Claims
- 1. A method for managing access to a restricted transmitted event, said method comprising:
(a) receiving at least one first transmitted event from a first service provider, said transmitted event being scrambled; (b) receiving at least one second transmitted event from a second service provider, said transmitted event being scrambled; (c) receiving encrypted access information associated with said transmitted events, said access information including first and second descrambling keys, said first descrambling key corresponding to said first service provider and said second descrambling key corresponding to said second service provider; (d) decrypting said access information; and, (e) descrambling said transmitted events.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the steps of decrypting and descrambling are performed in a smart card, said encrypted access information being encrypted using respective first and second public keys and being decrypted using a corresponding respective first and second private keys stored in said smart card.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the steps of decrypting and descrambling are performed in a smart card, said encrypted access information being encrypted using respective first and second symmetric keys and being decrypted using a corresponding respective first and second symmetric keys stored in said smart card.
- 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said smart card comprises a card body with a plurality of terminals arranged on a surface of said card body in accordance with one of ISO 7816 and PCMCIA card standards.
- 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first service provider's broadcast area is adjacent to the second service provider's broadcast area.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first service provider's broadcast area is overlapping with respect to the second service provider's broadcast area.
- 7. A method for allowing a digital video apparatus to manage access to a restricted transmitted event comprises the steps of:
(a) receiving, from a first service provider, access information encrypted using a first public key, said access information including a first encrypted event key; (b) receiving, from a second service provider, access information encrypted using a second public key, said access information including a second encrypted event key; (c) passing said first and second event keys to a smart card coupled to said digital video apparatus; (d) receiving a first transmitted event from said first service provider, said first transmitted event being scrambled using said first event key; (e) receiving a second transmitted event from said second service provider, said second transmitted event being scrambled using said second event key; and, (f) decrypting, in said smart card, one of said first and second encrypted event keys.
- 8. The method of claim 7, comprising the further steps of:
(g) passing at least one of said first and second transmitted events to said smart card; (h) descrambling, in said smart card, one of said first and second transmitted events using said one of said first and second event keys; and (i) passing said descrambled transmitted event to said digital video apparatus.
- 9. A conditional access system comprising:
at least two program service providers; and, at least one digital device for receiving scrambled transmitted signals from the at least two service providers, said digital device including at least one smart card for descrambling said scrambled transmitted signals, wherein said at least one smart card includes at least two decryption keys for decrypting at least two respective descrambling keys, said descrambling keys being used to descramble the transmitted signals received from the at least two service providers.
- 10. The conditional access system of claim 9, wherein the at least two decryption keys comprise at least two private keys.
- 11. The conditional access system of claim 9, wherein the at least two decryption keys comprise at least two symmetric keys.
- 12. The conditional access system of claim 9, wherein a first of the at least two service providers scrambles signals using a first scrambling key encrypted by a first public key, and a second of the at least two service providers scrambles signals using a second scrambling key encrypted by a second public key, such that a first of the at least two private keys is used to recover the first scrambling key and descramble the signals of the first service provider, and a second of the at least two private keys is used to recover the second scrambling key and descramble the signals of the second service provider.
- 13. The conditional access system of claim 9, wherein a first of said at least two service providers is disposed in a first geographic region, and a second of said at least two service providers is disposed in a second geographic region adjacent to, but different from, said first geographic region.
- 14. The conditional access system of claim 9, wherein a first of said at least two service providers is disposed in a first broadcast region, and a second of said at least two service providers is disposed in a second broadcast region adjacent to, but different from, said first broadcast region.
- 15. A method for managing access to a plurality of restricted transmitted events, said method comprising:
(a) receiving a plurality of transmitted events from a plurality of different service providers, said transmitted events being scrambled; (b) receiving encrypted access information from the plurality of different service providers associated with said plurality of transmitted events, said access information comprising a plurality of descrambling keys, each of said plurality of descrambling keys corresponding to each of said plurality of service providers; (c) decrypting said access information; and, (d) descrambling said plurality of transmitted events.
- 16. A method for providing conditional access, comprising the steps of:
(a) assigning a first key pair to a first geographic region; (b) assigning a second key pair to a second geographic region different from said first geographic region; (c) permitting a broadcaster within the first geographic region to use a public key of said first scrambling key pair to encrypt at least one descrambling key; (d) permitting a broadcaster within the second geographic region to use a public key of said second scrambling key pair to encrypt at least one descrambling key; (e) providing a private key of said first scrambling key pair and a private key of said second scrambling key pair in a digital device; and (f) permitting a user conditional access to said scrambled transmitted signals from said first and second geographic regions by utilizing the private keys provided in the digital device.
- 17. A method for managing access to a restricted transmitted event, said method comprising:
(a) receiving at least one first transmitted event from a first service provider, said transmitted event being scrambled; (b) receiving at least one second transmitted event from a second service provider, said transmitted event being scrambled; (c) receiving access information associated with said transmitted events; (d) deriving first and second descrambling keys from said access information, said first descrambling key corresponding to said first service provider and said second descrambling key corresponding to said second service provider; and, (e) descrambling said transmitted events using said first and second descrambling keys.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This is a Continuation-in-Part of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/743,653 filed Jan. 12, 2001, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09743653 |
Mar 2001 |
US |
Child |
09962970 |
Sep 2001 |
US |