JP2002050126A - Data reproducing apparatus, storage medium and rental system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a reproducing apparatus, a storage medium, and a rental system capable of blocking the reproduction of the storage medium exceeding a rental period at low cost. SOLUTION: The data reproducing apparatus 30 is provided with a data reproduction control part 34 which starts clocking by using date and time data being the starting point for a reproduction-allowed period shown in management information as an initial value, and enables to reproduce data until the clocked date and time reach the time limit of the reproducible period. The rental system is provided with a data writing apparatus 10 to write management information showing data and the reproduction-allowed period of the data into a storage medium 20, the storage medium 20 to store the data and the management information, and the data reproducing apparatus 30.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rental system using a storage medium, and more particularly, to a reproducing apparatus, a storage medium, and a rental system having a function of inhibiting use after a rental period.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, a storage medium on which image information such as a movie is recorded, for example, a video tape or a DVD (Digital Vers.
A video rental system is generally used in which an atile disk is lent to a user, and the user takes the storage medium home, plays back the content on his / her own playback device, and views it. FIG.
A conventional video rental system will be described with reference to FIG. The user goes to a video rental store, selects desired image information, and requests the video rental store to perform a lending process. The video rental store charges the user for the desired image information and the desired rental expiration date, and delivers a storage medium on which the image information is recorded and a slip describing the rental expiration date (step S61).

[0003] A user brings back the lent storage medium,
Reproduce and view the content on its own reproduction device within the rental period (step S62). When the user finishes viewing or the rental period has expired, the user brings the storage medium to the video rental store and returns it (step S63). The video rental store checks whether the storage medium has been returned within the rental period, refers to a slip describing the rental period passed to the user at the time of lending, or refers to a slip in the video rental store or rental period information stored in a computer ( Step S
64). If the returned date and time is after the rental expiration date, additional billing is performed (step S65).

In step S65, it has been described that if the return date and time is after the rental expiration date, additional charging is performed.
This is because the video rental store urges the user to return the product within the rental period and does not have a mandatory return. For video rental stores, the disadvantage of losing the opportunity to lend the returned storage medium again is greater than the profit of the arrearage due to the expiration of the deadline, and the storage medium is stored on time rather than the payment of the arrearage. It is better to have it returned. For this reason, there is a demand for making it impossible to reproduce when the rental period has passed, thereby strongly informing the user that the period has passed.

[0005] In response to such a request, for example, a rental shop lends an IC card on which a rental expiration date is recorded to a user together with a storage medium, and in order for the user to reproduce the storage medium, the rental card recorded on the IC card is used. Use a playback device that reads the time limit, compares it with the current date and time obtained from the built-in GPS receiver, plays back if it is within the time limit, and does not play back if the time limit has passed, and prompts for return. A rental system has been proposed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.
167768).

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional rental system, an IC card for recording a rental expiration date is used separately from a storage medium. It is necessary to provide an IC card reading device in the system. Also, in order to prevent falsification of the date and time, it is necessary to provide a GPS receiver and a GPS antenna as means for acquiring the current date and time in the playback device. For this reason, there has been a problem that the rental system and the reproducing apparatus are expensive. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a playback apparatus, a storage medium, and a rental system for preventing playback of a storage medium whose rental period has expired, at a low cost.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a data reproducing apparatus of the present invention reads management information from a storage medium in which data and management information indicating a reproducible period of the data are recorded, A data reproducing device that controls whether data can be reproduced based on the management information,
A management information reading unit that reads management information from the storage medium, a data reading unit that reads data from the storage medium, a playback unit that plays back the data, and data that enables the data to be played back only during the playable period indicated by the management information. The data playback control unit includes a reading unit and a data playback control unit that controls the playback unit. Data is reproducible until the expiration date of the possible period is reached.

[0008] An example of the configuration of the data reproducing apparatus is as follows.
The data reproduction control unit further includes a connection information generation unit that generates connection information including data of the date and time when the storage medium is accessed, and the data reproduction control unit includes The timer is started with any new date and time data as an initial value, and the data can be reproduced until the measured date and time reaches the date and time of the expiration of the reproducible period. In this case, the connection information is one of the date and time when the storage medium was physically connected, the date and time when authentication was performed with the storage medium, and the date and time when data was first read from the storage medium.

In another configuration example of the data reproducing apparatus, the management information indicating the data reproducible period is a data amount, and further includes a data amount monitoring unit for acquiring the data amount read from the storage medium. , The data reproduction control unit
The data amount monitoring unit integrates the acquired data amount, and the data can be reproduced until the integrated value exceeds the data amount indicated by the management information. In this case, the data amount monitoring unit is configured to acquire either the data amount read from the storage medium by the data reading unit or the data amount reproduced by the reproducing unit.

Further, the rental system of the present invention provides a data writing device for writing data and management information indicating a reproducible period of the data to a storage medium, a storage medium for storing data and management information, and a data reproduction device as described above. And characterized by having any of the following.

Further, the storage medium of the present invention includes a data storage unit for storing data and management information indicating a reproducible period of the data, and an elapsed date and time generation unit for counting the written date and time data as an initial value. It is characterized by having. In this case, one configuration example of the storage medium includes a data storage unit that stores data and management information indicating a reproducible period of the data, an elapsed date and time generation unit that counts the written date and time data as an initial value, And a control unit for outputting data until the time and date of the date and time generation unit reach the date and time of the expiration of the reproducible period.

