Patent ID: 7620185

Claim:
A method, comprising: designating one or more portions of a content item and previewing in intervals; generating in a first server an electronic service guide as meta data describing previews, content and other information regarding the one or more designated portions, and automatically informing consumers of previews and content via an electronic service guide channel; transmitting designated portions of the content in a plaintext form in transmission bursts occurring in first intervals in a first channel across a network; transmitting the remaining portions of the content item encrypted with a content key in transmission bursts occurring in second intervals in said first channel across the network; changing the content key in intervals throughout the transmission; transmitting encrypted content keys and associated rights keys in said second intervals in a second channel across the network; providing rights objects including the rights keys and rules in a second server that allows for content decryption and purchase of content rights in e-commerce transactions by consumers, and transmitting one or more rules across the network, the one or more rules placing use restrictions on one or more of said content keys via rights objects.