JP2002074024A - Managingmethod for digital contents owner, digital contents managing system, and contents id managing center - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To immediately obtain information about the relation on contents on rights and its rarity decision from the digital contents themselves, without having to investigate the past trading history or contract document on the contents owner information. SOLUTION: Even in digital contents comprising the same bit column, a different contents ID is given to every correct contents instances, and the contents ID is set embedded in the contents by a digital watermark or the like. A contents ID control center 10 manages the contents ID and its owner information with the data base, and the number of contents instances comprising the same bit column as the contents or the whole owner information of the contents instance comprising the same bit column is informed to an inquiry, using the contents ID read out of circulating contents as a key.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for managing the owner of a digital content, which is capable of managing the number of regular copies of digital content such as audio, still images, and moving images that are digital information. In particular, the present invention relates to a technology that can manage the number of regular distribution copies and manage the scarcity of artistic creations created on digital computers, such as digital CG and digital music. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method for managing the owner of this kind of digital content, as shown in FIG. 6, a secure method such as a header with an electronic signature or an electronic watermark is applied to the digital content. Data cannot be changed), and there is a method of adding the owner information itself.

As shown in FIG. 7, there is a method of managing owner information by using an intellectual property database (hereinafter referred to as an IPR database) and assigning a content ID which is link information to the owner information. Was. The IPR database is a database that stores content right information. That is, in the method shown in FIG. 7, a content ID which is a unique identifier for each digital content is used.
, And for each content ID, the digital content and attribute information of the content including information for searching for the content and owner information are uniformly managed by the IPR database.

In the above-described conventional method, the owner of the content is specified by reading information attached to the content or by searching the IPR database using the content ID assigned to the content as a key. It was possible.

[0005]

In the conventional method for managing the owner of digital contents, the owner information is directly added to the contents. Therefore, the contents exist in a form written on a medium or the like. The owner of a given content instance (entity) can be ascertained from the content itself. However, it was not possible to ascertain the number of content instances that have exactly the same information as the content instance in the world and are owned by different owners. As a result, it was not possible to judge the scarcity of the content and estimate the value of the content from the viewpoint of scarcity.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to obtain not only the owner information of the contents existing therein but also the possession of the contents capable of grasping the rarity (the number of regular owners) of the contents composed of the same bit string. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a worker management method.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for managing the owner of digital contents stored on a medium such as a memory card. Means for paying out a different content ID (content identifier) for each owner, means for securely embedding the content ID in each content in a manner that is difficult to falsify, such as a header with a digital signature or a digital watermark, Only those who have the right to update the ID to the key,
Means for updating the owner information of the content recorded in the intellectual property right (IPR) database, means for reading the owner information of the content from the IPR database using the content ID read from the content as a key,
Similarly, means for reading out the number of other content instances or information of all owners of digital content having the same bit string from the IPR database using the content ID read from the content as a key.

According to the present invention, when there is a certain content instance, it is most desirable to have means for checking the owner information of all the content instances consisting of the same bit string or the number thereof from the content ID written in the content. Main features.

The operation of the present invention is as follows. Even for digital contents having the same bit string, different content IDs are paid out to content instances having different owners by means of paying out a different content ID for each owner for the content instance. The content ID is embedded in the content instance by means for safely embedding the content ID in each content by a method that is difficult to falsify, such as a header with a digital signature or a digital watermark.

Only the person who has the right to update the content ID as a key can update the owner information of the content recorded in the IPR database by the means for updating the owner information for each content ID on the IPR database. Updated correctly.

Further, by means of reading the owner information of the content from the IPR database using the content ID read from the content as a key, many people can read the owner information of the content on the IPR database.

[0012] Further, by means of reading information of all the owners of other content instances having the same bit string from the IPR database using the content ID read from the content as a key, the owner information of all the content instances having the same bit string and It is possible to check the number.

Therefore, if a certain content instance exists on the medium, the owner of the content instance can be known by looking up the IPR database from the content ID embedded therein, and the same content instance can be obtained. You can see how rare there are more content instances consisting of bit strings in the world. By these two, the current owner guarantee and the rarity judgment of the content can be made on the spot.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention. The content ID management center 10 includes a content ID assigning unit 11, a content ID embedding unit 12, a user identity authentication unit 13, an access right determination unit 14 for an IPR database, and an IPR database access control unit 15. The IPR database access control unit 15 has an owner information update unit 16 and an owner information search unit 17.

The IPR database 20 stores, for each content ID embedded in a distributed content in a manner that is difficult to falsify, rights information for the content and another content assigned to digital content composed of the same bit string. The number of IDs or link information to another content ID is stored.

The content ID management center 10 has a content creator terminal 40A of the content creator A who originally owns the content when the content is created.
Content dealers B to D who buy and sell contents by money
Are connected via a network 30. There may be any number of these terminals.

