MECHANISM FOR STORING, TRANSFERRING, ENCRYPTING AND LOCKING MULTI-MEDIA FILES

摘要

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for storing and transferring multi-media files in a blocked and encrypted form whereby the content is retained in a form that provides protection against unwanted copying and distribution. In transfer, each recipient of the same multi-media files may receive a uniquely encrypted version, where the keys are tied to some unique identifier of the end-user device, or of the end-user. A multi-media files is then played directly from the encrypted files by presenting the codec with a continuous stream of data, but without ever storing the whole file in unencrypted format.