JP2003168019A - Contents distribution system on distributed network and mediation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely charge the correct transmission/reception of electronic contents (e-contents) between users and to guarantee that the quality of the e-contents is quality intended by a copyright holder. <P>SOLUTION: The copyright holder issues meta-data describing the featured value of contents together with electronic signature (e-signature) and annexes the meta-data provided with the e-signature to the contents. The contents can be divided into main data and sub-data and the data volume of the main data is overpoweringly much. The main data are directly transmitted from a sender to a receiver and the receiver checks the featured values of the meta-data directly acquired from an intermediator and the main data and confirms the quality of the contents. The sender transmits the sub-data and the meta-data to the intermediator and the intermediator compares the featured value of the sub-data with the meta-data and conforms the quality. When the receiver executes charging processing with the intermediator, the sub-data are sent from the intermediator to the receiver. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to electronic content distribution in which electronic content is distributed via a communication network.
The technology is effective when applied to the next usage, content redistribution, and electronic content sales system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an electronic content distribution system for distributing electronic content via an electronic network has come to be used, and electronic content distributed by the electronic content distribution system is used for supporting distribution. It is often distributed with reference to metadata describing the outline, usage conditions, copyright information, sales amount, etc. of electronic contents.

[0003] In particular, Napster is a system that handles file names and capacities as metadata.

Napster is a sender 11 as shown in FIG.
The metadata of the first electronic content is transmitted to the intermediary 112 and registered with the intermediary (121). The receiver obtains the content information by searching and browsing the content information registered in the intermediary (122), and finally the content is provided by the sender having the content (123).
However, Napster is a big problem because the profit is not distributed to the content copyright holder and the distribution of the content cannot be restricted by the copyright holder or the like.

[0005]

As can be seen in Napster, the content is received directly from the sender. Therefore, when charging, it is necessary for the receiver or sender to notify the intermediary of the fact that the content transmission has been completed normally, and to perform the charging process. However, the fact that the receiver or the sender does not inform the intermediary that the content transfer has been completed can be easily done by blocking the network.

That is, the content is not charged even though the content is legitimately delivered to the recipient. It is also difficult for Napster to check whether the content is distributed in the quality intended by the copyright.

According to the present invention, 1) content is charged every time content is transmitted from the sender to the recipient. 2) Content sent from the sender is the content intended by the copyright holder. 2 Solve the point.

[0008]

In the present invention, the copyright holder issues metadata describing the characteristic amount of contents, and the copyright holder digitally signs the metadata to prevent tampering of the metadata. Guarantee content quality by.

The content data is divided into main data sent by the sender to the receiver and sub data sent by the sender to the intermediary. Note that the amount of main data is generally much larger than the amount of sub data.

In the content distribution system of the present invention, 1) main data and sub-data feature amount in the metadata
(Hash value, digital watermark, etc.) 2) The sender passes the main data and metadata to the receiver, and the receiver describes the main data feature amount described in the metadata and the actual main data feature amount. 3) The sender passes the sub data and metadata to the intermediary,
The mediator compares the sub-data feature amount described in the metadata with the actual feature amount of the sub-data 4) The receiver requests the intermediary to perform the billing process when 2) is normally performed, The intermediary can divide the work into four steps of performing the billing process and transmitting the sub data to the receiver if 3) is normally completed.

According to the present invention, not only can the content be legally charged, but also the quality of the content can be guaranteed, so that the content can be secondarily distributed, which leads to an increase in the content distribution.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An electronic content distribution system of an embodiment for distributing electronic content via a communication network will be described below. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of the electronic content distribution system of this embodiment. Further, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a sequence of the present embodiment.

The copyright holder 110 creates contents and metadata. The metadata is described in XML,
It is very difficult to tamper with the content name, price, number of bytes of main data and sub data, feature amount (hash value, etc.), content usage conditions, etc., and the content is digitally signed. The metadata is associated with the content and sold 220 as a package or the like.

In this electronic signature, the electronic certification authority 1
14 may be used. At this time, the digital signature key pair is sent from the digital certificate authority to the copyright holder (300).

The sender 111 connects to the content distribution system using dedicated software. The metadata of the sender's content is automatically sent to the intermediary 112 (221).

The intermediary receives a digital signature confirmation key from the digital certificate authority 114 to confirm the digital signature of the metadata (301). If the metadata has been tampered with, the metadata is discarded.

The receiver 113 sends the condition of the desired content to the intermediary (223). The intermediary, in turn, sends the appropriate content metadata to the recipient (222).

