SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REDUCED HIERARCHY KEY MANAGEMENT

摘要

A controller for managing media stream decryption keys includes a media decryption engine, a table, and a content key list. The media decryption engine receives an encrypted media stream from a headend and presents a decrypted media stream to a receiving device in response to a decryption key, wherein the decryption key is a function of a content key. The table contains a content key index and a plurality of corresponding content keys. Content keys that correspond to a particular encrypted media stream are selected from the content key list using an index from the content key table, and that is referenced by an identifier received from a headend in connection with the encrypted media stream.