One configuration example of the above-described rental system is as follows.
A storage medium including a data storage unit for storing data and management information indicating a reproducible period of the data, and an elapsed date / time generation unit for counting the written date / time data as an initial value is used. Another configuration example of the rental system includes a data writing device that writes data and management information indicating a reproducible period of the data to a storage medium, and a data storage unit that stores the data and management information indicating a reproducible period of the data. An elapsed date and time generation unit that counts the written date and time data as an initial value, and a control unit that can output data until the time and date of the elapsed date and time generation unit reaches the date and time of the expiration of the reproducible period. It has a storage medium and a data reproducing device.

Another configuration example of the rental system includes a data writing device for writing data to a storage medium and writing management information indicating a reproducible period of the data to the data reproduction device, a storage medium for storing the data, The timer is started with the date and time data as the starting point of the reproducible period indicated by the information as an initial value, and the data of the storage medium is reproducible until the time and date reaches the date and time of the reproducible period. Data reproducing device.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the rental system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the rental system includes a data writing device 10, a storage medium 20, and a data reproducing device 30. The data writing device 10 stores management information including rental expiration information together with image information such as video software. Writing to the storage medium 20, this storage medium 2
0 is lent to the user and reproduced and viewed on the data reproducing apparatus 30 of the user. Here, the management information is data given to the data reproducing apparatus 30 to suppress data reproduction after the rental expiration date.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the data writing device 10 includes a data storage unit 11, a writing unit 12,
A data write control unit 13 and an operation unit 14 are provided. The data storage unit 11 has a function of storing data to be written to the storage medium 20 and a function of outputting the stored data to the writing unit 12, and receives permission from a copyright holder or a copyright holder. It stores a large number of video software converted into digital data. Here, the data storage unit 11 is a storage device for storing digital data,
For example, a hard disk device, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like is used.

The writing unit 12 has a function of writing data input from the data storage unit 11 and management data input from the operation unit 14 to the storage medium 20. Here, if the storage medium 20 is an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk, for example, the writing unit 12 is a drive device including a pickup device. If the storage medium 20 is a hard disk device or a memory card, it is an input / output interface circuit for transferring data to the hard disk device or the memory card. Note that the number of writing units 12 is not limited to one, and there may be a plurality of writing units 12 corresponding to different types of storage media so as to write to different types of storage media. The operation unit 14 has a function of selecting data to be written to the storage medium 20 from data stored in the data storage unit 11 and a function of setting a rental period. Here, the operation unit 14 includes, for example, a display and a keyboard.

The data writing control unit 13 controls the data storage unit 11, the writing unit 12, and the operation unit 14, retrieves the data selected by the operation unit 14 from the data storage unit 11, and outputs the data to the writing unit 12. And rental expiration information based on the rental expiration set on the operation unit 14,
It has a function of issuing management information such as rental start date and time information and a unique rental ID and outputting the management information to the writing unit 12. Here, for example, the data write control unit 13
A PU, a memory, and an external storage device are configured by a control circuit connected by a bus.

In this case, a program for executing the above-described functions is stored in the external storage device, and the program is loaded into the memory and executed by the CPU, thereby functioning as the data write control unit 13. Needless to say, the issued management information is also stored in the external storage device and used for grasping and managing the rental status. Data writing device 10 thus configured
Can be realized by, for example, a personal computer, a server device, or a dedicated device determined by the type of storage medium.

The storage medium 20 may be any nonvolatile storage medium that can read and write digital data.
For example, portable hard disk devices, floppy (registered trademark) disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks,
The selection may be made according to the amount of data stored from a memory card or the like, ease of use, cost, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 3, the data reproducing device 30 includes a management information reading unit 31, a data reading unit 32,
A reproduction unit 33 and a data reproduction control unit 34 are provided. The management information reading unit 31 reads management information such as rental expiration date information, rental start date and time information, and a unique rental ID written on the recording medium 20, and outputs the management information to the data reproduction control unit 34. The data reading unit 32 reads the data written on the recording medium 20 according to the data reproduction control unit 34 and outputs the data to the reproduction unit 33. The reproduction unit 33 reproduces the data input from the data reading unit 32 in a predetermined format according to the data reproduction control unit 34 and outputs the data to the outside. The data reproduction control unit 34 controls the data reading unit 32 and the reproduction unit 33 based on the input management information so as to reproduce and output data only during the rental period.

Next, the rental system of this embodiment will be described separately for lending and data reproduction. First, FIG.
The lending in this rental system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing lending to a user. In the video rental store, the clerk writes the image information of the video software in the storage medium 20 in advance using the data writing device 10 (step S1). The user selects video software that he / she wants to rent at a video rental store, and applies for the rental to a clerk (step S2). At that time, the rental period of how long you would like to lend is also offered.

At the video rental store, the store clerk uses the data writing device 10 to store the video software desired by the user using the data writing device 10 to manage the rental expiration information, the rental start date and time information, and the unique rental ID. Is written, and the storage medium 20 is lent to the user (step S3). As a result, a rental contract is concluded between the user and the video rental store, and the user can bring back the storage medium 20 and play back and view the data on the data playback device 30.

