New pending patent applications are published on Thursdays. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Konica Minolta, the first application discloses techniques for using rights management policies with nontraditional rights control. Assigned to Adobe, the second application discloses techniques for digital rights management that is file type and viewer application agnostic.
20150271211, "Rights management policies with nontraditional rights control," assigned to Konica Minolta Laboratory U.S.A., INC.
Abstract
A method for managing rights management policies for user access and use of digital documents with nontraditional rights control in addition to traditional rights management services (RMS) based on digital rights management (DRM) policies assigned to respective digital documents and their users and stored in an RMS database, including the steps of: a server, upon receiving a user's request regarding a document protected by one or more DRM policies, determining whether the document has additional nontraditional rights control for the user; the server checking a nontraditional policy service (NPS) database, and validating the user's information with one or more NPS database entries of NPS policy extensions pertaining to the document and the user, where the NPS policy extensions amend the DRM policies with additional nontraditional rights control; and the server denying the user's request if the user's information cannot be validated by anyone of said one or more NPS database entries of the NPS policy extensions pertaining to the document and the user, or granting the user's request if the user's information can be validated by all of said one or more NPS database entries of the NPS policy extensions pertaining to the document and the user.
20150269357, "Method and apparatus for digital rights management that is file type and viewer application agnostic," assigned to Adobe Systems.
Abstract
A computer implemented method and apparatus for file type and viewer application agnostic digital rights management. The method comprises intercepting processing of one or more operating system calls from a viewer application, wherein each of the one or more operating system call requests performance of a function on a digital asset of a plurality of digital assets subject to digital rights management (DRM); performing DRM enforcement of the digital asset with respect to the requested function; and returning processing of the digital asset to the viewer application.
