Method and apparatus for authorizing rights issuers in a content distribution system

1 . A method of rights issuer authorization in a content distribution system, comprising:

receiving a message at client device from a first rights issuer;

obtaining a digital certificate for the first rights issuer;

processing the digital certificate to verify the first rights issuer as being rights issuer authorizing;

processing the message to identify at least one rights issuer identifier; and

configuring the client device to receive rights objects from at least one rights issuer corresponding to the at least one rights issuer identifier, respectively.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of processing the digital certificate comprises:

parsing the digital certificate to determine whether a predefined field therein has a predefined value.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the predefined field comprises an attribute in a subject name section of the digital certificate.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

authenticating the message using a public key of the digital certificate.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the message is a rights object acquisition protocol (ROAP) registration trigger message.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

requesting an item of content;

requesting a rights object from a rights issuer of the at least one rights issuer;

receiving the item of content and the rights object; and

viewing the item of content using the rights object.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least one rights issuer identifier comprises a hash of a public key for a respective one of the at least one rights issuer.

8 . A content distribution system, comprising:

a network;

a plurality of rights issuers coupled to the network, the plurality of rights issuers including an first rights issuer having a digital certificate with a predefined field indicating that the first rights issuer is rights issuer authorizing; and

a client device, coupled to the network, for receiving a message from the first rights issuer, processing the digital certificate to verify the first rights issuer as being rights issuer authorizing, and parsing the message to identify at least one rights issuer identifier, the client device being configured to receive rights objects from at least one of the plurality of rights issuers based on the at least one rights issuer identifier.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the client device is configured to parsing the digital certificate to determine whether the predefined field therein has a predefined value.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the predefined field comprises an attribute in a subject name section of the digital certificate.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the client device is configured to authenticate the message using a public key of the digital certificate.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the message is a rights object acquisition protocol (ROAP) registration trigger message.

13 . The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

a content issuer;

the client device being further configured to:

request an item of content from the content issuer;

request a rights object from a rights issuer of the plurality of rights issuers corresponding to a rights issuer identifier of the at least one rights issuer identifier;

receive the item of content and the rights object; and

view the item of content using the rights object.

14 . The system of claim 8 , wherein each of the at least one rights issuer identifier comprises a hash of a public key for a respective one of the at least one rights issuer.

15 . Apparatus for rights issuer authorization in a content distribution system, comprising:

means for receiving a message at client device from a first rights issuer;

means for obtaining a digital certificate for the first rights issuer;

means for processing the digital certificate to verify the first rights issuer as being rights issuer authorizing;

means for processing the message to identify at least one rights issuer identifier; and

means for configuring the client device to receive rights objects from at least one rights issuer corresponding to the at least one rights issuer identifier, respectively.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the means for processing the digital certificate comprises:

means for parsing the digital certificate to determine whether a predefined field therein has a predefined value.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the predefined field comprises an attribute in a subject name section of the digital certificate.

18 . The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:

means for authenticating the message using a public key of the digital certificate.

19 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the message is a rights object acquisition protocol (ROAP) registration trigger message.

20 . The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:

means for requesting an item of content;

means for requesting a rights object from a rights issuer of the at least one rights issuer;

means for receiving the item of content and the rights object; and

means for viewing the item of content using the rights object.