JP2004240960A - Content utilization management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a content utilization management system having flexibility and extendability managing the utilization of a content based on a plurality of right management systems. <P>SOLUTION: The content utilization management system is a system containing terminal equipment 300 utilizing the content and a license generation server 100 managing the utilization. The license generation server 100 comprises: right generation sections 10A, 10B generating utilization condition information indicative of the utilization condition of the content by corresponding to the plurality of respective right management systems having different right management systems utilizing the content; a content key storage section 103 storing a content key; and a license generation section 102 generating license information from the utilization condition information and the content key, and the like. The terminal equipment 300 comprises: right interpretation sections 30A, 30B determining the propriety of the utilization of the content under the plurality of right management systems: and content utilization sections 321a, 321b utilizing the content in accordance with a determination result, and the like. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for distributing a license of digital content such as video and music from a server device using communication or broadcasting, and a user using digital content based on the license at a terminal device. The present invention relates to a content usage management system that can be extended.

In recent years, digital contents such as music, video, games, and the like (hereinafter, referred to as contents) can be distributed from a server device to a terminal device through communication such as the Internet or digital broadcasting, and the terminal device can use the content. A system called a content distribution system has entered a practical stage.
In a general content distribution system, a copyright protection technique is used to protect the copyright of the content and prevent unauthorized use of the content by a malicious user or the like. Specifically, the copyright protection technology is a technology for securely controlling the use of content, such as reproduction of content or copying to a recording medium, by a user, using an encryption technology or the like.

For example, the server device generates a license including a partial use condition such as the number of times of reproduction of the content that can be used in the terminal device, distributes the license to the terminal device, and in the terminal device, based on the logical sum and the logical product of the partial use condition, A system for controlling usage has been proposed as an example of a content distribution system (see Patent Document 1).
JP-A-2000-293439

However, the conventional content distribution system has the following problems. Here, a method for realizing the copyright protection of the content using the copyright protection technology is defined as a rights management method, and the problem will be described.
The first problem is that, in one content distribution system, there is no known method for controlling the use of content in a terminal device in cooperation or coexistence of a plurality of right management methods. Specifically, in the service of the operator δ operating the content distribution system, the right management system A developed by the manufacturer α and the right management system B developed by the manufacturer β cooperate with each other to use the content in the terminal device. There is no known control method. That is, the conventional rights management method is based on an environment in which only one type of rights management method exists, and has a problem that it does not function in an environment in which a plurality of rights management methods are mixed.

  The second problem is that, in a certain rights management system, when extending the existing content use control contents in the terminal device, a license interpreter for interpreting the license in the terminal device and a use possibility for determining whether the content can be used or not in the terminal device A function change is required in the two processing units of the determination unit. Specifically, in the terminal device, in the rights management method for controlling the number of times the content is used, when adding the control of the usage time of the content, a usage time interpretation function is added to the license interpretation unit, and It is necessary to add a function of judging whether or not use is possible based on the use time. In other words, in the conventional rights management method, it is necessary to add or change the functions of many processing units in the terminal device in order to extend the content use control content, and it is difficult to substantially extend the use control content. However, there is a problem of poor expandability.

  Therefore, the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, and realizes content use control in a terminal device based on a plurality of rights management methods, and expands the content of use control in the terminal device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a content use management system having flexibility and expandability that does not require a change in the function of the availability determination unit.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a content use management system according to the present invention includes a terminal device that uses content that is a digital work, and a terminal device that is connected to the terminal device via a communication path and uses the content by the terminal device. And a server device for managing the content usage right, wherein the server device corresponds to each of a plurality of right management systems having different management systems for the right to use the content, and indicates a usage condition indicating the usage condition of the content. Usage condition generation means for generating information; content key storage means for storing a content key required for the terminal device to use the content; usage condition information generated by the usage condition generation means; From the content key stored in the content key storage means corresponding to the condition information, License generating means for generating license information indicating a license permitting use of the content corresponding to the content key under the usage condition indicated by the usage condition information, and license distributing means for distributing the generated license information to the terminal device Wherein the terminal device obtains and stores license information distributed from the server device, and a license storage unit that obtains and stores the license information based on a license condition indicated by the license information stored in the license storage unit. Use condition determining means for determining whether or not the content indicated by the information can be used; and when the use condition determining means determines that the content can be used, decrypts the content by using a content key included in the license information; According to the usage conditions included in the license information, Content use means for utilizing the content, and use condition update means for updating, when the content is used by the content use means, the use condition indicated by the license information stored in the license storage means in association with the use. It is characterized by having. That is, the server device issues license information corresponding to a plurality of right management methods.

  Then, in order to distinguish a plurality of rights management methods, for example, the license generation unit generates the license information by including a rights management identifier for identifying a rights management method corresponding to the use condition information in the license information. The use condition determining unit determines whether the content can be used according to a right management method indicated by a right management identifier included in the license information, and the use condition updating unit determines that the right management identifier included in the license information is The use condition is updated in accordance with the indicated right management method.

Thus, in an environment where a plurality of rights management methods are mixed, the terminal device can reproduce content such as video and music according to the license information issued from the server device. In other words, it is possible to provide users with a wide variety of contents in an environment where many content vendors coexist while protecting the copyright of digital contents.
Note that the different rights management schemes are, specifically, a physical data structure (data length, arrangement, encryption scheme, etc.) of usage condition information and license information indicating the content of the right to use the content, and an interpretation method thereof ( Expression form, correspondence between bit patterns and semantic contents, etc.).

  Here, the use condition generating means may generate a plurality of use condition information corresponding to each of the plurality of right management methods for the same content. At this time, the use condition information includes usable information indicating a range permitted for use of the content, and the use condition generation unit performs a plurality of use corresponding to the plurality of rights management systems for the same content. When generating the use condition information, the plurality of use condition information may be generated so that the same type of usable information is not included in the plurality of use condition information redundantly. When generating a plurality of use condition information corresponding to each of the plurality of right management methods for the same content, the use condition generation unit includes the same type of available information redundantly and included in the plurality of use condition information. Thus, the plurality of usage condition information may be generated.

For example, in the license information for a certain music content, the right management system A permits reproduction 10 times and the rights management system B permits reproduction 8 times. The present invention may be implemented as a system that permits the setting of the available information redundantly, or may be implemented as a system that does not allow the setting.
In a system that allows duplication of usable information, for example, the use condition determining unit may be configured to perform a process when the plurality of use condition information in the license includes the same type of usable information related to the same content in a redundant manner. (1) In accordance with a predetermined priority of the rights management method, priority is given to the usable information included in the usage condition information corresponding to the rights management method having a higher priority, and the availability of the content is determined. (2) generating a plurality of determination results by determining whether the content is available based on each of the plurality of available information, and performing a predetermined operation on the generated plurality of determination results; By judging whether or not the content can be used, it is possible to finally avoid redundant judgment results.

  The present invention can be realized not only as such a content use management system, but also as a single server device or terminal device constituting the system, or as a characteristic means constituting such a system or device. The present invention can be realized as a content use management method and a content use method as steps, or as a program including those steps or as a recording medium storing the program.

According to the present invention, it is possible to control the use of content in a terminal device in a state where a plurality of right management methods are linked. That is, in an environment where a plurality of rights management methods coexist, the user can use the integrated content distribution service.
In addition, when extending the content use control items in the terminal device, it is only necessary to change and add a right interpretation unit capable of interpreting the control item to be extended in the terminal device, and the content use control items can be easily extended. It is possible to do.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, flexible and scalable rights management and copyright protection according to various service forms and business forms can be performed, and a digital content distribution service can be dramatically developed.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of a content distribution system S according to the present embodiment.
This content distribution system S is a system in which a user uses content on a terminal device based on a content distributed from a content distribution server via a transmission path or package media and a license distributed from a license generation server. It comprises a license generation server 100 that generates and distributes content, a content distribution server 200 that distributes content, terminal devices 300a to 300c that use the content, and a transmission path N that interconnects these.

  The license generation server 100 is a server device that manages usage conditions of content owned by a user and grants a license of the content to the user, and is operated by a service entity δ that provides a content distribution service. Further, it is assumed that the right management for controlling the use of contents in the content distribution service is performed based on the right management system A provided by the manufacturer α and the right management system B provided by the manufacturer β.

  Specifically, the license generation server 100 manages the usage conditions of the content owned by each user or each of the terminal devices 300a to 300c for each right management system, and based on the license from the user. Is generated, and the license is distributed to the terminal devices 300a to 300c through the transmission path N. Alternatively, in a push-type distribution mode such as digital broadcasting or broadband broadcasting, a temporarily invalidated license is distributed together with the content, and the terminal devices 300a to 300c perform billing processing to activate the license and use the content. You can also.

The license is data composed of a decryption key (content key) for decrypting the encrypted content and information related to content use control.
When data such as a license is transmitted / received between the license generation server 100 and the terminal devices 300a to 300c through the transmission path N, a secure authentication channel (hereinafter, referred to as SAC) is required to ensure security. After the description is established, data transmission and reception are performed. The data structure of the license will be described later in detail with reference to the drawings.

In addition, a common key encryption algorithm such as AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) or Triple DES (Data Encryption Standard) is generally used as an encryption algorithm for encrypting the content managed by the content distribution server 200.
The content distribution server 200 is a server device for distributing content to the terminal devices 300a to 300c via the transmission path N, and is realized by a workstation or the like. Specifically, the content distribution server 200 distributes the content that is digitally compressed by a compression method such as MPEG-2 (Moving Picture Experts Group) or MPEG-4, and encrypted by AES, Triple DES, or the like as necessary. I do.

  For example, in the case of the Internet, a server device that streams contents by using a protocol such as RTP (Realtime Transfer Protocol) / UDP (User Datagram Protocol), or a file transfer protocol (FTP) such as File Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP). Server device that provides the download content according to the above protocol.

  In the case of digital broadcasting, a transmission device that provides a stream-type content using an MPEG-2 TS (Transport Stream) or a data carousel transmission described in an ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and Businesses) STD-B24 or the like. It may be a transmission device that provides storage-type content based on the method.

In the present embodiment, the content distribution server 200 will be described as a server device that provides downloaded content.
The transmission path N is a network that interconnects the license generation server 100, the content distribution server 200, and the terminal devices 300a to 300c. For example, the transmission path N is a communication network such as the Internet, digital broadcasting, or a network in which these are combined.

  Each of the terminal devices 300a to 300c has a function of connecting to the transmission path N, and is a terminal device for a user to use the content on a monitor screen or the like or to write the content to a recording medium. Specifically, the terminal devices 300a to 300c include an STB (Set Top Box) for receiving a digital broadcast, a digital TV, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) recorder, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) recorder, and a PC (Personal Computer). Etc., a content display device, a recorder, or a composite device thereof.

  Next, in such a content distribution system S, a plurality of rights management systems based on the rights management system A provided by the manufacturer α and the rights management system B provided by the manufacturer β cooperate or coexist. A description will be given of a content acquisition process, a license acquisition process, a process at the start of content use, and a process at the end of content use in the terminal device when controlling use of the content.

Here, prior to the description, an identifier in the present embodiment will be defined.
The user identifier is information for uniquely identifying a user in the content distribution system S.
The terminal identifier is information for uniquely identifying the terminal device 300 in the content distribution system S. In the present embodiment, the terminal identifier of the terminal device 300 will be described as “TERMINAL-ID-0001”.

The content identifier is information for uniquely specifying the content in the content distribution system S.
The right management identifier is information for uniquely specifying a right management method in the content distribution system S. In this embodiment, the right management identifier corresponding to the right management method A is “100A”, and the right management identifier corresponding to the right management method B is “100B”.

