Systems and methods for secure transaction management and electronic rights protection

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for electronic commerce including secure transaction management and electronic rights protection. Electronic appliances such as computers employed in accordance with the present invention help to ensure that information is accessed and used only in authorized ways, and maintain the integrity, availability, and/or confidentiality of the information. Secure subsystems used with such electronic appliances provide a distributed virtual distribution environment (VDE) that may enforce a secure chain of handling and control, for example, to control and/or meter or otherwise monitor use of electronically stored or disseminated information. Such a virtual distribution environment may be used to protect rights of various participants in electronic commerce and other electronic or electronic-facilitated transactions. Secure distributed and other operating system environments and architectures, employing, for example, secure semiconductor processing arrangements that may establish secure, protected environments at each node. These techniques may be used to support an end-to-end electronic information distribution capability that may be used, for example, utilizing the “electronic highway.”

1 .- 18 . (canceled)  
   
   
       19 . A method performed by an electronic appliance, the electronic appliance comprising a clock, the method including: 
 contacting a trusted server;    obtaining a trusted time value from the trusted server;    determining whether a time value on the clock is within a predefined range of the trusted time value; and    at least temporarily disabling certain functionality if the time value on the clock is not within the predefined range of the trusted time value.    
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the electronic appliance further comprises a software-based protected processing environment, the protected processing environment being operable to control access to the contents of a secure electronic container in accordance with control information received from a remote site.  
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the step of at least temporarily disabling certain functionality includes disabling at least one aspect of the protected processing environment.  
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 19 , further including: 
 setting an indication if the time value on the clock is not within the predefined range of the trusted time value; and    reading the indication.    
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 19 , further including: 
 querying a user of the electronic appliance as to whether the user wishes to initiate a process in which the clock would be reset; and    if the user responds affirmatively, performing the process, the process including resetting the clock using the trusted time server.    
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein: 
 the electronic appliance further comprises a communications port, and    the communications port uses secure communications techniques to contact the trusted server.    
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the communications port uses a cryptographic protocol to contact the trusted server.  
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the step of determining whether the time value on the clock is within a predefined range of the trusted time value is a function of a difference between the time value on the clock and the trusted time value.  
   
   
       27 . The method  claim 19 , further including: 
 requiring a user of the electronic appliance to interact with an external site after at least temporarily disabling certain functionality.    
   
   
       28 . A system including: 
 a central processing unit;    memory and a clock, the memory and the clock being associated with the central processing unit;    a communications port capable of transmitting communications between the central processing unit and a remote site; and    a protected processing environment, the protected processing environment being operable to: 
 control access to protected digital content in accordance with rules obtained from the remote site,  
 obtain a trusted time value from a trusted server,  
 determine whether a time value on the clock is within a predefined range of the trusted time value, and  
 at least temporarily disable certain functionality if the time value on the clock is not within the predefined range of the trusted time value.  
   
   
   
       29 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the protected processing environment is software-based.  
   
   
       30 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein at least temporarily disabling certain functionality includes disabling at least one aspect of the protected processing environment.  
   
   
       31 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein: 
 the system is operable to query a user of the system as to whether the user wishes to initiate a process in which the clock would be reset, and    if the user responds affirmatively, performing the process, the process including resetting the clock using the trusted time server.    
   
   
       32 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the communications port uses secure communications techniques to contact the trusted server.  
   
   
       33 . The system of  claim 32 , wherein the communications port uses a cryptographic protocol to contact the trusted server.  
   
   
       34 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the determination of whether the time value on the clock is within a predefined range of the trusted time value is a function of a difference between the time value on the clock and the trusted time value.  
   
   
       35 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the system is operable to require a user of the system to interact with an external site after at least temporarily disabling certain functionality.  
   
   
       36 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the system is operable to require a user of the system to interact with an external site after at least temporarily disabling certain functionality.  
   
   
       37 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the system is operable to require a user of the system to interact with an external site after at least temporarily disabling certain functionality.  
   
   
       38 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the system is operable to require a user of the system to interact with an external site after at least temporarily disabling certain functionality.