Patent ID: 7490249

Claim:
A scrambler for scrambling digital content, the scrambler comprising: a device ID module for holding a value identifying the scrambler; a selectively-activated scrambler engine module for scrambling digital content responsive to a content ID, the scramble engine module comprises a scramble generation module adapted to scramble the digital content using an irreducible scrambling function including a plurality of scrambling functions, scrambling the digital content includes utilizing the irreducible scrambling function including the plurality of component scrambling functions, the plurality of component scrambling functions are executed by a plurality of processing blocks, the scrambling includes scrambling the digital content using a non-secret scramble key, and the scrambled digital content is provided for use by a content consumer, the content consumer including a plurality of hardware-based processing blocks arranged to execute a plurality of component descrambling functions of an irreducible descrambling function to descramble the scrambled digital content without using a secret descramble key; and an activation engine module for activating the scrambler engine responsive to receipt of an authority message including the value identifying the scrambler and the content ID.