System and method for defining programmable processing steps applied when protecting the data

A method of protecting data to be transmitted to client devices, the method comprising:

• receiving input data to be protected;
• for each of the client devices, mapping sequencer data that describes an order in which selected ones of plurality of protection functions will be applied to the input data, the mapping based on a mapping used by the respective client device for selecting the protection functions from the sequencer data, wherein each of the client devices has a unique mapping for selecting protection functions from sequencer data;
• generating protected output data for each of the client devices by executing a software program to sequentially apply the selected protection functions to the input data according to the order described by the corresponding mapped sequencer data;
• and
• transmitting the respective protected output DRM data to each of the client devices.

A method of protecting data to be transmitted to client devices, the method comprising:

• receiving input data to be protected;
• generating protected output data by executing a software program to sequentially apply selected ones of a plurality of protection functions to the input data according to an order described by sequencer data;
• transmitting the protected output data to the client devices;
• mapping the sequencer data for each of the client devices based on a mapping used by the respective client device for selecting the protection functions from the sequencer data, wherein each of the client devices has a unique mapping for selecting protection functions from sequencer data;
• and
• transmitting the corresponding mapped sequencer data to each of the client devices.