KR20060078073A - Method for administrating license of contents generating module, and contents reproducing apparatus incorporating the same method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a reproduction control technology of multimedia content for managing a software license of a content generation module installed in a server computer in a library form to generate multimedia content in large quantities.

According to the present invention, the content generation module includes license key information having license information of the content generation module inside the content when the content is generated, and the content reproducing apparatus for downloading and reproducing the content is based on the clock of the reproducing apparatus. Compares the license information with the license information and outputs a message informing the user when the content is generated by the content generation module whose license period has expired.

Accordingly, the license information included in the content generation module is compared with the time based on the clock of the content reproducing apparatus which the content provider cannot operate freely, so that the validity of the license is checked. Therefore, an illegal content generation module is used. The content provider can be checked effectively without the possibility of avoiding it.

Library, auto-generated, licensed, software, content, system clock

Description

Method for administrating license of contents generating module, and contents reproducing apparatus incorporating the same method

1 illustrates an example of a network configuration to which a license management system according to the present invention is applied.

2 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of a content reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a license management server 90 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a license management method of an automatic content generation module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10: content playback device

100: control unit 110: content download unit

130: license checker 150: content playback unit

170: host notification unit 190: license update unit

230: wireless communication unit 330: keypad

351: display driving unit 353: display unit

371: sound output unit 373: speaker

500: Memory 510: Content

20: personal computer

30: wireless Internet server 50: content providing server

70: wired internet server

90: license management server

710: network interface 730: license management unit

750: update information notification unit 900: license management DB

The present invention relates to a playback control technique for multimedia content, and more particularly to a playback control technique for multimedia content for managing a software license of a content generation module.

The multimedia content may be generated by using an authoring tool, or by uploading the content to an automatic generation module and converting or encoding the content. The mobile communication terminal is equipped with a reproduction engine for reproducing multimedia contents, which reproduces only specific types of multimedia contents. As such a playback engine, Macromedia's mobile flash playback engine, the SIS playback engine provided by the present applicant, and the VIS playback engine improved therefrom are widely known. For example, in order to play an image taken by a camera phone in such a playback engine of a mobile communication terminal, the image must be transferred to a computer running a content generation module, converted or encoded, and then downloaded again. In addition, such a conversion operation is required to reproduce contents on the web in a mobile communication terminal.

The content generation module required for such a task is often called an auto-generated library because it is mounted on a server computer, and is expensive compared to general authoring tools because it generates a large amount of content. Conventionally, the software license of the automatic content generation module compares the current system clock with the license information stored at the time of module execution, and warns when the license expires or terminates execution. Many users, however, have been using software whose license has expired by manipulating the system clock, which can be arbitrarily manipulated.

The present invention was devised to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a license management method of a content generation module that a user cannot arbitrarily manipulate and avoid.

Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide a license management method of a content generation module that can identify a content generation module whose license has expired.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, the content generation module includes the license key information having the license information of the content generation module in the content at the time of content generation, the content playback device for downloading and playing the content is The license information is compared with the time based on the clock of the playback device and the license information is output when the content is generated by the content generation module whose license period has expired.

According to this aspect of the present invention, the license information included in the content generation module is not compared with the system clock of the content providing server that the content provider can freely manipulate and the license information included in the content generation module. The license is validated against the clock of the content playback device that plays the content, and the information is recorded without knowing the content. Therefore, the content provider using the illegal content generation module can be effectively checked without the possibility of avoiding it. have. Furthermore, by alerting the user of the content reproducing apparatus corresponding to the customer of the user, not the user using the illegal content generation module, an attempt to illegally use the software can be effectively blocked.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the content reproducing apparatus checks whether the content to be played is the content generated by the right-licensed content generation module, and if the content is illegally generated, connects to the license management server and Inform.

According to this aspect of the present invention, the software license holder is notified by the content reproducing apparatus, not the content generating module, so that the illegal user can be effectively identified in a manner that the user cannot block himself.

According to another additional aspect of the present invention, when the content generation module downloads the content and the license is renewed to become a legitimate user, the license management server transmits the update information to the content reproducing device that has reported the illegal use of the content. And update the license information stored in the content.

In accordance with this aspect of the invention, in the case of content that is repeatedly downloaded and then played back, it is possible for the licensee to renew the license so that annoying license violation messages are no longer encountered by customers. Do.

