Introduction
Artists and studio understand the power of digital distribution of content with the dramatic success of personal entertainment devices such as the Apple iPOD. Anxious to embrace this revolutionary and highly effective channel, content owners and service providers are embracing digital distribution using a wide variety of digital rights management（DRM）technologies such as Apple’s proprietary iTunes technology, Windows Microsoft DRM, the Open Mobile Alliance（OMA）standard or the Digital Transmission Licensing Authority DTCP standard. This wide variety of designs has made it challenging for IC designers. Indeed the correct solution to this challenge is a multi-DRM design implementation that spans as many DRM schemes as possible to ensure that each new cell phone or set-top box chip can access as broad a range of content as possible.
Adding to the complexity is the fact that consumers now demand that devices that formerly did not communicate together now routinely share data so that consumers may enjoy the content they licensed anywhere in their home and when they’re traveling regardless of where the content originated or is stored. This unprecedented mobility means that consumer electronics devices must now be capable of dealing with different DRM technologies from such diverse originators as cable and satellite TV, mobile phone operators, multimedia computers and content producers. This whitepaper discusses the issues faced by SoC architects responding to this challenge.
