Patent ID: 7865960

Claim:
A digital content protection system for transmitting and receiving encrypted digital content that is legally protected by copyright, comprising: a transmitter operable to transmit encrypted digital content; a receiver operable to receive digital content from the transmitter; and a specific server which stores identifiers for several system components, each identifier being unique to each system component, and further storing information relating to an authentication procedure usable by each system component, with the information relating to an authentication procedure being linked to the unique identifier, wherein the transmitter determines whether an identifier unique to the receiver is stored on the specific server, when the unique identifier is stored on the server, the transmitter determines that the receiver is a legal system component, and also determines, from the server, the appropriate authentication procedure for the receiver based on the identifier, when the transmitter has the determined authentication procedure, the transmitter uses the determined procedure to verify the authenticity of the receiver, and when the transmitter does not have the determined authentication procedure, the transmitter acquires the authentication procedure from a source external to the transmitter and then uses the acquired procedure to validate the receiver, wherein authorization to legally transmit and receive the encrypted digital content legally protected by copyright is received by payment of an appropriate compensation to a content provider.