System and method for managing transfer of rights using shared state variables

Abstract

A method, system and device for transferring rights adapted to be associated with items from a rights supplier to a rights consumer, including obtaining a set of rights associated with an item, the set of rights including meta-rights specifying derivable rights that can be derived from the meta-; determining whether the rights consumer is entitled to the derivable rights specified by the meta-rights; and deriving at least one right from the derivable rights, if the rights consumer is entitled to the derivable rights specified by the meta-rights, wherein the derived right includes at least one state variable based on the set of rights and used for determining a state of the derived right.

1 . A method for transferring rights adapted to be associated with content, the method comprising:
 associating a rights offer with an instance of content, wherein the rights offer includes a machine-readable expression permitting a consumer device to exercise one or more rights associated with the content when at least one condition for exercising the one or more rights is satisfied;   receiving a request from a consumer device to obtain the content;   determining whether the at least one condition is satisfied based on the received request;   if the at least one condition is satisfied:
 preparing a license for the consumer device, wherein the preparing step comprises:
 deriving the license, wherein the license specifies one or more rights associated with the content, wherein at least one of the rights is associated with a state variable having a current value, wherein the state variable is associated with the consumer device, and wherein the current value of the state variable is stored in a common state-of-rights server; and 
 associating the license with the content; and 
 
 transmitting the license and the content to the consumer device to thereby allow the consumer device to access the content in accordance with the one or more rights and the current value of the state variable. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving an updated current value of the state variable from a trusted agent embedded in the consumer device, wherein the current value of the state variable is updated by the trusted agent if the consumer device accesses the content. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising updating the current value of the state variable stored in the common state-of-rights server based on the updated current value received from the trusted agent. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content is the right to play the content. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content relates to a period of time during which the consumer device will be allowed to access the content. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the conditions for obtaining the rights is associated with a payment. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the trusted agent is a DRM agent embedded in the consumer device. 
     
     
         8 . A system for transferring rights adapted to be associated with content, the system comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory operatively coupled to the processor and containing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of:
 associating a rights offer with an instance of content, wherein the rights offer includes a machine-readable expression permitting a consumer device to exercise one or more rights associated with the content when at least one condition for exercising the one or more rights is satisfied; 
 receiving a request from a consumer device to obtain the content; 
 determining whether the at least one condition is satisfied based on the received request; 
 if the at least one condition is satisfied:
 preparing a license for the consumer device, wherein the preparing step comprises:
 deriving the license, wherein the license specifies one or more rights associated with the content, wherein at least one of the rights is associated with a state variable having a current value, wherein the state variable is associated with the consumer device, and wherein the current value of the state variable is stored in a common state-of-rights server; and 
 associating the license with the content; and 
 
 transmitting the license and the content to the consumer device to thereby allow the consumer device to access the content in accordance with the one or more rights and the current value of the state variable. 
 
   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the memory further contains instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out a step of receiving an updated current value of the state variable from a trusted agent embedded in the consumer device, wherein the current value of the state variable is updated by the trusted agent if the consumer device accesses the content. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the memory further contains instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out a step of updating the current value of the state variable stored in the common state-of-rights server based on the updated current value received from the trusted agent. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content is the right to play the content. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content relates to a period of time during which the consumer device will be allowed to access the content. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the conditions for obtaining the rights is associated with a payment. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the trusted agent is a DRM agent embedded in the consumer device. 
     
     
         15 . Computer readable media having instructions recorded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to carry out a method for transferring rights adapted to be associated with content, the method comprising the steps of:
 associating a rights offer with an instance of content, wherein the rights offer includes a machine-readable expression permitting a consumer device to exercise one or more rights associated with the content when at least one condition for exercising the one or more rights is satisfied;   receiving a request from a consumer device to obtain the content;   determining whether the at least one condition is satisfied based on the received request;   if the at least one condition is satisfied:
 preparing a license for the consumer device, wherein the preparing step comprises:
 deriving the license, wherein the license specifies one or more rights associated with the content, wherein at least one of the rights is associated with a state variable having a current value, wherein the state variable is associated with the consumer device, and wherein the current value of the state variable is stored in a common state-of-rights server; and 
 associating the license with the content; and 
 
 transmitting the license and the content to the consumer device to thereby allow the consumer device to access the content in accordance with the one or more rights and the current value of the state variable. 
   
     
     
         16 . The computer readable media of  claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises a step of receiving an updated current value of the state variable from a trusted agent embedded in the consumer device, wherein the current value of the state variable is updated by the trusted agent if the consumer device accesses the content. 
     
