METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING DIGITAL COPY PROTECTION LEVELS ASSIGNED TO SERVICES RECEIVED AT A CONSUMER APPLIANCE

摘要

The present invention provides methods and apparatus for determining digital copy protection levels assigned to received services. A consumer terminal (10) in accordance with the invention includes memory (12) for storing data which defines a set of service tiers. Each service tier is associated with one of a plurality of copy protection levels. A parser (14) is provided for parsing service information from a received service (11) to enable determination of the service tier associated with the received service (11). A processor (16) is provided for matching the service tier of the received service (11) with its associated copy protection level. A copy protection system (18) enables copy protection for the received service (11) in accordance with the copy protection level associated with the received service (11).