Other identifiers and specific values of the identifiers will be appropriately defined and described where necessary.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the license generation server 100, the content distribution server 200, and the terminal device 300 shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the functional configuration of the terminal devices 300a to 300c is illustrated as the terminal device 300, with the terminal device 300a as a representative.

  First, a detailed configuration of the license generation server 100 will be described. The license generation server 100 includes a communication unit 101 that communicates with the terminal device 300, a license generation unit 102 that generates a license from use conditions and a content key, a content key storage unit 103 that stores a content key, As a plurality of right generation units for performing generation, a right generation unit 10A corresponding to the right management system A and a right generation unit 10B corresponding to the right management system B are configured.

  Here, the right generation unit is set for each right management system, and includes a usage condition generation unit, a user information storage unit, and a usage condition storage unit. Here, the right generation unit 10A will be described as a representative of the right generation unit. The right generation unit 10A includes a use condition generation unit 110a that generates use conditions based on the right management method A, a user information storage unit 111a that stores user information, and a use condition storage unit 112a that stores use conditions. You.

Next, a detailed configuration of the content distribution server 200 will be described.
The content distribution server 200 includes a communication unit 201 that communicates with the terminal device 300, a content acquisition unit 202 that acquires encrypted content from the content storage unit 203, and a content storage unit 203 that stores encrypted content. You.

Finally, a detailed configuration of the terminal device 300 will be described.
The terminal device 300 includes a communication unit 301 that communicates with the license generation server 100 and the content distribution server 200; a license request unit 302 that generates a license request message and issues a license acquisition request to the license generation server 100; A license storage unit 303 that stores the license acquired from the license server 100; a control unit 304 that controls whether content can be used based on the license and a license update control after the content is used; A content storage unit 305 that stores the encrypted content, a content request unit 306 that generates a content request message, and issues a content acquisition request to the content distribution server 200, and interprets and interprets usage conditions included in the license. A plurality of right interpreting units for performing the new processing include a right interpreting unit 30A corresponding to the right managing method A, a right interpreting unit 30B corresponding to the right managing method B, and content using units 321a and 321b using the contents. Is done.

  Here, the right interpreting unit is set for each right management system, and includes a use condition determining unit and a use condition updating unit. Here, the right interpretation unit 30A will be described as a representative of the right interpretation unit. The right interpreting unit 30A includes a use condition determining unit 311a that determines whether the content can be used based on the obtained use conditions, and a use condition update unit 312a that updates the obtained use conditions.

Each server and the terminal device 300 include various data storage units and various processing units. The various data storage units are realized by a storage medium such as an HDD, and the various processing units are hardware such as an LSI or a CPU or a RAM. , And a program executed using a ROM or the like.
Here, a data structure of data handled in the present embodiment will be described. First, the data structure of the license will be described, and the data structure of the data held by the various data storage units will be described in the order of the license generation server 100, the content distribution server 200, and the terminal device 300.

First, the data structure of the license will be described with reference to FIG. The license 800 includes a license header 801 including information provided for the entire license, and a right management-specific information list 802 which is a list of information provided for each right management method.
The license header 801 includes a content key 811 for decrypting the encrypted content corresponding to the license 800, and priority information 812 for setting a priority order for determining whether or not the terminal device 300 can be used and for updating the use condition. And control identification information 813 that specifies a control method for determining whether or not the terminal device 300 can use and update the use condition. Note that the license 800 needs to be associated with the content identifier in the license storage unit 303 and the processing related to the license, and the content header is included in the license header 801 in order to omit the process of associating the license 800 with the content identifier in the terminal device 300. It is good.

The rights management-specific information list 802 includes a plurality of rights management-specific information. The rights management-specific information includes a rights management identifier 821, management information 822 in which information such as validity / invalidity of use conditions is set, and use conditions 823. And consisting of
The use condition 823 includes a list of a set of available information 832 relating to the determination of the availability of the content, an available information identifier 831 for uniquely specifying the item of the available information in the content distribution system S, And a list of sets of usage control information 834 that uniquely specifies items of the usage control information 834 in the content distribution system S.

  Here, the available information 832 is the number of times the target content can be used, for example, “10 times”, or the period during which the target content can be used, for example, “December 1, 2002 to February 13, 2003” It is. The availability information 832 includes variable availability information whose value may change when the license is updated in the terminal device 300 and invariable availability information whose value does not change. Here, the number of available times is variable available information updated after using the content in the terminal device 300, and the available period is invariable available information that is not updated even after using the content in the terminal device 300. is there.

  The use-time control information 834 includes information (“HD [High Definition]” or “SD [Standard Definition]”) for specifying the image quality at the time of content reproduction, and information for specifying an audio channel (“5.1 ch reproduction”). Or, “2ch reproduction”). The use control information 834 is an invariable value that is not updated even after using the content in the terminal device 300. The use-time control information 834 may be updated.

  The license 800 dealt with in the present embodiment has a structure that allows the items of the variable available information to be duplicated in the usage conditions 823 of each right management information in the right management information list 802. That is, when the same variable availability information 832 item exists in a plurality of rights management-specific information, that is, when the same variable availability information 832 item is controlled by a plurality of rights management methods, A variable item of the available information 832 is set in the usage condition of the separate information.

Specifically, a license 2300 generated from a rights management method A that manages “usable times” and “image quality control information” and a rights management method B that manages “usable times” and “validity period” This will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 23, the right management-specific information list 2302 in the license 2300 is composed of right management-specific information 2311 and right management-specific information 2312. "100A" is set to indicate that this is the case, and "usable number" and "image quality control information", which are the available information managed by the right management method A, are set as the available information. On the other hand, in the right management information 2312, similarly, the right management identifier is set to “100B”, and the validity information is set to “valid period” and “available time”. In the right management information 2311 and the right management information 2312, “available number of times” is set as variable available information, and the structure of the variable available information allows duplication of items.

Next, data stored in each storage unit of the license generation server 100 will be described with reference to the drawings.
The user information storage unit 111a is a database having a user information management table for managing information about a user, and includes a terminal device 300 that accesses the license generation server 100 and usage of content managed by the usage condition storage unit 112a. It is used to associate the user with the condition. Specifically, the user information storage unit 111a has a user information management table D300 shown in FIG. 3, and manages a user identifier D301 and a terminal identifier D302.

  For example, in FIG. 3, the user whose user identifier D301 is “USER-ID-0001” indicates that the user owns the terminal device 300 whose terminal identifier D302 is “TERMINAL-ID-0001”. Also, the user whose user identifier D301 is “USER-ID-0002” has two terminal devices 300 whose terminal identifiers D302 are “TERMINAL-ID-1001” and “TERMINAL-ID-1002”, and both of them. Indicates that the license generation server 100 can be accessed from the terminal device 300.

  The data registration in the user information storage unit 111a is performed when the user registers as a member to receive the service provided by the service provider. In this member registration process, the user may connect to the website of the manufacturer α that provides the right management system A via the transmission line N and perform online registration on the member registration screen. It may be performed off-line, such as using it.

  In the member registration process, first, the service provider assigns a user identifier D301 to the user. Thereafter, the service provider is notified of the terminal identifier D302 of the terminal device 300 owned by the user online or offline, so that the user identifier D301 and the terminal identifier D302 are associated with each other and the user information management table of the user information storage unit 111a. Registered in D300. As a result of performing the above member registration processing, the user information management table D300 of the user information storage unit 111a is constructed.

The use condition storage unit 112a corresponding to the right management method A is a database that manages use conditions for content for each user, and can issue use conditions owned by the user in response to a license acquisition request from the terminal device 300. It is used to determine whether or not it can be issued and to generate a usage condition when it can be issued.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the use condition storage unit 112a stores a user identifier D401 indicating the owner of the use condition, a content identifier D402 of the content whose use condition permits use, and a content identifier D402. Valid period D403 indicating the start and end dates and times at which the content can be used, the number of usable times D404 indicating the number of times the content indicated by the content identifier D402 can be used, and image quality control indicating the image quality of the content when the content is used And a use condition management table D400 including information D405.

  For example, the user whose user identifier D401 is “USER-ID-0001” has the usage condition of the content whose usage is permitted and is “CONTENT-ID-0001” indicated by the content identifier D402, and the validity period D403 is “〜2003 / 1/30”, the available number of times D404 is “10 times”, that is, it can be used 10 times, and the image quality control information D405 indicates that it is HD.

Next, specific data in the use condition storage unit 112b corresponding to the right management method B will be described because it is necessary in the following description.
As shown in FIG. 4, the use condition storage unit 112b stores the user identifier D411 indicating the owner of the use condition, the content identifier D412 of the content whose use condition permits use, and the use of the content indicated by the content identifier D412. It has a use condition management table D410 including a validity period D413 indicating the start and end dates and times that can be used, and a use time D414 indicating a usable time of the content indicated by the content identifier D412.

  The registration of data in the usage condition storage unit 112a is performed when the right to use the content is purchased by the company δ that operates the content distribution system S or the manufacturer α that provides the right management system A. In this purchase processing, the user may connect to the website of the manufacturer α that provides the right management system A via the transmission path N, and make a purchase online on the content purchase screen, use a postcard for purchase, or the like. May be done offline.

  In the purchase process, the user first specifies the content identifier D402 of the content to be purchased, confirms the usage conditions, and then performs the purchase process. The user identifier D401, the content identifier D402, and the use condition of the user who has performed the purchase process are registered in the use condition management table D400 of the use condition storage unit 112a in association with each other. As a result of performing the above-described purchase processing, a use condition management table D400 of the use condition storage unit 112a is constructed.

The content key storage unit 103 is a database that manages a content key for decrypting the encrypted content. When a license is generated in response to a license acquisition request from the terminal device 300, the content included in the license acquisition request Used to acquire a content key corresponding to the identifier.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the content key storage unit 103 manages a content key including a content identifier D501 for uniquely identifying the content in the content distribution system S and a content key D502 corresponding to the content identifier D501. It has a table D500. For example, this indicates that the content key D502 for decrypting the encrypted content whose content identifier D501 is “CONTENT-ID-0001” is “CONTENT-KEY-0001”.

Next, data stored in the storage unit of the content distribution server 200 will be described with reference to the drawings.
The content storage unit 203 is a database that manages the encrypted content, and is used for acquiring the encrypted content corresponding to the content identifier included in the content acquisition request in response to the content acquisition request from the terminal device 300. .

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the content storage unit 203 has a content management table D600 including a content identifier D601 and an encrypted content D602 corresponding to the content identifier D601. For example, it indicates that the encrypted content whose content identifier D601 is “CONTENT-ID-0001” is “ENC-CONTENT-0001”.

The data registration in the content key storage unit 103 and the data registration in the content storage unit 203 are performed when a content provider that provides the content to the content distribution system S provides the content.
Next, data stored in the storage unit of the terminal device 300 will be described with reference to the drawings.
The license storage unit 303 is a database for managing licenses, and is used to acquire a license corresponding to a content identifier in response to a license acquisition request from the control unit 304 when using content in the terminal device 300.

  More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the license storage unit 303 has a license management table D700 including a content identifier D701 and a license D702 for the encrypted content corresponding to the content identifier D701. For example, the license whose content identifier D701 is “CONTENT-ID-0001” is “LICENSE-0001”. The data registration in the license storage unit 303 is performed when the terminal device 300 acquires a license from the license generation server 100.

The content storage unit 305 is a database for managing the encrypted content, and its data structure is the same as the data structure of the content management table D600 described in the content storage unit 203.
In the content distribution system S having the above-described configuration, the process when the terminal device 300 acquires the content from the content distribution server 200 and the terminal device 300 acquires the license from the license generation server 100 and when the terminal device 300 starts using the content. (1) Content acquisition process, (2) License acquisition process, (3) Content use start process, (4) Content use end process A description will be given with reference to FIGS.

