US 8239546

Patent Overview — US 8239546 B1

Title: Global access control for segmented streaming delivery

Patent number / application: US 8239546 B1, application US 13/245,324

Inventor: Albert John McGowan

Original assignee: Unicorn Media Inc. (later listed as CACTI ACQUISITION LLC, BRIGHTCOVE INC., and, currently, Adeia Media Holdings Inc., per the source's reassignment entries)

Key dates: Priority and filing 2011-09-26; publication/grant 2012-08-07; anticipated expiration 2031-09-26. Legal status listed as Active.

Purpose (from the supplied definitions): The disclosure "relates in general to cloud-based computer processing and, but not by way of limitation, to controlling access to media assets (e.g., files) during streaming." The source notes that delivery of media over networks can be accomplished in many ways, including progressive downloading or streaming, and that streaming is often preferred to progressive downloading—though the excerpt cuts off mid-sentence before explaining why.

Plain-language scope: Based only on the supplied text, the patent concerns cloud-based processing for controlling access to media assets (files) as they are streamed. It is classified in areas covering real-time application data-packet communication, streaming of media packets, media network packet handling at the source, session management and session migration/transfer, and cryptographic mechanisms for secure communications (including key agreement, authentication, third-party/trusted-authority verification, and ticket- or token-based authorization such as Kerberos). The classification entries suggest the access control involves secure session establishment and cryptographic credentials, but the excerpt does not describe the claims' actual steps.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8239546/en (fetched 2026-10-01).

What the excerpt does not establish: It contains no claim language or full specification, so the precise scope of the claims, the specific access-control mechanisms, and the relationship between the streaming and cryptographic aspects cannot be determined from the supplied text. The source also notes that its priority date, legal status, and assignee listings are assumptions or unverified lists, not legal conclusions.

Overview limited to supplied text; no litigation, validity, or prior-art analysis included.