A Tokyo-based vendor of embedded security technology has partnered with MontaVista to develop DRM (digital rights management) technology for mobile Linux devices. The Discretix Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM) Client will be ported to MontaVista Mobilinux 5.0, says Discretix.

Earlier this month, Discretix announced a similar deal with Access, porting its CPRM technology to the Access mobile Linux stack, and in February, Discretex demonstrated its DRM Client on Qt Extended (then known as Qtopia). Mobilinux is the mobile-handset version of the widely used MontaVista Linux distribution.

Discretix CPRM Client architecture
(Click to enlarge)

The Discretix Client is said to implement two standards for DRM on embedded devices: CPRM and the similar Content Protection for Pre-recorded Media (CPPM). Both are maintained by the 4C-Entity organization, formed in 1999 by IBM, Intel, Panasonic, and Toshiba. The Discretix Client also works “in parallel” with several other DRM implementations available from Discretix, including those already in NTT DoCoMo's “iMode” data service, says the company. Other available Discretix DRM implementations include:

• OMA DRM
• WM-DRM (JANUS)
• i Mode
• ECFM

Touted features of the Discretix CPRM Client include:

• All cryptographic and CPRM-related operations executed within device's main processor (no hardware security coprocessor required)
• Enables additional ID binding, for adding business models
• Compatible with Linux, OSE, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Nucleus

Stated Joerg Bertholdt, VP of Marketing of MontaVista, “Discretix' multi-scheme architecture gives our customers, as well as carriers and content providers, the ability to accommodate changing DRM standards — a key factor as content delivery continues to evolve.”

Availability

No details were provided about the availability of the Discretix CPRM Client for MontaVista Mobilinux 5.0. However, Discretix says that it demonstrated the integrated technology last week at Embedded Technology 2008 in Yokohama, Japan.

More information on the Discretix CPRM Client may be found here.

 
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