Secure differential insertion of secondary content
In one embodiment, a consumer device is assigned, at a broadcast headend to one of at least two groups of consumer devices, the two groups including a first group of consumer devices which is required to play content of a second type in order to view content of a first type and a second group of consumer devices which is not required to play content of the second type in order to view content of the first type. A video broadcast stream is sent from the broadcast headend to the consumer device, the video broadcast stream comprising content of the first type sent associated with a first packet ID (PID) and content of the second type sent associated with a second PID, wherein the first PID and the second PID are processed at the consumer device at the same time. An entitlement management message (EMM) is sent from the broadcast headend to the consumer device according to its group of consumer devices, the EMM being of one of a first type of EMM for devices of the first device type and a second type of EMM for devices of the second device type. An entitlement control message (ECM) stream is sent from the broadcast headend to the consumer device, the ECM stream including comprising three types of ECMs: ECM_P_i_start which enables the consumer device to produce a control word which decrypts a first portion of the content of the first type; ECM_A_(i−1) which enables the consumer device to produce a control word which decrypts content of the second type; and ECM_P_i_rest which enables the consumer device to produce a control word which decrypts a second portion of the content of the first type. Related hardware, systems and methods are also described.
1. A method comprising:
assigning, at a broadcast headend, a consumer device to one of at least two groups of consumer devices, the two groups comprising:
a first group of consumer devices which is required to play content of a second type in order to view content of a first type; and
a second group of consumer devices which is not required to play content of the second type in order to view content of the first type;
sending a video broadcast stream from the broadcast headend to the consumer device, the video broadcast stream comprising content of the first type sent associated with a first packet ID (PID) and content of the second type sent associated with a second PID, wherein the first PID and the second PID are processed at the consumer device at the same time;
sending an entitlement management message (EMM) from the broadcast headend to the consumer device according to its group of consumer devices, the EMM being of one of a first type of EMM for devices of the first device type and a second type of EMM for devices of the second device type;
sending an entitlement control message (ECM) stream from the broadcast headend to the consumer device, the ECM stream comprising three types of ECMs, the three types of ECMs comprising:
ECM_A_(i−1) which enables the consumer device to produce a control word which decrypts content of the second type, the ECM_A_(i−1) being decrypted and enabled by the consumer device utilizing an EMM of the first type of EMM;
ECM_P_i_start which enables the consumer device to produce a control word which decrypts a first portion of the content of the first type, the ECM_P_i_start being decrypted and enabled by the consumer device utilizing an EMM of the second type of EMM, and the consumer device is only be able to produce a control word from an ECM of type ECM_P_i_start after first processing a configurable number of ECMs of the type ECM_A_(i−1); and
ECM_P_i_rest which enables the consumer device to produce a control word which decrypts a second portion of the content of the first type, the ECM_P_i_rest being decrypted and enabled by the consumer device utilizing either one of an EMM of the first type or the second type.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the content of the second type comprises at least one advertisement.
3. The method according to claim 2 wherein the content of the second type comprises more than one advertisement.
4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the content of the first type comprises multiple content items of the first type, and the content of the second type comprises multiple content items of the second type.
5. The method according to claim 1 wherein after devices of the second group display a final part of the second portion of the content of the first type, the devices of the second group display static content until devices of the first group display the final part of the second portion of the content of the first type.
6. The method according to claim 5 wherein the static content comprises an I-frame.
7. The method according to claim 1 wherein after devices of the second group display a final part of the second portion of the content of the first type, the devices of the second group display dynamic content until devices of the first group display the final part of the second portion of the content of the first type.
8. The method according to claim 7 wherein the dynamic content comprises content pertaining to the content of the first type.
9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the content of the first type comprises metadata designating it as requiring either one of:
an ECM of type ECM_P_i_start in order to be decrypted; or
an ECM of type ECM_P_i_rest in order to be decrypted.
10. The method according to claim 1 wherein content of the second type comprises metadata designating it as requiring an ECM of the type ECM_A_(i−1) in order to be decrypted.
11. A method comprising:
a consumer device assigned by a broadcast headend to one of at least two groups of consumer devices, the two groups comprising:
a first group of consumer devices which is required to play content of a second type in order to view content of a first type; and
a second group of consumer devices which is not required to play content of the second type in order to view content of the first type;
receiving a video broadcast stream from the broadcast headend at the consumer device, the video broadcast stream comprising content of the first type sent associated with a first packet ID (PID) and content of the second type sent associated with a second PID, wherein the first PID and the second PID are processed at the consumer device at the same time;
receiving an entitlement management message (EMM) from the broadcast headend according to the assigned group of consumer devices, the EMM being of one of a first type of EMM for devices of the first device type and a second type of EMM for devices of the second device type;
receiving an entitlement control message (ECM) stream at the consumer device from the broadcast headend, the ECM stream comprising three types of ECMs, the three types of ECMs comprising:
ECM_A_(i−1) which enables the consumer device to produce a control word which decrypts content of the second type, the ECM_A_(i−1) being decrypted and enabled by the consumer device utilizing an EMM of the first type of EMM;
ECM_P_i_start which enables the consumer device to produce a control word which decrypts a first portion of the content of the first type, the ECM_P_i_start being decrypted and enabled by the consumer device utilizing an EMM of the second type of EMM, and the consumer device is only be able to produce a control word from an ECM of type ECM_P_i_start after first processing a configurable number of ECMs of the type ECM_A_(i−1); and
ECM_P_i_rest which enables the consumer device to produce a control word which decrypts a second portion of the content of the first type, the ECM_P_i_rest being decrypted and enabled by the consumer device utilizing either one of an EMM of the first type or the second type.
12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the content of the second type comprises at least one advertisement.
13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the content of the second type comprises more than one advertisement.
14. The method according to claim 11 wherein after devices of the second group display a final part of the second portion of the content of the first type, the devices of the second group display static content until devices of the first group display the final part of the second portion of the content of the first type.
15. The method according to claim 14 wherein the static content comprises an I-frame.
16. The method according to claim 11 wherein after devices of the second group display a final part of the second portion of the content of the first type, the devices of the second group display dynamic content until devices of the first group display the final part of the second portion of the content of the first type.
17. The method according to claim 16 wherein the dynamic content comprises content pertaining to the content of the first type.
18. The method according to claim 1 wherein the content of the first type comprises multiple content items of the first type, and the content of the second type comprises multiple content items of the second type.
19. The method according to claim 11 wherein the content of the first type comprises metadata designating it as requiring either one of:
an ECM of type ECM_P_i_start in order to be decrypted; or
an ECM of type ECM_P_i_rest in order to be decrypted.
20. The method according to claim 11 wherein content of the second type comprises metadata designating it as requiring an ECM of the type ECM_A_(i−1) in order to be decrypted.