Patent ID: 8667299

Claim:
A method for controlling presentation of media content on a media storage device, said method comprising: verifying presence of a content presentation application and a usage compliance mechanism on a client system, said client system communicatively coupled with a network comprising a plurality of source nodes, wherein at least one of said source nodes of said network authorizes presentation of said media content; utilizing said usage compliance mechanism for enforcing compliance with a usage restriction applicable to said media content disposed on said media storage device, said usage compliance mechanism including a file system filter driver for controlling data reads associated with said media content; activating said usage compliance mechanism in response to receiving the media content by the client system; utilizing said usage compliance mechanism to govern a function of said content presentation application, the compliance mechanism diverting a commonly used data output path of the content presentation application to a controlled data output path monitored by said compliance mechanism for every instance of media content presented by said content presentation application; presenting said media content via said content presentation application that is communicatively coupled with said usage compliance mechanism, said content presentation application enabled to present said content when communicatively coupled with said source node; and preventing said protected media content from being captured by an extractor mechanism via said controlled data input pathway while enabling presentation of said media content said preventing performed by said compliance mechanism stopping or disrupting the delivery of said media content via said controlled data input pathway.