JP4408683B2 - Content certification method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention also relates to the contents prove how of content, and more particularly, to identify the contents of the content that is delivered from the web server, about the contents prove how of content that it is possible to perform content-certified.

  In recent years, contents such as music and video converted into digital signals have been distributed through networks such as the Internet. In order to prevent unauthorized use of music or the like converted to a digital signal, a special signal is superimposed on the digital signal that is the original signal. Such a special signal is called “electronic watermark”. The information embedded as the electronic watermark is, for example, copyright information that can specify the copyright owner or the author. For example, even if unauthorized duplication is performed, by detecting an electronic watermark, it is possible to specify the copyright owner or the author, and to assert a legitimate right.

  The electronic watermark is superimposed on the original signal so as not to deteriorate the sound quality and the image quality. Therefore, when it is decoded by a normal decoder, it can hardly be detected by human hearing and vision. It is unknown which part the electronic watermark is superimposed on, and even if it is known, rewriting the electronic watermark will degrade the reproduced sound quality and image quality. The digital signal with the electronic watermark superimposed thereon can use the encrypted information to identify the portion with the electronic watermark superimposed thereon and read out the electronic watermark information by using the encrypted information. A method for superimposing electronic watermarks is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example.

  On the other hand, the amount of information posted on websites is increasing year by year, and images and texts posted on homepages not for distribution purposes are also downloaded and used illegally as content. Accordingly, there is an increasing demand for copyright protection for images and texts posted on homepages.

JP-A-10-224342

  However, the electronic watermark is embedded in the original signal by advanced arithmetic processing using a digital signal processing technique. Also, in order to decode the electronic watermark, the electronic watermark information must be read out using a dedicated decoder. Therefore, although it is easy to specify a copyrighted work, a system for embedding and reading electronic watermarks is expensive. There has been a problem that it is not practical in terms of cost effectiveness to apply an electronic watermark to content on a homepage that is not for distribution purposes.

The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and the object of the present invention is to provide a content proof that can easily identify a copyrighted work and can certify the content at a low cost. It is to provide a mETHODS.

The present invention, in order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1, the content certificate of the content and transmits the acquired from the content server to the client computer performs in response to a request from the client computer In the content certification method of the content of the web server, the content server changes a part of the attributes of the component parts constituting the content, creates a plurality of variations for each of the component parts , and stores them in a database . A second step in which the web server transmits a combination content configured by combining variations selected for each component from the content server to the client computer; and the web server includes the client request together with from the computer From the obtained combined contents, and a third step of extracting a component constituting the combined content with the acquired, the web server, variations of the components extracted in the third step is the said content server a fourth step of checking whether present in said plurality of variations of each of the components stored in the database, the web server, a combination of variations of the components the extracted is the second further comprising a fifth step of checking whether equal combination of variations that constitute the combined content transmitted in step characterized.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the content certification method according to the first aspect, the first step is a combination in which the content server is configured by combining variations selected for each component. An ID is assigned and stored for each content , and the second step specifies in advance, in association with the ID, which combination content the web server delivers based on a predetermined rule , When a request from the client computer is received, the combination content is acquired from the content server and transmitted based on the ID specified by the predetermined rule .

  As described above, according to the present invention, the content can be easily specified by the variation of the components constituting the content, so that the copyrighted work can be easily specified at low cost. Proof can be made.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present invention, various variations are created for individual components constituting the content on the homepage, and the content is generated by combining the variations. Therefore, content can be specified by a combination of variations, and proof of content can be performed.

  FIG. 1 shows a content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Client computers 12a to 12c and a web server 13 are connected via a network 11 such as the Internet. A content server 14 is connected to the web server 13, and various contents stored in the content database 15 can be distributed via the web server 13.

  In order to easily explain the functions of the present invention, the web server 13 and the content server 14 will be described separately. It is also possible to replace these two servers and the content database 15 with one server computer and operate as two processing means and storage means in the server computer.

  FIG. 2 shows functions of the content server according to the embodiment of the present invention. The content server 14 performs a content variation generation process 22 on the content 21 on the home page stored in the content database 15. Specifically, for example, individual components constituting the content 21 are divided into characters, still images, moving images, and sounds, and the attributes of the individual components are changed to create variations (23 to 26). .

  FIG. 3 shows an example on the homepage. The home page 31 is posted on a news distribution website, for example, and FIG. 3A displays social articles 32, that is, contents. The article 32 is composed of photographs 1 and 2 and texts 1 and 2 which are sentences of the article body.

  Here, the content server 14 creates variations of the texts 1 and 2 using the character conversion processing unit 23, and creates variations of the photos 1 and 2 using the still image conversion processing unit 24. For example, for the text 1, the character conversion processing unit 23 creates a variation by changing the number of characters to be displayed in one line which is a part of the component attribute. As shown in the table of FIG. 3B, seven types of variations of 20 to 26 characters are created.

