Autonomous-mode content delivery and key management
View Patent ↗Multimedia content may be delivered to content consumer devices via a content-delivery network. Encrypted content and cryptography keys for decrypting the content may be distributed from a data center to various nodes of the content-delivery network, each node acting as a semi-independent content-delivery system. Each content-delivery system is capable of delivering received content to end-users and implementing a key-management scheme to facilitate secure content-delivery and usage tracking, even when the content-delivery system is disconnected from the data center. In other words, the disclosed systems and methods facilitate the operation of nodes which may operate in “autonomous mode” when disconnected from a larger content-delivery network, thus maintaining content-delivery capabilities despite having little if any connectivity to external networks.
1. A system for providing an in-vehicle content-delivery service to a mobile consumer device, the system comprising:
a data center including a license server configured to provide one or more keys, from a key-store, for decrypting encrypted content; and
a first content-delivery system (“CDS”) disposed at a first vehicle, the first CDS including:
one or more memory devices storing a content-distribution, from the data center, including: a first set of keys from the key-store for decrypting a first collection of encrypted content; and
a first proxy license server configured to:
(i) determine whether license-data, stored at a memory of the first CDS, authorizes delivery, of first content-data from the first collection of encrypted content, responsive to a content-request received at the first CDS,
the content-request received at the first CDS having been transmitted from a first mobile consumer device communicatively coupled to the first CDS,
(ii) when the license-data authorizes delivery of the first content-data: transmit, for reception by the first mobile consumer device, a key from the first set of keys for decrypting the first content-data, and
(iii) authorize content delivery without communicating with the license server, wherein the first proxy license server is configured to:
when the license-data does not authorize delivery of the first content-data: (a) update the license-data to authorize delivery of the first content-data, and (b) transmit, for reception by the first mobile consumer device, the key from the first set of keys for decrypting the first content-data.
2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second CDS disposed at a second vehicle, the second CDS including:
one or more memory devices storing a content-distribution, from the data center, including: a second set of keys from the key-store for decrypting a second collection of encrypted content; and
a second proxy license server configured to:
(i) determine whether license-data, stored at a memory of the second CDS, authorizes delivery, of second content-data from the second collection of encrypted content, responsive to a content-request received at the second CDS,
the content-request received at the second CDS having been transmitted from a second mobile consumer device communicatively coupled to the second CDS; and
(ii) when the license-data authorizes delivery of the second content-data: transmit, for reception by the second mobile consumer device, a key from the second set of keys for decrypting the second content-data.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the keys from the key-store are unique relative to other keys from the key-store.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first CDS further includes a dedicated distribution server configured to deliver the first content-data for reception by the first mobile consumer device.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first proxy license server is further configured to:
when (i) the license-data does not authorize delivery of the first content-data, and (ii) a communication link enables communication with the license server:
transmit, for reception by the license server, a request for a key for decrypting the first content-data;
wherein when a key for decrypting the first content-data is received at the first CDS from the license server, the key is transmitted to the mobile consumer device.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first proxy license server is further configured to:
receive payment information from the first mobile consumer device;
wherein updating the license-data to authorize delivery of the first content-data occurs in response to receiving the payment information from the first mobile consumer device.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first proxy license server is further configured to:
transmit the payment information to the license server; and
wherein the first CDS is configured to receive a verification, from the license server, indicating whether a financial transaction successfully occurred based on the payment information.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first CDS is further configured to:
stop delivery of the first content-data when the verification indicates that a financial transaction based on the payment information was not successful.
9. The system of claim 2 , wherein:
the first CDS is configured to transmit, for reception by the license server, a report so that the license server may track the content-delivery by the first CDS of the first content-data; and
the second CDS is configured to transmit, for reception by the license server, a report so that the license server may track the content-delivery by the second CDS of the second content-data.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the content-request received at the first CDS includes (i) an identity or a reference associated with the identity, the identity being a user ID or a device ID, and (ii) a content-identifier;
wherein determining whether license-data authorizes delivery of first content-data includes:
determining whether the license-data includes an authorization-status associated with the identity; and
identifying, based on the content-identifier, the first content-data from the first collection of encrypted content.
