FR2843468A1 - Transmission of impulse purchase messages for scrambled data and services that enables purchase execution in offline mode if a purchase offer is in impulse mode - Google Patents

Abstract

Method for transmission of data and or services via a network in which data receipt is conditional on at least the validating of an access right or use of an electronic-token facility. The method has the following steps: transmission of a secure purchase offer message; evaluation of the purchase offer transmitted in the message; and execution of a purchase if the purchase offer is of impulse mode. An Independent claim is made for a system for data or service transmission by an operator to a terminal equipment device, said system having means for adapting sales offers to permit at least an offline anticipated purchase.

Description

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING MESSAGE

  IMPULSIVE PURCHASE OF DATA AND SERVICES ENHANCED

  TECHNICAL FIELD The invention lies in the field of transmissions of data and / or services scrambled to a plurality of terminals connected to a data exchange network and more particularly relates to a method of broadcasting data and / or services of which 10 the reception is subject to a condition of validity of at least one access right or an electronic token holder, this method comprising the following preliminary steps: - broadcasting at least one secure purchase offer message 15 EPM with at least one impulse offer and / or at least one direct purchase offer online access rights or electronic token holder, and upon receipt, - evaluate the offer to purchase proposed in the EPM message

of offer to purchase.

  State of the Prior Art With the development of data exchanges through open networks such as the Internet network, secure exchanges are becoming increasingly important in the activities of operators and service providers. This securing has the following essential aims: to prevent transactions made across the network from being intercepted; - to ensure the integrity of the data, that is to say, to determine if the transmitted data have not been altered during the communication; to enable authentication, that is to say, to ensure the identity of the correspondents of a transaction, and the confidentiality of making the information unintelligible to others;

  people than the actors of the transaction.

  The authentication is performed by the access control system 10 which allows access to resources

  only to authorized persons.

  In the field of the broadcast of scrambled audiovisual programs, the DVB standard defines a Common Scrambling Algorithm (CSA) scrambling algorithm, but does not provide for access control leaving operators and services the freedom to define

their own systems.

  The DVB standard, however, provides for the transport of access control data that is retrieved on reception by means of data descriptors in a Conditional Access Table (CAT) inserted into the MPEG transport multiplex. as well as by means of other private data packets indicated by the Program Map Table (PMT) which contains the Packet Identifier (PID) identification numbers of each coded program component in the form of of an elementary train

  MPEG PES, (for Packetized Elementary Stream).

  Generally, the information necessary for descrambling is transmitted in messages of

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  specific access control called Conditional Access Messages (CAM), which includes at least one Entitlement Control Message (ECM) and an access title management message. EMM (for

Entitlement Management Message).

  These conditional access messages are generated from at least three input data: - a control word CW (for Control Word) intended to initialize the descrambling sequence, - a service key used to encrypt the control word for a group of one or more users,

  a user key used to encrypt the service key.

  ECMs are a function of control word and service key while EMMs are function

  the service key and the user key.

  ECMs and EMMs are periodically and permanently transmitted to the terminals in order to guarantee their

reception by users.

  On reception, the decryption principle consists in finding the service key from the EMMs and the user key contained in a security processor, for example a smart card. The service key is then used to decrypt the ECMs in order to retrieve the control word

  the initialization of the descrambling system.

  In known access control systems, the ECM access control messages contain the criteria and the purchase proposals.

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  impulsive of the current session. However, once the session has been purchased, this proposal becomes irrelevant in the ECMs since access to the sessions can be obtained by means of a session number indicated. Furthermore, the transmission of the purchase proposal in the ECMs alone does not make it possible to make purchases.

impulsive anticipation.

  Moreover, the purchase proposals are not linked to a control word, and because of this, there is no functional or security reason for linking them.

to the control words in the ECM.

  An object of the invention is to separate purchase proposals from access rights and tokens

  ECM access title control messages.

  Another object of the invention is to offer a potential user, subscriber or non-subscriber, data and / or services broadcast, the possibility of making the purchase of said data and / or services in various modes, impulsive, or both 20 modes at a time depending on its specific needs, possibly before the diffusion of ECMs and

data and / or services.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This object is achieved by means of a method for purchasing data and / or services broadcast whose reception is subject to a condition of validity of at least one access right or a carrier. electronic tokens, this method comprising the following preliminary steps:

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  - broadcast at least one secure EPM offer purchase message containing at least one impulse offer and / or at least one direct purchase offer online rights of access or electronic token holder , and at the reception, - evaluate the offer of purchase proposed in the message

of offer to purchase.

  The method according to the invention further comprises a step of making an advance purchase off-line if the purchase offer message includes a

impulse offer.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the EPM message is broadcast in a guide

programs (EOG).