Prior to the description of each process, a communication message handled in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the contents of the message format of a communication message M1000 exchanged in communication between each server and the terminal device 300 and in communication between each functional block. The communication message M1000 in FIG. 10 includes a message header M1001 and a message body M1002. Here, the message header M1001 includes at least information for specifying the transmission destination and information for specifying the transmission source. The information for specifying the transmission destination is referred to as a destination of a message, and the information for specifying the transmission source is referred to as a destination when transmitting a reply message to the message. A typical example of the information for specifying the transmission source or the transmission destination is an IP address. In the case where the authentication process is performed between the server, the device, and the functional block that transmit and receive the communication message, the message header may include information necessary for the authentication process. On the other hand, the message body M1002 includes information unique to each message. Information unique to the message body M1002 will be described for each message.

(1) Content Acquisition Process First, the data structure of a communication message related to the content acquisition process will be described with reference to FIGS.
The content request message body M2400 in FIG. 24 includes a content identifier M2401. On the other hand, the content transmission message body M2500 of FIG. 25 includes encrypted content M2501.

Next, processing of each unit until the terminal device 300 acquires the encrypted content from the content distribution server 200 will be described with reference to FIG.
The terminal device 300 starts content acquisition processing in response to a user's information input to an application of the terminal device 300 and a content acquisition instruction. The user must input at least a content identifier that specifies the encrypted content to be acquired or information equivalent to the content identifier to the application of the terminal device 300. Here, the information according to the content identifier is information that has a one-to-one correspondence with the content identifier, such as the name of the content, and can identify the content identifier by referring to the correspondence table with the content identifier. Hereinafter, a description will be given assuming that the user has input the content identifier “CONTENT-ID-0001” and has started the content acquisition processing.

Upon receiving the information input from the user, the terminal device 300 generates a content request message in the content request unit 306 and transmits the content request message to the content distribution server 200 via the communication unit 301 (FIG. 26: step S2631).
The content identifier M2401 included in the content request message body M2400 sets the content identifier input by the user. Here, “CONTENT-ID-0001” is set.

  The content distribution server 200 receives the content request message via the communication unit 201 (FIG. 26: Step S2621). The content acquisition unit 202 extracts the content identifier M2401 from the content request message body M2400, specifies and acquires the encrypted content M2501 to be acquired from the content management table D600 of the content storage unit 203 using the content identifier M2401 as a key (FIG. 26: Step S2622). Here, since “CONTENT-ID-0001” is set as the content identifier M2401, the target encrypted content is “ENC-CONTENT-0001”. The content acquisition unit 202 attaches a message header to the acquired encrypted content M2501, generates a content transmission message, and transmits the content transmission message to the terminal device 300 via the communication unit 201 (FIG. 26: step S2623).

  The terminal device 300 receives the content transmission message via the communication unit 301 (FIG. 26: step S2632), stores the obtained encrypted content M2501 in the content storage unit 305 in association with the content identifier M2401 (FIG. 26: Step S2633), and the process ends.

(2) License Acquisition Process Next, the license acquisition process will be described.
First, the data structure of a communication message related to the license acquisition processing will be described with reference to FIGS.
The license request message body M1100 in FIG. 11 includes a terminal identifier M1101, a content identifier M1102, and a right management identifier list M1103. Here, the rights management identifier list M1103 is a list of rights management identifiers M1111 of a rights management method that can be interpreted by the terminal device 300 that transmits the license request message.

  The use condition request message body M1200 in FIG. 12 includes a terminal identifier M1201 and a content identifier M1202. The use condition transmission message body M1300 in FIG. 13 includes a use condition M1301. The license transmission message body M1400 in FIG. 14 includes a license M1401.

Next, processing of each unit until the terminal device 300 acquires a license from the license generation server 100 will be described with reference to FIG.
The terminal device 300 starts license acquisition processing in response to a user's information input to an application of the terminal device 300 and a license acquisition instruction. The user must input, to the application of the terminal device 300, at least a content identifier which is one of the information for specifying the license to be acquired or information according to the content identifier. Hereinafter, a description will be given on the assumption that the user has input the content identifier “CONTENT-ID-0001” and has started the license acquisition process.

Upon receiving the information input from the user, the terminal device 300 generates a license request message in the license request unit 302 and transmits it to the content distribution server 200 through the communication unit 301 (FIG. 27: step S2731).
The terminal identifier M1101 included in the license request message body M1100 sets the terminal identifier “TERMINAL-ID-0001” of the terminal device 300 that transmits the license request message, and the content identifier M1102 is the content identifier “CONTENT” input by the user. -ID-0001 ”, and the rights management identifier list M1103 is a rights management system that can interpret usage conditions in the terminal device 300, that is, a rights management system that is a rights management system of a rights interpretation unit existing in the terminal device 300. A right management identifier “100A” of A and a right management identifier “100B” of right management system B are set.

  The license generation server 100 receives the license request message via the communication unit 101 (FIG. 27: Step S2711). The license generation unit 102 extracts the content identifier M1102 from the license request message body M1100, and determines whether a content key corresponding to the content identifier M1102 exists in the content key storage unit 103 (FIG. 27: step S2712). .

  If the content key does not exist, the license generation server 100 cannot generate the license, so the process ends, and the terminal device 300 sends a reply message in which the content key does not exist, that is, the content identifier is invalid in the message body. Send to In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, since the content key “CONTENT-KEY-0001” corresponding to the content identifier “CONTENT-ID-0001” exists, the description will be made assuming that the content key exists. to continue.

If the content key exists, the license generation unit 102 acquires the content key and performs the subsequent processing.
The license generation unit 102 extracts the right management identifier list M1103 from the license request message body M1100, and sends a usage condition to the usage condition generation unit of the right generation unit corresponding to the right management identifier M1111 included in the right management identifier list M1103. Send a request message. (FIG. 27: Step S2713). Here, since the right management identifier “100A” and the right management identifier “100B” are set in the right management identifier list M1103, the usage condition generation unit 100a of the right generation unit 10A corresponding to the right management method A and The usage condition request message is transmitted to the usage condition generation unit 100b of the right generation unit 10B corresponding to the right management system B. The use condition request message may be transmitted to only one of the use condition generation unit 100a and the use condition generation unit 100b, or the use condition request message may be transmitted to all the right generation units held by the license generation server 100. You may send it.

In the right management identifier list M1103, a right management identifier of a right management method in which the use condition can be determined in the terminal device 300 or a right management method of which the use condition can be updated in the terminal device 300 may be set.
In operation, a right management method for controlling content use in the terminal device 300 may be determined for each service, and the above-described processing may be performed on a right generation unit corresponding to the right management method.

Here, the service is a correspondence table of a service identifier, which is information for uniquely specifying a service in the content distribution system S, and a rights management identifier of a rights management method for performing rights management in a service corresponding to the service identifier. The identifier / right management identifier correspondence table D900 will be described.
The service identifier / right management identifier correspondence table D900 is used to associate a service identifier with a right management identifier. Specifically, the service identifier / right management identifier correspondence table D900 shown in FIG. 9 manages a service identifier D901 and a right management identifier D902.

For example, in FIG. 9, the right management method corresponding to the service whose service identifier D901 is “SERVICE-ID-0001” includes a right management method whose right management identifier D902 is “DRM-ID-0001” and a “DRM-ID”. ID-0002 "and the DRM-ID-0003".
The terminal identifier M1201 included in the usage condition request message body M1200 sets the terminal identifier M1101 included in the license request message body M1100, and the content identifier M1202 sets the content identifier M1102 included in the license request message body M1100.

The process in the right generation unit will be described using the right generation unit 10A as an example.
The use condition generation unit 110a receives the use condition request message. First, the use condition generation unit 110a extracts the terminal identifier M1201 from the use condition request message body M1200, and specifies a user identifier corresponding to the terminal identifier M1201 as a key from the user information management table D300 held by the user information storage unit 111a.

  If the terminal identifier M1201 does not exist in the user information management table D300, it is determined that the terminal device 300 that has transmitted the license request message is not registered in the service of the right generation unit 10A, and the use condition cannot be generated. Is completed, and a reply message including that the terminal identifier does not exist in the message body is transmitted to the license generation unit 102 through the use condition generation unit 110a.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a user identifier “USER-ID-0001” exists as a user identifier corresponding to the terminal identifier “TERMINAL-ID-0001”. If the user identifier D301 is present, a reply message including the fact that the user confirmation is completed and the user identifier D301 in the message body is transmitted to the use condition generation unit 110a.

  Based on the user identifier D301 extracted from the reply message and the terminal identifier M1201 extracted from the use condition request message, the usage rule generation unit 110a receiving the reply message uses the usage rule management table D400 stored in the usage rule storage unit 112a. Identify the target usage conditions from. The user identifier D401 and the content identifier D402 of the use condition management table D400 specify a record in which the user identifier D301 and the content identifier M1102 match. If there is no corresponding record, a reply message indicating that there is no use condition is transmitted to the use condition generation unit 110a. On the other hand, if the corresponding record exists, the usage rule to be distributed is generated based on the stored usage rule.

  As a method of generating the use condition, there is a method of generating all the use conditions described in the record, a method of generating a part of the use conditions described in the record, and the like. Here, a method of generating a usage condition will be described using a specific example. As shown in FIG. 4, the use condition of the record specified by the user identifier “USER-ID-0001” and the content identifier “CONTENT-ID-0001” is, as shown in FIG. “10 times” and image quality control information “HD”.

  When distributing all the usage conditions, the available number of times, which is a variable available condition, is generated as “10 times”, and the available number of times of the record after the generation is “0 times”. In the case of distributing a part of the user's rights, the terminal device 300 transmits the desired number of times, for example, three times, to the variable availability condition, and generates the required number of times three times. In this case, the number of times the record can be used may be set to "7 times". If it is determined that the record is generated once each time by the operation of the maker α that manages the rights management method A, the record is generated once and the usable number of times of the record after generation is “9”. . For example, various operations can be considered, but the operation is not the essence of the present invention.

The values of the invariable usable condition and the in-use control information do not change due to the use condition generation. Here, a description will be given assuming that the number of usable times is distributed 10 times.
The use condition generation unit 110a generates a use condition M1301 from the information acquired from the use condition storage unit 112a (FIG. 27: step S2714), and transmits the use condition transmission message including the use condition transmission message body M1300.

  Here, the contents of the usage rule M1301 will be specifically described. The use condition generation unit 110a sets an identifier indicating a period during which the content can be used as the usable information identifier 831 of the use condition M1301, and sets “〜2003 / 1/30” as the usable information corresponding to the identifier. . Also, an identifier indicating the number of times the content can be used is set as the next available information identifier 831, and “10 times” is set as the available information corresponding to the identifier. Also, an identifier indicating the image quality control information is set as the use control information identifier, and “HD” is set as the use control information corresponding to the identifier.

  Further, when the use condition is transmitted, the available number of times, which is a variable value in the use condition management table D400, must be updated by (stored available number of times)-(generated usable number of times). In the above example, (10 times)-(10 times) = 0 and the number is updated to 0. It should be noted that the update timing is determined when the usage condition generation unit 110a transmits the usage condition to the license generation unit 102, when the license generation unit 102 transmits the license to the terminal device 300, and when the license is received by the terminal device 300. It is assumed that it can be confirmed. If the license is not transmitted after updating the use condition, the use condition needs to be restored to the original value. The method of restoring the value is not the essence of the present invention, and the description is omitted.