The content ID assigning section 11 pays out a different content ID for each legitimate owner for the content instance even if the digital content consists of the same bit string. The content ID embedding unit 12 is a means for securely embedding a content ID in each content by a method that is difficult to falsify, such as a header with a digital signature or a digital watermark. The embedding of the content ID by a digital watermark or the like may be performed not by the content ID management center 10 but by the content creator terminal 40A that created the content.

The user's identity authentication unit 13 uses, for example, a password, a terminal number, and other identity information to generate an IP address.
This is a means for authenticating a requester of access to the R database 20. Access right determination unit 14 for IPR database
Determines whether the access requestor has the right to update the owner information for the specified content in the IPR database 20. In this embodiment, anyone can refer to the owner information of each content.

The owner information updating unit 16 of the IPR database access control unit 15 only allows the person who has the right to update using the content ID as a key to update the IPR database 2.
The owner information of the content recorded in 0 is updated. Further, the owner information search unit 17 searches for owner information of the content recorded in the IPR database 20 using the content ID as a key. Using the content ID read from the distributed content as a key, the owner information search unit 17 searches the IPR database 20 for the number of all content instances of the digital content having the same bit string or information on all owners. Can be read out.

The content creator terminal 40A includes a content creation section 41 for creating digital content, a content transmission section 42 for transmitting the created content, a content copy section 43 for copying the content, and owner information of the created and copied content. An IPR database access unit 44 for registering in the IPR database 20 is provided.

Content dealer terminals 40B-40D
Is a content receiving unit 46 for receiving the content created or copied by the content creator terminal 40A, a content ID reading unit 45 for reading a content ID embedded by a digital watermark or the like from the received content, and using the read content ID as a key. IPR database access unit 47 for inquiring the content ID management center 10 about the content owner information
have.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the content ID management information managed by the IPR database 20, and particularly shows an example of the data structure of a part related to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the IPR database 20 stores, as content ID management information, a content ID uniquely assigned to each content, information on the current owner, and personal authentication information (eg, the current owner information). ), The number of content instances having the same bit string, and link information such as a pointer to the same content. The pointers to the same content are ID1, ID2, ID3, and ID if the same content is ID1, ID2, and ID3.
It is constituted by a ring-shaped pointer such as 1. Alternatively, the representative content ID of the copy source parent content (original content) may be used as a representative, and the representative content ID may be stored in each record.

FIG. 3 is a processing flowchart of the content ID management center 10. The content ID management center 10 waits for a request from the content creator terminal 40A or the content dealer terminals 40B to 40D (step S1). The request to the content ID management center 10 is
This is performed by designating the content ID.

When receiving the request from the terminal, the content ID management center 10 authenticates the identity of the person who issued the request (step S2). A method of authenticating with a password or a method of authenticating the identity using an external authentication organization can be used. If the personal authentication fails, a rejection message is transmitted in response to the request (step S3).

If the personal authentication is successful, the type of the request is confirmed (step S4). If the owner information is to be registered for the new content, the content ID and the owner information are newly registered in the IPR database 20 (step S5).

If the request is to update the owner information, it is confirmed whether the requester is the current owner by the content ID management information. If the requester is the current owner, it has the authority to update the owner information, and thus updates the IPR database 20 according to the request (step S7). If the requester is not the current owner, a rejection message is transmitted in response to the request (step S8).

When the request type is read,
The IPR database 20 is searched using the designated content ID as a key, the attribute is read, and the attribute is returned to the requesting terminal (step S9). Here, the owner information of the content of the specified content ID (information such as whether or not the user has the right to sell the content), the number of content instances having the same bit string as the content of the specified content ID, the same All owner information of the content instance consisting of the bit string can be notified by request.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are sequence charts of the processing in the embodiment. In FIG. 4, first, a content creator A as an original author creates digital content (101). At this point, the content ID has not been assigned yet.

Next, it is assumed that the created digital content is copied once (102). At this stage, there are two content instances, the original and the copy, having exactly the same bit string.

Next, different content IDs of ID1 and ID2 are assigned to the two content instances, respectively.
Is embedded in a digital watermark (103). The content IDs of ID1 and ID2 are, for example, the content ID management center 1
0, and a unique identifier is paid out from the content ID management center 10. When embedding a digital watermark using the content ID management center 10, the content is sent to the content ID management center 10, and the content ID is embedded in the content ID management center 10 by a digital watermark. receive. The content ID may be embedded as content header information.

Next, for each embedded content ID, the content creator A registers the owner (creator A) of the content instance in the IPR database 20 in the content ID management center 10 (10).
4).

At this time, the content ID management center 10
Then, the user identity authentication unit 13 authenticates whether the registrant in the IPR database 20 is the content creator A using a password or other authentication method.
At this stage, the owner of the content with the content ID = ID1 is the content creator A, and the owner of the content with the content ID = ID2 is also recorded on the IPR database 20 with the content creator A (105).

