JPH11144379A - Data recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording/reproducing device capable of recording obtained data and limiting the number of times of use for reproduction. SOLUTION: A recording medium 101 includes a user data area 103 provided to record a program as user data and a management data area 102 provided to record management data for managing the number of times of reproducing this program, the management data and the program recorded in the recording medium are reproduced by a reproducing means 105, the management data is separated from a signal reproduced by the reproducing means by a data separating means 106, and reproducing is controlled based on this management data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus for controlling the duplication and reproduction of recorded information for protecting the copyright of copyrighted works such as data and programs or video and audio information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As storage media capable of recording and reproducing information (data), there are magnetic tapes, magnetic disks, magneto-optical disks, optical disks, and the like, and video signals, audio signals, digital signals for computers, and the like are stored. Recorded on medium. These storage media are capable of recording and reproducing data as many times as possible.However, if data can be freely recorded or recorded contents can be reproduced without limit, if the recorded data has a copyright, There is a fear that it will not be protected. For example, if copyrighted data is recorded, it is possible to copy the data without restriction without paying a legitimate price or obtaining the permission of the copyright holder. is there.

Therefore, conventionally, a recording / reproducing apparatus is provided with a function for prohibiting copying of the contents to another medium, or guard information for limiting the number of times of reproduction is provided, so that recorded data can be reproduced. Some are managed so that copyright is protected.

[0004] For example, as a copy protection method of a video signal currently used, there is a "copy protection method of video program and its device" described in JP-A-63-107281 (G11B20 / 12). This is done by applying a predetermined waveform indicating the prohibition of copying of the video signal within a blanking period of the video signal, and when the video signal is received by the recording device, a signal of the predetermined waveform is detected and the video signal is recorded. Is automatically disabled.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-360068 (G
11B20 / 10) describes a technique for restricting copying or preventing browsing by scrambling and recording digital data using a specific ID and password.

By the way, when a video signal, an audio signal, and other data signals are sent to a user using a general network such as a CATV, a telephone line, and a satellite broadcast, the signals are used in real time and received. Except when browsing images,
It is necessary for the user to store data. This is when the date and time when the data is transmitted and when it is used are different, or when the transmitted data is subjected to compression processing,
This includes the case where the time required for transmission is different from the length of time used for reproduction or the like. The former functions as a time shifter, and the latter functions as a buffer device for absorbing a difference in transmission speed.
Some storage devices use rewritable disk media, tape media, semiconductor memory, etc., but in order to protect the copyright of the stored data, some means of restricting the use of playback or copying is required. is necessary.

In this regard, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-297919 has been proposed.
In the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Publication (G1B20 / 10), a predetermined viewable date and time of guide information of a program recorded on a storage medium is compared with a current time, and reproduction is prohibited except at the viewable date and time. Thus, the reproduction is restricted. However, when this technology is used, it can be played as many times as possible without restrictions during the viewing period,
There is a problem that copyright protection is not sufficient.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and is capable of recording obtained data, but restricting the number of times of reproduction and use thereof. The purpose is to realize.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data recording / reproducing apparatus, comprising: a user data area for recording a program as user data; and management data for recording management data for managing the number of times of reproduction of the program. A recording medium having an area, reproducing means for reproducing management data and a program recorded on the recording medium, data separating means for separating the user data and the management data from a signal reproduced by the reproducing means, A rewriting means for rewriting the management data outputted from the data separating means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the data recording / reproducing apparatus, the number of reproducible times for restricting the reproduction is recorded in the management data according to a predetermined rule. It is characterized by rewriting to a value obtained by sequentially subtracting the number of times data can be reproduced. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the data recording / reproducing apparatus, the subtraction and the rewriting of the number of reproducible times for the reproduction restriction are performed when the reproduction is completely completed from the beginning to the end of the corresponding program. It is.
Further, the data recording / reproducing apparatus according to the fourth aspect is characterized in that the subtraction and the rewriting of the number of reproducible times for the reproduction restriction are performed when a specific signal provided in the middle of the corresponding program is detected. Things. Claim 5
The data recording / reproducing apparatus described above reproduces the management data, and when a device that indicates a reproduction prohibition such as a reproducible count of “0” for reproduction restriction is detected, a program corresponding to the management data, and The management data is erased as needed. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the data recording / reproducing apparatus, the recording medium is a disk-shaped recording medium.