The receiver communicates with the sender based on the sent and received metadata and receives the main data of the content (224). Whether or not the main data of the content is appropriate may be determined by comparing the characteristic amount of the main data described in the metadata with the characteristic amount of the received main data. If they do not match, the main data is discarded and the sender is contacted again.

The sender sends the remaining sub-data to the intermediary (225). The mediator confirms whether the feature amount of the sub data described in the metadata and the feature amount of the received sub data match. If they do not match, communication is performed again.

The receiver requests the intermediary to perform billing processing (22
6) The intermediary performs the charging process. If the billing process is successful, the intermediary sends the sub data to the recipient (22
7). This completes the content transmission / reception.

The main data may be an encrypted content and the sub data may be a key that can decrypt the encrypted content. Further, the main data may be data that allows the contents to be semi-disclosed, and the sub data may be data that allows the semi-disclosure to be released and all contents to be viewed.

As described above, the invention made by the present inventor is
Although the specific description has been given based on the above-described embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0023]

(1) The content is divided into main data and sub-data, and the sub-data cannot be downloaded by the recipient unless the billing ends normally by passing the sub-data to the intermediary, so all the content data is downloaded. If you do, you will be charged. (2) Realizing reliable and hard-to-tamper metadata with a digital signature, and writing the feature quantity in the metadata makes it possible to easily judge whether the content is valid or not. It has become possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a conventional content distribution system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a sequence of one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

110 ... Copyright holder, 111 ... Sender, 112 ... Intermediary,
113 ... Recipient, 114 ... Electronic Certificate Authority, 121 ... Transmission of metadata, 122 ... Transmission of content information, 123 ...
Content transmission, 220 ... Sales of content and metadata, 221 ... Metadata transmission, 222 ... Metadata transmission, 223 ... Content condition transmission, 224 ... Main data transmission, 225 ... Sub data transmission, 226 ...
Request for billing process, 227 ... Transmission of sub-data, 300 ... Transmission of electronic signature key pair, 301 ... Transmission of confirmation key for electronic signature.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06F 17/60 ZEC G06F 17/60 ZEC 12/14 320 12/14 320E H04L 9/32 H04L 9/00 675D 675A

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. When there is a sender who sends content and a receiver who receives the content, there is an intermediary who manages the distribution of the content, and the sender sends the main data, which is the majority of the content data, to the recipient. Then, the sub-data, which is the remaining content data, is sent to the intermediary, the recipient receives the main data, the intermediary charges, and then the recipient can receive the sub-data from the intermediary. Distribution system. 2. The copyright holder digitally signs the metadata, which is the data describing the characteristics of the content issued by the copyright holder, and distributes it together with the content, and the metadata has a value that characterizes the content. The content distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the content characteristic amount is described, and the metadata is transmitted to the receiver and the intermediary. 3. The content distribution according to claim 2, wherein the intermediary compares the feature amount of the sub-data with the feature amount described in the metadata, and uploads the sub-data to the intermediary server only for the contents that match each other. system. 4. The intermediary sends metadata to the recipient,
The content distribution system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the receiver compares the characteristic amount of the received main data with the characteristic amount described in the metadata, and requests a billing process to the intermediary when the both agree. . 5. The content distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the main data is an encrypted content and the sub data is a key capable of decrypting the encrypted content. 6. The main data is data capable of semi-disclosure of the contents, and the sub-data is data which enables semi-disclosure to allow all contents to be viewed. Content distribution system according to item. 7. An apparatus for mediating content distribution between a sender and a receiver, which enables the receiver to receive main data, which is the majority of the content data, from the sender; Means for receiving sub-data, which is the remaining content data of the content data, from the user, means for charging the recipient who has received the main data, and transmitting the sub-data to the recipient who has completed the charging. Means for mediating content distribution. 8. A means for receiving, from a sender, metadata which is a digital signature and is issued by a copyright holder and which describes a content feature amount which is a value characterizing the content, and means for confirming the electronic signature of the received metadata. Means for sending said confirmed metadata to the recipient,
The content distribution mediation apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising: 9. The content distribution mediating apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising means for comparing the characteristic amount of the sub-data and the characteristic amount described in the metadata, and transmitting only the content in which the both coincide with the recipient. 10. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising means for receiving a billing process request from a recipient whose feature quantity of the main data received from the sender and feature quantity described in the metadata received from the intermediary device match. The content distribution mediation device described in. 11. The content distribution intermediary device according to claim 7, wherein the main data is an encrypted content, and the sub data is a key capable of decrypting the encrypted content. 12. The main data is data capable of semi-disclosure of the contents, and the sub-data is data which enables semi-disclosure to allow all contents to be viewed. The content distribution mediation device according to item.