11. A computer-implemented method for providing an in-vehicle content-delivery service to a mobile consumer device, the method comprising:
receiving, at a first content-delivery system (“CDS”) disposed at a first vehicle, a content-distribution including a first set of keys from a key-store managed by a license server, the first set of keys for decrypting a first collection of encrypted content;
storing the content-distribution to a memory of the first CDS;
receiving, at the first CDS, a first content-request transmitted from a first mobile consumer device communicatively coupled to the first CDS;
causing a processor of the first CDS to determine whether license-data stored at a memory of the first CDS authorizes delivery, of first content-data from the first collection of encrypted content, responsive to the first content-request;
when the processor determines that the license-data authorizes the delivery of the first content-data: transmitting for reception by the first mobile consumer device, via a communication interface of the first CDS, a key from the first set of keys for decrypting the first content-data;
when (i) the license-data does not authorize the delivery of the first content-data, and (ii) the first CDS is not in communication with the license server:
(a) updating the license-data to authorize delivery of the first content-data; and
(b) transmitting, for reception by the first mobile consumer device, the key from the first set of keys for decrypting the first content-data.
12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving, at a second content-delivery system (“CDS”) disposed at a second vehicle, a content-distribution including a second set of keys from the key-store managed by the license server, the second set of keys for decrypting a second collection of encrypted content;
storing the content-distribution to a memory of the second CDS;
receiving, at the second CDS, a content-request transmitted from a second mobile consumer device communicatively coupled to the second CDS;
causing a processor of the second CDS to determine whether license-data stored at a memory of the second CDS authorizes delivery, of second content-data from the second collection of encrypted content, responsive to the second content-request; and
when the processor determines that the license-data authorizes the delivery of the second content-data: transmitting for reception by the second mobile consumer device, via a communication interface of the second CDS, a key from the second set of keys for decrypting the second content-data.
13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
when the processor determines that the license-data authorizes the delivery of the second content-data, transmitting the second content-data for reception by the second mobile consumer device.
14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
when (i) the license-data does not authorize delivery of the first content-data, and (ii) a communication link enables communication with the license server:
transmitting, for reception by the license server, a request for a key for decrypting the first content-data;
wherein when a key for decrypting the first content-data is received at the first CDS from the license server, the key is transmitted to the mobile consumer device.
15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving, at the first CDS, payment information from the first mobile consumer device;
wherein updating the license-data to authorize the delivery of the first content-data occurs in response to the first CDS receiving the payment information from the first mobile consumer device.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
transmitting the received payment information to the license server; and
receiving, at the first CDS, a verification from the license server indicating whether a financial transaction successfully occurred based on the payment information.
17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
stopping delivery of the first content-data when the verification indicates that a financial transaction based on the payment information was not successful.
18. The method of claim 11 , wherein receiving, at the first CDS, a first content-request transmitted from a first mobile consumer device communicatively coupled to the first CDS, comprises performing a first step, performing a second step, or performing both the first step and the second step,
the first step including:
receiving, at the first CDS, an identity or a reference associated with the identity, the identity being a user ID or a device ID; and
wherein causing a processor of the first CDS to determine whether license-data stored at a memory of the first CDS authorizes the delivery of first content-data, comprises: determining whether the license-data includes an authorization-status associated with the identity; and
the second step including:
receiving, at the first CDS, a content-identifier;
identifying, based on the content-identifier, the first content-data from the first collection of encrypted content;
identifying, based on the identified first content-data, the key from the first set of keys for decrypting the first content-data; and
when the processor determines that the license-data authorizes the delivery of the first content-data: transmitting the first content-data for reception by the mobile consumer device.
19. The system of claim 2 , wherein the first vehicle is a first airplane and the second vehicle is a second airplane.
20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first vehicle is a first airplane and the second vehicle is a second airplane.