Next, data reproduction in the rental system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the data reproducing device 30. When the storage medium 20 is attached to the data reproducing apparatus 30 and started, the management information reading unit 31 reads the management information from the storage medium 20 (step S11). Next, the data reproduction control unit 34 acquires a unique rental ID from the management information read by the management information reading unit 31 and checks whether the same rental ID has already been read (step S).
12). If the same rental ID has been read,
Step S15 is executed.

If the same rental ID has not been read, the rental ID is stored in a nonvolatile memory provided in the data reproduction control section 34 (step S13). Next, the rental start date and time information is obtained from the management information read by the management information reading unit 31, and the data reproduction device 30
The stored data is stored in a non-volatile memory provided in the data reproduction control unit 34 in correspondence with the rental ID whose data is sequentially updated in synchronization with the internal clock count, and current date and time information is generated (step S14). As a result, for example, the rental start date and time information becomes
If the time is 0 second, the current date and time information, which is date and time data counted up every second starting from 15:30:30 on June 10, is obtained.

Next, the data reproduction control unit 34 obtains the rental expiration information from the management information read by the management information reading unit 31, compares it with the current date and time information, and determines whether the rental expiration date has passed (step S15). . For example, when the rental expiration information is 18:00:00 on June 11,
If the current date and time information is before June 11, 17:59:59, it is determined that the rental period has not expired, and if the current date and time information is after June 11, 18:00:00, the rental period has passed. It is determined that there is.

If it is determined in step S15 that the rental period has not expired, the data reproduction control unit 34 controls the data reading unit 32 to read the image information from the storage medium 20 in order to reproduce the image information. , And controls the reproducing unit 33 to reproduce the image information. The data reading unit 32 reads the image information from the storage medium 20 according to the data reproduction control unit 34, and
Output to 3. The reproduction unit 33 performs reproduction output according to the data reproduction control unit 34 (Step S16).

If it is determined in step S15 that the rental period has expired, the data reproduction control unit 34 does not allow the data reading unit 32 to read the image information from the storage medium 20 in order to suppress the reproduction of the image information. At the same time, it controls the reproduction unit 33 not to reproduce the image information. The data reading section 32 does not read image information according to the data reproduction control section 34. Also,
The reproduction unit 33 does not perform reproduction output according to the data reproduction control unit 34 (step S17). It is desirable that the playback unit 33 outputs a message indicating that playback is not performed in consideration of user's convenience.

According to this embodiment, since management information such as rental expiration information is written in the storage medium 20 for recording data, another storage means for writing management information such as rental expiration information becomes unnecessary. Further, since the current date and time information is generated and updated based on the rental start date and time information written in the storage medium 20, it is necessary to provide a means for acquiring the current date and time information such as a GPS receiver and a GPS antenna in the data reproducing device 30. There is no. Therefore, the data reproducing device 30 can be inexpensive, and the construction of the rental system can be inexpensive.

Further, since the video software is written in the storage medium in advance, the user does not have to wait. The writing of the video software on the storage medium is not limited to the video rental store, but may be the headquarters of the video rental store or a supplier of the video software. Also, here, the video software rental has been described as an example, so the data to be written to the storage medium is image information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any digital data such as audio information and character information may be used.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The difference between the rental system according to the present embodiment and the rental system according to the first embodiment is that the rental expiration information written by the data writer to the storage medium is indicated by a period such as one night and two days. The data reproducing device is configured to be able to reproduce data for a period indicated by the rental expiration information from the time when the data reproducing device first accesses the storage medium. Here, the configuration of the data writing device is the same as that of FIG. The storage medium is the first
The description is omitted because it is the same as that described in the embodiment. The configuration of the data reproducing device is the same as that of FIG.
The operation of the data reproduction control unit 34 is different from that described in the first embodiment.

Next, the rental system according to this embodiment will be described separately for lending and data reproduction. The lending in this rental system is the same as that described in the first embodiment except that the rental period information indicates the rental expiration information to be written to the storage medium 20 using the data writing device 10. Here, the rental period is
For example, in the case of one night and two days, it is the number of seconds from the rental start time to the closing time of the next day, and the number of seconds corresponding to the rental period is written in the storage medium 20 as rental expiration information. As a result, for example, the rental start date and time is 15:30:30 on June 10 and the closing time on the next day is 18/11/18.
If the time is 00:00:00, the rental period for one night and two days is 26 hours and 30 minutes, and the rental period information is 95 hours.
400 seconds is set.

Next, data reproduction in the rental system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the data reproducing device used in the rental system according to the embodiment. When the storage medium 20 is attached to the data reproducing apparatus 30 and started,
The management information reading unit 31 reads the management information from the storage medium 20 (Step S21). Next, the data reproduction control unit 34 acquires a unique rental ID from the management information read by the management information reading unit 31, and checks whether the same rental ID has already been read (step S2).
2). If the same rental ID has been read, step S25 is executed.

If the same rental ID has not been read, the rental ID is stored in the nonvolatile memory provided in the data reproduction control section 34 (step S23). Next, the rental expiration information is acquired from the management information read by the management information reading unit 31, and the rental ID is counted down until the sequentially stored data becomes 0 in synchronization with the count of the internal clock of the data reproducing device 30. Is stored in the nonvolatile memory provided in the data reproduction control unit 34 (step S24).

Next, the data reproduction control unit 34 determines whether the rental expiration information stored in the nonvolatile memory provided in the data reproduction control unit 34 corresponds to the rental ID counted down until the stored data becomes 0. It is determined whether it is 0 (step S25). Here, if the rental expiration information is not 0, it is determined that the rental expiration has not passed,
If it is 0, it is determined that the rental period has passed.