After the above processing, the license generation unit 102 receives a use condition transmission message or a return message indicating that the use condition cannot be generated from the right generation unit 10A and the right generation unit 10B, respectively. The license generation unit 102 determines whether a license can be generated based on the use condition transmission message or the reply message.
The license generation determination is made only when the usage conditions are received from all the rights generation units that transmitted the usage condition transmission message, or the license generation conditions are determined by at least one of the right generation units that transmitted the usage condition transmission message. Various operations are possible, such as allowing generation when received. If the reply message from the all rights generation unit indicates that the use condition cannot be generated, or if it is determined that the license cannot be generated by the operation, a reply message including the reason of the generation failure is transmitted to the terminal device 300. I do.

Here, a case will be described in which the use condition is transmitted from both the use condition generation unit 110a and the use condition generation unit 110b, and a license can be generated.
The license generation unit 102 generates a license header 801. The content key 811 has been obtained in advance.
The priority information 812 is set when it is desired to set the priority of the use condition in the license interpretation processing in the terminal device 300. For example, a list of (right management identifier: priority) is described in the priority information 812. Specifically, when the priority of the right generation unit 10A is higher than that of the right generation unit 10B, the description is made as "100A: 1", "100B: 2". Even if there are three or more right generation units, they can be expressed in the same way. The interpretation process based on the priority information will be described later in the license interpretation process in the terminal device 300.

  The control identification information 813 is for determining whether or not the content can be used in the license interpretation processing, and for specifying the control method (“AND processing” or “OR processing”) of the control unit 304 of the terminal device 300 when updating the license. Specifically, in the control of the content availability, when determining the final availability based on the content availability determination results returned from the plurality of usage condition determination units 311, a control of ANDing all the determination results (Unable to use unless all the usage condition determination results are available) and control for taking OR (usable if at least one of the usage condition determination results is available).

When the determination result is three or more, the AND processing and the OR processing may be mixed. Specifically, when the control unit 304 obtains three determination results, that is, the determination results a to c, from the use condition determination units 311 a to 311 c, a result obtained by performing an AND operation on the determination result a and the determination result b, There is a case where the final availability is determined from the result of the OR processing of the determination result c.
Thus, the license header 801 is generated.

Next, generation of the right management information list 802 will be described.
The use condition 823 sets the use condition acquired from each right generation unit. The license generation unit 102 sets the right management identifier 821 to the right management identifier corresponding to the right generation unit of the transmission source of the use condition. Information indicating validity is set in 822, the received use condition is set in the use condition 823, and the right management-specific information is generated.

The license generation unit 102 repeats the above processing for each received usage condition, and generates a right management-specific information list 802 (FIG. 27: step S2715).
The license generation unit 102 generates a license 800 from the license header 801 and the right management information list 802, sets the license 800 in the license M1401 of the license transmission message body M1400, and transmits the license M1401 to the terminal device 300 (FIG. 27: step S2716). ).

The terminal device 300 receives the license transmission message body M1400 through the communication unit 301 and acquires the license M1401 (FIG. 27: step S2733).
The acquired license M1401 is stored in the license storage unit 303 in association with the same content identifier as the content identifier M1102 of the license request message (FIG. 27: step S2734).

When a content identifier is included in the license header 811, the association process is not required.
When terminal device 300 receives the reply message including the generation failure notification from license generation server 100, terminal device 300 presents the reason for the generation failure included in the response message to the user and ends the process (FIG. 27: step S2732). .

  In the above description, it has been described that the license includes the use condition corresponding to the rights management method that can be interpreted by the terminal device 300 and transmitted. However, even if the license includes all the use conditions that can be generated by the license generation server 100, the license may be transmitted. good. In this case, the license request message body M1100 may not include the right management identifier list M1103.

(3) Processing at Start of Use of Content Next, processing of the terminal device 300 at the start of use of content will be described. First, a data structure of a communication message related to processing at the time of starting use of content will be described with reference to FIGS.

The use condition determination request message body M1500 in FIG. 15 includes a use condition M1501.
The determination result transmission message body M1600 in FIG. 16 includes content availability information M1601 indicating the result of content availability, an availability information list M1602 that is a list of a set of availability information identifiers M1611 and M1612, and It comprises a use control information list M1603, which is a list of control information identifiers M1621 and use control information M1622. The usable information identifier, the usable information, the use control information identifier, and the use control information have been described above.

  The use control message body M1700 in FIG. 17 includes a content key M1701, an available information list M1702, and a use control information list M1703. The data structures of the available information list M1702 and the in-use control information list M1703 are the same as those of the available information list M1602 and the in-use control information list M1603 described above.

Next, a process of each unit when the terminal device 300 starts using the content will be described with reference to FIG.
The terminal device 300 starts content use start processing in response to information input from a user to an application of the terminal device 300 and a content use start instruction. The user inputs at least a content identifier specifying the content to be used or information equivalent to the content identifier to the application of the terminal device 300. Unnecessary content use may not be performed by inputting content usage content such as “play”, “print”, and “copy” and limiting the content usage content. If there is no input of the content usage, the content usage is performed in accordance with the typical usage included in the license for each content.

  The following description is given on the assumption that the user has input the content identifier “CONTENT-ID-0001” and “reproduction” as the content usage content and has started the content usage process. Here, the license 2100 stored in the license storage unit 303 and corresponding to the content identifier “CONTENT-ID-0001” will be described with reference to FIG.

  The right management-specific information of the license 2100 will be described. “100A” indicating the rights management method A is set as the rights management identifier 821 of the first rights management-specific information in the license 800, “valid” is set as the management information 822, and the first availability information of the usage condition 823 is set. “Effective period” is set as the identifier 831, “〜2003 / 1/30” is set as the availability information 832, “Available times” is set as the second availability information identifier 831, and the availability information 832 is set. Is set as “10 times”, “image quality control information” is set as the first use control information identifier 833, “HD” is set as the use control information 834, and the right of the second right management-specific information is set. “100B” indicating the right management method B is set as the management identifier 821, “valid” is set as the management information 822, and the first “Usable period” is set as the available information identifier 831, “〜2003 / 3/1” is set as the available information 832, “Available time” is set as the second available information identifier 831, It is assumed that “100 minutes” is set as the possible information 832.

The terminal device 300 that has received the information input from the user starts the process from the control unit 304. The control unit 304 specifies and acquires the corresponding license 800 from the license storage unit 303 using the content identifier as a key. (FIG. 28: Step S2801).
The control unit 304 extracts the right management information included in the right management information list 801 included in the license 800, and extracts the right management identifier 821 included in the right management information.

Based on the extracted rights management identifier 821, a use condition determining unit that transmits a use condition is determined (FIG. 28: step S2802).
The use condition determination unit that transmits the use condition may be limited using the service identifier / right management identifier correspondence table.
The control unit 304 may hold a correspondence table between the right management identifier and the right interpretation unit or the use condition determination unit, or inquire of the right interpretation unit or the use condition determination unit for the right management identifier at each processing. It is good.

The control unit 304 transmits the use condition 823 of the right management-specific information including the right management identifier 821 to the use condition determination unit 311 corresponding to the right management identifier 821. Note that all the rights management-specific information may be transmitted to the use condition determination unit 311, and the use condition determination unit 311 may perform the process of specifying the use condition based on the right management identifier 821.
If there is no use condition determination unit 311 corresponding to the right management identifier 821, or if communication is not possible, the process ends.

  If the use condition determining unit 311 corresponding to the right management identifier 821 does not exist, the subsequent processing may be performed assuming that a content use prohibition has been returned as a pseudo determination result. Alternatively, a default value may be determined. For example, when the usage condition determining unit 311a of the right management identifier “100A” does not exist, “usable”, “reproducible time”, and “1 hour” are set as default values as pseudo determination results.

  Here, a case of a license 2100 which is a specific example of the license 800 will be described. The license 2100 includes right management specific information 2111 and right management specific information 2112. First, the processing of the right management specific information 2111 will be described. The right management identifier “100A” is extracted from the right management specific information 2111. The right management identifier “100A” is a right management identifier corresponding to the right management system A, and the corresponding use condition determining unit is the use condition determining unit 311a corresponding to the right management system A.

Next, the processing of the right management specific information 2112 by the control unit 304 will be described. The right management identifier “100B” is extracted from the right management specific information 2112. The right management identifier “100B” is a right management identifier corresponding to the right management system B, and the corresponding use condition determining unit is the use condition determining unit 311b corresponding to the right management system B.
The control unit 304 transmits the use condition included in the right management-specific information 2111 to the condition determination unit 311a as the use condition M1501 of the use condition determination request message body M1500, and transmits the use condition included in the right management-specific information 2112 to the use condition determination request. The message is transmitted to the condition determining unit 311b as the use condition M1501 of the message body M1500 (FIG. 28: step S2803). Note that the control unit 304 may extract only the usable information related to the determination of the availability of the content from the use condition M1501 and transmit the extracted information to the condition determination unit 311a or 311b.

Next, the processing of the use condition determining unit that has received the use condition determination request message will be described. The process of the use condition determining unit 311a will be described as a representative example.
The use condition determining unit 311a receives the use condition determination request message and extracts the use conditions (FIG. 28: step S2811).
The usage condition determination unit 311a determines whether the content can be used based on the availability information included in the usage conditions and the functions of the terminal device 300. The use condition determination of the use condition of the right management-specific information 2111 will be specifically described. First, a description will be given of how to determine whether or not content can be used based on the validity period “〜2003 / 1/30”, which is the first available information. Specifically, if the current time is “2002/12/24”, it is within the validity period, so it is determined that the content can be used. If the current time is “2003/02/13”, it is out of the validity period, so it is determined that the content cannot be used.

  Note that the use condition determination unit 311a may acquire information on the function of the terminal device 300, which is information necessary for performing the use availability determination of the content (FIG. 28: step S2812). Specifically, it is checked whether or not the terminal device 300 has a secure clock that ticks secure time. This is because if there is no secure clock, it is not meaningful to determine whether the current time is within the validity period.

  If there is no secure clock, it is determined that the content cannot be used. If there is a secure clock, the current time securely managed is obtained, and it is determined whether or not the current time is within the validity period. If the current time is within the validity period, the content can be used. If the current time is outside the validity period, it is determined that the content cannot be used. For example, if the terminal device 300 has a secure clock function and the current time is “2002/12/24”, it is within the validity period, so it is determined that the content can be used. If the current time is “2003/02/13”, it is out of the validity period, so it is determined that the content cannot be used.

If the validity period is set to "-" indicating that the validity period is not set, it is determined that the content can be used without the secure clock.
Next, a description will be given of the determination of content availability based on the number of available times “10”, which is the second available information.
The use condition determining unit 311a determines whether the number of times of use is one or more. If it is at least one time, it is determined that the content can be used. If it is zero, it is determined that the content cannot be used. Since the available number of times in the right management-specific information 2111 is “10 times”, it is determined that the content can be used.

  In the content availability determination based on the first availability information and the second availability information, it is determined that both the content is available. Therefore, the usage condition determination unit 311a determines that the received usage condition is the content availability (FIG. 28: Step S2813). Further, when there is the third available information and the fourth available information, it is determined whether or not the content can be used for each of them.

The use condition determination unit 311a generates a determination result transmission message and transmits it to the control unit 304 (FIG. 28: step S2814).
The content availability information M1601 included in the determination result transmission message body M1600 sets "usable" which is a result of content availability in the usage condition determination unit 311a, and the availability information list M1602 includes Set the available number of times, which is variable available information. Specifically, “usable number of times” and “10 times” are set.

