Patent ID: 8286256
Filing Date: 2012-10-09
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A portable music player to restrict access to digital content on a communications network, comprising: a portable music player to play for a user of the portable music player digital content received over the network; and a biometric measuring component, coupled with the portable music player, the biometric measuring component to measure biometric information of the user; wherein the portable music player is configured to generate an authentication signal at the portable music player if a coincidence exists between reference fingerprint data of a fingerprint stored at the portable music player and measured fingerprint data of a fingerprint measured by the biometric component of the portable music player, wherein the portable music player is configured to transmit the authentication signal across a network to a server to authenticate the user of the portable music player with the server so that the successful transmission of the authentication signal to the server permits the portable music player to access (a) a previously uploaded playlist associated with the user, the playlist identifying playable digital content accessible to more than one user, and (b) protected playable digital content, wherein the playlist is a data structure containing links to a plurality of digital content files.