If it is determined in step S25 that the rental period has not expired, the data reproduction control unit 34 controls the data reading unit 32 to read the image information from the storage medium 20 in order to reproduce the image information. , And controls the reproducing unit 33 to reproduce the image information. The data reading unit 32 reads the image information from the storage medium 20 according to the data reproduction control unit 34, and
Output to 3. The reproduction unit 33 performs reproduction output according to the data reproduction control unit 34 (Step S26).

If it is determined in step S25 that the rental period has expired, the data reproduction control unit 34 does not read the image information from the storage medium 20 to the data reading unit 32 in order to suppress the reproduction of the image information. At the same time, it controls the reproduction unit 33 not to reproduce the image information. The data reading section 32 does not read image information according to the data reproduction control section 34. Also,
The reproduction unit 33 does not perform reproduction output according to the data reproduction control unit 34 (step S27). It is desirable that the playback unit 33 outputs a message indicating that playback is not performed in consideration of user's convenience. According to this embodiment, the determination of the rental period can be simplified, and the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The difference between the rental system according to the present embodiment and the rental system according to the first embodiment is that the time when the data reproducing apparatus first accesses the storage medium is compared with the rental start date and time information to indicate the new date and time. Is configured to be the initial value of the current date and time information. Here, the configuration of the data writing device is the same as that of FIG. The storage medium is the same as that described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will not be repeated.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a data reproducing apparatus used in a rental system according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, this data reproducing apparatus differs from the data reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 3 in that it further includes a connection information generating unit 35. The connection information generation unit 35 detects that the data reproduction device 30 has accessed the storage medium 20, generates connection information including date and time data of the internal clock of the data reproduction device 30, and outputs the connection information to the data reproduction control unit 34.

As a means for detecting that the data reproducing apparatus 30 has accessed the storage medium 20, a signal indicating that the storage medium 20 is physically connected to the data reproducing apparatus 30 is used. For example, if the storage medium 20 is an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk, a signal indicating that the disk has been stored in the drive device is used. If the storage medium 20 is a hard disk device or a memory card, a signal indicating that a hard disk device or a memory card provided in the input / output interface circuit of the data reproducing device 30 is connected is used.

The storage medium 20 and the data reproducing device 30
Date and time when the authentication process was performed and the storage medium 20
May be used as the connection information. The authentication process is for confirming whether or not the other party is a legitimate device using a known encryption algorithm or protocol such as a public key cryptosystem, and the video rental store lends the data reproducing device 30 to the user. In such a case, the rented storage medium 20 cannot be reproduced except by the user's data reproducing apparatus 30.

In this case, since the storage medium 20 needs to perform some kind of calculation processing to authenticate the data reproducing apparatus 30, the storage medium 20 has a built-in CPU such as a hard disk drive or a memory card having an authentication function. It is desirable to use Here, the data reproduction control unit 34 compares the rental start date and time information with the connection information,
This is the same as the first embodiment, except that the information indicating the new date and time is set as the initial value of the current date and time information. Further, the lending in this rental system is the same as that shown in the first embodiment, and the description is omitted.

Next, data reproduction in the rental system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
9 is a flowchart showing an operation of the data reproducing device 30 used in the rental system according to the embodiment. When the storage medium 20 is attached to the data reproducing apparatus 30 and started, the management information reading unit 31 reads the management information from the storage medium 20 (step S31). Next, the data reproduction control unit 34 acquires a unique rental ID from the management information read by the management information reading unit 31, and
Check whether D has already been read (step S3
2). If the same rental ID has been read, step S36 is executed.

If the same rental ID has not been read, the rental ID is stored in the nonvolatile memory provided in the data reproduction control section 34 (step S33). Next, the connection information generation unit 35 detects that the data reproduction device 30 has accessed the storage medium 20 and generates connection information including the date and time data of the internal clock of the data reproduction device 30. Output (Step S3
4).

The data reproduction control unit 34 obtains the rental start date and time information from the management information read by the management information reading unit 31 and compares it with the connection information input from the connection information generation unit 35 to indicate new date and time data. The information is stored in a nonvolatile memory provided in the data reproduction control unit 34 in correspondence with the rental ID in which the stored data is sequentially updated in synchronization with the count of the built-in clock of the data reproduction device 30. Is generated (step S35). Thereby, for example, the rental start date and time information is June 10 1
If it is 5:30:00, it is 15:30 on June 10
Current date and time information, which is date and time data counted up every second starting from minute 00 second, is obtained.

Next, the data reproduction control unit 34 obtains the rental expiration information from the management information read by the management information reading unit 31, compares it with the current date and time information, and determines whether the rental expiration date has passed (step S36). . For example, when the rental expiration information is 18:00:00 on June 11,
If the current date and time information is before June 11, 17:59:59, it is determined that the rental period has not expired, and if the current date and time information is after June 11, 18:00:00, the rental period has passed. It is determined that there is.

If it is determined in step S36 that the rental period has not expired, the data reproduction control unit 34 controls the data reading unit 32 to read the image information from the storage medium 20 in order to reproduce the image information. , And controls the reproducing unit 33 to reproduce the image information. The data reading unit 32 reads the image information from the storage medium 20 according to the data reproduction control unit 34, and
Output to 3. The reproduction unit 33 performs reproduction output according to the data reproduction control unit 34 (Step S37).

