Patent ID: 7020637

Claim:
A method for monitoring viewing of a selection, the method comprising: receiving a request to view the selection, the selection stored in a local memory in an encrypted form; denying the request to view the selection if at least one of the following conditions has occurred: (1) a first condition in which at least a first predetermined number of selections from a recording that includes the selection have been viewed within a first selected time interval, (2) a second condition in which at least a second predetermined number of consecutive selections from the recording that includes the selection have been viewed within a second selected time interval, (3) a third condition in which at least a third predetermined number of selections from a recorded anthology that includes the selection have been viewed within a third selected time interval, or (4) a fourth condition in which at least a fourth predetermined number of consecutive selections from the recorded anthology that includes the selection have been viewed within a fourth selected time interval; and if not denying the request, allowing the selection to be viewed in an unencrypted form.