On implementing MPEG-21 intellectual property management and protection

The MPEG-21 Intellectual Property Management and Protection (&lquotIPMP&rquot) Components specify a framework for inter-operable and renewable digital rights management based on IPMP tools that implement proprietary digital rights management features. MPEG-21 defines the mechanism by which protected multimedia objects are associated with proprietary IPMP tools, but does not specify the interface through which IPMP tools and MPEG-21 terminals communicate. This paper describes an implementation of the IPMP components including an interface to IPMP tools based on the MPEG Rights Expression Language; dynamic construction of authorisation proofs that permit a principal to carry out an action; and a cryptographic architecture bound to the existence of authorisation proofs. This implementation has been applied to scenarios in copyright protection, privacy protection and corporate document protection, suggesting that &lquotIPMP&rquot may be useful in applications other than intellectual property.