the headend and the server, and a server in communication with the headend and with the plurality of client-receivers, the server and the plurality of client-receivers located at a client location remote from the headend, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving by the server a validation-message from a particular client-receiver of the plurality of client-receivers, the validation-message including a message content and a first authentication-token generated by the particular client-receiver, wherein the message content includes at least a client-identifier and the first authentication-token is the output of a one-way function having at least a portion of a validator and at least a portion of the client-identifier of the message content of the validation-message as inputs, wherein the validator is known to the particular client-receiver and other client-receivers of the plurality of client-receivers;

generating by the server a local authentication-token using the message content, wherein the local authentication-token is the output of a one-way function having at least a portion of the validator as an input; and

determining by the server whether the particular client-receiver is a valid client-receiver of the digital network using at least the first and local authentication-tokens by comparing the first authentication token and the local authentication-token to determine if they are the same.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the digital network is a subscriber television system, the validator is a shared-secret, and the shared-secret is implemented by the server to decrypt services of the subscriber television system.

4. The method of claim 2 , further including the steps of:

prior to said receiving, generating and determining steps, receiving by the server the validator in a secure-message from a headend, wherein the validator is encrypted using a public-key of a private-key/public-key pair belonging to the server;

decrypting the encrypted validator using the private-key of the private-key/public-key pair belonging to the server; and

storing the decrypted validator in a memory of a secure-element, wherein the secure-element includes a processor and the memory is accessible to only the processor, and wherein the private-key of the private-key/public-key pair belonging to the server is stored in the memory.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the secure-message is further comprised of a digest that has been processed by digitally signing the digest at the headend which converts a value of the digest from an original value to a different value, the method further including the steps of:

generating a local message-authenticator, wherein the local message-authenticator is an output of a one-way function having at least a portion of the decrypted validator as an input;

changing the different value of the digest included in the secure-message to its original value with a public-key of a private-key/public-key belonging to the headend to generate a reprocessed digest; and

comparing the local message-authenticator and the reprocessed digest to see if they are the same, wherein the steps of generating the authentication-token and determining whether the particular client-receiver is a valid client-receiver of the subscriber television system are done only if the local message-authenticator and the reprocessed digest are the same.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the message content of the validation message further comprises a second authentication-token, the method

further including the step of:

comparing the second local authentication-token and the second authentication-token, wherein the step of determining whether the particular client-receiver is a valid client-receiver of the subscriber television system is done only if the local authentication-token and the second authentication-token are the same.

7. The method of claim 2 , further including the step of:

responsive to determining the particular client-receiver is valid, providing the particular client-receiver with an instance of service.