US-12621543-B2 - Method for managing transmission of a content protected against copying to a rendering device

US12621543B2US 12621543 B2US12621543 B2US 12621543B2US-12621543-B2

Abstract

A method for managing transmission of a multimedia content protected against copying, referred to as the protected content, from a reader terminal to a rendering device via a communication link with a view to a rendition on the rendering device. The reader terminal includes a first protective module. The method includes verifying presence on the rendering device of a second protective module compatible with the first protective module, and, in the negative case, transmitting, via the communication link, a request to render an unprotected content instead of the protected content.

Inventors

Mathieu Rivoalen
Hervé MARCHAND

Assignees

ORANGE

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20220511
Priority Date: 20210527

Claims (8)

1 . A method comprising: managing transmission of a multimedia content protected against copying, referred to as protected content, from a reader terminal to a rendering device via a communication link with a view to a rendition on the rendering device, the reader terminal comprising a first protective module, the managing being performed by a hardware component and comprising acts of: requesting reception of the protected content; in response to the requesting, receiving both the protected content and an unprotected content from a communication network; subsequently to the receiving act and on receipt of the protected content, verifying presence on the rendering device of a second protective module compatible with the first protective module; and in response to non-presence of the second protective module, transmitting to the rendering device, via the communication link, a request to render, on the rendering device, the unprotected content instead of the protected content.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the hardware component transmitting a request to access the protected content, wherein the request to access further includes a request to receive the unprotected content, prior to performing the act of receiving the protected content and the unprotected content.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising obtaining the unprotected content from a memory included in the rendering device.
4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the hardware component searching for another rendering device equipped with a third protective module compatible with the first protective module, prior to performing the act of transmitting, and, in response to the compatible third protective module being found, including a datum representative of a result of the search in the unprotected content transmitted in the act of transmitting.
5 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising, following the transmitting act, the hardware component receiving a datum representative of a validation, which triggers the hardware component to request rendition of the protected content on said other rendering device.
6 . A hardware component for managing transmission of a protected multimedia content from a reader terminal to a rendering device via a communication link, the reader terminal being able to receive protected contents with a view to rendition thereof on the rendering device, the reader terminal comprising a first protective module, the hardware component comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon which when execute by the processor configure the hardware component to: requesting reception of the protected content; in response to the requesting, receiving both the protected content and an unprotected content from a communication network; subsequently to the receiving act and on receipt of the protected content, verify presence on the rendering device of a second protective module compatible with the first protective module; and depending on the presence, transmit to the rendering device via the communication link, a request to render the unprotected content instead of the protected content.
7 . The hardware component according to claim 6 , wherein the hardware component is implemented in the reader terminal.
8 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program-code instructions stored thereon which when executed by a hardware component configure the hardware component to perform a method comprising: managing transmission of a multimedia content protected against copying, referred to as protected content, from a reader terminal to a rendering device via a communication link with a view to a rendition on the rendering device, the reader terminal comprising a first protective module, the managing comprising acts of: requesting reception of the protected content; in response to the requesting, receiving both the protected content and an unprotected content from a communication network; subsequently to the receiving act and on receipt of the protected content, verifying presence on the rendering device of a second protective module compatible with the first protective module; and in response to non-presence of the second protective module, transmitting to the rendering device, via the communication link, a request to render, on the rendering device, the unprotected content instead of the protected content.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a method for managing transmission of a content protected against copying to a rendering device. The present disclosure targets systems including a reader terminal that is able to read digital multimedia content, and a rendering device able to render the multimedia content. A reader terminal is for example a digital-television decoder, a games console, a Blu-ray player or equivalent, etc. A rendering device is any terminal capable of rendering an audio and/or video content. A rendering device is for example a television set, a sound bar, a home-cinema amplifier, a video projector, etc. The reader terminal and the rendering device communicate via a communication link. Said communication link may be of any type. It may be wired or wireless. It will be seen below that, in one example of embodiment, the link chosen to illustrate the invention is a wired link of HDMI type. PRIOR ART At the present time, systems for protecting digital content against copying already exist. Among known solutions, a protective system referred to as HDCP (acronym of high-bandwidth digital content protection) was developed to protect against copying digital content transiting over DVI or HDMI communication links (DVI being the acronym of digital visual interface and HDMI being the acronym of high-definition multimedia interface). These protective systems aim to protect digital content, i.e. to prevent digital copying thereof, following transmission of the content to a rendering device. An HDCP protective module installed on a given piece of equipment in general operates in association with a controller, for example an HDMI controller or a DVI controller, installed on the piece of equipment. Furthermore, there are a number of versions of HDCP protection (or levels of protection). A content is transmitted from a reader terminal to a rendering device only if the versions of the protective modules are compatible. Concretely, when a content must be transmitted by the reader terminal to a rendering device, the reader terminal, before transmitting the content to the rendering device, carries out a verifying phase (also called the “negotiating” phase in the art) during which the reader terminal verifies whether a protective module is present on the terminal that is the intended recipient of the content; if so, the reader terminal verifies the version of the protective module installed on the rendering device; and, on receipt of the version of the protective module, this version is compared with the version of the module installed on the reader terminal. If the versions are compatible, the content is transmitted by the reader terminal to the rendering device with a view to rendition thereon. In contrast, if the versions are not compatible, or if the rendering device is devoid of a protective module, the multimedia content is not transmitted by the reader terminal to the rendering device. This incompatibility or the absence of a protective module results in a black screen being displayed on the screen of the rendering device; this is unacceptable in terms of user experience. SUMMARY To this end, an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for managing transmission of a multimedia content protected against copying, referred to as the protected content, from a reader terminal to a rendering device via a communication link with a view to a rendition on the rendering device, the reader terminal comprising a first protective module, the method comprising a step of verifying the presence on the rendering device of a second protective module compatible with the first protective module; and, in the negative case, a step of transmitting, via the communication link, a request to render an unprotected content instead of the protected content. This solution ensures that a content other than the requested content is rendered when the rendering device is devoid of a protective module or, in the case where the rendering device is equipped with a protective module, the protective modules are incompatible with each other and transmission of the protected content is not possible. An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure avoids a user expecting to view or listen to the content being subjected to a wait that is futile given that it does not end with rendition of the content. According to the invention, a content is rendered whatever happens. According to a first embodiment, the verifying step is preceded by a step of receiving the protected content and the unprotected content from a communication network. This first embodiment is advantageous because the unprotected content may be transmitted by the sender of the protected content. The sender may for example associate, with each protected content, a judiciously chosen unprotected content. For example, if the protected content is a film, the unprotected content is for example the first few minutes of the film or an extract from the fi