Next, the content creator A transfers the content instance with the content ID = ID1 to the content dealer B with ownership, and the content ID =
The content instance of ID2 is transferred to the content dealer C with ownership (106).

Since the ownership of the content instance is transferred to the content dealer B and the content dealer C by the transfer, the content creator A makes the transfer
It is registered in the PR database 20 (107). The database update (108) is performed by the user's identity authentication unit 13
The access right determination unit 14 for the IPR database allows only the current owner (creator A). Thus, the fact that the owner of the content with the content ID = ID1 is the dealer B and the owner of the content with the content ID = ID2 is the content dealer C is recorded on the IPR database 20 (109).

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the content dealer B asks the content dealer D to sell the content instance of the content ID = ID1 owned by the content dealer B, and as a sample, the content ID = I
It is assumed that the content of D1 has been lent to the content dealer D (110). At this point, since the contents of the IPR database 20 have not been updated, the ownership has not been transferred to the content dealer D.

The content dealer D reads out the number of the content ID (ID1) of the borrowed content instance by using a digital watermark (111).

Using the read content ID (ID1) as a key, the content ID management center 10 is inquired about its attribute information. At this time, data update can be performed only by a person having the ownership, but anyone can inquire about attribute information. By this inquiry, the content dealer D sends the IPR database 20
The current owner name and the total number of content instances can be checked from (112).

When the content retrieved from the IPR database 20 is read (113), the content dealer D obtains the content from the content (114). The content instance (ID1) is that the current owner is the content dealer B, and the content dealer B is It can be seen that there is another person (content dealer C) in the world who has ownership of the content instance composed of the same bit string (11).
5). In this way, simply from content borrowed from people,
The owner information and information for judging the scarcity of the content can be obtained.

Then, the content dealer B sells the content instance whose content ID is ID1 to the content dealer D with ownership (116), and the content dealer D purchases it (117). At this time, the content dealer B of the current owner registers the details of the sale in the IPR database 20 (118).
As a result, the content of the IPR database 20 is updated (119), and the current owner of the content whose content ID is ID1 becomes the content dealer D (120).

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By reading the content ID individually assigned from each digital content instance and searching the IPR database using the content ID as a key, the owner of the content instance can be known, and the content instance consisting of the same bit string can be obtained. You can know the scarcity of content, such as how many more are left in the world.

Therefore, the value of the content based on rarity can be immediately determined from the digital content data existing therein without investigating the past sales history or contract of the digital content, and the auction can be performed immediately. Content can be bought and sold at free prices.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of content ID management information.

FIG. 3 is a processing flowchart of a content ID management center.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a processing sequence chart in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a processing sequence chart in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional method of inserting owner information with an electronic signature into a header.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conventional method of putting a content ID in a header and obtaining owner information in an IPR database.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 Content ID management center 11 Content ID assigning unit 12 Content ID embedding unit 13 User identity authentication unit 14 IPR database access right determination unit 15 IPR database access control unit 16 Owner information updating unit 17 Owner information search unit 20 Intellectual Property (IPR) Database 30 Network 40A Content Creator Terminal 40B-40D Content Dealer Terminal 41 Content Creation Unit 42 Content Transmission Unit 43 Content Copying Unit 44 IPR Database Access Unit 45 Content ID Read Unit 46 Content Receiving Unit 47 IPR Database Access Department

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 1/387 H04N 1/387 5J104

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method for managing an owner of digital content stored on a medium, wherein a different content ID is assigned to each legitimate content instance even if the digital content consists of the same bit string. The content ID is embedded in each content in a manner that is difficult to falsify, the content in which the content ID is embedded is distributed, and the content ID and its owner information are managed by a center. In response to an inquiry using a content ID read from embedded content as a key, the number of content instances having the same bit sequence as the content or all owner information of the content instances having the same bit sequence is notified. Ownership of content Person management method. 2. A system for managing an owner of digital content stored on a medium, wherein a different content ID is assigned to each legitimate content instance even if the digital content has the same bit string.
, A means for embedding the assigned content ID in each content in a manner that is difficult to falsify, a means for storing and managing the content ID and its owner information, and an update using the content ID as a key. Means for allowing only those who have the right to update the content owner information, means for reading the owner information of the content by using the content ID read from the content in which the content ID is embedded as a key, A digital content management system comprising: means for reading the number of content instances of digital content consisting of the same bit string or information of all owners using a content ID read from content in which a content ID is embedded as a key. 3. A content ID management center that manages content right information based on a content ID assigned to digital content, and for each content ID embedded in a distributed content in a manner that is difficult to falsify, Rights information and the number of different content IDs or different content IDs assigned to digital content composed of the same bit string.
And a content ID management information storage unit that stores link information to the D. The content ID management information storage unit refers to the content ID management information storage unit in response to an inquiry using a content ID read from the content in which the content ID is embedded as a key. Means for notifying the number of content IDs paid out to digital contents composed of bit strings or their right information.