Method and apparatus for validating security components through a request for content

#The invention relates to distribution of digital content, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for facilitating distribution of protected documents displayed with the rendering engine of a standard application program, such as an Internet Web Browser.

#The Internet is a worldwide network of computers linked together by various hardware communication links all running a standard suite of protocols known as TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol). The growth of the Internet over the last several years has been explosive, fueled in the most part by the widespread use of software tools (known as “browsers”) which allow both HTML (hypertext markup language) viewing and HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) navigation. Browsers allow a simple GUI (graphical user interface) to be used to communicate over the Internet. Browsers generally reside on the computer used to access content on the Internet, i.e. the client computer. HTTP is a component on top of TCP/IP and provides users access to documents of various formats using the standard page description language known as HTML and more recently XML (extensible markup language) and XHTML (extensible hypertext markup language), a reformulation of HTML into XML. The collection of servers on the Internet using HTML/HTTP has become known as the “World Wide Web” or simply the “Web.”

#Through HTML, XHTML, and interactive programming protocols, the author of content is able to make the content available to others by placing the content, in the form of a Web page, on an Internet Web server. The network path to the server is identified by a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and, generally, any client running a Web browser can access the Web server by using the URL. A client computer running a browser can request a display of a Web page stored on a Web server by issuing a URL request through the Internet to the Web in a known manner.

#The invention is described through a preferred embodiment and the attached drawing in which:

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a document distribution system utilizing DRM technology;

#FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a DRM system of the preferred embodiment;

#The invention is described below with reference to a preferred embodiment. It will be apparent that the invention can be embodied in a wide variety of forms, some of which may be quite different from those of the disclosed embodiment. Consequently, the specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are merely representative and do not limit the scope of the invention.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a model for a system for the electronic distribution of digital documents. Author 110 creates original content 112 and passes it to distributor 120 for distribution. Ordinarily, author 110 is the creator of the content. However, the term “author” as used herein can be the creator, owner, editor, or other entity controlling the content or an agent (e.g. a publisher) of one of those entities. Also author 110 may distribute documents directly, without involving another party such as distributor 120, and thus the author and distributor may be the same entity. However, the division of functions set forth in FIG. 1 is more efficient, as it allows author 110 to concentrate on content creation and not the administrative functions of distribution. Moreover, such a breakdown facilitates economies of scale by permitting distributor 120 to associate with a number of authors 110. The term “document”, as used herein, generally refers to any type of content, such as text, audio, or other data, including any encryption, formatting, or the like. The term “content”, as used herein, generally refers to the underlying information of a document. However, these terms overlap and thus are used interchangeably herein.

#Distributor 120 distributes documents to user 130 upon request. In a typical electronic distribution model, the content is distributed as a document in encrypted form. Distributor 120 encrypts the content with a random key and then encrypts the random key with a public key corresponding to user 130. Thus the encrypted document is customized solely for the particular user 130. User 130 is then able to use their private key to unencrypt the random key and use it to unencrypt and view the document.