The foregoing and further aspects of the present invention will become more apparent later through the embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, such aspects of the present invention will be described in detail so that those skilled in the art can easily understand and reproduce.

1 illustrates an example of a network configuration to which a license management system according to the present invention is applied. As shown, the license management system according to an embodiment includes a license management server 90, a wireless Internet server 30 of a content provider equipped with a content generation module, and a personal computer 20 of a user through a wired Internet. And a content providing server 50 for providing a generated content to a content reproducing apparatus via a wireless Internet, a content providing server 50, and a content providing server 50. The apparatus may include a content reproducing apparatus 10 that accesses to download and reproduce content.

The content reproducing apparatus 10 may be, for example, a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), an audio player, a multimedia player, or the like. As an example, the content reproducing apparatus 10 is a personal media player (PMP). In this case, the user may access the web server 70 using his personal computer 20 and request a conversion in order to enjoy the video stored in his personal computer 20 in his personal media player. At this time, the web server 70 converts or encodes the uploaded video from the personal computer 20 by using the content generation module installed therein and downloads it to the personal computer 20 again. The user can connect his personal media player to the personal computer 20 to download and play this file to the content player. It is well known to connect a personal media player or the like to a personal computer to transmit and receive files.

As another example, a user requests a conversion in order to enjoy a video stored in his personal computer 20 on his mobile terminal 10 by connecting the web server 70 to his personal computer 20. Can be. At this time, the web server 70 converts or encodes the uploaded video from the personal computer 20 using the content generation module installed therein, and transmits the encoded video to the content providing server 50 and the corresponding content to the content providing server 50. Generates a message containing the stored location information and transmits it to the mobile communication terminal 10. For example, the location information may be transmitted in a short message (SMS) in the form of a callback URL. When the user receives the message, the user can access the content providing server 50 using the location information and download the content stored in the designated location.

As another example, the user may access the wireless Internet server 30 through his mobile communication terminal 10 and request for conversion of an image stored in his mobile communication terminal 10, for example. At this time, the wireless Internet server 30 converts or encodes the uploaded image by using the content generation module installed therein, and transmits the converted image to the content providing server 50 and transmits the location information in which the corresponding content is stored in the content providing server 50. It generates a message containing it and transmits it to the mobile communication terminal (10). For example, the location information may be transmitted in a short message (SMS) in the form of a callback URL. When the user receives the message, the user can access the content providing server 50 using the location information and download the content stored in the designated location.

As another example, the content generation module may operate to enjoy the video stored in the wired Internet server 70 in the mobile communication terminal 10. For example, the wired Internet server 70 converts each frame of a video into a still image that can be played by a playback engine installed in the mobile communication terminal 10 by using a content generation module installed in the content providing server 50. ) And the content providing server 50 may stream and transmit the same to the mobile communication terminal 10 that has requested it through the wireless Internet. In this case, the content generation module operates continuously in real time.

2 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of a content reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the content reproducing apparatus includes a memory 500 for storing downloaded content, license information of a content generating module recorded in the content stored in the memory in response to a reproducing command, and content reproducing. If the content is generated illegally by comparing the time information based on the clock of the device, the license checker 130 outputs a message indicating that the license has been violated, and the content stored in the memory in response to the play command is played. And a content reproducing unit 150.

The memory 500 for storing contents is composed of nonvolatile permanent memory such as, for example, a flash memory and a hard disk. The license checker 130 and the content player 150 may be generally implemented in software, and form a configuration of the controller 100. Processing of a large amount of calculations such as a codec decompressed by the content reproducing unit 150 may use dedicated hardware. In addition, the license checker 130 may also include a hardware authentication module to process the authentication information included in part of the license information. The controller 100 is composed of a microprocessor added with such optional hardware and software mounted thereon.

The license checker 130 compares the license information of the content generation module included in the content with the time information based on the clock of the content playback device each time the content stored in the memory 500 is reproduced to generate the generated content. Check that the module has a valid license. It should be clarified that the license in question here is not the license of the content itself, but the software license of the content generation module that created the content. Since the license is checked every time a user plays, the user who is provided with the content generated using the illegal content generation module will be bothered by the continuous warning message and will protest the content provider accordingly. As a result, the content provider providing the content for a fee will check the license of the content generation module.