     
         17 . The computer readable media of  claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises a step of updating the current value of the state variable stored in the common state-of-rights server based on the updated current value received from the trusted agent. 
     
     
         18 . The computer readable media of  claim 15 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content is the right to play the content. 
     
     
         19 . The computer readable media of  claim 15 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content relates to a period of time during which the consumer device will be allowed to access the content. 
     
     
         20 . The computer readable media of  claim 15 , wherein at least one of the conditions for obtaining the rights is associated with a payment. 
     
     
         21 . The computer readable media of  claim 16 , wherein the trusted agent is a DRM agent embedded in the consumer device. 
     
     
         22 . A method for transferring rights adapted to be associated with content, the method comprising:
 obtaining a rights offer associated with an instance of content, wherein the rights offer includes a machine-readable expression permitting a consumer device to obtain one or more rights associated with the content when at least one condition for obtaining the one or more rights is satisfied;   sending a request to obtain the content;   receiving the content and a license associated with the content, the license specifying the one or more rights associated with the content, wherein at least one of the rights is associated with a state variable having a current value, and wherein the state variable is associated with the consumer device and managed by a common state-of-rights server; and   determining if access to the content is permitted in accordance with the one or more rights and the current value of the state variable.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising updating the current value of the state variable if access to the content is permitted and if the content is accessed. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising transmitting the updated current value of the state variable to the common state-of-rights server. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content is the right to play the content. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content relates to a period of time during which the consumer device will be allowed to access the content. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein at least one of the conditions for obtaining the rights is associated with a payment. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the updated current value of the state variable is transmitted to the common state-of-rights server by a trusted agent embedded in the consumer device. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the trusted agent is a DRM agent embedded in the consumer device. 
     
     
         30 . A system for transferring rights adapted to be associated with content, the system comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory operatively coupled to the processor and containing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of:
 obtaining a rights offer associated with an instance of content, wherein the rights offer includes a machine-readable expression permitting a consumer device to obtain one or more rights associated with the content when at least one condition for obtaining the one or more rights is satisfied; 
 sending a request to obtain the content; 
 receiving the content and a license associated with the content, the license specifying the one or more rights associated with the content, wherein at least one of the rights is associated with a state variable having a current value, and wherein the state variable is associated with the consumer device and managed by a common state-of-rights server; and 
 determining if access to the content is permitted in accordance with the one or more rights and the current value of the state variable. 
   
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the memory further contains instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out a step of updating the current value of the state variable if access to the content is permitted and if the content is accessed. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the memory further contains instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out a step of transmitting the updated current value of the state variable to the common state-of-rights server. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content is the right to play the content. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content relates to a period of time during which the consumer device will be allowed to access the content. 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein at least one of the conditions for obtaining the rights is associated with a payment. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 32 , wherein the updated current value of the state variable is transmitted to the common state-of-rights server by a trusted agent embedded in the consumer 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 36 , wherein the trusted agent is a DRM agent embedded in the consumer device. 
     
     
         38 . Computer readable media having instructions recorded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to carry out a method for transferring rights adapted to be associated with content, the method comprising the steps of:
 obtaining a rights offer associated with an instance of content, wherein the rights offer includes a machine-readable expression permitting a consumer device to obtain one or more rights associated with the content when at least one condition for obtaining the one or more rights is satisfied;   sending a request to obtain the content;   receiving the content and a license associated with the content, the license specifying the one or more rights associated with the content, wherein at least one of the rights is associated with a state variable having a current value, and wherein the state variable is associated with the consumer device and managed by a common state-of-rights server; and   determining if access to the content is permitted in accordance with the one or more rights and the current value of the state variable.   
     
     
         39 . The computer readable media of  claim 38 , wherein the method further comprises a step of updating the current value of the state variable if access to the content is permitted and if the content is accessed. 
     
     
         40 . The computer readable media of  claim 39 , wherein the method further comprises a step of transmitting the updated current value of the state variable to the common state-of-rights server. 
     
     
         41 . The computer readable media of  claim 38 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content is the right to play the content. 
     
     
         42 . The computer readable media of  claim 38 , wherein at least one of the rights associated with the content relates to a period of time during which the consumer device will be allowed to access the content. 
     
     
         43 . The computer readable media of  claim 38 , wherein at least one of the conditions for obtaining the rights is associated with a payment. 
     
     
         44 . The computer readable media of  claim 40 , wherein the updated current value of the state variable is transmitted to the common state-of-rights server by a trusted agent embedded in the consumer device 
     
     
         45 . The computer readable media of  claim 44 , wherein the trusted agent is a DRM agent embedded in the consumer device.