Patent ID: 8578505

Claim:
A method for controlling a use of a conditional access content by a multimedia unit, said conditional access content being sent to a plurality of multimedia units connected to a management center, said method comprising: receiving management messages containing a plurality of content profiles, at a plurality of multimedia units linked to said management center, a content profile being a set of usage rules for different existing controlled content usage types, each of the content profiles having an associated usage rule for at least two controlled content usage types, a usage rule being an instantiation of a given controlled content usage type, and each controlled content usage type corresponding to a specific aspect of conditional access content management; storing the content profiles in a memory of the multimedia units; receiving the conditional access content and a control message containing at least information indicating a content profile that is to be linked to the content; extracting the information indicating the content profile that is to be linked to the conditional access content; accessing the content profile corresponding to the information indicating the content profile that is to be linked to the conditional access content, said information containing at least a content profile identifier; and using the conditional access content by the multimedia unit according to the usage rules contained in the content profile that is to be linked to the content.