Patent ID: 6978022

Claim:
In a cable system, an encryption renewal system for generating one or more entitlement control messages, the messages containing cryptographic keys for allowing a subscriber set-top box to decrypt content encrypted off-line, the entitlement control message being forwarded with the content to the subscriber terminal, the encryption renewal system comprising: a first computing platform for receiving a request to generate the entitlement control messages, the first computing platform performing non-secure tasks associated with the entitlement control messages; a second computing platform physically separate from the first computing platform for generating the entitlement control messages, the second computing platform performing secure tasks associated with the entitlement control messages; and one or more firewalls between the first and the second computing platforms for enhancing security of the encryption renewal system, the first computing platform forwarding the entitlement control messages to enable the subscriber set-top box to de-crypt the pre-encrypted content.