Patent ID: 6708157
Filing Date: 2004-03-16
Classification: G06F,G06Q,H04L,H04N,Y10S

Abstract:
A system for controlling the distribution and use of digital works comprising:means for associating one or more usage rights with a digital work, said one or more usage rights specifying a manner of use indicating a particular manner of how said digital work may be used and at least one condition that must be satisfied in order to exercise the manner of use, at least one of said usage rights specifying a digital ticket, the possession of said digital ticket being a condition for that usage right; a plurality of repositories for storing and exchanging digital works, each of said plurality of repositories comprising: storage means for storing digital works, their associated usage rights, and digital tickets; transaction processing means having a requester mode of operation for requesting access to a digital work, said request specifying a usage right, and a server mode of operation for processing requests to access said requested digital work based on said usage right specified in said request, the usage rights associated with said digital work, and digital tickets associated with said usage rights; a generic ticket agent for punching digital tickets to indicate that an associated usage right has been exercised in accordance with a manner of use specified by the usage right; a granting means for granting access to said digital work in accordance with the manner of use specified by said usage right if the requester possesses the digital ticket, wherein said granting means is not only a Boolean operator for filtering; and a coupling means for coupling to another of said plurality of repositories across a communications medium.