Apparatus systems and methods for securely sharing content with a plurality of receiving devices

1. A system to facilitate secure content sharing between a plurality of television receivers, comprising:

a satellite communication system;

a plurality of television receivers in communication with the satellite communication system, each television receiver of the plurality of television receivers being located at a distinct respective customer premises; and

a distribution server in communication with the satellite communication system, the distribution server provides first access control information via the satellite communication system to a first television receiver of the plurality of television receivers and provides second access control information via the satellite communication system to at least a second television receiver,

wherein the first television receiver:

receives via the satellite communication system from the distribution server the first access control information,

utilizes the first access control information to determine a first cryptographic key to encrypt content stored on the first television receiver,

encrypts the content using the first cryptographic key such that the second television receiver has access to the encrypted content and other television receivers of the plurality of television receivers do not have access to the encrypted content, and

shares the encrypted content with the second television receiver; and

wherein the second television receiver:

receives via the satellite communication system from the distribution server the second access control information, and

utilizes the second access control information to determine a second cryptographic key to decrypt and access the shared content of the first television receiver.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first television receiver receives a request to share a particular piece of content stored on the first television receiver for use by the second television receiver, and provides the requested content piece to the second television receiver in response to the request.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the distribution server provides the second access control information to the second television receiver in response to receiving an indication of a desire of a user of the first television receiver to share content of the first television receiver with the second television receiver.

4. A method for securely sharing data, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first television receiver located at a first customer premises, first access control information;

determining, by the first television receiver and based on the first access control information, a first key to encrypt data stored on the first television receiver;

encrypting, by the first television receiver, the data based on the first key; and

sharing, by the first television receiver, the encrypted data with a second television receiver being located at a distinct second customer premises, the second television receiver having received second access control information that is used by the second television receiver to determine a second key to decrypt the shared encrypted data.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the sharing the encrypted data includes receiving a request from the second television receiver for the data stored on the first television receiver, and providing the encrypted data to the second television receiver in response to the request.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the shared encrypted data includes programming content provided to the first television receiver.

7. The method of claim 4 , further including receiving, at the first television receiver and from a user of the first television receiver, an indication of a desire to share data stored on the first television receiver for use by the second television receiver, wherein the second access control information is provided to the second television receiver in response to the indication of the desire.

8. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

determining, by the second television receiver, the second key based on the second access control information;

receiving, at the second television receiver, the shared encrypted data from the first television receiver;

accessing the at least one key based on cryptographic key; and

decrypting at least a portion of the shared data with the at least one key.

9. A method to facilitate secure content sharing between a plurality of television receivers, the method comprising:

receiving, at a distribution server, a request to enable a second television receiver to access content of a first television receiver, the first television receiver located in a first customer premises and the second television receiver located in a second customer premises distinct from the first customer premises;

providing, from the distribution server to the first television receiver, information indicative of an encryption key for use by the first television receiver to encrypt the content for access by the second television receiver; and

providing, from the distribution server to the second television receiver, information indicative of a decryption key for use by the second television receiver to decrypt the content provided by the first television receiver for access by the second television receiver.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the information indicative of the decryption key includes a command for the second television receiver to generate the decryption key.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the information indicative of the decryption key is provided to the second television receiver in response to receiving the request to enable access for the second television receiver.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the request to enable access for the second television receiver is received from the first television receiver.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first and second television receivers are in a sharing group, such that the information indicative of the encryption key includes a unique identifier that is associated with the sharing group and that is used to by first television receiver to determine the encryption key.

14. A system to facilitate secure content sharing between television receivers, comprising:

a first television receiver and a second television receiver in communication with each other to enable communications between the first television receiver and the second television receiver; and

a distribution server in communication with the first television receiver and the second television receiver to provide first access information to the first television receiver and to provide second access information to the second television receiver;

wherein the first television receiver:

receives the first access information from the distribution server, and

provides content, along with at least one key to access the content, to the second television receiver, wherein the at least one key is encrypted based on the first access information;

wherein the second television receiver:

receives the content and the at least one key from the first television receiver,

receives the second access information from the distribution server,

accesses the at least one key based on the second access information, and

accesses the content using the at least one key.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the content is encrypted and the second television receiver accesses the content by decrypting the encrypted content using the at least one key.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the distribution server provides the second access information to the second television receiver in response to receiving a request from the first television receiver to share access to the content from the first television receiver.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

encrypting, by the first television receiver, the first key based on the first access control information; and

providing the encrypted first key to the second television receiver, wherein the second television receiver determines the second key by accessing the encrypted first key based on the second access control information.