Preventing a non-head end based service provider from sending media to a media processing system

#Communication in a personal computer (PC) based environment having Internet connectivity is typically established based on e-mail addresses and/or Internet protocol (IP) addresses. Many unwanted connections occur with no anonymity or control over who communicates with whom.

#A user of a PC may receive many unwanted e-mail messages with file attachments (e.g., SPAM) because the user's e-mail address is widely distributed or published somewhere. Some of the e-mail messages may contain computer viruses that can hurt the user's PC. Many businesses and some individual users set up firewalls to prevent certain types of e-mail messages from getting through, especially those e-mail messages having computer viruses. However, in general, e-mail messages flow across the Internet without the performance of any type of authorization or authentication.

#A cable service provider or a satellite service provider may authorize which channels to broadcast and/or to be de-encrypted by a particular user based on the subscription information for that user. In general, a set-top box in a user's home receives whatever is broadcast to it based on the subscription of the user. A service provider could temporarily override the subscription limits and broadcast certain channels to a user's set-top box to let the user try those channels out. In reality, the user essentially has no control of what channels may be broadcast to him.

#FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a media exchange network preventing a non-headend based service provider from sending media to a device on a media exchange network, in accordance with various aspects of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a media exchange network clearly showing the resultant media exchange headends which incorporate the functionality of the media exchange server of FIG. 1 into the broadband access headends of FIG. 1, in accordance with various aspects of the present invention.

#FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a first exemplary media exchange network in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a media exchange network 100 preventing a rogue service provider from sending media to a device on a media exchange network, in accordance with various aspects of the present invention. Specifically, the media exchange network 100 is a communication network comprising a personal computer (PC) 101 and a media processing system (MPS) 102 at a 1.sup.st home 104; and a PC 105 and an MPS 106 at a 2.sup.nd home 108. The PC 101 and the MPS 102 interface to a broadband access headend 109. The broadband access headend 109 may comprise at least one of a cable headend, a satellite headend and a DSL headend, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. The PC 101 and the MPS 102 may include internal modems (e.g., a cable modem or a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem) or other interface devices to communicate with the broadband access headend 109. Optionally, the interface device (e.g., a modem) may be external to the PC 101 and the MPS 102.

#Similarly, the PC 105 and the MPS 106 interface to a broadband access headend 110. The broadband access headend 110 may comprise at least one of a cable headend, a satellite headend and a DSL headend, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. The PC 105 and the MPS 106 may include internal modems (e.g., a cable modem or a DSL modem) or other interface device to communicate with the broadband access headend 110. Optionally, the interface device (e.g., a modem) may be external to the PC 105 and the MPS 106.

#In accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, an MPS may comprise at least one of a set-top box (STB), a PC and a television (TV) with a media management system (MMS). An MMS is also known herein as a media exchange software (MES) platform.