[0011]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention having the above features, when a video signal, an audio signal, and other data signals are transmitted through a network such as a CATV, a telephone line, and a satellite broadcast. According to an appropriate procedure, copy protection information, information for limiting the number of times of reproduction, or information for copyright protection similar thereto are recorded in advance as management data together with user data on a recording medium by an appropriate procedure. When the information on the recording medium is reproduced, the data in the management data area is referred to, and if there is a limit on the number of times of reproduction, each time the user data is reproduced, the reproduction data is updated to a value obtained by subtracting the number of times of reproduction restriction corresponding to the data. .

According to the third and fourth aspects of the present invention,
The method of updating the information for limiting the number of times of reproduction is set to a point in time when the reproduction is completed from the beginning to the end for a certain period (indicating the entire program or a chapter that divides the program into small pieces), and means an update instruction during the reproduction of user data. A method is described in which a specific signal is detected at the time when the signal is detected. By updating these signals in combination, it is possible to prevent unauthorized use of the user data ignoring the copyright. Further, according to the invention of claim 5 of the present application, the user data which cannot be reproduced by the management data is erased from a recording medium such as a disk, so that any unauthorized use can be prevented.

Furthermore, according to the invention of claim 6, a disk is used as a recording medium, and an easy-to-use system is provided by quick access.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention applied to a recording / reproducing apparatus using a disk-shaped recording medium. The information storage medium used in this embodiment is a recordable and reproducible disk 101, for example, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a magnetic disk. A management data area 102 and a user data area 103 are provided on the recording / reproducing surface of the disc. A plurality of programs or data signals (hereinafter, referred to as programs) are recorded in the user data area, and management data corresponding to each program of the user data is recorded in the management data area 102. The management data is data indicating the number of reproducible times of each program. The user data area 103 also records index information on each program.

When a program such as a video signal, an audio signal, and other data signals is transmitted through a network such as a CATV, a telephone line, and a satellite broadcast, the copy protection information and the number of times of reproduction are limited by an appropriate procedure. Information or similar information for copyright protection is recorded in advance on a recording medium together with user data as management data. Alternatively, when a recording medium is sold as software in which a program is recorded in advance, management data is recorded in advance together with the program.

A signal pick-up unit 104 picks up a signal recorded on a disk or records a signal on the disk. The optical pickup is called an optical pickup in an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk, and is called a magnetic head in a magnetic disk. Part. 105 is a reproduction signal processing circuit for processing a signal reproduced by the pickup 104, 106 is a data separation circuit for separating management data and user data from the reproduced signal, and 107 is a management separated by the data separation circuit 106. A memory for storing data, 108 separates video information, audio information, and other data signals from the user data output from the data separation circuit 106, and outputs the separated data signals.
A video / audio / data separation circuit 109 for detecting the number of times of reproduction of each program of the user data; 109 is management data stored in the memory 107;
A control circuit for controlling the apparatus in accordance with the flowchart described later,
Is a recording signal processing circuit that performs recording on the disk 101 under the control of the control circuit 109.

Next, the operation of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. As described above, a certain program is reproduced from the disk 101 divided into two areas, the user data area 103 in which a plurality of programs are recorded and the management data area 102 in which the number of reproducible times of each program is recorded. First, in step 201, the user data area 103 on the disc 101
The user data index recorded on the disk is reproduced, the contents of the program recorded on the disk are grasped, and in step 202, the management data of each program recorded in the management data area 102 is read, and the memory 10 is read.
Remember in 7.

