System and method for media transcoding and presentation

Abstract

A method and apparatus for presenting a media data stream complying with a broadcast encryption standard is disclosed. A dongle is removably coupleable to a rendering device, with the dongle performing transcoding so as to allow presentation of the media in a secure manner without modification of the rendering device software or hardware.

1 . A method of transcoding a media data stream complying with a broadcast encryption standard for a personal computer-based rendering device for presentation on a display, comprising the steps of:
 (a) receiving, in a dongle removably coupled to the rendering device, encrypted packetized media data (PMD), wherein the encrypted PMD is encrypted according to a first encryption technique;   (b) decrypting, in the dongle, the encrypted PMD to produce a decrypted PMD;   (c) transcoding, in the dongle, the decrypted PMD into a rendering device-compatible format;   (d) encrypting, in the dongle, the transcoded PMD according to a second encryption technique using an identifier unique to the dongle; and   (e) transmitting the encrypted and transcoded PMD from the dongle to the rendering device having a decrypter configured to decrypt the encrypted and transcoded PMD to produce the decrypted PMD.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 (f) receiving the encrypted and transcoded PMD in the rendering device;   (g) rendering the transcoded PMD in the rendering device;   (h) providing the rendered transcoded PMD to a display; and   (i) displaying the rendered transcoded PMD.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 the PMD is multiplexed to provide a plurality of channels; 
 the method further comprises the step of demultiplexing the encrypted PMD in the dongle; and 
 the step of transcoding the decrypted PMD into a rendering device compatible format comprises the step of transcoding the demultiplexed and decrypted PMD into a rendering device compatible format. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the PMD is modulated;   the method further comprises the step of demodulating the PMD; and   the step of decrypting the PMD to provide a decrypted media stream comprises the step of decrypting the demodulated PMD to provide the decrypted media stream.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the transcoded PMD is rendered by a personal computer and displayed on a display communicatively coupled to the personal computer. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 transmitting the encrypted and transcoded PMD to a storage device;   retrieving the encrypted and transcoded PMD from the storage device;   decrypting the retrieved encrypted and transcoded PMD;   rendering the decrypted retrieved PMD;   providing the rendered PMD to a display; and   displaying the rendered PMD.   
     
     
         7 . A method of transcoding a media data stream complying with a broadcast encryption standard for a personal computer-based rendering device for presentation on a display, comprising the steps of:
 (a) receiving, in a dongle removably coupled to the rendering device, packetized media data (PMD) encrypted according to a first encryption technique;   (b) storing the encrypted PMD in the storage device;   (c) retrieving the encrypted PMD from the storage device;   (d) decrypting, in the dongle, the retrieved encrypted PMD;   (e) transcoding, in the dongle, the decrypted PMD into a rendering device compatible format;   (f) encrypting, in the dongle, the transcoded PMD according to a second encryption technique using an identifier unique to the dongle; and   (g) transmitting the encrypted transcoded PMD to the rendering device.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising the steps of:
 rendering the transcoded PMD;   providing the rendered transcoded PMD to a display; and   displaying the rendered transcoded PMD.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the received PMD is multiplexed to provide a plurality of channels;   the method further comprises the step of demultiplexing the received PMD in the dongle; and   the step of receiving and storing the encrypted PMD in the storage device comprises the step of receiving and storing the demultiplexed encrypted PMD in the storage device.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the received PMD is modulated;   the method further comprises the step of demodulating the received PMD; and   the step of receiving and storing the encrypted PMD in the storage device comprises the step of receiving and storing the demodulated PMD in the storage device.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the transcoded PMD is rendered by a personal computer and displayed on a display communicatively coupled to the personal computer. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the method further comprises the step of further encrypting the received PMD according to the second encryption technique using the identifier unique to the dongle;   the step of storing the encrypted PMD in a storage device comprises the step of storing the further encrypted PMD in the storage device;   the step of retrieving the encrypted PMD from the storage device comprises the step of retrieving the further encrypted PMD from the storage device; and   the method further comprises the step of further decrypting the further encrypted PMD retrieved from the storage device to produce the received encrypted PMD.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein steps of further encrypting the received PMD and further decrypting the further encrypted PMD retrieved from the storage device to produce the retrieved encrypted PMD are performed by the dongle. 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus for presenting a media data stream complying with a broadcast encryption standard, comprising:
 a rendering device;   a dongle, removably coupled to the rendering device, having:
 a first dongle input for receiving packetized media data (PMD) encrypted according to a first encryption ; 
 decrypter having an input coupled to the first input for decrypting the PMD to provide decrypted PMD at a decrypter output; 
 a transcoder, having an input coupled to the decrypter output, for transcoding the decrypted PMD into a rendering device-compatible format and providing the transcoded decrypted PMD at a receiver output; and 
 a security module, for securing communications between the dongle and the rendering device by encrypting communications transmitted to the rendering device and decrypting communications received from the rendering device. 
   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the media data stream is multiplexed to provide a plurality of channels and the receiver further comprises a demultiplexer, coupled between the decrypter and the transcoder for demultiplexing the decrypted media data stream. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the dongle further comprises:
 a second input for receiving a modulated second Internet Protocol (IP) PMD complying with the broadcast encryption standard; and   a demodulator, coupled to the second input and providing a demodulated second PMD complying with the broadcast encryption standard to the decrypter input.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the rendering device is a personal computer. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the security module secures communications between the dongle and the rendering device via private key cryptography. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the security module secures communications between the dongle and the rendering device via public key cryptography. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 a storage device, for receiving and storing the encrypted transcoded PMD.   
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the rendering device is a personal computer. 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the security module further comprises:
 an encryptor for encrypting communications from the dongle to the rendering device; and   a second decrypter for decrypting communications from the rendering device to the dongle.