Methods and systems to distribute content via a network utilizing distributed conditional access agents and secure agents, and to perform digital rights management (DRM)

摘要

A method and system to distribute content via a network commences when content is received at a content distributor from a content provider. At the content distributor, an operation relating to the content is performed. The content provider provides authorization to the content distributor to perform the operation, and the authorization is specific to the content distributor. The operation may be performed within a secure environment implemented at the content distributor, and may comprise an association operation to associate the content with a content consumer. In an exemplary embodiment, the association operation comprises a watermarking operation to watermark the content distributed specifically to the content consumer. In a further exemplary embodiment, the association operation comprises an encryption operation to encrypt the content utilizing a key associated with, and communicated to, the content consumer.