JP2001356966A - Method and device for controlling contents utilization time and storage medium storing contents utilization time controlling program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide contents utilization time controlling method and device capable of utilizing contents in accordance with the permitted time of the contents by acquiring reference time always from the external without allowing a user to set up a clock of a terminal and making it possible to correct time only by setting the time to the reference time and disabling the user from correcting the time of the clock of the terminal and to provide a storage medium storing a contents utilization time controlling program. SOLUTION: The terminal has a clock in its inside, receives reference time from the external and utilizes the received reference time. When the time of the clock is different from the reference time, the clock is corrected to the reference time, an application period annexed to the contents is collated with the time of the clock, and when the time of the clock is included within the application period, the contents are allowed to be used.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a content use time control method and apparatus, and a storage medium storing a content use time control program. A content usage time control method and apparatus and a content usage time control program that enable control of the content playback time by adjusting the reference time and the clock of the user terminal itself and by giving information on the permitted playback time to the content. It relates to the stored storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of controlling the use time of a content, a use permission period is described in the content, and the date and time of a clock of a terminal clock are compared with the period described in the content to use the time. There is a way to control.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, there is a problem that if the usage of the terminal is changed, the content can be easily reproduced even outside the permitted time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and does not allow a user to set a clock of a terminal, but always obtains a reference time from the outside and corrects the time only by matching the reference time. A content usage time control method and apparatus, and a storage medium storing a content usage time control program, which make it possible to make the content available for the content permitted time by making it impossible for the user to correct the time of the terminal clock. The purpose is to provide.

[0005]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention.

According to the present invention (claim 1), in a terminal using a content, when the content is used, the permission period described in the content is compared with the time in the terminal, and the content is used within the permission period. In the content usage time control method for using the content, the terminal has a clock inside the terminal, receives a reference time from the outside (step 1), and uses the received reference time,
If the time of the clock is different from the reference time, the clock is corrected to the reference time (step 2), and the usage period assigned to the content is compared with the time of the clock (step 3). If so, the content is made available (step 4). According to the present invention (claim 2),
It is transmitted from the reference time server to the terminal at all times or periodically.

According to the present invention (claim 3), the reference time includes the coordinated universal time, the international atomic time, or the time of the server designated by the content.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention.

According to the present invention (claim 4), in a terminal using the content, when the content is used, the permission period described in the content is compared with the time in the terminal, and the content is used within the permission period. A content use time control device for using the content, a clock 12 for measuring time, a reference time acquisition means 13 for receiving a reference time from the outside, and a time of the clock 12 being compared with the reference time. , If different, time adjusting means 1 for correcting the clock at the reference time
4, content control information reading means 15 for reading the usage period information given to the content and comparing the usage period of the usage period information with the time of the clock 12, and the time of the clock 12 is within the usage period. In this case, the content providing means 16 uses and reproduces the content.

The present invention (claim 5) provides a reference time acquisition means 1
In 3, the reference time is obtained from the reference time server constantly or periodically.

In the present invention (claim 6), the reference time includes the coordinated universal time, the international atomic time, or the time of the server designated by the content.

According to the present invention (claim 7), in a terminal using the content, when the content is used, the permission period described in the content is compared with the time in the terminal, and the content is used within the permission period. And a storage medium storing a content use time control program for using the content, wherein a reference time acquisition process for receiving a reference time from the outside and a time of a clock are compared with the reference time, and A time alignment process for correcting the clock at the reference time;
Read the usage period information given to the content,
It has a content control information reading process for comparing the usage period of the usage period information with the clock time, and a content usage process for using and reproducing the content when the clock time is within the usage period.

According to the present invention (claim 8), in the reference time acquisition process, the reference time is always or regularly acquired from the reference time server.

According to the present invention (claim 9), the coordinated universal time, the international atomic time, or the time of the server designated by the content is used as the reference time.

[0015] The present invention relates to a content using terminal,
The user can adjust the time of the user terminal clock only by referring to the external reference time, and the content can be used only on the user terminal within the permitted time. Can not.

The content whose usage period is to be controlled describes the content usage permission period inside the content or as accompanying information. By controlling the use with reference to the time of the use terminal and this description, the usable period of the content can be controlled, and the use time of the content can be controlled.

[0017]

FIG. 3 shows a system configuration of the present invention.

The system shown in FIG.
0, a content user terminal 10, and the reference time server 20 and the content user terminal 10 are connected by a wireless network or a wired network.
The connection form may be a constant connection or a regular connection.

The reference time server 20 distributes the reference time to the content use terminal 10 constantly or periodically. The reference time is assumed to be Coordinated Universal Time, International Atomic Time, the time of the server specified by the content, etc. The delivery at the time of the reference may be a satellite communication or a constant connection by wire.

The content user terminal 10 obtains the reference time from the reference time server 20 and compares the obtained reference time with the time of the clock function in the terminal itself. Make corrections. The content user terminal 10
Content in or within the content or
Attach the content that describes the usage permission period of the content as additional information, and when using the content, compare the content of the usage permission period attached to the content with the time in the terminal, and Within the license period,
Enable use of content.

