METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTHORIZING MULTIMEDIA MULTICASTING

摘要

A multicasting authorization system comprises a streaming server, an authorization server, a user system and a distribution server. The distribution server provides a multicast data stream over multicast channels. A user system requests and receives an authorization code from an authorization server to receive the multicast data stream, and provides the authorization code to a streaming server. A streaming server, coupled to both an authorization server and a user system sends start up information for accessing the multicast data stream to the user system upon validation of the authorization code. The multicast datastream is encrypted and the user system maintains a connection with the authorization server which provides a cryptographic key for use in decrypting the encrypted multicast datastream.