  The variable available information set in the available information list M1602 is used to control the maximum range of content usage in the content usage unit. A use-time control information list included in the use condition is set in the use-time control information list M1603. Specifically, “image quality control information” and “HD” are set.

Next, the processing of the control unit 304 that has received the determination result transmission message from the plurality of use condition determination units 311 will be described.
The control unit 304 receives the determination result transmission message from one or more use condition determination units 311 (FIG. 28: step S2804). The control unit 304 extracts the content availability information M1601, the availability information list M1602, and the in-use control information list M1603 from the determination result transmission message body M1600.
First, a description will be given of a process of determining whether content can be used by the control unit 304 based on a plurality of pieces of content availability information.

The control unit 304 determines whether or not the content can be used based on the plurality of pieces of content availability information and the priority order information 812 included in the license header 801 and the control identification information 813 (FIG. 28: step S2805).
Here, the priority information 812 indicates the priority in the content availability determination processing, and when “100A: 1” and “100B: 2” are set, the priority management information 812 corresponds to the right management identifier “100A”. This indicates that the content use availability information from the use condition determination unit 311a has a higher priority than the content use availability information from the use condition determination unit 311b corresponding to the right management identifier “100B”. For example, when “usable” is received from the use condition determining unit 311a and “unavailable” is received from the use condition determining unit 311b, the reply from the use condition determining unit 311a is prioritized, and the control unit 304 determines that the content is available. . The priority information is set to a value when a priority is set for each right management method, but is set to “-” when no priority is set.

Next, the control identification information 813 will be described. The control identification information 813 indicates a control method when the control unit 304 determines use permission based on a plurality of pieces of content use permission information in the content use permission determination processing, and specifically includes AND processing and OR processing.
First, the AND processing will be described. In the case of the AND processing, as a result of performing AND processing on a plurality of pieces of availability information, if it is available, the content can be used as the control unit 304, and if the result of the AND processing cannot be used, the content is used as the control unit 304. It is determined that the use of is impossible. In other words, if all of the availability information is available, the control unit 304 can use the information. If there is at least one unusable information, the control unit 304 determines that the information is unavailable.

  Next, OR processing will be described. In the case of OR processing, as a result of OR processing of a plurality of pieces of availability information, if it is available, the content can be used as the control unit 304. If the result of OR processing is not available, the content can be used as the control unit 304. It is determined that the use of is impossible. That is, if there is at least one piece of usable information, the control unit 304 determines that the information can be used. If all the usable information cannot be used, the control unit 304 determines that the information cannot be used.

The control identification information 813 is basically set. If not set, the processing method may be determined by default, for example, AND processing may be performed.
It should be noted that the priority information 812 and the control identification information 813 are combined to control the availability information returned from the usage condition determining unit 311 corresponding to the right management method having a certain priority or higher by a process according to the control identification information 813. The availability of the unit 304 may be determined.

It should be noted that the availability information to be determined may be limited using the service identifier / right management identifier correspondence table.
If the content cannot be used as determined by the control unit 304, the process is terminated and the user is notified of that.
Next, a description will be given of a process of generating the usable information list M1702 to be included in the use control message from the usable information lists M1602 acquired from the plurality of use condition determining units 311 when the control unit 304 determines that the content is usable. I do.

Here, the available information list M1702 included in the usage control message is information for preventing the content from being used beyond the content available condition when the content is used in the content using unit 321. A specific example will be described.
As a first example, “available number of times” and “10 times” are set in the available information list acquired by the control unit 304 from the use condition determination unit 311a, and the available information list acquired from the use condition determination unit 311b is set in the available information list. A case where “reproducible time” and “100 minutes” are set will be described. In this case, “reproducible number of times”, “10 times”, “reproducible time”, and “100 minutes” are set in the available information list M1702.

The available information list acquired by the control unit 304 is subjected to AND processing for each available information identifier, and only when there is available information corresponding to the same available information identifier in all available information lists, the available information It may be added to the list M1702.
In the above example, setting “number of reproducible times”, “10 times”, “reproducible time”, and “100 minutes” in the available information list M1702 is regarded as OR processing for each available information identifier. be able to. Control information on AND processing and OR processing of the availability information may be included in the control identification information 813 of the license header 801.

As a second example, “the number of reproducible times” and “10 times” are set in the available information list acquired by the control unit 304 from the use condition determining unit 311a, and the available information list acquired from the use condition determining unit 311b is set in the available information list. The case where “reproducible number” and “three times” are set and the reproducible number, which is an item of the usable information, overlaps will be described.
When the items of the available information overlap, and when the values of the available information corresponding to the items of the available information match, the matched value is set. In this example, the items of the available information overlap, and the values of the available information corresponding to the items of the available information are different. In this case, “10 times” is set in consideration of user's convenience. That is, “reproducible number of times” and “10 times” are set in the available information list M1702.

It should be noted that “3 times” may be set with emphasis on the protection of the content right, or information on which process is to be prioritized is included in the priority information 812 of the content header 801 and set according to the priority information 812. Alternatively, it may be determined that processing cannot be performed and that content cannot be used.
Further, the control unit 304 stores the right management identifier of the right management system that has transmitted the available information set in the available information list M1702, and when updating the usage conditions, uses the usage condition updating unit corresponding to the right management system. The update process may be performed only by using the update process.

Next, a description will be given of a process in which the control unit 304 generates a usage control information list M1703 to be included in a usage control message from a plurality of usage control information when the content is available.
Here, the in-use control information list M1703 included in the use control message is information relating to the in-use control when the content is used in the content use unit 321. A specific example will be described.

  As a first example, “image quality control information” and “HD” are set in the in-use control information list acquired by the control unit 304 from the use condition determination unit 311a, and the available information list acquired from the use condition determination unit 311b is A case where “sound quality control information” and “5.1 ch” are set will be described. In this case, “image quality control information”, “HD”, “sound quality control information”, and “5.1 ch” are set in the in-use control information list M1703.

  The use control information list acquired by the control unit 304 is subjected to AND processing for each available information identifier, and only when there is use control information corresponding to the same available information identifier in the all use control information list, the use It may be added to the hour control information list M1703. In the above example, "image quality control information", "HD", "sound quality control information", and "5.1ch" are set in the use control information list M1703 because OR processing is performed for each available information identifier. Can be considered.

The control information on the AND processing and the OR processing of the use-time control information may be included in the control identification information 813 of the license header 801.
As a second example, “image quality control information” and “HD” are set in the in-use control information list acquired by the control unit 304 from the use condition determination unit 311a, and the available information list acquired from the use condition determination unit 311b is The case where “image quality control information” and “SD” are set and the image quality control information, which is an item of the use-time control information, overlaps will be described.

  When the items of the in-use control information overlap and the values of the in-use control information corresponding to the items of the in-use control information match, the matched values may be set. In the above example, the items of the in-use control information overlap, and the values of the in-use control information corresponding to the items of the in-use control information are different. In this case, “HD” is set in consideration of user's convenience. That is, “image quality control information” and “HD” are set in the in-use control information list M1703.

It is to be noted that “SD” may be set with emphasis on content right protection, or information on which process is to be prioritized may be included in the priority information 812 of the content header 801 and set according to the priority information 812. Alternatively, it may be determined that processing cannot be performed and that content cannot be used.
The control unit 304 generates a usage control message from the content key 811 of the license header 801, the available information list M1702, and the in-use control information list M1703.

  The information included in the available information list M1702 and the in-use control information list M1703 may be limited depending on the content usage. Specifically, in the case of the content usage content “reproduction”, when there is the available information “number of prints” and the use control information “print quality”, the “number of prints” and “print quality” are “reproduction”. It has nothing to do with processing, so it is not added to the list.

Next, the control unit 304 specifies the content use unit 321 based on the use information identifier included in the use information and transmits the use control message (FIG. 28: step S2806).
Here, a matching process with the usage content input by the user, in this case, “reproduction” may be performed. When performing the matching process, if the match is found, it is determined that the user's intention matches the content of the available information, and the use of the content is started. It is determined that the contents do not match, and the process ends.

  The content use unit 321 is set for each available process. For example, it is like a rendering device for viewing / playback and a printer device for printing. Here, since the number of reproducible times is set, the content use device 321 that can be reproduced is specified. If the usable information related to a plurality of content using apparatuses is included in the available information list M1702, the use content input by the user is set or processing is disabled. More specifically, there is a case where the available information list M1702 includes “reproducible number of times” and “printable number of times”.

If these contradictory available information is included, the user is made to select according to the contents of use or at the timing of setting the available information list M1702, or the processing is disabled.
The content use unit 321 receives the use control message (FIG. 28: Step S2821). Subsequently, the content identifier input by the user from the application of the terminal device is received. The encrypted content corresponding to the license 800 is specified and acquired from the content storage unit 305 using the content identifier as a key (FIG. 28: step S2822).

  The content use unit 321 extracts the content key M1701, the available information list M1702, and the in-use control information list M1703 of the use control message. The encrypted content is decrypted with the content key M1701, and reproduced in accordance with the in-use control information (FIG. 28: step S2823). However, use of the content is permitted only within the range permitted by the available information.

(4) Processing at the time of ending use of content Lastly, processing at the time of ending use of content and updating a license will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the data structure of a communication message related to the process at the end of using the content will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The usage information transmission message M1800 in FIG. 18 includes a usage information list M1801. Here, the usage information list M1801 includes a list of a set of a usage information identifier M1811 and a usage amount M1812 for setting a value used in the content usage unit 321. As the content of the usage information identifier M1811, the same content as the usage information identifier of the usage information used is set.

  The use condition update request message M1900 in FIG. 19 includes an update use information list M1901 and a use condition M1902 to be updated. Here, the update use information list M1901 includes a list of a set of a use information identifier M1911, an update flag M1912 used to determine whether or not to update, and a use amount M1913. The use condition transmission message M2000 after update in FIG. 20 includes a use condition M2001 which is a use condition after update.

The content use unit 321 counts the number of uses and the use time while using the contents. The use of the content is terminated by the user operation or the limitation of the available time (FIG. 29: Step S2921).
The content use unit 321 generates the use information list M1801, and transmits a use information transmission message to the control unit 304 (FIG. 29: Step S2922).

Here, generation of the usage information list M1801 by the content usage unit 312 will be described. For example, it is assumed that the content is reproduced once in the content using unit 321 for 10 minutes. In this case, “reproduction count”, “once”, “reproduction time”, and “10 minutes” are set in the usage information list M1801.
The control unit 304 receives the usage information transmission message, extracts and obtains the usage information list M1801 (FIG. 29: Step S2901).

Next, the use condition update unit 312 that transmits each use information of the use information list M1801 is determined (FIG. 29: Step S2902).
Here, a method of determining the use condition updating unit 312 in the control unit 304 will be described. If there is no use condition update unit 312 that can be updated in the use information identifier of the use information in the use information list M1801, the management information 822 in the license 800 indicates a lock indicating that the use is temporarily unavailable. A flag may be set and the use information that could not be updated may be stored in association with the license (FIG. 29: step S2904). In the process of interpreting the license when using the content, if the lock flag is set, the usage condition determination unit 311 determines that the usage condition 823 is temporarily unavailable, and determines that the content is unavailable. . When the usage conditions for which the lock flag is set can be updated, the usage conditions are updated based on the usage information stored in association with the usage conditions. Then, the lock flag is released, and the lock flag can be used as usual.

  Note that the control unit 304 or the use condition determination unit 311 determines whether the use condition can be updated before transmitting the use control message to the content use unit 312, or the content use unit 321 periodically updates the use condition while the content is being used. A possibility determination may be made, and the process may be terminated when it is determined that the update cannot be performed. Here, the updatable determination is performed by checking whether the use condition update unit 312 corresponding to the available information list M1702 exists, is in a communicable state, or is functioning, and determines whether the use condition can be updated. It is to judge.