  For example, the still image conversion processing unit 24 creates variations by changing the number of vertical and horizontal dots, which are part of the component attributes, for the photograph 1. Here, seven types of variations are created for each of the photographs 1 and 2. As the variation, for example, a peripheral portion of an 80 × 40 horizontal image may be deleted, or compression processing may be performed.

  For example, the moving image conversion processing unit 25 deletes some of the last frames of the moving image and creates variations with different playback times. Similar to still images, variations may be created by changing the number of vertical and horizontal dots. The voice conversion processing unit 26 can delete a part of the non-voice section and create variations with different playback times or create variations with different playback levels.

The variations of the component parts thus created are stored again in the content database 15 (27-30). Further, what kind of variations are created for each component of the content is recorded in the conversion content file 31. As described above, if the number of components is 3, and the number of variations is 7, the combination is 7 ³ = 343. Therefore, an ID number is assigned to each combination and recorded in the conversion content file 31.

  FIG. 4 shows functions of the web server according to the embodiment of the present invention. How to distribute the article 32 that is the content on the homepage 31 described above will be described. When the user accesses the web server 13 from the client computer 12 and transmits the HTML request for the article 32, the web server 13 activates the HTML generation process 41. First, the combination switching instruction process 42 is activated by an ID request and issues an ID. The combination switching instruction is to instruct how to switch and display the above-described combination of component variations.

  The 343 combinations described above are distributed according to a predetermined rule. For example, the combination of variations is switched every 15 minutes. Use 96 combinations per day and 288 combinations for 3 days. Therefore, in which time zone each combination is used is specified by the ID number. The HTML generation process 41 acquires a corresponding ID number according to the time at which the HTML request from the client computer 12 is received, and requests content from the content server 14. The combination switching instruction may be switched for each session, or may be switched by combining time and session.

  Based on the ID number included in the content request, the content server 14 refers to the conversion content file 31 and identifies a combination of variations. The content server 14 reads necessary components from the content database 15, configures the content, and transmits the content to the web server 13. The web server 13 generates HTML from the acquired content and transmits it to the client computer 12. At this time, the web server 13 records the ID number, transmission time, variation combination content, and the like in the HP generation combination file 43.

  FIG. 5 shows a content certification method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Next, a method for proving that the content is legitimate content transmitted from the web server 13 will be described. For example, the case where a user acquires a coupon described on the home page of the web server 13 as a combination HTML and uses the coupon at an electronic store via the web server 13 will be described as an example. First, the web server 13 extracts a coupon component from the received combination HTML (S501).

  The attribute of each component is inspected, and the result is inquired to the content server 14 (S502). For example, a specific pattern of a coupon that is a still image is inquired by checking the number of vertical and horizontal dots. The content server 14 refers to the conversion content file 31 to search whether there is a variation in the number of corresponding vertical and horizontal dots, and transmits the result to the web server 13. In this way, the web server 13 checks whether or not there are variations for all the components included in the coupon. If it exists (S503), the web server 13 refers to the HP generation combination file 43 and searches for a variation combination (S504).

  If it exists (S505), it is authorized as an authorized coupon and allowed to be used at an electronic store (S506). When there is no component or when there is no combination of variations, the use of the coupon is rejected (S507). As described above, if the transmission date and time are recorded in the HP generation combination file 43 together with the ID number, the coupon issue date and time can be specified, and the content issue certificate can be issued.

  According to the present embodiment, a complicated device such as a decoder necessary for decoding an electronic watermark is not required, and content can be easily specified by variation of components that can be easily discriminated. It can be carried out.

  The present invention can be applied to copyright protection of contents on a website posted on a website, authentication of electronic tickets, gift certificates, etc., and other contents certification of electronic data issued from the website.

It is a block diagram which shows the content distribution system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function of the content server concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the variation on the content on a homepage, and a component. It is a block diagram which shows the function of the web server concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the method of content certification | authentication concerning one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

11 Network 12a-12c Client computer 13 Web server 14 Content server 15 Content database

Claims (2)

The contents proof of the transmitted content acquired from the content server to the client computer, in the context demonstrated how content of a web server for performing in response to a request from the client computer,
A first step in which the content server changes a part of attributes of the component parts constituting the content, creates a plurality of variations for each of the component parts , and stores them in a database ;
A second step in which the web server transmits, to the client computer , combined content configured by combining variations selected for each component from the content server;
A third step in which the web server extracts a component constituting the acquired combination content from the combination content acquired together with the request from the client computer ;
The said web server, the variation of the third component extracted in step checks whether present in said plurality of variations of each of the components stored in said database of said contents server 4 steps,
Said web server, a combination of variations of the components the extracted has a fifth step of checking whether equal combination of variations that constitute the combined contents transmitted at the second step A content proof method for content. In the first step, the content server assigns and stores an ID for each combination content configured by combining the variations selected for each component .
In the second step, when the web server specifies in advance which combination content is to be distributed based on a predetermined rule in association with the ID, and receives a request from the client computer, The content content proving method according to claim 1, wherein the combined content is acquired from the content server and transmitted based on an ID specified by a predetermined rule .

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