The content reproducing unit 150 is a content reproducing engine of the content reproducing apparatus. For example, the content reproducing unit loads the content file from the memory into the temporary memory area according to the information included in the header information of the content file, and distinguishes the playback control command from the resources. And generate and output each video frame for each graphic layer according to the playback control command, and output the audio frame in synchronization with it. Such content reproduction engines are known from the applicant's VIS engine, Macromedia's mobile flash engine, and the like, and technical details thereof are disclosed. The playback command to the content player 150 is generally input through an operation unit such as a keypad 330 or a touch pad. The video information reproduced by the content reproducing unit 150 is output to the display unit 353 such as a liquid crystal display device and an organic EL display panel through the display driving unit 351, and the audio information is output to the speaker through the sound output unit 371. 373) or to the ear speaker. This configuration of playing digital content is idiomatic.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the content reproducing apparatus further includes a content downloading unit (110) for recording the download time based on the clock of the content reproducing apparatus in the corresponding content and storing it in the memory while downloading the content. The time information of the content reproducing apparatus compared by the license checker 130 may be download time information recorded in the content.

Downloading of the content may be through a wireless communication unit 230 that can be connected to the wireless Internet, as shown in Figure 1 or 2, or may be through a communication interface for connecting to a personal computer, for example, a USB interface, This may be accomplished through a short range wireless communication interface such as Bluetooth.

 The license information embedded in the content generation module is transferred to the content generated by the content generation module, and is compared with the time based on the clock of the content reproducing apparatus that reproduces the content, particularly the downloaded time, thereby providing the content. Will lose the opportunity to tamper with the license information or manipulate the clock.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in the case where the content reproducing apparatus is content that is illegally generated as a result of the check by the license checker 130, the content reproducing apparatus connects to the license management server 90 to obtain license information of the content generating module stored in the corresponding content. It may further include a host notification unit 170 for transmitting at least some of the. For example, the host notification unit 170 may access the license management server 90 through the wireless Internet and transmit a license period and identification information of the content generation module among the license information of the content generation module recorded in the content. From this identification information, the license management server 900 can identify the content provider who uses the module. The license management server 900 can refer to the license period information to generate the content in which the content generation module is problematic, and then the license has already been renewed to obtain a valid license. If it is updated, it can be notified to the content playback device so that a warning message can no longer be output.

According to another aspect of the present invention, if the control unit 100 of the content playback device receives the update information that the license has already been updated from the license management server according to the license update unit 190 to update the license information stored in the content accordingly ) May be further included. By updating the license information of the content generation module stored in the content, a user who enjoys the content may no longer be harassed by a warning message that the content is generated by an illegal content generation module.

3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a license management server 90 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The license management server 90 is a general server computer and manages license information of the content generation module stored in the license management database 900. The database 900 manages identification information of the content generation module, information such as the address, name, and contact information of the content provider who purchased the content generation module, a purchase date of the content generation module, a license period, and the like.

As shown, the license management server 90 includes a network interface 710 for communicating with other computers via a network, and receives information about content generated by the content generation module whose license period has expired from the content reproducing apparatus. A license monitoring unit 730 that receives and notifies the user of the corresponding content generation module of the expiration of the license period. In addition, the license management server 90 may further include an update information notification unit 750 which checks whether the license is renewed for the corresponding content generation module and transmits information indicating the update fact to the notified media player. .

4 is a flowchart illustrating a license management method of an automatic content generation module according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, step S101 to step S105 are processed by the content providing server 50, step S201 to step S219 are to be processed by the content reproducing apparatus, and step S301 to step S307 are to be processed by the license management server 90.

As shown, first, the content providing server 50 receives a request for generating a content file from the wireless Internet server 30 or the wired Internet server 70 (step S101), uploads the necessary file, and then executes the content generation module. The uploaded file is encoded to generate a content file (step S103).

Then, the license information of the content generation module is recorded in the generated content file (step S105). The license information may be, for example, identification information of the content generation module and license period information. This license information may be part or all of the license information recorded in the content generation module. The identification information of the content generation module may be, for example, a unique number assigned to each content generation module or a unique number of a content provider using the same. Since the license may be granted by company, the unique number of the content provider may be identification information of the content generation module. Therefore, in the present specification, the identification information of the content generation module is interpreted to cover such a modification. License information is recorded according to the grammar of the content, and may be encrypted and recorded to prevent tampering.

