Patent ID: 7831823

Claim:
A method performed by an electronic appliance, the electronic appliance comprising a protected processing environment and rights management programming stored on a computer readable medium, the rights management programming being operable, when executed by the electronic appliance, to govern use of electronic content by a user of the electronic appliance, the method comprising: enabling a user of the electronic appliance to use a piece of electronic content, the piece of electronic content having control information securely associated therewith, the control information specifying one or more consequences of use of the piece of electronic content and being received by the electronic appliance separately from the piece of electronic content; monitoring usage of the piece of electronic content for occurrence of one or more predefined events; and taking one or more actions upon detection of the one or more predefined events; wherein the one or more predefined events and the one or more actions are specified, at least in part, in the control information, and wherein the rights management programming is operable, when executed by the electronic appliance, to cause the electronic appliance to perform said monitoring and taking steps, using, at least in part, the protected processing environment.