Content distribution/protecting method and apparatus

A method for reading content in a terminal receiving a data stream containing content distributed from a plurality of content providers comprising:

• parsing a data stream;
• detecting an Intellectual Property Management and Protection (IPMP) Tool Information flag, Content ID, and a plurality of IPMP Tool information;
• retrieving a first IPMP Tool required to decrypt content encrypted by a first content provider of the plurality of content providers in the data stream, based on the detected plurality of IPMP Tool Information;
• and
• retrieving a second IPMP Tool required to decrypt content encrypted by a second content provider of the plurality of content providers in the data stream, based on the detected plurality of IPMP Tool Information,
• wherein retrieving the first IPMP Tool comprises:
• identifying from the IPMP Tool ID a decryption tool for decrypting the encryption used for the content;
• detecting from a location type identifier a type of location where the decryption tool is located;
• and
• identifying specifically and accessing the location where the decryption tool is located from location details information.

An apparatus for distributing content from a first content provider of a plurality of content providers, comprising:

• encoding arrangement which encodes and converts content to a content stream;
• encryption arrangement which encrypts the encoded content stream using a data encryption tool;
• a Content ID generating arrangement which generates a specific Content ID according to the content;
• an IPMP (intellectual property management and protection) Tool Information generating arrangement which generates IPMP Tool Information containing the information needed to decrypt a content stream encrypted by the data encryption tool;
• a generating arrangement which generates an IPMP Tool Information flag indicating the presence of IPMP Tool Information;
• and
• a data stream compiler which compiles a data stream from the IPMP Tool Information flag and following IPMP Tool Information, Content ID, and encrypted content stream,
• wherein the IPMP Tool Information generating arrangement comprises:
• an allocator that allocates an IPMP Tool ID from a pre-defined ID table that identifies a plurality of decryption tools used for decrypting each content, said pre-defined ID table defining a list of identifiers of IPMP tools, to allocate a location type ID indicating the type of location where the decryption tool is located, and to allocate location details information indicating the specific location where the decryption tool is located,
• wherein the IPMP Tool Information for content encrypted by a first content provider of the plurality of content providers and a separate IPMP Tool Information for content encrypted by a second content provider of the plurality of content providers are included in the data stream for transmission to a terminal apparatus.

A terminal apparatus for receiving a data stream containing content from a plurality of content providers and reading the content, comprising:

• a parsing arrangement which parses the data stream;
• a detection arrangement which detects an Intellectual Property Management and Protection IPMP Tool Information flag, Content ID, and a plurality of IPMP Tool Information;
• and
• a retrieving arrangement which retrieves a first IPMP Tool, required to decrypt content encrypted by a first content provider of the plurality of content providers, in the data stream, based on the detected plurality of IPMP Tool Information and which retrieves a second IPMP tool required to decrypt content encrypted by a second content provider of the plurality of content providers, in the data stream, based on the detected plurality of IPMP Tool Information,
• wherein retrieving the first IPMP Tool comprises:
• identifying from the IPMP Tool ID a decryption tool for decrypting the encryption used for the content;
• detecting from a location type identifer a type of location where the decryption tool is located;
• and
• identifying specifically and accessing the location where the decryption tool is located from location details information.