Patent ID: 8583922

Claim:
A system for controlling access to digital services comprising: (a) a control center configured to coordinate and provide digital services; (b) an uplink center configured to receive the digital services from the control center and transmit the digital services to a satellite; (c) the satellite configured to: (i) receive the digital services from the uplink center; (ii) process the digital services; and (iii) transmit the digital services to a subscriber receiver station; (d) the subscriber receiver station configured to: (i) receive the digital services from the satellite; (ii) control access to the digital services through an integrated receiver/decoder (IRD); and (iii) enforce one or more identity-based security policies for accessing the digital services; (e) a conditional access module (CAM) communicatively coupled to the IRD, wherein the CAM comprises: (i) a protected nonvolatile memory component, wherein: (1) the protected nonvolatile memory component is used to contain identification information; and (2) the protected nonvolatile memory component is protected from modification such that the protected nonvolatile memory component is read only; and (3) access to the protected nonvolatile memory component is isolated; (ii) a hidden non-modifiable identification number embedded into the protected nonvolatile memory component, wherein the identification number uniquely identifies the CAM; and (iii) a custom logic hardware block, wherein: (1) the protected nonvolatile memory component is not directly accessible via a system bus; (2) access to the protected nonvolatile memory component is limited to the custom logic hardware block; (3) the custom logic hardware block comprises a hardware state machine configured to use the hidden non-modifiable identification number and other information to provide an output that is a function of the hidden non-modifiable identification number and that can be used to confirm an identity of the CAM without revealing information that could be used to impersonate the identity of the CAM; and (4) the confirming of the identity is used to condition performance of digital services, wherein the digital services cannot naturally be encrypted and wherein the CAM is not explicitly involved in performing the digital services.