Thereafter, when the user selects a program to be reproduced in step 203, the management data corresponding to the program is read out of the management data stored in the memory 107 in step 202, and
In step 204, it is determined whether the management data is "0". If the management data is not "0", step
At 205, the program is played. The reproduced user data signal of the program is subjected to processing such as amplification, binarization, synchronization, demodulation, and error correction of the reproduced signal in the reproduced signal processing circuit 105. The signal processed by the reproduction signal processing circuit 105 is input to the video / audio / data signal processing circuit 109 via the data separation circuit 106. The video / audio / data signal processing circuit 109 separates the video signal, the audio signal, and the other data signals, expands them if they have been compressed, and performs processing such as D / A conversion. Then, the video signal, audio signal, and data signal of the program are output to the outside.

The video / audio / data signal processing circuit 109 includes:
Based on the completion of playback of the program output to the outside,
A reproduction limit number subtraction command signal is output to the control circuit 109.
Upon receiving the reproduction limit number subtraction command signal, the control circuit 108 subtracts the reproduction limit number of the program in the management data stored in the memory 107 in step 206, and responds to the recording signal processing circuit 110. A signal is output to rewrite the management data to be performed.

This video / audio / data signal processing circuit 109
May be determined by, for example, whether or not the last part of the program has been reproduced, by determining whether or not a plurality of predetermined parts of the program have been reproduced, or by reproducing a predetermined percentage or more of the entire program. You may decide.

The recording signal processing circuit 110, which has received a signal from the control circuit 109, rewrites data of a corresponding portion of the management data area through the pickup 104 so that the corresponding management data is rewritten. However, if it is determined in step 207 that the reduced number of reproducible times has become 0,
The control circuit 108 receives the reproduction completion signal sent from the video / audio / data signal processing circuit 109, and
And outputs a signal instructing erasure of the user data corresponding to. The pickup unit having received this erases the corresponding portion of the user data area on the disc in step 208. If it is determined in step 207 that the management data is not “0”, the processing ends.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 203 that the management data of the program selected by the user is "0" in step 204, the flow jumps to step 208 to delete the user data of the program. In the above-described embodiment, a disk-shaped recording medium is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a tape-shaped recording medium or a semiconductor memory may be used. When a tape-shaped recording medium is used, the management data may be recorded at the beginning of the tape, and when a semiconductor memory is used, the management data may be recorded at a predetermined address.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, a rewritable optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic disk, or a video signal, an audio signal, or other digital data recorded on a magnetic tape or a semiconductor memory is copyrighted. When a user provides a program with a limited number of viewings, the data management information can be updated in accordance with the readout training. For this reason, it is possible to prohibit unlimited reading or copying of specific information, which is effective for copyright protection. In addition, as for information such as a video signal and an audio signal transmitted from a network such as a CATV, as long as the information is once stored in a disk medium as a buffer, a copyright protection operation is performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Disc (recording medium) 102 Management data area 103 User data area 104 Pickup 105 Playback signal processing circuit (playback means) 106 Data separation circuit (data separation means) 107 Memory 108 Control circuit 109 Video / audio / data signal processing circuit 110 Recording signal processing circuit (data rewriting means)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A recording medium having a user data area for recording a program as user data, a management data area for recording management data for managing the number of reproductions of the program, and management data recorded on the recording medium. Reproducing means for reproducing a program, data separating means for separating the user data and the management data from a signal reproduced by the reproducing means, and rewriting means for the management data output from the data separating means. A data recording / reproducing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The management data is recorded with a reproducible number of times for reproduction restriction according to a predetermined rule, and each time the corresponding program is reproduced, the rewriting means sequentially subtracts the reproducible number of times of the management data to a value. 2. The data recording / reproducing device according to claim 1, wherein the data recording / reproducing device is rewritten. 3. The data recording / reproducing method according to claim 2, wherein the subtraction and rewriting of the number of reproducible times for the reproduction restriction are performed when the reproduction is completely completed from the beginning to the end of the corresponding program. apparatus. 4. The data recording method according to claim 2, wherein the subtraction and rewriting of the number of reproducible times for the reproduction restriction are performed when a specific signal provided in the middle of the corresponding program is detected. Playback device. 5. A program corresponding to the management data, wherein the management data is reproduced, and when a data indicating a reproduction prohibition such as a reproducible number of times “0” for reproduction restriction is detected.
2. The data recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management data is deleted as needed. 6. The data recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is a disk-shaped recording medium.