Performance Considerations for an Embedded Implementation of OMA DRM 2

Abstract: As digital content services gain importance in the mobile world, Digital Rights Management (DRM) applications will become a key component of mobile terminals. This paper examines the effect dedicated hardware macros for specific cryptographic functions have on the performance of a mobile terminal that supports version 2 of the open standard for Digital Rights Management defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). Following a general description of the standard, the paper contains a detailed analysis of the cryptographic operations that have to be carried out before protected content can be accessed. The combination of this analysis with data on execution times for specific algorithms realized in hardware and software has made it possible to build a model which has allowed us to assert that hardware acceleration for specific cryptographic algorithms can significantly reduce the impact DRM has on a mobile terminal's processing performance and battery life.