Methods and apparatus for adapting the protection level for protected content

摘要

A DRM system is provided wherein a policy can be established such that the DRM system controls access to a protected content unit, wherein the policy evaluates a condition so that the DRM system adaptively varies the actions that a user is authorized to perform with the protected content unit in response to changes in the condition. The techniques described herein enable a protection level for a protected content unit to be varied in response to changes in one or more condition, such as environmental conditions and/or an historical usage conditions. The techniques described herein also enable a set of policies to be established for a DRM system such that the DRM system controls access to multiple protected content units in accordance with the set of policies. Pursuant to these policies, the DRM system can adaptively vary access to multiple protected content units in response to one or more conditions.

主权项

1. A method for responsively varying access to a plurality of content units, the method comprising:
providing a digital rights management (DRM) system, wherein the DRM system includes one or more servers, the DRM system controlling access to each of the plurality of content units, the access responsive to at least one environmental condition relating to at least one condition external to the DRM system; receiving a request to access one of the plurality of content units from a requesting computer system via a network connection, the at least one environmental condition being based on a different content unit from the requested one of the plurality of content units; evaluating, by the one or more servers of the DRM system, the at least one environmental condition; adaptively adjusting, by the one or more servers of the DRM system, a protection level of the requested one of the plurality of content units automatically based on the evaluating the at least one environmental condition; and providing, by the DRM system, access to the requested content unit to the requesting computer system via the network connection without requiring the requesting computer system to modify its operating system, wherein the access is restricted based upon the adjusted protection level, the adjusting the protection level being performed prior to the providing access to the requested content via the network connection.