There are the following three methods for the control unit 304 to determine the use condition update unit 312 for transmitting the use information.
The first method is to store the right management identifier of the use condition determining unit 311 that has transmitted the use information set in the use information list M1702 of the use control information message, and to use the right management identifier corresponding to the right management identifier. This is a method of transmitting to the condition updating unit 312.

  The second method is a method of specifying the use condition update unit 312 to be updated based on the use information identifier included in the use information list M1801, and transmitting the use information to the use condition update unit 312. The method of specifying the use condition updating unit 312 based on the use information identifier is a method of specifying a use condition update unit 312 capable of interpreting a usable information identifier that matches the use information identifier as an update target. This is realized by the control unit 304 holding a correspondence table or making an inquiry at any time. The update process may be performed in all the use condition update units 312 to be updated by the above method, or the update process may be performed only in the specific use condition update unit 312.

The third method is to transmit the use information list M1801 to all the use condition update units 312 that have a possibility of update processing, and to specify the use information to be updated based on the use information identifier M1811 in the use condition update unit 312. How to
The use condition update unit 312 that performs the update process may be limited by the priority order information or the service identifier / right management identifier correspondence table.

The control unit 304 transmits the use condition update request message M1900 including the use information and the use condition to be updated by the use information to the use condition update unit 312 (FIG. 29: Step S2903).
The use condition update unit 312 that has received the use condition update request message M1900 extracts and acquires the update use information list M1901 and the use condition M1902 (FIG. 29: step S2911).

The use condition update unit 312 updates the use condition M1902 based on the update use information list M1901 (FIG. 29: Step S2912).
First, the update use information in the update use information list M1901 is interpreted one by one. First, it is determined whether or not to perform the update process by looking at the update flag. If it is determined that there is no need to perform the update process, the update process based on the usage information is not performed.

The update flag is set by the control unit 304. For example, when there is a possibility that the processing of the content use unit 321 may not be normal, processing such as turning off the corresponding update flag is performed. The update flag may be set for the license 800.
When it is determined that the update process is performed when the update flag is ON, the use information identifier M1911 of the use information for update is extracted, and the available information to be updated is specified from the use condition M1902 using the use information identifier M1911 as a key.

  The usable information in which the usable information identifier M1911 and the usable information identifier 831 in the license 800 match is the usable information to be updated. Specifically, it is assumed that the usage information includes “reproduction count” and “3 times”, and the usage information includes “reproduction count” and “10 times”. In this case, the item of “number of reproducible times”, which is one of the usable information of the use condition M1902, is updated by subtracting “7 times”.

The number of reproducible times may be the maximum value of the number of reproducible times, and the number of times of use may be added. Specifically, in the above example, "the maximum number of reproducible times: 10" and "the number of times of reproduction: 3".
The use condition updating unit 312 performs the above-described processing for all the update use information in the update use information list M1901, and updates the use condition M1902. The use condition update unit 312 transmits an updated use condition transmission message including the use condition M2001, which is the updated use condition, to the control unit 304 (FIG. 29: Step S2913).

The control unit 304 receives the use condition transmission message after update from the use condition update unit 312, and extracts and acquires the use condition (FIG. 29: step S2905). The control unit 304 updates the license from the received plurality of usage conditions (FIG. 29: Step S2906).
Here, a method of updating the license by the control unit 304 based on the received plural usage conditions will be described.

When the control unit 304 receives the post-update usage rule transmission message, the control unit 304 stores the right management identifier of the usage condition update unit 312 that transmitted the post-update usage condition transmission message and the usage rule M2001 in association with each other. The control unit 304 searches for and identifies rights management-specific information that matches the rights management identifier in the license 800 before updating.
If the license 800 cannot be specified due to the duplication of the rights management identifier and the absence of the target rights management identifier, the license is invalid if the license 800 is duplicate, and the content use process is invalid if not. And renders the license unusable.

When the rights management-specific information can be specified, the control unit 304 overwrites and updates the usage rule 823 of the rights management-specific information with a usage condition M2001. The control unit 304 performs the same processing for all the received use condition transmission messages after update, and performs the license update processing.
The control unit 304 stores the updated license in the license storage unit 303 (FIG. 29: Step S2907).

  Here, a process of confirming the validity of the use condition determination unit 311, the use condition update unit 312, and the content use unit 321 by the terminal device 300 will be described. The use condition determination unit 311, the use condition update unit 312, and the content use unit 321 can be added or changed using a plug-in, a tamper-resistant module, or the like. Here, the plug-in refers to a small program for adding a function, and the tamper-resistant module refers to a storage medium that stores the program and is tamper-resistant in hardware.

That is, since the use condition determination unit 311, the use condition update unit 312, and the content use unit 321 may be changed, each processing unit such as a reliable processing unit or a latest processing unit may be used. Is not guaranteed to be legitimate.
Therefore, when the use condition determination unit 311, the use condition update unit 312, and the content use unit 321 perform communication processing with each other, the control unit 304 may need to perform authentication processing as to whether or not the processing unit is reliable.

  The authentication process will be specifically described. Normally, when exchanging data that requires security such as the license 800, it is common to establish a SAC to enable secure communication. Therefore, the SAC is established between the license generation server 100 and the terminal device 300. Similarly, in the terminal device 300, the control unit 304 establishes a SAC among the use condition determination unit 311, the use condition update unit 312, and the content use unit 321.

For example, SSL (Secure Socket Layer) or TLS (Transport Layer Security) can be used to establish the SAC.
A specific example of the timing of performing the authentication process in the terminal device 300 is as follows.
When the control unit 304 transmits a use condition determination request message to the use condition determination unit 311.

When the control unit 304 receives a determination result transmission message from the use condition determination unit 311.
When the control unit 304 transmits a use condition update request message to the use condition update unit 312.
The case where the control unit 304 receives the updated use condition transmission message from the use condition update unit 312.

When the control unit 304 transmits a content use control message to the content use unit 321.
When the control unit 304 receives a use information transmission message from the content use unit 321.
Note that if mutual trust is guaranteed, the authentication process need not be performed.

In some cases, the control unit 304 checks whether or not each processing unit such as the use condition determination unit 311 and the use condition update unit 312 is the latest one. The terminal device 300 acquires information (hereinafter, referred to as latest determination information) for determining whether each processing unit is the latest from a terminal processing unit management server that manages each processing unit in the terminal device 300.
The latest determination information is, for example, generation information indicating the latest generation of each processing unit. The generation information is an example of a set in which when two arbitrary elements are fetched, the magnitude relation between the two elements is always determined. More specifically, a version in which the value monotonically increases each time there is a change in each processing unit will be described as an example.

It is assumed that the terminal device 300 acquires and holds the next latest determination information from the terminal processing unit management server. The latest version of the use condition determination unit of the right management identifier “100A” is “5”.
When communicating with the use condition determination unit 311a, the control unit 304 inquires of the use condition determination unit 311a about the version. If the version of the use condition determination unit 311a is “4” or less, it is determined that the use condition update unit 312a needs to be updated, and if the version is “5”, it is determined that update is unnecessary.

If the version of the use condition determining unit 311a is “6” or more, it may be determined that an illegal operation has been performed, and the use condition determining unit 311a may be invalidated.
When the terminal device 300 determines that the use condition determination unit 311a needs to be updated, the terminal device 300 connects to the terminal processing unit management server and performs secure update processing of the use condition determination unit 311a. Note that the details of the updating process are not the essence of the present invention, and therefore the description is omitted.

Note that the terminal device 300 may periodically connect to the terminal processing unit management server to acquire the latest determination information, or may perform the update determination of each processing unit at the timing when the latest determination information is acquired. .
In this way, the control unit 304 confirms the validity of each processing unit when communicating with each processing unit.

  As described above, the present embodiment is the content distribution system S in which the license 800 has the configuration of the license 2100. In an environment where a plurality of rights management methods are mixed, the terminal device 300 acquires the content from the content distribution server 200. The terminal device 300 can acquire a license from the license generation server 100, and the terminal device 300 can start using the content and end.

(Embodiment 2)
Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The overall configuration of the content distribution system in the present embodiment is the same as that of the content distribution system S in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and the basic configuration of each server and terminal device in the content distribution system S is Since they are the same as the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted, and only the points different from the first embodiment will be described below.

This embodiment is different from the first embodiment in the data structure of the license. First, the data structure of the license according to the present embodiment will be described, and then the difference in processing related to the license due to the difference in the data structure will be described.
The license 800 handled in the present embodiment has a structure that does not allow duplication of items of variable available information in the usage conditions 823 of each right management-specific information in the right management-specific information list 802. When the same variable availability information item exists in a plurality of rights management-specific information, that is, when the same variable availability information item is controlled by a plurality of rights management methods, a duplicate item is used as a rights management identifier. A value is set in the rights management common information that stores a special value indicating that it is common to all rights management systems.

Specifically, a license 2200 generated from a rights management method A that manages “usable times” and “image quality control information” and a rights management method B that manages “usable times” and “validity period” This will be described with reference to FIG.
In the right management information list 2202, right management common information 2211 exists, a special value “1000” indicating that the right management identifier is information common to all the right management methods is set, and the available information is In the right management method A and the right management method B, the “usable number of times” related to the common is set. In the right management information 2212, “100A” indicating that the right management identifier is the right management method A is set, and the available information is the right management common information 2211 from the available information managed by the right management method A. The "image quality control information" excluding the "available number of times" included in "" is set. Similarly, the right management identifier “100B” is set in the right management-specific information 2213, and the “valid period” is set in the availability information.

Next, a difference between each process and the first embodiment will be described.
The process in which the terminal device 300 acquires the content from the content distribution server 200 is the same as in the first embodiment. The processing when the terminal device 300 acquires the license from the license generation server 100 is different from the processing of the license generation unit 102 when the available information overlaps. The process at the start of use of the content in the terminal device 300 requires a process of selecting a use condition determining unit that interprets the common rights management information when the license 800 includes the common rights management information.

  The process at the end of the use of the content in the terminal device 300 requires a process of selecting a use condition updating unit that interprets the common rights management information when the license 800 includes the common rights management information. First, differences from the first embodiment in the license acquisition processing will be described with reference to FIG. Processing other than step S2715 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and a description thereof will not be repeated.

  The process of generating a license from the use condition and the content key in step S2715 will be described. Specifically, the license generation unit 102 receives the “available number of times”, “10 times”, and “image quality control information” from the use condition generation unit 110a, and receives the “available number of times”, “ The case where “20 times”, “valid period”, and “〜2003 / 3/1” are received will be described.

  In the present embodiment, since the data structure of the license 800 does not allow the items of the variable available information to be duplicated, the “usable number of times” that overlaps the two usage conditions must be collected as the rights management common information. . If the values of the two pieces of available information 832 are different from each other, a setting with a narrower right and a setting with a wider right may be performed. Here, a description will be given assuming that "10 times", which is the narrower right, is set.

Therefore, in the rights management common information 2211, “1000” indicating the rights management common information is set as the rights management identifier 821, “usable number of times” is set as the usable information identifier 831, and “10” is set as the usable information 832. Times ".
In the information for each right management, information obtained by removing the item of the available information included in the right management common information 2211 from the item of the available information controlled by each right management method is set. Specifically, in the right management information 2212, “100A” indicating the right management method A is set as the right management identifier 821, “image quality control information” is set as the use information identifier 831, and the use information 832 Is set to "HD". In the right management information 2213, “100B” indicating the right management method B is set as the right management identifier 821, “validity period” is set as the usable information identifier 831, and “〜2003” is set as the usable information 832. / 3/1 "is set.

