Patent ID: 7793105

Claim:
A local domain authority device, comprising: a location limited channel (LLC) interface configured to communicate wirelessly with a device positioned within a limited location; a network interface configured to communicate with a device positioned outside of the limited location; and a local domain authority (LDA) module for authenticating at least one device which is positioned within the limited location and is selected as a member of a domain, receiving domain credentials for the domain from a rights issuing server via the network interface, transmitting device authentication information, including the domain credentials corresponding to the domain, to the authenticated device via the LLC interface, and registering the authenticated device as a member of the domain, wherein the device authentication information comprises a signature which is signed with an LDA private key of the local domain authority device with respect to each of: a domain-based device identifier which is assigned to the authenticated device; an LDA identifier which is assigned to the LDA device by a rights issue server; and a hash value of a device public key certificate of the authenticated device.