System and method for digital rights management with license proxy
A digital rights management system and method. The inventive system includes a client for publishing and/or viewing protected content; a DRM server for providing licenses for viewing the protected content; and an inventive license proxy server coupled between the client and the server. The license proxy server includes a digital rights management lockbox and plural digital rights management client certificates. The license proxy server is disposed on an operationally independent platform relative to the client or the DRM server and thereby extends a DRM vendor's rights management capabilities to other platforms.
1 . A digital rights management system comprising:
client means for publishing and/or viewing protected content;
server means for providing licenses for viewing said protected content; and
a license proxy server coupled between said client means and said server means.
2 . The invention of claim 1 wherein said license proxy server includes a lockbox.
3 . The invention of claim 2 wherein said lockbox is a digital rights management lockbox.
4 . The invention of claim 1 wherein said license proxy server includes a client certificate.
5 . The invention of claim 4 wherein said certificate is a digital rights management client certificate.
6 . The invention of claim 5 wherein said license proxy server includes plural digital rights management client certificates.
7 . The invention of claim 1 wherein said server is a digital rights management server.
8 . The invention of claim 1 wherein said license proxy server is disposed on a separate physical platform relative to said client means or said server means.
9 . The invention of claim 8 wherein said license proxy server is disposed on a separate physical platform relative to said client means and said server means.
10 . The invention of claim 1 wherein said license proxy server is disposed on an operationally independent platform relative to said client means or said server means.
11 . The invention of claim 10 wherein said license proxy server is disposed on an operationally independent platform relative to said client means and said server means.
12 . A digital rights management system comprising:
a platform independent client for publishing and/or viewing protected content;
a digital rights management server for providing a license for viewing said protected content; and
a license proxy server coupled between said client and said digital rights management server.
13 . The invention of claim 1 wherein said license proxy server includes a lockbox.
14 . The invention of claim 13 wherein said lockbox is a digital rights management lockbox.
15 . The invention of claim 14 wherein said license proxy server includes plural digital rights management client certificates.
16 . The invention of claim 12 wherein said license proxy server includes a client certificate.
17 . The invention of claim 16 wherein said certificate is a digital rights management client certificate.
18 . The invention of claim 17 wherein said license proxy server includes plural digital rights management client certificates.
19 . The invention of claim 18 further including a digital rights management lockbox.
20 . The invention of claim 12 wherein said license proxy server is disposed on a separate physical platform relative to said client means or said server means.
21 . The invention of claim 20 wherein said license proxy server is disposed on a separate physical platform relative to said client means and said server means.
22 . The invention of claim 12 wherein said license proxy server is disposed on an operationally independent platform relative to said client means or said server means.
23 . The invention of claim 22 wherein said license proxy server is disposed on an operationally independent platform relative to said client means and said server means.
24 . A license proxy server for use with client for publishing and/or viewing protected content and a digital rights management server for providing licenses for viewing said protected content, said license proxy server being operationally disposed between said client and said rights management server and comprising:
means for providing a lockbox and
means for storing at least one client certificate.
25 . The invention of claim 24 wherein said lockbox is a digital rights management lockbox.
26 . The invention of claim 24 including means for storing plural client certificates.
27 . The invention of claim 26 wherein said certificates are digital rights management certificates.
28 . A license proxy server for use with client for publishing and/or viewing protected content and a digital rights management server for providing licenses for viewing said protected content, said license proxy server being operationally disposed between said client and said rights management server and comprising:
a controller adapted to execute software and
software stored on a physical medium readable by said controller, said software including code for providing a lockbox and code for storing at least one client certificate.
29 . The invention of claim 28 wherein said lockbox is a digital rights management lockbox.
30 . The invention of claim 28 including means for storing plural client certificates.
31 . The invention of claim 30 wherein said certificates are digital rights management certificates.
32 . A method for digital rights management including the steps of:
providing a client for publishing and/or viewing protected content;
providing a server for providing licenses for viewing said protected content; and
using a license proxy server as an interface between said client and said server.
33 . The invention of claim 32 further including the step of providing a lockbox in said license proxy server.
34 . The invention of claim 33 wherein said lockbox is a digital rights management lockbox.
35 . The invention of claim 32 further including the step of providing a client certificate in said license proxy server.
36 . The invention of claim 35 wherein said certificate is a digital rights management client certificate.
37 . The invention of claim 36 wherein said license proxy server includes plural digital rights management client certificates.
38 . The invention of claim 33 wherein said server is a digital rights management server.
39 . The invention of claim 33 further including the step of disposing said license proxy server on a separate physical platform relative to said client or said server.
40 . The invention of claim 39 further including the step of disposing said license proxy server on a separate physical platform relative to said client and said server.
41 . The invention of claim 33 further including the step of disposing said license proxy server on an operationally independent platform relative to said client or said server.
42 . The invention of claim 41 further including the step of disposing said license proxy server on an operationally independent platform relative to said client and said server.