Methods and apparatuses for digital content protection

Abstract

A method for digital content protection comprises generating a plurality of frame keys, retrieving a plurality of frames from digital content, and at least one of encrypting and decrypting the digital content with a different frame key that dynamically changes for each frame of the plurality of frames. A storage device comprises a computer-readable medium including encrypted digital content stored thereon, wherein the encrypted digital content is encrypted with a frame key that is different for each frame of the encrypted digital content. A content player comprises a computer-readable medium including instructions stored thereon, that when executed cause a processor to decrypt encrypted digital content by reconstructing a plurality of frame keys that are different from each other that are used to decrypt each frame of the encrypted digital content.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for digital content protection, the method comprising:
 retrieving, with the processor, a first frame from digital content;   generating a first frame key;   encrypting, with the processor, the first frame of the digital content with the first frame key to form a first encrypted frame;   retrieving, with the processor, a second frame from the digital content;   generating, with the processor, a second frame key using at least some data from the first encrypted frame;   encrypting, with the processor, the second frame of the digital content with the second frame key to form a second encrypted frame;   encrypting, with the processor, an encrypted regional title key with a user key and a combination of a regional key and a title key to generate an encrypted regional title key; and   storing the encrypted regional title key and the encrypted digital content in a storage device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the second frame key comprises using a selected subset of the first encrypted frame to generate the second frame key. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the second frame key comprises using the entire first encrypted frame to generate the second frame key. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein generating the second frame key further includes combining a regional title key with the first encrypted frame. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein generating the first frame key further includes using the regional title key as the first frame key without combining a previously encrypted frame if no previous encrypted frame exists prior to the first frame. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the regional key includes an identifier associated with a particular geographic location, and the title key includes an identifier associated with a particular title for the digital content. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 generating the user key by combining a device ID and a user ID; and   storing the user ID in the storage device.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein combining the regional title key with the first encrypted frame includes performing an XOR function. 
     
     
         9 . A storage device, comprising:
 a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including encrypted digital content stored thereon, wherein the encrypted digital content includes:
 a first encrypted frame that is encrypted with a first frame key; and 
 a second encrypted frame that is encrypted with a second frame key that is different than the first frame key and that uses at least a portion of the first encrypted frame combined with another key; and an encrypted regional title key stored on the computer-readable storage medium, the encrypted regional title key being encrypted with a user key and a combination of a regional key and a title key. 
   
     
     
         10 . The storage device of  claim 9 , wherein the user key includes a combination of a user-specific identifier and a device-specific identifier. 
     
     
         11 . The storage device of  claim 9 , wherein the regional key is associated with a region selected from the group consisting of a city, an area code, a zip code, a region served by a kiosk, and sub-regions thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The storage device of  claim 9 , further comprising a portable storage device that comprises the computer-readable storage medium, the portable storage device selected from the group consisting of a Flash memory device, a smart phone, an eBook reader, a laptop computer, and a tablet computer. 
     
     
         13 . The storage device of  claim 9 , wherein the digital content is selected from the group consisting of video content, audio content, video game content, health records, financial records, government records, and military records. 
     
     
         14 . A method for decrypting encrypted digital content, the method comprising:
 extracting a regional title key stored in a storage device;   extracting encrypted frames from the encrypted digital content including a first encrypted frame and a second encrypted frame;   decrypting the first encrypted frame using a first frame key;   combining the regional title key with data from the first encrypted frame to generate second frame key; and   decrypting the second encrypted frame using the second frame key.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising the first frame key and the second frame key dynamically during decryption without either the first frame key or the second frame key being stored in the storage device. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 extracting a user ID stored in the storage device, the user ID associated with a specific user;   extracting a device ID stored in the storage device, the device ID associated with the specific storage device;   combining the user ID and the device ID to generate a user key; and   wherein extracting the regional title key includes decrypting an encrypted regional title key with the user key to generate the regional title key.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising receiving the encrypted digital content at a content player from a remote server. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein receiving the encrypted digital content includes streaming the encrypted digital content at the content player.