Method and apparatus for sharing secure communications

#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 from other users who wish to view a particular document. Clearinghouse 150 also collects payment information, such as debit transactions, credit card transactions, or other known electronic payment schemes, and forwards the collected payments as a payment batch to distributor 120. Of course, clearinghouse 150 may retain a share of the payment as a fee for the above-noted services. Distributor 120 may retain a portion of the batch payment from clearinghouse 150 for distribution services and forward a payment (for example royalties) to author 110. Distributor 120 may await a bundle of user requests for a single document before distributing the document. In such a case, a single encrypted document can be generated for unencryption by all of the requesting users 130.

#Each time user 130 requests (or uses) a document, an accounting message is sent to audit server 140 which ensures that each request by user 130 matches with a document sent by distributor 120. Accounting information is received by audit server 140 directly from distributor 120. Any inconsistencies are transmitted via a report to clearinghouse 150, which can then adjust the payment batches made to distributor 120 accordingly. This accounting scheme is present to reduce the possibility of fraud in electronic document distribution and to handle any time-dependent usage permissions that may result in charges that vary, depending on the duration or other extent of use. Audit server 140 and clearinghouse 150, in combination, can serve as transaction aggregator 160 which functions to aggregate plural transactions over a period of time, and charge distributor 120 in an appropriate manner to reduce the accounting overhead of distributor 120. The model for electronic document distribution illustrated in FIG. 1 can be applied to the electronic document distribution system of the preferred embodiment disclosed herein. Further, content can include usage rights as described above.

#FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a computer architecture of a document distribution system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention. As noted above, the invention can be used in connection with known models for effecting accounting and payment of fees, such as use of a clearinghouse and an audit server. Further, the invention can be used in connection with various commerce models. Accordingly, the apparatus for auditing distribution, effecting payment, and authoring a document is not described in detail herein and is omitted from the discussion of the preferred embodiment to simplify description thereof.