If it is determined in step S36 that the rental period has expired, the data reproduction control unit 34 controls the data reading unit 32 not to read the image information from the storage medium 20 in order to suppress the reproduction of the image information. At the same time, it controls the reproduction unit 33 not to reproduce the image information. The data reading section 32 does not read image information according to the data reproduction control section 34. Also,
The reproduction unit 33 does not perform reproduction output according to the data reproduction control unit 34 (step S38). It is desirable that the playback unit 33 outputs a message indicating that playback is not performed in consideration of user's convenience.

According to this embodiment, the time when the data reproducing apparatus first accesses the storage medium is compared with the rental start date and time information, and the information indicating the new date and time is set as the initial value of the current date and time information. Therefore, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, the rental period can be made more accurate. That is, a general user can expect that the date and time data of the built-in clock of the data reproducing apparatus 30 will not be falsified. Can be determined based on the actual date and time. If the date and time data of the internal clock of the data reproducing device 30 is altered and the date and time of the internal clock is earlier than the rental start date and time, the data of the rental start date and time information is set as the initial value of the current date and time information. Therefore, it is possible to set a rental expiration date that is not much different from the actual rental expiration date.

Also in this embodiment, as shown in the second embodiment, instead of the current date and time information, the rental expiration information may be counted down to determine whether or not the rental expiration date is reached. In this case, when the date and time data of the connection information is newer than the rental start date and time information, it is desirable to set a value obtained by subtracting the time difference between the date and time data of the connection information and the date and time data of the rental start date and time information from the time of the rental expiration information. By doing so, even when the rental expiration information is indicated by a period, the rental expiration can be made accurate.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The difference between the rental system according to the present embodiment and the rental system according to the first embodiment is that the rental expiration information written by the data writer to the storage medium is represented by a reproducible data amount of, for example, 10 gigabytes, The data reproducing device includes a data amount monitoring unit 36 for acquiring the data amount read from the storage medium or the data amount reproduced, and the data reproduction control unit 34 receives the data amount indicated by the rental expiration information and the input from the data amount monitoring unit 36. That is, it is configured to determine whether data reproduction is possible or not by comparing the integrated value of the obtained data amount. Here, the configuration of the data writing device is the same as that of FIG. The storage medium is the same as that described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will not be repeated.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a data reproducing apparatus used in a rental system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. 3, the data reproducing apparatus differs from the data reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 3 in that a data amount monitoring unit 36 is further provided and the operation of the data reproduction control unit 34 is described in the first embodiment. It is different from what was done. The data amount monitoring unit 36 is configured to acquire the data amount of the image information read from the storage medium 20 by the data reading unit 32 or the data amount of the image information reproduced by the reproduction unit 33.

The data reproduction control unit 34 adds the data amount input from the data amount monitoring unit 36 to the previous data amount and saves the data amount, and integrates the data amount indicated in the rental expiration information with the data amount. A function of comparing data amounts to determine whether data can be reproduced. Note that the data amount monitoring unit 36 may use the buffer amount of the data temporarily stored in the buffer unit (not shown) of the data reading unit 32 or the reproducing unit 33 as the data amount.

Next, the rental system according to this embodiment will be described separately for lending and data reproduction. The lending in this rental system is the same as that described in the first embodiment, except that the rental expiration information to be written to the storage medium 20 using the data writing device 10 is represented by a reproducible data amount. Here, the reproducible data amount is, for example, a byte number such as 10 gigabytes, and the reproducible data amount byte number is written in the storage medium 20 as rental expiration information.

Next, data reproduction in the rental system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
It is a flow chart which shows operation of data reproduction device 30 used for the rental system concerning a 4th embodiment.
When the storage medium 20 is attached to the data reproducing apparatus 30 and started, the management information reading unit 31 reads the management information from the storage medium 20 (step S41). Next, the data reproduction control unit 34 acquires a unique rental ID from the management information read by the management information reading unit 31, and checks whether the same rental ID has already been read (step S42). If the same rental ID has been read, step S44 is executed.

If the same rental ID has not been read, the rental ID is stored in the nonvolatile memory provided in the data reproduction control section 34 (step S43). Next, the data amount monitoring unit 36 acquires the data amount of the image information read from the storage medium 20 by the data reading unit 32 or the data amount of the image information reproduced by the reproduction unit 33 (Step S44). Note that the data amount monitoring unit 36 may use the buffer amount of the data temporarily stored in the buffer unit (not shown) of the data reading unit 32 or the reproducing unit 33 as the data amount.

Next, the data reproduction control unit 34 acquires the data amount from the data amount monitoring unit 36, adds the acquired data amount to the stored current data amount, and saves the new data amount (step S45). Next, the data reproduction control unit 34 obtains the rental expiration information from the management information read by the management information reading unit 31, compares the obtained current expiration information with the newly added current data amount, and determines the current data amount as the rental expiration information data amount. It is determined whether or not it has exceeded (step S46).

If it is determined in step S46 that the current data amount does not exceed the rental amount information data amount, the data reproduction control unit 34 transmits the image information to the data reading unit 32 from the storage medium 20 to reproduce the image information. In addition to controlling to read the image information, it controls the reproducing unit 33 to reproduce the image information. Data reading unit 32
Reads the image information from the storage medium 20 according to the data reproduction control unit 34 and outputs it to the reproduction unit 33. Reproduction unit 33
Performs reproduction output according to the data reproduction control unit 34 (step S47).