The content user terminal 10 can be a content, a music reproduction terminal, a moving image reproduction terminal, or the like.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the content user terminal of the present invention.

The content user terminal 10 includes a clock unit 1
2, a reference time acquisition unit 13, a time matching unit 14, a content control information reading unit 15, and a content using unit 16.

The clock section 12 ticks not only the time but also information such as the date, and it is assumed that the time cannot be changed except by the time adjustment section 13 based on the acquired reference time.

The reference time acquisition unit 13 acquires a reference time from a designated time server or a reference time server 20 such as a public server.

The time matching unit 14 adjusts the time of the clock unit 12 inside the terminal based on the reference time acquired by the reference time acquisition unit 13.

The content control information reading section 15 refers to the content use permission period assigned to the content and the date and time of the clock section 12 in the terminal itself, and determines whether or not it is within the permission period.

The content use section 16 uses the content when the content control information reading section 15 is within the permission period. If it is not within the permission period, reproduction (use) is not possible.

FIG. 5 is a sequence chart for explaining the operation of the present invention.

Step 101) First, the reference time server 2
0 is the content user terminal 1 constantly or periodically.
0 to deliver the reference time via the network.

Step 102) In the reference time acquisition unit 13, the content user terminal 10 sends the reference time server 20
, And transfers the reference time to the time matching unit 14.

Step 103) The time matching section 14 checks the obtained reference time against the time on the clock section 12 to determine whether there is any difference.

Step 104) If there is a difference,
The time matching unit 14 adjusts the time of the clock unit 12 to a reference time.

Step 105) Next, the content control information obtained by the terminal 10 and added to the content to be used is read by the content control information reading unit 15, and the permission period of the content control information is read. The time of the clock unit 12 is compared.

Step 106) If the time of the clock unit 12 is within the permission period, the content using unit 16 uses (reproduces) the content.

In the control information in the above-mentioned content, information on the use period is specified. For example, the period from the start to the end of the usage period is specified from when to when. Alternatively, it is also possible to specify a method of repeating a predetermined time (for example, every Tuesday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm every day).

In the above description, the content user terminal 1
Although the description has been given based on the configuration and the operation flowchart thereof, the components of the content user terminal 10 are constructed as a program, and a disk device connected to a computer used as the content user terminal 10 or a floppy (registered) The present invention can be easily realized by storing it on a portable storage medium such as a trademark (trademark) disk and installing it when implementing the present invention.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and applications are possible within the scope of the claims.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, the clock of the content user terminal cannot be modified by the user, and is controlled by the information from the reference time server, so that the content use control period can be reduced. Can be faithfully realized,
The time cannot be changed by the user according to the usage control period.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a content user terminal of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sequence chart for explaining the operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Content user terminal 12 Clock, clock part 13 Reference time acquisition means, reference time acquisition part 14 Time matching means, Time matching part 15 Content control information reading means, Content control information reading part 16 Content usage means, Content usage part

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Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A terminal that uses a content compares a permission period described in the content with a time in the terminal when using the content, and uses the content within the permission period. In the content usage time control method, the terminal has a clock inside the terminal, receives a reference time from the outside, and uses the received reference time so that the time of the clock differs from the reference time. In this case, the clock is corrected at the reference time, the use period given to the content is compared with the time of the clock, and if the time is within the use period, the content can be used. Content usage time control method. 2. The reference time is always transmitted from a reference time server
The method of claim 1, wherein the content is transmitted to the terminal periodically. 3. The content use time control method according to claim 1, wherein the reference time includes Coordinated Universal Time, International Atomic Time, or the time of a server designated by the content. 4. A terminal that uses a content, compares a permission period described in the content with a time in the terminal when using the content, and uses the content within the permission period. A clock for measuring time, reference time acquisition means for receiving a reference time from the outside, and when the time of the clock is compared with the reference time and different, Time adjustment means for correcting at the time of reference, content control information reading means for reading usage period information given to the content, and comparing the usage period of the usage period information with the time of the clock; A content use time control device comprising: content use means for using and reproducing the content when the time is within the use period. 5. The content use time control device according to claim 4, wherein the reference time obtaining unit obtains the reference time from the reference time server constantly or periodically. 6. The content use time control device according to claim 4, wherein the reference time includes a coordinated universal time, an international atomic time, or a time of a server designated by the content. 7. A terminal that uses a content compares a permission period described in the content with a time in the terminal when using the content, and uses the content within the permission period. A reference time acquisition process for receiving a reference time from the outside, and comparing the time of the clock with the reference time, and when the time of the clock is different from the reference time, stores the content at the reference time. A time adjustment process for correcting; a content control information reading process for reading usage period information given to the content and comparing a usage period of the usage period information with a time of the clock; When using the content, characterized by having a content usage process of using / reproducing the content when it is within the usage period. Storage medium storing a control program. 8. The storage medium storing the content use time control program according to claim 7, wherein the reference time obtaining process obtains the reference time from the reference time server constantly or periodically. 9. A storage medium storing the content use time control program according to claim 7, wherein the reference time uses Coordinated Universal Time, international atomic time, or the time of a server designated by the content.