  According to this embodiment, the program guide (EOG) is broadcast independently of said

data and / or services.

  In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the method further comprises a step of making an online purchase if the message

  Offer to Purchase includes an offer to buy online.

  In a particular application of the invention, said data and / or services

  represent audiovisual programs transmitted in point-to-point or multipoint mode.

  The invention also relates to a system for offering data and / or services distributed by an operator to at least one terminal equipment comprising a central module for managing the programming of the data and services broadcast, a

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  Generator of an Electronic Bid Guide (EOG) and an Impulse Buy Offer Message Generator (EPM).

  According to the invention, this system comprises means for adapting the purchase offers so as to allow at least one advance purchase offline. These means for adapting the purchase offers are software arranged either in the programming management module of the data and services broadcast or in the terminal equipment. 10

Brief description of the drawings

  Other features and benefits of

  the invention will emerge from the description which follows, taken by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the appended figures in which:

  FIG. 1 schematically represents a program broadcasting system in which the method according to the invention is implemented;

  FIG. 2 represents a description of the program provided by the program guide of the

  figure 1; FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a flowchart illustrating an exemplary implementation of the method of the invention; FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an impulsive purchase choice obtained by means of the method of FIG. 2; Figure 5 schematically illustrates an online purchase choice obtained by the method of Figure 2;

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  FIG. 6 schematically illustrates the case

  o The user opts for an online purchase.

  Detailed presentation of a particular embodiment

  The following description relates to a

  particular application of the method according to the invention in a distribution system of audiovisual programs to a plurality of subscriber terminals connected to a data exchange network such as the Internet network for example or a private network for broadcasting programs, or a network

  satellite broadcasting programs.

  FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a system for offering data and / or services broadcast by an operator to at least one terminal equipment 2. This system comprises a central module 4 for programming management of the data and services broadcast, a an electronic offer guide 6 (EOG) generator and an impulse purchase offer message generator 8 (EPM, for Entitlement)

  Purchase Message) and an ECMS generator.

  Preferably, the EOG electronic guide is broadcast independently of the programs and contains (FIG. 2): the start and end time of the broadcast program;

  * a textual description of the program,

  ECM (for Entitlement Control Message) access control messages

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  conveying the access criteria associated with the program, and the impulse purchase proposals conveyed in EPM purchase message messages, described in the French patent application filed by the applicant on December 12, 2001 under number 01 16059, to access broadcast programs

  after verification of the access criteria.

  The terminal 2 comprises a security processor in which subscriber access titles are recorded and whose function, in a known manner, is to process EMM, ECM and EPM messages contained in the broadcast stream. The terminal manages a human-machine interface HMI presented to the subscriber, and dialogue with the subscriber security processor and

  with the server of a technical operator.

  Terminal 2 communicates with the operator either in broadcast mode, through a broadcast network, or in connected mode, through an interactive point-to-point link. The central programming management module 4

  disseminated data and services allows the operator to define programming to build an Electronic Offer Guide (EOG).

  The EPM generator 8 defines one or more secure EPM purchase offer messages allowing the security processor to make off-line entitlement offers without interaction with an upstream server. For this purpose, the generator of EOG 6 associates these

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  EPM tender offer messages to the EOG to allow

  to adapt the presentation of the offers to purchase.

  Two embodiments of the adaptation of the presentation of the offers of purchase are possible: * A first mode in which the adaptation is carried out in an unsecured way by the terminal allowing a greater flexibility according to the terminals, it is ie according to the 10 adaptation software in the terminals, * A second mode in which the adaptation is

  performed upstream, before dissemination of the program guide, in a secure manner allowing greater security in the choice of the final purchase offer 15 offered to the subscriber.

  In both modes, the purchase offers are secure, the difference between the two modes residing

  only in securing adaptation.

  Unsafe adaptation at the terminal In a first variant of this mode of

  embodiment, the product description (event) is broadcast with the following messages: an ECM (Entitlement Control Message) containing the product access criteria for information and one or more

  EPM conveying impulse buying possibilities of access rights associated with these access criteria. The security processor analyzes the ECM message to check the criteria associated with the broadcast program and indicates to the subscriber if it has direct access to this program.

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  In a second variant, the terminal may, upon request of additional information from the subscriber by pressing an "Info" key for example, ask the security processor to analyze the purchase proposals associated with the program, for him display all the marketing methods and costs associated with the program's commercials, and the subscriber's security processor portetons that allow it to make these purchases. The subscriber is thus possibly informed that he has to reload one of his token holders. This is done by simply evaluating the

EPM message.

