Patent ID: 7308717

Claim:
A computer implemented method for protecting digital rights associated with protected content downloaded to a client device implementing an object-oriented Runtime Environment (RE) comprising a Virtual Machine (VM) and object-oriented runtime libraries components, and a player application for presenting content downloaded or streamed from a content server to a user, said method comprising the steps of: a) receiving requests to view or play downloaded or streamed protected contents via said player application; b) loading a digital fights management protocol handler unit associated with a protocol indicated by the name of the protected content being accessed; c) loading a rights set associated with that particular resource; and d) in response to each of the received requests, determining the rights associated with protected content and enabling viewing, listening or playing of said protected contents via said player application if permitted according to said rights, wherein digital rights management functionality is assured in a manner transparent to said player application and without the need for a trusted player application, wherein as a result of said determining step, the steps of: decrypting rights files to obtain a set of lights associated with said user; and if the user has rights associated with the protected content, creating objects to be passed to a security manager component for enforcing said rights as determined for that user; and wherein prior to said step of loading a digital rights management protocol handler unit, the steps of: launching said VM component; and verifying the integrity of the RE prior to said launching; and wherein said step of decrypting rights files to obtain a set of rights associated with said user comprises the steps of: resolving the resource URL in order to determine a content filename (CF) and the content map (CM) of that resource; decrypting said content map using a hidden private key; utilizing the CM to map the CF into a corresponding rights file (RF) and corresponding decryption key assigned to individual content items; and, decrypting the RE using the hidden private key.