If it is determined in step S46 that the current data amount exceeds the data amount of the rental expiration date information, the data reproduction control unit 34 instructs the data reading unit 32 to execute a storage medium The control unit 20 controls not to read the image information from the storage unit 20 and controls the reproduction unit 33 not to reproduce the image information. The data reading section 32 does not read image information according to the data reproduction control section 34. The reproduction unit 33 does not perform reproduction output according to the data reproduction control unit 34 (step S4).
8). It is desirable that the playback unit 33 outputs a message indicating that playback is not performed in consideration of user's convenience.

According to this embodiment, the rental period is set by the amount of data that can be reproduced, and the data amount monitoring unit 36 that obtains the amount of data read from the storage medium 20 or the amount of data reproduced by the data reproducing device 30 is used. Since the data reproduction control unit 34 is configured to compare the data amount indicated in the rental expiration information with the integrated value of the data amount input from the data amount monitoring unit 36 to determine whether data reproduction is possible,
No need for current date and time information,
There is no need to provide a means for acquiring current date and time information such as a receiving device and a GPS antenna. Therefore, the data reproducing device 3
0 can be inexpensive, and the construction of a rental system can be inexpensive. Also, by setting the rental period to a reproducible data amount, it is possible to limit the number of times of viewing.

Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The rental system according to this embodiment differs from the rental system according to the first embodiment in that the storage medium is configured to determine whether data can be reproduced in place of the data reproducing apparatus. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a storage medium used in a rental system according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the storage medium 12
0 includes a data storage unit 121, an elapsed date and time generation unit 122, and a control unit 123.

The data storage unit 121 stores data represented by image information and management information represented by rental expiration information. The elapsed date and time generation unit 122 generates, saves, and updates date and time data, or generates an elapsed date and time from a specific date and time.
Save and update. As a means for realizing the elapsed date and time generation unit 122, a known technology such as a well-known component such as a timer IC or a counter, a circuit, or a program is used. The control unit 123 controls the data storage unit 121, the elapsed date and time generation unit 122, and other components (not shown). Such a storage medium 120 can be realized, for example, by providing an elapsed date and time generation unit 122 and a control unit 123 in a hard disk device or a memory card configured to be portable.

Next, the rental system according to this embodiment will be described separately for lending and data reproduction. In this rental system, data to be written by the data writing device 10 and management information are stored in the storage medium 120.
Except that the current date and time information is generated in the elapsed date and time generation unit 122 by the rental start date and time information written by the data writing device 10 except that the current date and time information is generated by the rental start date and time information written by the data writing device 10. Is the same as The generation of the current date and time information by the excessive date and time generation unit 122 is the same as the generation of the current date and time information of the data reproducing apparatus shown in the first embodiment, and thus the description is omitted.

Next, data reproduction in the rental system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
15 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the storage medium 120 used in the rental system according to the fifth embodiment. When the storage medium 120 is attached to the data reproducing apparatus 30 and started, the control unit 123 of the storage medium 120 reads rental expiration information from the data storage unit 121 (step S5).
1). Next, the control unit 123 acquires the current date and time information from the elapsed date and time generation unit 122 (Step S52).

Next, the control section 123 compares the current date and time information with the rental expiration date information, and determines whether or not the date and time indicated by the current date and time information exceeds the date and time indicated by the rental expiration information (step S53). For example, when the rental expiration information is 18:00:00 on June 11, the current date and time information is June 1
If the day is before 17:59:59, it is determined that the rental period has not expired, and the current date and time information is 18:00 on June 11th.
If it is after 0:00, it is determined that the rental period has expired.

If it is determined in step S53 that the rental period has not expired, the control unit 123
The image information stored in 21 is output to the data reproducing device 30 (step S54). If it is determined in step S53 that the rental period has expired, the control unit 123 does not output the image information stored in the data storage unit 121 to the data reproducing device 30 (step S55). In addition,
It is desirable that the control unit 123 outputs a message to the effect that the data is not reproduced to the data reproducing device 30 in consideration of user's convenience.

According to this embodiment, the storage medium 120
Is configured to determine whether or not data can be reproduced in place of the data reproducing device 30, so that it is possible to suppress viewing after the rental expiration without requiring a special data reproducing device. The effect of reducing the cost is obtained. In this embodiment, the control unit 123 of the storage medium 120 determines the rental expiration date. However, the storage medium 120 is connected to the playback device 30 and the data playback control unit 34 of the data playback device 30 makes the determination. You may do so.

In this case, the storage medium 120 outputs the current date and time information and the rental expiration date information to the data reproducing device 30, and the data reproduction control unit 34 of the data reproducing device 30 compares the current date and time information with the rental expiration date information. It is determined whether or not the date and time indicated by the information exceeds the date and time indicated by the rental expiration information. Next, the data reproduction control unit 34 outputs the determination result to the control unit 123 of the storage medium 120, and the control unit 123 controls data output. By doing so, the processing load on the control unit 123 can be reduced, and the storage medium 1
20 can be constructed inexpensively.