  In a third variant, with the subscriber's purchase agreement and if the subscriber's token holder is sufficient, the terminal presents the EPM to the security processor for execution. Thus the subscriber can impulsively buy in advance the access rights or doors allowing him later access to the program. Figure 3 illustrates the treatment of the EOG

received by the terminal 2.

  In step 10, the terminal receives the EOG and in

  extracts descriptions, ECMs and EPMs that are

associated with broadcast programs.

  In step 12, the descriptions are then

  displayed on the terminal screen 2.

  In step 14, the terminal 2 presents the ECMs to the security processor which verifies the access criteria.

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  If the access criteria are respected, the terminal displays an icon indicating that the access is

possible (step 16).

  If the access criteria are not met, the terminal presents the EPMs to the security processor for analysis (step 20) in order to check (step 22) whether

  Impulse purchase offers are possible.

  If no impulse offer is associated with the broadcast programs, the terminal 2 displays an icon indicating that access to these programs is

  currently impossible (step 24).

  If, on the other hand, one or more impulsive purchase offers are associated with the broadcast programs, the terminal 2 displays an icon indicating that this mode of purchase is possible (step 26) as well as a window allowing the subscriber to perform the choice of one or more modes of purchase for one or more

programs (steps 28).

  Adaptation secured by the operator In the second embodiment, the purchase offer message includes, in a secure manner, the desired adaptation. In this case, the composite EPM message includes the verification of criteria in order to propose only the impulse purchase possibilities of access rights or electronic tokens, relating to programs or data for which the subscriber does not have access. rights. Depending on the response to the verification of criteria contained in the EPM, the terminal can only offer the purchase of a necessary right.

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  Figure 4 illustrates the treatment of the EOG

received by the terminal 2.

  In step 30, the terminal receives the EOG and in

  extracts the descriptions and the EPM that are associated with

programs broadcast.

  In step 32, the descriptions are then

  displayed on the terminal screen 2.

  Step 34 is to have the impulse purchase proposals analyzed by the security processor to evaluate the EPMs against the access rights. Step 36 is to look at impulse buying opportunities and / or online. If an impulsive purchase offer is associated with the broadcast programs, the terminal 2 displays an icon indicating that this purchase mode is possible (step 38) as well as a window allowing the subscriber to make the choice of a way

  purchases for one or more programs (steps 40).

  If, on the other hand, no impulse offer 20 is associated with the programs broadcasted, the terminal 2 displays an icon indicating that access to these programs

  programs is currently impossible (step 42).

  Figure 5 schematically illustrates the case where the user opts for an impulse purchase. In this case, security processor 4 executes EPM messages (step 44) and displays an icon indicating that access to impulse purchased programs is allowed

(step 46).

  Figure 6 schematically illustrates the case where the user opts for an online purchase. In that case,

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  the terminal 2 makes a connection to the purchasing server (step 48), executes one or more online purchases (step 50) by a payment by means of a credit card, for example, receives from the purchase server one or more EMM registration of access rights (stage

  52). The received EMMs are executed by the security processor (step 50) to allow access to the purchased programs. The terminal 2 displays an icon (step 56) indicating that the programs purchased 10 can be accessed.

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Claims (8)

  A method of broadcasting data and / or services whose reception is subject to a condition of validity of at least one access right or an electronic token door, said method comprising the following steps: - broadcasting at least one secure purchase offer (EPM) message comprising at least one impulse purchase offer and / or at least one online direct access 10 offer of access rights or electronic token holder, and upon receipt, - evaluate the offer to purchase proposed in the offer of purchase message, characterized in that it further comprises a step of making an advance purchase and offline if the message of purchase offer includes a impulse offer.   2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the EPM message is broadcast in a program guide (EOG).   3. Method according to claim 2,   characterized in that the program guide (EOG) is broadcast independently of said data and / or services.   4. Method according to one of claims 1 to   3, characterized in that it further comprises a step of making an online purchase if the purchase offer message includes an offer to purchase online.   5. Method according to one of claims 1 to   4, characterized in that said data and / or services   represent audiovisual programs.   6. System for broadcasting data and / or services by an operator to at least one terminal equipment comprising: a central programming management module for the data and services broadcast; a generator of an electronic offer guide (EOG) , - an impulse purchase message generator (EPM),   characterized in that it further comprises means for adapting the purchase offers so as to allow at least one advance purchase and offline.   7. System according to claim 6, characterized in that said means for adapting the offers to purchase are software arranged in the programming management module of the data and services broadcast, the adaptation of integrating in a single EPM the different offers and the   operating conditions of these offers.   8. System according to claim 6, characterized in that said means for adapting the offers to purchase are software arranged in the terminal equipment, the adaptation consisting in select the appropriate EPMs.