INNER ‘US 2009027181481 cu») United States cz) Patent Application Publication — co) Pub. No.: US 2009/0271814 Al Bosscha (43) Pub. Date Oct, 29, 2009 (34) METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ACTIVATING A G0) Foreign Application Priority Data DECODER DEVICE, Apr. 28,2008 (EP) 81552135 (75) Inventor: Albert Jan Bosseha, Hoofdorp eat ! a Publication Classification (1) Inc Correspondence Address HUAN 716 (200501), SCHWEGMAN, LUNDBERG & WO (2) US.CL mss Pa. P.O. BOX 2938 on ABSTRACT ee) ‘Various embodiments ofthe invention provide a method for activating one or more secondary decoder devices in a home (73) Assignee: Irdeto Access B.V., Hoofidorp network. A headend system activates a primary decoder au vice and iiies the secondary deer devies. The od secondary y s deactivated ‘upon expiration of a timer value until restivated by the File Apr. 27, 2009 primary decoder device (21) Appl.No: 12430218 12 21 an a 13 a 51Patent Application Publication Oct. 29, 2009 Sheet 1 of S US 2009/0271814 AI 2 4 12 21 41 it 3 5 13 31 51 1 Fig.1 101 102 ¥ 102 | 101 + 200 ] 200 Fig.2a Fig.2bPatent Application Publication Oct. 29, 2009 Sheet 2 of S US 2009/0271814 AI 31 54 53 51 Fig.3aPatent Application Publication Oct. 29, 2009 Sheet 3 of S US 2009/0271814 AI 4 ; 2 an 1 3 31 Fig. 3bUS 2009/0271814 AI Oct. 29, 2009 Sheet 4 of 5 Patent Application PublicationPatent Application Publication Oct. 29, 2009 Sheet 5 of S US 2009/0271814 AI 401 501 | 405 x 505 —+ }-—__._, | 406 + 506 [+ \+ Aut $07 202 508 —— Fig.5 509 Fig.6US 2009/0271814 AI METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ACTIVATING A. DECODER DEVICE, CLAIMOF PRIORITY [0001] The present patent application claims the priority benefit ofthe filing date of European Application (EPO) No. (08155213.5 filed Apr. 25, 2008, the entire content of whichis, ‘nconporated herein by reference ia its entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to a method for set- ‘ating one or more secondary decoder deviees, a head-end system foraetivating one ormore secondary deeader devices, a secondary smarteard and a decoder devie. BACKGROUND 10003] Conditional access systems are generally used t0 pro-vide conditional access W services ike pay TV. In @ ‘conditional access system, scrambled TV signals ae trans> mited from a head-end system to a decoder deviee. An end- user ofthe pay TV service inserts a smartcard in the decoder device 1 conditionally enable deserambling ofthe rambled ‘TV signal. The smartcard rescives entitlement management mestages (EMM) from the head-end system with authorza- tion infomation Ifthe end-user is authorised, because he has a valid subscription, encrypted entitlement contol mes- sages (ECM) seat from the heat-end system to the smartcard ‘are decrypted i the smartcard. Hereby conteol words (CW) are etreved from the ECMs. The CWs are transmitted w the decoder devive, where the CW's are used to descramble the scrambled TV signals. The deseramblod TV signals are view able ons terminal ike atelevsion, a PC oramobile phone, oF ‘ean he recorded on a video recorder, [0008] A decoder device with inserted smartcard typically allows only one terminal to be connected. Consequently each ‘erminal requiresa deivated decoder device and smarteard (0 ‘enable descrambling of the scrambled TV signal. For each ‘smartcard an authorisations required to enable deerypting of ECMs in the smartcard. This means that an endaser having ‘eg. two televisions requires two subseriptons, one for each smartcard [0005] Bach smartcard operates asa standalone smartest With change in te authorisation of an end-user, each smart- ‘era receives an EMM to update the authorization of the smartcard. E.g. when an end-user with multiple decoder devices subscribes to a pay TV service, each smartcard intended for use in the decoder deviees receives an EMM to ‘enable decrypting FCMs to thereby effectively activate ‘deserambling the TV signals in the decoder device SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION {0006} It is an object of the invention to provide an Improved method and system for activating one or more secondary decoder devices. 10007} According to an aspect ofthe invention a method is provided for activating one or more socondary decoder ‘devices, The method is used ina system comprising a head ‘end system, a primary decoder device and the one or more secondary decoder doviees. The head-end system is eommu- nicatively connected to the primary decoder device andto the ‘one or more secondary decoder devices. The method com- prises the step of the headhend system activating the primary ‘decoder deviee. The method furler comprises the stepof the Oct. 29, 2009 Ibead-end system initializing the secondary decoder deview. ‘Themettod further comprises the step ofthe primary decoder vive aetvating the initialized secondary decoder device. The primary decoder device comprises a primary interface configured Zor communication with primary smartcard and the secondary decoder device comprises @ secondary inter ‘ace configured for communication witha secondary smat- card. The method further comprises the step of receiving in ‘the primary smarteard an activation message from the head- tend system, The method further comprises the sep of cre ‘ng in the primary smartcard first activation data using the activation message. The method farther comprises the step of providing the ist activation data via the primary interlace t0 the primary decoder device. The method further comprises the step of setivating the primary decoder deviee using the Jit activation data, The method further comprises the step of receiving in the secondary smarteard an inialization me sage ffom the head-end system. The method further com- prises the step of eeating in the secondary smarteard initial ‘ration data Using the initialization message, The method further comprises the step of providing the initialization data via the secondary interface to the secondary decoder deview. The method further comprises the step of initializing the secondary decoder device using the initialization daa, The ‘method further comprises the step ofereating inthe primary smartcard second setivation dat, The method further com- prises the step of providing the second activation data via the fit interfce to the primary decoder device. The method further comprises the step of providing the second activation ata from the primary decoder device to the secondary smart- ‘ard, The method further comprises the step of providing the second! activation data from the secondary smartard via the secondary interface to the secondary decoder device. The method further comprises the step of and activating the sec~ ondary decoder device using the second activation data. The primary smartcard further comprises fist timer. The method Further comprises the step of setting the first imer using fist ‘mer value comprised inthe activation message. The method further comprises the step of activating the frst timer. The ‘method further comprises the step of upon expiration ofthe Tint timer value providing renewed second aetvation data from the primary decoder device tothe secondary smartcard [0008] Thus the method of the invention advantageously fables the head-end system to contol which decoder ‘devices may be used doscramblee g, a serambled TV signal by activating primary decoder device and initializing one or more secondary decoder devices, which primary decoder device controls the activation of the sevondary decoder devices. The primary decoder device and secondary decoder eviees ure typically located atthe premises of an end-user fd are typically used to descramble a pay TV signal for viewing and/or recording on terminals connected to the decoder devices. Advantageously an end-tser ean use sec- ondary decoder deviees without requiring stand alone sub- scriptions foreach secondary decoder device. Instead a sub- scription ean be linked tothe primary decoder device, while for the secondary decoder devieos the subscriptions are ollered ate, a reduced rte, The iaveation advantageously tenibles activation ofthe primany decoder device an iniil- ‘gation and aetivation ofthe second decoder device by using smareards. When using smartcards, the subscriptions are ‘ypically linked to the smarteards, Typically the primary starteard and secondary smartcard are physically identical. A smartcard becomes a primary smartcard by receiving the