Also, when the storage medium 120 is the data reproducing device 3
The current date and time information may be output to 0 and the current date and time information of the data reproducing device 30 may be corrected. As described above, by correcting the current date and time information of the data reproducing device 30 based on the current date and time information of the storage medium 120, an error can be eliminated. Further, even if the current date and time information of the data reproducing device 30 is falsified, if it is connected to the storage medium 120, it is corrected to the correct date and time, so that unauthorized use can be prevented.

Further, as shown in the second embodiment,
When the rental expiration information written by the data writing device 10 to the storage medium 120 is indicated by a period such as one night and two days, the elapsed date and time generation unit 122 of the storage medium 120
May be the time elapsed since the data was written by the data writing device 10 or the time to count down from the rental expiration date. Further, in the rental system according to the present embodiment, a rental system is constructed in which the date and time after the data is written only in the storage medium is generated, updated, and stored, so that the data is deleted when the rental expiration date comes. It is also possible.

Next, a sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a rental system according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the difference between this rental system and the rental system according to the first embodiment is that the data writing device 210
Instead of writing 0, management information including rental expiration information is written to the data reproducing device 230.

In this case, the data writing device 210
It has a storage medium interface 211 and a data reproduction device interface 212, and writes data to the storage medium 220 via the storage medium interface 211 and writes management information to the data reproduction device 230 via the data reproduction device interface 212. Is configured. The data reproducing device 230 further has a management information storage unit 237. The data writing device 210 and the data reproduction device 230 are connected when a rental request is made, and the management information is input to the management information storage unit 237. In this case, the data reproducing device 230 does not require the management information reading unit 31 shown in FIG. 3, and is provided with a management information storage unit 237 for storing the management information instead.

Next, the rental system according to this embodiment will be described separately for lending and data reproduction. First, lending in this rental system will be described. First, at a video rental store, a store clerk writes image information of video software in the storage medium 220 in advance using the data writing device 210. The user selects video software that he / she wants to rent at a video rental store, and applies for the rental to a clerk. At this time, the data reproduction device 230 is handed over to the store clerk, and a rental expiration date as to how long the rental is desired is also provided.

At the video rental store, the store clerk uses the data writing device 210 to write management information including rental expiration date information, rental start date and time information, a unique rental ID, and the like into the management information storage section 137 of the data reproducing device 230. Accordingly, the data reproduction control unit 234 acquires the rental start date and time information from the management information written in the management information storage unit 237, and sequentially synchronizes the acquired rental start date and time information with the count of the internal clock of the data reproduction device 230. The stored data is updated and stored in a nonvolatile memory provided in the data reproduction control unit 234 to generate current date and time information. Thereby, the data reproducing device 230
The date and time data of the rental expiration date information and the date and time data of the correct current date and time information are set.

After the writing is completed, the data reproducing device 230 is transferred to the user together with the storage medium 220 in which the video software desired by the user is written. As a result, a rental contract is concluded between the user and the video rental store,
The user can use the storage medium 220 and the data reproducing device 230
Can be brought back and played back by the data playback device 230 for viewing.

Next, data reproduction in the rental system will be described. When the storage medium 220 is attached to the data reproducing device 230 and started, the data reproduction control unit 234 acquires rental expiration information from the management information written in the management information storage unit 237, compares the rental expiration information with the current date and time information, and determines the rental expiration date. Determine if it has passed. The determination method and the processing after the determination are the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus the description is omitted.

According to this embodiment, since the data writing device 210 writes the management information including the rental expiration information and the rental start date and time information to the data reproduction device 230, the data reproduction device 230 stores the date and time data of the rental expiration information in the data reproduction device 230. And the correct date and time data of the current date and time information can be set. Therefore, GP
There is no need to provide means for acquiring current date and time information such as an S receiving device and a GPS antenna. In addition, the storage medium 22
Since it is not necessary to read the management information from 0, the data reproducing device 230 can be simplified. Therefore, the data reproducing device 23
0 can be inexpensive, and the construction of a rental system can be inexpensive.

In these embodiments, the data to be written on one storage medium is not limited to one set of video software such as a movie, but two movies and one sports game on one storage medium. Such a plurality of pieces of image information may be recorded. Note that, in these embodiments, it has been described that the storage medium is lent out.
A storage medium owned by the user may be used. in this case,
Since the data cannot be written in advance, the user has to wait for the time required to write the data.However, since it is not necessary to return the storage medium, it is only necessary to visit the store when lending it, which is convenient for users. Get better. The data reproducing device may be dedicated to reproducing image information such as video software, or may be a device capable of reproducing not only image information but also other digital data such as audio information and character information.

The data to be written to the storage medium does not depend on the type such as uncompressed data, compressed data, and encrypted data. The types of these data may be determined according to the reproducing function of the data reproducing device. When an encryption technique is used for the rental system, the data writer may write data encrypted by a known encryption algorithm such as a common key encryption scheme or a public key encryption scheme on a storage medium.
Then, the data reproducing apparatus may store key data for decrypting the encrypted data, decrypt the data using the key data at the time of reproducing the data, and reproduce the data.

After the rental period, the data reproducing apparatus may not reproduce the key data but may delete the key data. By deleting the key data,
Even if a user who tries to use the rental system illegally modifies the data reproducing apparatus, the output data is encrypted data, and data protection desirable for the rental system is firmly performed. Also,
When using the encryption technology in the rental system, the rental expiration is processed only inside the data reproducing apparatus, so that the
By doing so, stronger security can be built.