  In the control identification information 813, a rights management identifier of a rights management method for interpreting the rights management common information 2211 in the terminal device 300 is set. Specifically, it is set as "use condition determination: 100B", "use condition update: 100B".

  Next, a difference between the terminal device 300 and the first embodiment in processing at the time of using content will be described with reference to FIG. Processing other than steps S2802 and S2806 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

First, the process of determining the transmission destination of each use condition in step S2802 will be described. Specifically, a case where the control unit 304 has the rights management common information 2211 in the acquired license 2200 will be described.
The control unit 304 performs a predetermined process for each right management information as described in the first embodiment. When “1000” is set as the right management identifier, it indicates the right management common information 2211, and a process different from other right management-specific information is performed. The control unit 304 extracts, from the control identification information 813, a rights management identifier of a rights management method for determining a use condition of the rights management common information 2211. Here, a description will be given assuming that “use condition determination: 100B” is set in the control identification information 813. The control unit 304 transmits the right management common information 2211 to the use condition determination unit 311b, which is the use condition determination unit corresponding to the right management identifier “100B”, and performs the use condition determination. The processing of the use condition determining unit 311b receiving the right management common information 2211 is the same as the processing of the right management-specific information.

  Next, the process of transmitting the content use control information in step S2806 will be described. The process of generating the usage control message is as described in the first embodiment. When generating the use control message, the control unit 304 stores the usable information identifier included in the right management common information 2211. Specifically, information such as “usage management common information: available number of times” is stored.

Next, a difference between the terminal device 300 and the first embodiment in the process when the use of the content is completed will be described with reference to FIG. The processing other than step S2902 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and a description thereof will not be repeated.
The process of determining the transmission destination of each usage information in step S2902 will be described. Specifically, a case will be described in which the control unit 304 has the available information identifier included in the right management common information 2211 in the acquired usage information list M1801.

  The control unit 304 performs a predetermined process for each piece of usage information in the usage information list M1801, as described in the first embodiment. When the usable information identifier and the usable information identifier included in the right management common information 2211 stored at the time of starting use of the content match, the control unit 304 performs a process different from other use information. The control unit 304 extracts, from the control identification information 813, a rights management identifier of a rights management method for updating the use condition of the rights management common information 2211. Here, a description will be given assuming that “use condition update: 100B” is set in the control identification information 813.

Note that the use condition included in the right management common information 2211 may be determined and updated by the specific use condition determining unit 311 and the use condition updating unit 312 at all times. In this case, the control identification information 813 may not include the right management identifier. Further, a usage condition determining unit 311 and a usage condition updating unit 312 that determine and update only the right management common information may be provided.
The control unit 304 transmits the use information to a use condition determination unit 312b, which is a use condition update unit corresponding to the right management identifier “100B”, and updates the use condition. The processing of the usage condition updating unit 312b receiving the usage information is the same as the processing of the other usage information.

  As described above, the present embodiment is the content distribution system S in which the license 800 has the configuration of the license 2200. In an environment where a plurality of rights management methods are mixed, the terminal device 300 acquires the content from the content distribution server 200. The terminal device 300 can acquire a license from the license generation server 100, and the terminal device 300 can start using the content and end. That is, according to the content distribution system, it is possible to support various business models in the content distribution business.

In the first and second embodiments, the right management system A provided by the maker α and the right management system B provided by the maker β cooperate with each other in the terminal device. Although the use control of the content is performed, the same processing can be performed when three or more right management methods cooperate.
In addition, by using the priority information, the terminal device 300 exclusively controls the use of the content by using a plurality of right management methods, so that the terminal device 300 can be operated without being affected by the right management methods. That is, a plurality of rights management methods can coexist independently of each other.

Here, a content distribution system SS, which is an example of a content distribution system S in which a maker α and a maker β that provide a right management method perform right management in cooperation, will be described.
FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of such a content distribution system SS. Here, the right management method in the content distribution system SS includes a right management method C jointly developed by the manufacturers α and β, a right management method D independently developed by the manufacturer α, and a right management method independently developed by the manufacturer β. And management method E. Then, it is assumed that all terminal devices 300 belonging to the content distribution system SS hold or control at least a rights interpretation unit 30C that is a rights interpretation unit corresponding to the rights management system C.

Note that the right interpretation unit 30D included in the terminal device 300e is a right interpretation unit corresponding to the right management system D, and the right interpretation unit 30E included in the terminal device 300f is a right interpretation unit corresponding to the right management system E.
The following two cases will be described as examples of operation modes in the content distribution system SS.

  The first case is that the terminal device 300d holding only the right interpreting unit 30C as the right interpreting unit allows the use of the content. For example, the right management method C is open to the public, and corresponds to a case where the manufacturer α and the manufacturer γ other than the manufacturer β can make the terminal device 300. Further, the terminal devices 300e and 300f holding the right interpretation unit 30D and the right interpretation unit 30E perform content use control based on the right management system D and the right management system E. In this case, it is assumed that the items of the available information controlled by the right management system C and the right management system D and the right management system E are duplicated. Specifically, the validity period “「 2002/12/24 ”is set as the usable information of the right management method C, and the validity period“ 〜2003 / 02/13 ”is set as the usable information of the right management method D. For example, it is set.

  In this case, the terminal device 300d holding only the right interpreting unit 30C can use the contents up to “~ 2002/12/24”, but the terminal device 300e holding the right interpreting unit 30D can use “コ ン テ ン ツ 2003/02/13”. It is possible to operate such that contents can be used. In this case, an OR process is performed in the availability determination based on the determination result in step S2805, and control is performed such that the availability information has priority over the right management method D. Since the available information overlaps, it is more preferable that the license 800 has the data structure described in the first embodiment.

The second is a case where duplication of functions is eliminated in a plurality of right interpretation units. For example, the right management method C includes items of available information that are commonly controlled by the maker α and the maker β, the right management method D is the right management method of the manufacturer α independent extension, and the right management method E is the unique extension of the manufacturer β. This is the case with the right management method.
In this case, it is not assumed that the items of the available information controlled by the right management system C and the right management system D and the right management system E are duplicated. Specifically, the validity period “「 2002/12/24 ”is set as the usable information of the right management method C, and the available number of times“ 10 ”is set as the usable information of the right management method D. For example. Here, the “valid period” is an item of available information for which both the manufacturer α and the manufacturer β control.

  Furthermore, even if the result of the determination by the right interpreting unit 30C indicates that the content can be used, if the unique extension right management method indicates that the content cannot be used, the control unit 304 may be configured to disable the content. In this case, the terminal device 300e holding the right interpretation unit 30C and the right interpretation unit 30D can use the content up to “~ 2002/12/24”, but becomes unavailable when the available number of times is “0”. In this case, AND processing is performed in the availability determination based on the determination result in step S2805. Since there is no overlap in the available information, it is more preferable that the license 800 has the data structure described in the second embodiment.

Next, a case will be described in which the right management method A provided by the manufacturer α is extended to add or change controllable items in the terminal device.
There are two ways to extend rights management scheme A.
FIGS. 31A to 31C are diagrams for explaining those methods. Here, as an example, as shown in FIG. 31A, control of “validity period” is added to the right management method (right management identifier “1010”), which conventionally controls “reproducible number of times”. The method of the case is shown.

  The first method is a method in which a controllable item to be added is added to the above configuration as another rights management method as in the license structure shown in FIG. In the above example, for example, the “valid period” can be controlled in the right management method with the right management identifier “1011”. The rights management method can be expanded by adding the rights management identifier “1011” as a plug-in to the rights generation unit in the license generation server 100 and the rights interpretation unit in the terminal device 300. In this case, the right management method in which the first three digits of the right management identifier are “101” may be operated by the manufacturer α.

  The second method is a method of adding a controllable item, updating a conventional rights management method, and changing the rights management method having the above configuration, as in the license structure shown in FIG. In the above example, the “valid period” and the “valid period” can be controlled in the right management method with the right management identifier “1010”, and the conventional right management method is changed. If the rights generation unit in the license generation server 100 and the rights interpretation unit in the terminal device 300 are updated, the rights management method can be extended.

  The above two methods can be realized by extending the right interpreting unit in the terminal device 300 by a change process and an addition process, whichever is easier. In other words, according to the content distribution system S, when extending the control items of the content use in the terminal device, it is only necessary to change and add a right interpretation unit capable of interpreting the control item to be extended in the terminal device, It is possible to easily extend the content use control contents.

The control unit 304 may control the use condition determination unit 311, the use condition update unit 312, and the content use unit 321 belonging to a terminal device 300 different from the terminal device 300 to which the control unit 304 belongs. In this case, the validity may be checked at the time of communication.
As described above, the content use management system according to the present invention has been described based on the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

  For example, in the embodiment, the content is distributed from the content distribution server 200 to the terminal device 300, but the method of storing the content in the content storage unit 305 of the terminal device 300 is not limited to the distribution by such communication, The content read from a recording medium such as a CD-ROM mounted on a removable disk device or the like included in the terminal device may be stored.

  Also, in the present embodiment, a content distribution system having a content distribution function has been described, but the content use management system according to the present invention does not necessarily require a content distribution function. This is because the present invention is characterized not in the point of content distribution but in the point of management for use of content in a terminal device.

  The present invention distributes a license of digital content such as video or music from a server device to a terminal device via a communication network such as a broadcast network or the Internet, and the terminal device uses the digital content based on the distributed license. As a usage system, etc., in particular, a digital work use system in which a terminal device can use various digital contents while protecting the copyright of digital contents in an environment where a plurality of rights management methods are mixed. Can be used.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an entire content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating configurations of a license generation server, a content distribution server, and a terminal device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a table configuration of a user information storage unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the table structure of the use condition storage part and use condition storage part which concern on embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a table configuration of a content key storage unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a content storage unit and a table configuration of the content storage unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a table configuration of a license storage unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a license according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a table configuration of data storing correspondence between a service and a right management method held by a control unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a communication message according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing the composition of the license request message main part concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is a figure showing the composition of the use condition request message body concerning an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a use condition transmission message body according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a license transmission message body according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing composition of a use condition judgment request message body concerning an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a determination result transmission message body according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a usage control message body according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a usage information transmission message body according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing composition of a use condition update request message body concerning an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a post-update usage rule transmission message body according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a license according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a license according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a license according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a content request message body according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a content transmission message body according to the embodiment of the present invention. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a process in which the terminal device according to the embodiment of the present invention acquires encrypted content from the content distribution server. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process in which the terminal device according to the embodiment of the present invention acquires a license from a license generation server. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process when the terminal device according to the embodiment of the present invention starts using content. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process when the terminal device according to the embodiment of the present invention ends use of content. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a content distribution system in which rights management methods by a plurality of manufacturers coexist. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing license information for explaining a case in which a right management system provided by a certain manufacturer is extended to add or change controllable items in a terminal device.

