Patent ID: 8341402

Claim:
A method of controlling content access in a home network, comprising: defining groups in a home domain of the home network based on an attribute of users, where the groups of the home domain in the home network comprise a first sub group of first users among a plurality of users and a second sub group of second users among the plurality of users, wherein all members of a subscriber household form a single home domain; allocating by a computer a first sub group key for the first sub group of first users and a second sub group key for the second sub group of second users, where the first sub group key decrypts an encrypted first content key of first contents, the encrypted first content key generated from a domain key encrypting the first content key, the first content key encrypting first contents, and the second sub group key decrypts an encrypted second content key of second contents, the encrypted second content key generated from the domain key encrypting the second content key, the second content key encrypting second contents; determining whether a user who requests access to at least one of the first encrypted contents and second encrypted contents belongs to the first sub group or the second sub group; and transmitting one of the first sub group key allocated to the first sub group and the second sub group key allocated to the second sub group to a user device requested by the user, based on a result of the determining.