Patent ID: 7356838

Claim:
A method for controlling access to a media file, the method comprising: generating a first authorization ticket at a first time in response to a request to access the media file from a user; generating a second authorization ticket at a second time; determining whether the first and the second authorization tickets match thereby determining whether the user is authorized to access the media file; generating a first hash at a third time, the first hash based upon the determining whether the authorization tickets match and upon data; generating a second hash at a fourth time, the second hash based upon the data; determining whether the first hash and the second hash match, wherein a match of the first and second hashes indicates the user as having been authorized; and permitting the user access to the media file if the first and second hashes match; wherein: the first authorization ticket is generated on a web server; the second authorization ticket is generated and the determination whether the first and the second authorization tickets match are performed on a global cache server; the first hash is generated on a playlist server; and the generating of the second hash, the determining whether the first hash and the second hash match, and the permitting the user access to the media file are all performed on a media server.