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US 8,819,848 B2Granted
Method for scalable access control decisions
AssigneeComcast Interactive Media, LLC
InventorJonathan T. Moore
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Content access may be provided and processed by assigning responsibility for obtaining entitlement data to the client's browser. Thus, in one example, the client may be configured to synchronize and coordinate data lookups associated with a content request, rather than relying on the server to do so. The network architecture may use a mediator design pattern, in which the client's browser acts as the mediator (i.e., middleman) between a content server and an entitlement data server. Accordingly, synchronous calls between server-side services might not be required. Instead, data necessary for the content server to process a client request for access to protected content may be received in the incoming request from the client's browser.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- receiving, by a client device, content data comprising an encrypted version of a location of one or more content items;
- requesting, by the client device from a content server, an entitlement data redirect to an entitlement server;
- receiving and following, by the client device, the entitlement data redirect to the entitlement server to obtain entitlement data for the client device or a user of the client device;
- transmitting, by the client device, the entitlement data for at least one of:
- the client device and the user of the client device, to the content server in association with a request for a content item of the one or more content items, wherein the entitlement data authorizes the at least one of:
- the client device and the user to access the content item;
- after transmitting the entitlement data to the content server, receiving, by the client device, an unencrypted version of a location of the content item from the content server;
- and
- retrieving, by the client device, the content item from the content server based on the unencrypted version of the location of the content item.
6 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a processor;
- and memory operatively coupled to the processor and storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to:
- receive content data including an encrypted version of a location of one or more content items;
- request a redirect to an entitlement data server from a content server;
- receive and follow the redirect from the content server;
- receive and follow a redirect from the entitlement data server to the content server, the redirect to the content server including entitlement data for at least one of:
- the apparatus or a user of the apparatus;
- transmit the entitlement data for the at least one of:
- the apparatus and the user of the apparatus to the content server in association with requesting a content item of the one or more content items, wherein the entitlement data authorizes the at least one of:
- the apparatus and the user to access the content item;
- and after transmitting the entitlement data to the content server, receive an unencrypted version of a location of the content item from the content server;
- and retrieve the content item from the content server based on the unencrypted version of the location of the content item.
9 more elements
A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to:
- receive content data including an encrypted version of a location of a content item;
- request a redirect to an entitlement data server from a content server storing the content item, wherein the entitlement data server is different from the content server;
- receive and follow the redirect from the content server, wherein the redirect is digitally signed by the content server;
- transmit entitlement data for the apparatus or a user of the apparatus to the content server in association with requesting the content item stored in the content server, wherein the entitlement data authorizes the user to access the content item;
- and after transmitting the entitlement data to the content server, receive an unencrypted version of the location of the content item from the content server;
- and retrieve the content item from the content server based on the unencrypted version of the location of the content item.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- transmitting, by a content server to a client device, content data including an encrypted version of a location of a content item;
- receiving, by the content server, a request for the content item from the client device, the request comprising a request for an entitlement data redirect;
- providing, by the content server, the client device with the entitlement data redirect configured to redirect the client device to an entitlement server storing entitlement data for at least one of:
- the client device and a user of the client device;
- receiving entitlement data for the at least one of:
- the client device and the user of the client device at the content server;
- and after receiving the entitlement data, transmitting an unencrypted version of the location of the content item to the client device, the unencrypted version of the location of the content item allowing the client device access to the content item in association with receiving the request for the content item.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.