Importance

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Abstract

A control system provides secure transmission of programs, including at least one of video, audio, and data, between a service provider and a customer's set top unit over a digital network. Program bearing data packets are received in a first network protocol over a first data link and removed from the first network protocol. Packets representing a particular program requested by a customer having a set top unit are selected. Conditional access is provided to the selected program. In particular, program bearing packets are encrypted according to a first encryption algorithm using a first key, which is then encrypted according to a second encryption algorithm using a second key. The first keys are transported in packets to the customer's set top units along with the program packets. A public key cryptographic technique encrypts the second key such that the public key used in the encryption corresponds to the private key of the customer's set top unit. After the conditional access layers have been added, the packets are encapsulated and output in a second network protocol destined for the set top unit.

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First Claim