Granted Patent B2

US 9,578,104 · App. 14/530,423 · Granted Feb 21, 2017

Abstract

Claims (63)

1. A computer-implemented method for verifying access-rights to content, the method comprising:

authorizing, at a content-delivery system (“CDS”) disposed on a vehicle, a content-delivery session to deliver selected content from the CDS to a mobile consumer device via an in-vehicle network for the vehicle, the selected content selected from a collection of content;

transmitting, from the CDS to the mobile consumer device, one or more keys for decrypting encrypted content-data received by the mobile consumer device during the content-delivery session, the encrypted content-data representing the selected content;

generating, at the CDS, an authorization-token indicating that the CDS authorized the content-delivery session and transmitting the authorization-token;

receiving, at a data center, the authorization-token;

receiving, at the data center, a request to resume the content-delivery session;

authorizing or denying by the data center, based on the authorization-token indicating that the CDS authorized the content-delivery session, the requested resumption of the content-delivery session; and

when the requested resumption is authorized: transmitting one or more keys for decrypting encrypted content-data representing the selected content.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein authorizing or denying, based on the authorization-token, the requested resumption of the content-delivery session, comprises:

analyzing (i) the authorization-token; and (ii) session-data received in association with the request to resume.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the authorization-token comprises:

calculating a first hash value to be included in the authorization-token, said calculating including evaluating a hash function for a first input, the first input including session-data relating to the authorized content-delivery session.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the session-data relating to the authorized content-delivery session comprises one or more of:

(i) an identifier for the selected content, (ii) an identifier for a user, (iii) an identifier for the mobile consumer device, (iv) a product identifier, or (iv) a catalog identifier.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the session-data relating to the authorized content-delivery session comprises one or more of:

(i) a location logged by the first CDS during the content-delivery session, (ii) an origin location for the vehicle, or (iii) a destination location for the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein analyzing (i) the authorization-token and (ii) the session-data received in association with the request to resume comprises:

calculating a second hash value by evaluating the hash function for a second input, the second input including the session-data received in association with the request to resume; and

comparing the first hash value included in the authorization-token to the second hash value.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein authorizing or denying the requested resumption of the content-delivery session comprises:

authorizing the requested resumption of the content-delivery session when the first hash value matches the second hash value;

said authorizing including: generating or updating a license record, stored to memory, to indicate that the content-delivery session is authorized.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein generating or updating a license record, stored to memory, to indicate that the content-delivery session is authorized comprises:

specifying content that is authorized to be delivered during the content-delivery session by logging an identifier for the selected content; and

specifying an identity authorized to receive content via the content-delivery session by logging at least one of: a user identifier for a particular user; or a device identifier for a particular device.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving payment-data representing payment for the selected content;

wherein authorizing, at the CDS, the content-delivery session to deliver to the mobile consumer device the selected content includes: generating or updating a license record to indicate that the content-delivery session is authorized.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the authorization-token comprises:

transmitting the authorization-token to the mobile consumer device;

wherein receiving, at the data center, the authorization-token includes: receiving the authorization-token from the mobile consumer device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating, at the CDS, the authorization-token associated with the authorized content-delivery session and transmitting the authorization-token comprises:

generating the authorization-token while the first CDS is operating in autonomous mode.

12. A content-delivery system (“CDS”) for a content-delivery network, the CDS disposed at a vehicle for delivering content to a mobile consumer device, the CDS comprising:

one or more processors;

a communication interface;

one or more memory devices including (i) a collection of content that was loaded to the CDS and (ii) computer readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the CDS to:

authorize a content-delivery session for transmitting selected content from the CDS to a mobile consumer device via an in-vehicle network for the vehicle: (i) encrypted content-data representing the selected content, the selected content selected from the collection of content, and (ii) one or more keys for decrypting the encrypted content-data;

generate an authorization-token indicating that the CDS authorized the content-delivery session; and

transmit via the communication interface the authorization-token for use by a data center, the data center configured to receive a request to resume the content-delivery session and to determine whether the requested resumption is authorized based on the authorization-token indicating that the CDS authorized the content-delivery session.

13. The CDS of claim 12 , wherein the communication interface is configured to transmit and receive at least one of: (i) wireless signals having a frequency under approximately 1 GHz, or (ii) wireless signals having a frequency between approximately 2.4 GHz and approximately 5 GHz.

14. The CDS of claim 12 , wherein the instructions that cause the CDS to authorize the content-delivery session include instructions that, when executed, cause the CDS to:

generate or update, after receiving payment-data representing payment for the selected content, a license record to indicate that the content-delivery session is authorized.

15. The CDS of claim 12 , wherein the instructions that cause the CDS to generate an authorization-token associated with the authorized content-delivery session include instructions that, when executed, cause the CDS to:

calculate a first hash value to be included in the authorization-token by evaluating a hash function for a first input, the first input including session-data relating to the authorized content-delivery session;

wherein the data center is configured to determine whether the request to resume is authorized by comparing the first hash value included in the authorization token to a second hash value calculated from session-data received in association with the request to resume.

16. The CDS of claim 12 , wherein the instructions that cause the CDS to transmit via the communication interface the authorization-token for use by a data center include instructions that, when executed, cause the CDS to:

transmit the authorization-token to the mobile consumer device, wherein the mobile consumer device is configured to upload the authorization-token to the data center.

17. A data center system for a content-delivery network, the data center system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memory devices storing a content-library including content available for distribution to one or more content-delivery systems (“CDS”) disposed at one or more vehicles, each of the one or more CDSs configured to initiate a content-delivery session to provide received content to a mobile consumer device via an in-vehicle network for the one or more vehicles;

a communication interface for receiving an authorization-token generated by a first CDS from the one or more CDS, the authorization-token indicating whether the first CDS authorized a content-delivery session;

the one or more memory devices further including computer readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the data center system to:

authorize or deny, based on the received authorization-token indicating whether the first CDS authorized the content-delivery session, a request to resume the content-delivery session; and

when the requested resumption of the content-delivery session is authorized: transmit one or more keys for decrypting encrypted content-data transmitted to the mobile device during the content-delivery session.

18. The data center system of claim 17 , wherein the instructions that cause the data center system to authorize or deny, based on the received authorization-token, the request to resume the content-delivery session, comprise:

instructions that, when executed, cause the data center system to analyze (i) the received authorization-token and (ii) session-data associated with the received request to resume.

19. The data center system of claim 18 , wherein:

the session-data associated with the received request to resume includes a first identifier unique to a CDS or a vehicle;

wherein the authorization-token was generated by the first CDS based on session-data associated with the content-delivery session authorized by the first CDS, the session-data associated with the authorized content-delivery session including: a second identifier unique to the first CDS or to a vehicle on which the first CDS is disposed;

wherein the instructions that cause the CDS to authorize or deny the request to resume the content-delivery session based on an analysis of (i) the received authorization-token and (ii) the session-data associated with the received request to resume, include instructions that, when executed, cause the data center system to: authorize the request to resume the content-delivery session when the results of the analysis indicate that the first identifier matches the second identifier.

20. The data center system of claim 18 , wherein the analysis of (i) the received authorization-token and (ii) session-data associated with the received request to resume comprises:

comparing a first hash value of the authorization-token to a second hash value calculated from the session-data associated with the request to resume.

Assignments (11)