[0080]

As described above, the data reproducing apparatus according to the present invention has a GPS receiving apparatus and a GPS for preventing falsification of the date and time used for determining the data reproduction time limit in order to suppress data reproduction after the rental time limit. Since there is no need to provide a means for directly acquiring current date and time information such as an antenna, there is an effect that the cost can be reduced. Further, the storage medium according to the present invention includes a data storage unit and an elapsed date and time generation unit, and the elapsed date and time generation unit measures the date and time.
It is possible to accurately determine the data reproduction time limit without being affected by the date and time tampering of the data reproduction device. For this reason, since the configuration of the data reproducing apparatus can be simplified, the effect that the construction of the rental system can be reduced is obtained. Further, since the rental system according to the present invention is constituted by the data reproducing apparatus and the storage medium of the present invention, it has an effect that data reproduction after the rental expiration date can be suppressed at low cost. Moreover, the configuration example of the rental system according to the present invention has an effect that the data reproduction device can directly determine the data reproduction time limit because the data writing device directly writes the date and time data used for determining the data reproduction time limit to the data reproduction device. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a rental system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the data writing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the data reproducing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing lending to a user in the rental system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the data reproducing apparatus of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of the data reproducing apparatus used in the rental system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a data reproducing device used in a rental system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of the data reproducing apparatus of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a data reproducing device used in a rental system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation of the data reproducing apparatus of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a storage medium used in a rental system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

12 is a flowchart showing the operation of the storage medium of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a rental system according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of a user and a rental shop in a conventional video rental system.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 110, 210 ... data writing device, 11 ... data storage unit, 12 ... writing unit, 13 ... data writing control unit, 14 ... operation unit, 20, 120, 220 ... storage medium, 30, 230 ... data reproduction device, 31 management information reading unit, 32 data reading unit, 33 reproducing unit, 3
4, 234: data reproduction control unit, 35: connection information generation unit, 36: data amount monitoring unit, 121: data storage unit, 1
22: elapsed date and time generation unit, 123: control unit, 211: storage medium interface, 212: data reproduction device interface, 237: management information storage unit

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A data reproducing apparatus for reading out management information from a storage medium in which data and management information indicating a reproduction available period of the data are recorded, and controlling whether or not the data can be reproduced based on the management information. A management information reading unit that reads the management information from the storage medium; a data reading unit that reads the data from the storage medium; a playback unit that plays back the data; and the data only during a playable period indicated by the management information. The data reading unit and a data reproduction control unit that controls the reproduction unit so that the data can be reproduced. The data reproduction control unit initializes the date and time data that is the starting point of the reproducible period indicated by the management information. The timer is started as a value, and the data is reproducible until the time and date reach the expiration date of the reproducible period. Data reproducing apparatus characterized by being. 2. The data reproduction control unit according to claim 1, further comprising a connection information generation unit configured to generate connection information including data of a date and time when the storage medium is accessed, wherein the data reproduction control unit is configured to perform a reproduction possible period indicated by the management information. Start timekeeping with any new datetime data of the datetime data as the starting point of the connection information and the datetime data of the connection information as an initial value, and the data can be reproduced until the timed date and time becomes the date and time of the reproducible period. A data reproducing apparatus characterized in that the data reproducing apparatus is configured to 3. The connection information according to claim 2, wherein the connection information is any one of a date and time of physically connecting to the storage medium, a date and time of authentication with the storage medium, and a date and time of first reading data from the storage medium. A data reproducing apparatus, comprising: 4. The data reproduction control according to claim 1, wherein the management information indicating the data reproducible period is a data amount, and further comprising a data amount monitoring unit for acquiring a data amount read from the storage medium. The unit is configured to integrate the data amount obtained by the data amount monitoring unit, and to be able to reproduce the data until the integrated value exceeds the data amount indicated by the management information. Data reproducing device. 5. The data amount monitoring unit according to claim 4, wherein the data amount monitoring unit is configured to acquire one of a data amount read from the storage medium by the data reading unit and a data amount reproduced by the reproduction unit. A data reproducing apparatus. 6. A data writing device for writing data and management information indicating a reproducible period of the data on a storage medium, a storage medium for storing the data and the management information, and a storage medium for storing the data and the management information. A rental system comprising the data reproducing device described above. 7. A storage device comprising: a data storage unit for storing data and management information indicating a reproducible period of the data; and an elapsed date / time generation unit for counting the written date / time data as an initial value. Medium. 8. The rental system according to claim 6, wherein the storage medium is the storage medium according to claim 7. 9. A data storage unit for storing data and management information indicating a reproducible period of the data, an elapsed date and time generation unit for clocking the written date and time data as an initial value, and a time and date for the elapsed date and time generation unit A control unit that enables the data to be output until the time reaches the expiration date of the reproducible period. 10. A rental system, comprising: a data writing device for writing data and management information indicating a reproducible period of the data to a storage medium; a storage medium according to claim 7; and a data reproduction device. . 11. A data writing device for writing data to a storage medium and writing management information indicating a reproducible period of the data to the data playback device; a storage medium for storing the data; and a playback device indicated by the management information. Timing is started with the date and time data serving as the starting point of the possible period as an initial value, and the data in the storage medium is reproducible until the time and date reaches the date and time of the expiration of the reproducible period. A rental system comprising a data reproducing device.