Explanation of reference numerals

100 License generation server 101, 201, 301 Communication unit 102 License generation unit 103 Content key storage unit 10A, 10B Rights generation unit 110a, 110b Usage condition generation unit 111a, 111b User information storage unit 112a, 112b Usage condition storage unit 200 Content distribution Server 202 Content acquisition unit 203, 305 Content storage unit 300a, 300b, 300c Terminal device 302 License request unit 303 License storage unit 304 Control unit 306 Content request unit 30A, 30B Rights interpretation unit 311a, 311b Use condition determination unit 312a, 312b Use Condition update unit 321a, 321b Content use unit

Claims (27)

A content use management system including a terminal device that uses content that is a digital work, and a server device that is connected to the terminal device via a communication path and manages use of the content by the terminal device,
The server device,
Use condition generating means for generating use condition information indicating a use condition of the content in correspondence with each of a plurality of rights management systems having different management methods of the right to use the content;
Content key storage means for storing a content key required for the terminal device to use the content,
From the use condition information generated by the use condition generation unit and the content key stored in the content key storage unit corresponding to the use condition information, the content key corresponds to the content key under the use condition indicated by the use condition information. License generation means for generating license information indicating a license permitting use of content to be licensed;
License distribution means for distributing the generated license information to the terminal device,
The terminal device,
License storage means for acquiring and storing license information distributed from the server device;
A use condition determining unit that determines whether or not the content indicated by the license information can be used, based on the use condition indicated by the license information stored in the license storage unit;
When the usage condition determining means determines that the content can be used, the content is decrypted using the content key included in the license information, and the content is used in accordance with the usage condition included in the license information. Means,
A use condition updating unit that updates a use condition indicated by the license information stored in the license storage unit in accordance with the use when the content is used by the content use unit. Management system. The license generation unit generates the license information by including a rights management identifier for identifying a rights management method corresponding to the use condition information in the license information,
The use condition determining unit determines whether the content can be used according to a rights management method indicated by a rights management identifier included in the license information,
The content use management system according to claim 1, wherein the use condition update unit updates the use condition according to a right management method indicated by a right management identifier included in the license information. The content use management system according to claim 2, wherein the license generation means generates the license information by generating a corresponding right management identifier and use condition information as a set. The use condition determination unit includes a plurality of use condition determination units that determine whether content can be used according to each of the plurality of right management methods,
The content use management system according to claim 1, wherein the use condition update unit includes a plurality of use condition update units that update the use conditions according to each of the plurality of right management methods. 2. The content use management system according to claim 1, wherein said use condition generation means generates a plurality of use condition information corresponding to each of said plurality of right management methods for the same content. The use condition information includes usable information indicating a range permitted for use of the content,
The use condition generation means includes, when generating a plurality of use condition information corresponding to each of the plurality of right management methods for the same content, the same type of use information being redundantly included in the plurality of use condition information. The content use management system according to claim 5, wherein the plurality of use condition information is generated so as not to be performed. The use condition information includes usable information indicating a range permitted for use of the content,
The use condition generation means includes, when generating a plurality of use condition information corresponding to each of the plurality of right management methods for the same content, the same type of use information being redundantly included in the plurality of use condition information. The content use management system according to claim 5, wherein the plurality of use condition information is generated so that the use condition information is generated. The use condition determining means, when the plurality of use condition information in the license includes the same type of usable information for the same content in an overlapping manner, according to a predetermined priority order of the rights management method. 8. The content use management system according to claim 7, wherein the use availability information included in the use condition information corresponding to the rights management method having a higher priority is prioritized to determine whether the content can be used. The license generation unit generates the license information by including, in the license information, priority information indicating a priority of the plurality of rights management schemes,
The use condition determining means, when the plurality of use condition information in the license includes the same type of usable information for the same content in an overlapping manner, further according to the priority indicated by the priority information. 9. The content use management system according to claim 8, wherein the use availability information included in the use condition information corresponding to the rights management method having a higher priority is prioritized to determine whether the content can be used. The use condition determining means, based on each of the plurality of use information, when the plurality of use condition information in the license includes the same type of use information relating to the same content in an overlapping manner. A plurality of determination results are generated by determining availability of the content, and a predetermined operation is performed on the generated plurality of determination results to determine the availability of the content. Content usage management system according to range 7. The license generation unit generates the license information by including control identification information indicating a calculation method in a case where a plurality of determination results of availability of the same content are obtained in the license information,
The use condition determining means, based on each of the plurality of use information, when the plurality of use condition information in the license includes the same type of use information relating to the same content in an overlapping manner. A plurality of determination results are generated by determining the availability of the content, and the availability of the content is determined by performing an operation indicated by the control identification information on the generated plurality of determination results. The content usage management system according to claim 10, wherein The use condition information includes use-time control information indicating a mode of use of the content,
The content use means, when the plurality of use condition information in the license includes different use control information relating to the same content, according to a predetermined priority order of the rights management method, a higher priority order. 6. The content use management system according to claim 5, wherein the use control information included in the use condition information corresponding to the high right management method is prioritized, and the content is used in a mode indicated by the use control information. . The license generation unit generates the license information by including, in the license information, priority information indicating a priority of the plurality of rights management schemes,
When the plurality of usage condition information in the license includes different use control information related to the same content, the content use unit may determine a right having a higher priority according to the priority indicated by the priority information. 13. The content usage management system according to claim 12, wherein the content is used by giving priority to usage control information included in usage condition information corresponding to the management method. The content using means may include, when the plurality of use condition information in the license includes different use control information relating to the same content, a plurality of use modes corresponding to the plurality of use control information, respectively. The content usage management system according to claim 5, wherein one usage mode is determined by performing an operation on the content, and the content is used in the determined usage mode. The license generation unit generates the license information by including control identification information indicating a calculation method when a plurality of usage modes related to the same content are obtained in the license information,
The content using means may include, when the plurality of use condition information in the license includes different use control information relating to the same content, a plurality of use modes corresponding to the plurality of use control information, respectively. 15. The content use management system according to claim 14, wherein one usage mode is determined by performing an operation indicated by the control identification information, and the content is used in the determined usage mode. The use condition generation unit includes a plurality of use condition generation units that generate use condition information according to each of the plurality of right management methods,
2. The content use management according to claim 1, wherein the license generation unit generates license information including usage condition information generated by a part of the plurality of usage condition generation units. system. The content usage management system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device further includes a license issuance requesting unit that requests the server device to issue the license. The usage condition determination unit includes at least one usage condition determination unit that determines whether the content can be used according to at least one of the plurality of right management methods,
The use condition generation unit includes a plurality of use condition generation units that generate use condition information according to each of the plurality of right management methods,
The license generation unit, when receiving a license issuance request from the terminal device, generates a license including usage condition information generated by a usage condition generation unit corresponding to the usage condition determination unit included in the terminal device. 18. The content use management system according to claim 17, wherein: The content use management system includes a plurality of the terminal devices,
All of the use condition determination means of the plurality of terminal devices include a use condition determination unit for determining whether or not the content can be used according to at least one of the plurality of right management methods determined in advance. The content use management system according to claim 1, wherein The use condition updating means of each of the plurality of terminal devices includes at least a use condition update unit that updates the use condition according to a predetermined one of the plurality of rights management methods. 20. The content use management system according to claim 19, wherein: A content use management device that is connected via a communication path to a terminal device that uses content that is a digital work and manages use of the content by the terminal device,
Use condition generating means for generating use condition information indicating a use condition of the content in correspondence with each of a plurality of rights management systems having different management methods of the right to use the content;
Content key storage means for storing a content key required for the terminal device to use the content,
From the use condition information generated by the use condition generation unit and the content key stored in the content key storage unit corresponding to the use condition information, the content key corresponds to the content key under the use condition indicated by the use condition information. License generation means for generating license information indicating a license permitting use of content to be licensed;
A license distribution unit that distributes the generated license information to the terminal device. A content use device that uses content that is a digital work,
A license storage unit for acquiring and storing license information distributed from the server device;
A use condition determining unit that determines whether or not the content indicated by the license information can be used, based on the use condition indicated by the license information stored in the license storage unit;
When the usage condition determining means determines that the content can be used, the content is decrypted using the content key included in the license information, and the content is used in accordance with the usage condition included in the license information. Means,
When the content is used by the content use unit, the content use unit includes a use condition update unit that updates a use condition indicated by the license information stored in the license storage unit in association with the use,
The license information includes a rights management identifier for identifying one rights management method from among a plurality of different rights management methods,
The use condition determining unit determines whether the content can be used according to a rights management method indicated by a rights management identifier included in the license information,
The content use apparatus, wherein the use condition updating unit updates the use condition according to a right management method indicated by a right management identifier included in the license information. A content use management method by a system including a terminal device that uses content that is a digital work, and a server device that is connected to the terminal device via a communication path and manages use of the content by the terminal device,
In the server device,
A use condition generating step of generating use condition information indicating a use condition of the content in correspondence with each of a plurality of right management methods having different management methods of the right to use the content;
From the use condition information generated in the use condition generation step and the content key stored in the content key storage unit corresponding to the use condition information, the content key corresponds to the content key under the use condition indicated by the use condition information. A license generating step of generating license information indicating a license that permits use of the content;
A license distribution step of distributing the generated license information to the terminal device,
In the terminal device,
A license storing step of obtaining and storing license information distributed from the server device;
A use condition determining step of determining, based on the use condition indicated by the license information stored in the license storing step, whether the content indicated by the license information is usable;
If it is determined in the use condition determining step that the content can be used, the content is decrypted using the content key included in the license information, and the content is used in accordance with the use condition included in the license information. Steps and
A use condition updating step of, when the content is used in the content use step, updating a use condition indicated by the license information stored in the license storage step in accordance with the use; Management method. A content use management method using a server device that is connected to a terminal device that uses content that is a digital work by a communication path and manages use of the content by the terminal device,
A use condition generating step of generating use condition information indicating a use condition of the content in correspondence with each of a plurality of right management methods having different management methods of the right to use the content;
From the use condition information generated in the use condition generation step and the content key corresponding to the use condition information, a license permitting use of the content corresponding to the content key under the use condition indicated by the use condition information is obtained. A license generating step of generating license information indicating
A license distribution step of distributing the generated license information to the terminal device. A method of using content by a terminal device that uses content that is a digital work,
A license obtaining step of obtaining license information distributed from the server device;
A use condition determining step of determining whether or not the content indicated by the license information can be used based on the use condition indicated by the acquired license information;
If it is determined in the use condition determining step that the content can be used, the content is decrypted using the content key included in the license information, and the content is used in accordance with the use condition included in the license information. Steps and
When a content is used in the content use step, a use condition update step of updating the use condition indicated by the license information stored in the license storage step in association with the use,
The license information includes a rights management identifier for identifying one rights management method from among a plurality of different rights management methods,
In the use condition determining step, it is determined whether the content can be used according to a rights management method indicated by a rights management identifier included in the license information,
In the content use method, in the use condition update step, the use condition is updated according to a right management method indicated by a right management identifier included in the license information. A program for content use management by a server device that is connected to a terminal device that uses content that is a digital work by a communication path and manages use of the content by the terminal device,
A use condition generating step of generating use condition information indicating a use condition of the content in correspondence with each of a plurality of right management methods having different management methods of the right to use the content;
From the use condition information generated in the use condition generation step and the content key corresponding to the use condition information, a license permitting use of the content corresponding to the content key under the use condition indicated by the use condition information is obtained. A license generating step of generating license information indicating
A license distribution step of distributing the generated license information to the terminal device. A program for using content by a terminal device that uses content that is a digital work,
A license obtaining step of obtaining license information distributed from the server device;
A use condition determining step of determining whether or not the content indicated by the license information can be used based on the use condition indicated by the acquired license information;
If it is determined in the use condition determining step that the content can be used, the content is decrypted using the content key included in the license information, and the content is used in accordance with the use condition included in the license information. Steps and
When a content is used in the content use step, a use condition update step of updating the use condition indicated by the license information stored in the license storage step in association with the use,
The license information includes a rights management identifier for identifying one rights management method from among a plurality of different rights management methods,
In the use condition determining step, it is determined whether the content can be used according to a rights management method indicated by a rights management identifier included in the license information,
In the use condition updating step, the use condition is updated according to a rights management method indicated by a rights management identifier included in the license information.

Images