Downloadable Conditional Access System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:03, 15 June 2006

Revision as of 04:24, 15 June 2006

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{{future product}}

'''Downloadable Conditional Access System''' (or '''DCAS)''' defines a standard for secure software download of a specific Conditional Access client, which controls [[Digital Rights Management]] (DRM), into a OCAP-compliant host consumer media device. The U.S. cable television industry is developing a specification called OCAP, the [[OpenCable Application Platform]], which will place standard [[Application programming interface|APIs]] inside the host media devices. DCAS will eliminate the need for physical [[set-top box]]es or [[CableCARD]]s currently required to protect [[encryption|encrypted]] digital content. OCAP will enable cable companies to write not only security software, but user applications (interactive games, video on demand systems, etc.) that will run on any OCAP-branded hardware. All OCAP-enabled devices will be capable of two-way communication.

The basic purpose of DCAS is to implement DRM protection in software, supported by future OCAP-compliant consumer devices such as [[digital television]]s, [[digital video recorder|DVR]]s, and set-top boxes (still required to support legacy non-OCAP-compliant devices). This secures the information transmitted in the link between the cable company and the consumer device. The subsequent digital link between the device and its external display (if any) would be protected by something such as the existing [[High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection|HDCP]] encryption standard.

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* [[Copy protection]]

== External linkslink ==

*{{cite web|last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= | date= |url=http://www.opencable.com/dcas/ |title=OpenCable™ / DCAS™ |format= |work= |pages= |publisher=[[CableLabs]] | language= |accessdate=2006-06-05 |curly= }}