Patent ID: 7864957

Claim:
An apparatus operable to receive an encrypted program used in a rental system, the apparatus comprising: a network interface operable to provide communication with a network such that (i) a first communication link is established between a user of the apparatus and an administrator over the network, (ii) a request by the user of the apparatus to become a member of the rental system is transmitted to the administrator using the first communication link, the request including a machine ID of the apparatus, (iii) an electronic membership certificate associated with the apparatus is received from the administrator using the first communication link, (iv) a second communication link is established between the user of the apparatus and a distributor over the network, (v) a rental request by the user of the apparatus and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate are transmitted over the network to the distributor using the second communication link, (vi) a list or menu of titles available for rental is received over the network from the distributor, (vii) a user-selected one of the titles available for rental and a remittance to cover rental cost for the user-selected title are transmitted over the network to the distributor using the second communication link, (viii) an electronic payment ticket is received from the distributor using the second communication link, the electronic payment ticket indicating that the remittance to cover the rental cost for the user-selected title has been provided and conferring a particular level of rental rights based on the transmitted remittance, (ix) the electronic payment ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate are transmitted over the network to the administrator, (x) an electronic rental ticket is received over the network from the administrator that produced the electronic rental ticket in response to receiving the transmitted electronic payment ticket, the electronic rental ticket indicating that the user is now authorized to receive the encrypted program and conferring a same or greater level of rental rights than that conferred by the electronic payment ticket, (xi) the electronic rental ticket and at least one of the machine ID or the electronic membership certificate are transmitted over the network to the distributor, and (xii) the encrypted program, an encrypted decryption key and an encrypted virtual ID are received over the network from the distributor, the virtual ID being generated using at least the machine ID; a decryption device operable to decrypt the encrypted decryption key, to decrypt the encrypted program using the decryption key, and to re-encrypt the decrypted program using the virtual ID; and a first storage device operable to store the encrypted virtual ID and the re-encrypted program.