Microsoft’s Play Ready is a content access and protection digital rights management (DRM) system that was developed by the company. It is a technology that can be utilised to safely transmit audio and video content over an OTT network. Additionally, it provides protection against the unlawful use of content as well as against the leakage of content. Integration of the Play Ready platform can be accomplished with the assistance of a device-porting kit and a source code that is made available to hardware partners. In addition to this, it provides a licencing server component that can simply be incorporated into the infrastructure that is already in place at a service provider. The first thing that has to be done is send the content to a content packager that is compatible with Play Ready so that it can be encrypted. After that, the client device makes use of the information contained in the DRM licence to decrypt the content before playing it.
A Play Ready Object, also known as a PRO, can be found in the content header of every media file that has been given the Play Ready protection. This file provides the information that Play Ready requires, such as the metadata for audio and video tracks, as well as the information that the client requires in order to seek or acquire a licence for the content. The client devices that are capable of supporting the trusted execution environment (TEE) in the device processor are able to implement the most recent version of the PlayReady Porting Kit for improved content protection. Play Ready Software Development Kit (SDK) is used by content providers and providers of DRM video protection solutions in order to tailor-make servers that are able to support the particular services that they offer.
During the process of content encryption using Play Ready DRM, a KeyID (KID) is generated. Both of these identifiers are necessary to decrypt the file. Play Ready uses keys that are encoded using the AES-128 CTR and AES-128 CBC encryption algorithms. Either a key management system or the Play Ready Key Seed Mechanism can be employed in order to produce the keys. Both of these systems are available. After a licencing request has been made, the Play Ready header is transmitted to the licence issuer. The licence issuer will then retrieve the KID from the header and identify the key value that corresponds to it. In most cases, the licence response will consist of the key value in addition to the rights and restrictions associated with the material.
Play Ready is a system that enables service providers to restrict the duration of time that content is available for viewing, as well as the content’s resolution and the types of devices and screens on which it can be presented. It is also compatible with personal computers, mobile devices, and set-top boxes, in addition to PCs and other CE hardware and software platforms. The process of integrating Play Ready, Apple’s Fair Play, and Google’s Widevine has been made much simpler by multi-DRM service providers that offer cloud-based SaaS.
