Method for efficient CA software provisioning in downloadable conditional access system

A downloadable conditional access system (DCAS) focuses on transmitting conditional access (CA) software into a set-top-box (STB) securely via a bi-directional communication channel. This paper presents the method to provision CA software onto STBs efficiently for the purpose. In order to achieve this goal, we defined the DCAS policy on CA software's configuration and downloading method, and designed DCAS headend servers which execute authentication and downloading according to the DCAS policy. Especially, a policy server (DPS) which plays an important role of generating and distributing the policy, is presented in detail. Also we implemented the DCAS system and showed the stability and effectiveness by verifying the implemented results in a testbed.