The generated content is downloaded to the content reproducing apparatus 10 (step S201). The downloaded path may be via a wireless internet network, or may be downloaded to a personal computer via a wired internet network and then downloaded to the content reproducing apparatus 10 through a computer external input / output port. At this time, the content reproducing apparatus 10 records the time when the content is downloaded in the content (step S203). This time is according to the system clock of the content reproducing apparatus. Therefore, the possibility of manipulation of the content provider is excluded. In the case of automatically generated content, it is downloaded at the same time as creation, so the download time reflects the license information of the content generation module most. However, the download time is only one embodiment, and any time according to the download and playback of this content among the time according to the system clock of the content reproducing apparatus can be set, and the claims are intended to cover such modifications.

Thereafter, the user operates a keypad, for example, so that a content reproduction command is input (step S205). As a result, the validity of the license is checked by comparing two pieces of information recorded in the corresponding content, that is, the license information of the content generation module with the time information of the content reproducing apparatus (step S209). If the license is content generated by a valid content generation module, the content is played back (step S217), and the licensing-related processing of the current step ends. This process is repeated at each content playback start.

If the license is content generated by an invalid content generation module, an error message warning this is output (step S211). For example, the information "The content you play is provided by a content provider with an expired license" may be displayed on the LCD screen.

Thereafter, the content reproducing apparatus checks flag information related to the notification to the server (step S213). If an illegal content generation module is found by the user of the content reproducing apparatus, if the state is set to notify the license management server, the fact is notified to the licensor management server (step S215). The notification content essentially includes identification information of the content generation module, and other unique numbers of the contents, for example, unique numbers of playback apparatuses that reproduce contents such as phone numbers, may be added. Thereafter, the content may be played back (step S217), or in another embodiment, the content may be terminated without playing the content. If the state is set to be ignored without notification, the corresponding content may be played (step S217) or, in another embodiment, may end without playing the content.

If the licensor management server is notified of this fact, it records this fact in the management database (step S301). Thereafter, it is checked whether the license agreement has been renewed since generating the corresponding content (step S303). If the contract is renewed and a legitimate license is obtained, the fact is notified to the corresponding terminal (step S305). In this case, the information to be notified may include new license period information, identification information of the content generation module, and additionally encryption key information for decrypting and re-encrypting the license information encrypted in the corresponding terminal. This information is also preferably transmitted encrypted. Since the information of the corresponding terminal such as, for example, the phone number has already been obtained in step S215, such notification is possible. In reality, the notification to the license management server and the reception of the update information will be difficult to apply in the case of the content playback apparatus having no network function. However, it can be easily applied to a mobile communication terminal or a device having a wireless LAN function.

If the license is not renewed and is still illegal, it can be recorded in the management database and urged the content provider to stop using the illegal content generation module by e-mail or renew the license agreement.

The content reproducing apparatus, having received the license update information, edits the content stored in the memory and updates the license information of the existing content generation module recorded in the content. In this case, if the license information is encrypted, decrypt it using the encryption key received from the license management server, and encrypt and store the generated encryption information again. However, since the transmission of the encryption key through the network is dangerous, the entirety of such encrypted licensing information is transmitted from the license management server, and the content reproducing apparatus may be implemented by replacing the corresponding licensing information. As new and valid license information is rewritten, users enjoying the content will no longer be bothered with annoying warning messages.

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, an expensive content generation module that generates a large amount of content can effectively block illegal use of a content provider by illegally changing license information or manipulating a system clock.

The license information is checked in the content reproducing apparatus, which not only blocks the possibility that the content provider can operate the system clock, but also has the advantage of encouraging the license agreement to be renewed at the request of the customer.

Furthermore, since a notification is made in the content reproducing apparatus regarding the use of illegal content generation module, it is easy to grasp them. Furthermore, the user using the content reproducing apparatus has an advantage in that the content generating module does not have to face a warning message any more when playing the corresponding content when the licensing agreement is legally renewed.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it should be understood that various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention. . Therefore, the technical protection scope of the present invention should be interpreted only by the appended claims, which are intended to cover such obvious modifications.

Claims (10)

A memory for storing the downloaded content; In response to the playback command, the license information of the content generation module recorded in the content stored in the memory is compared with the time information based on the clock of the content playback device, indicating that the license has been violated. A license check unit which outputs a message; And a content reproducing unit reproducing the content stored in the memory in response to a reproducing command. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the playback device is A content download unit which records a download time based on a clock of a content reproducing apparatus in the corresponding content while downloading the content and stores the content in the corresponding content; And the time information of the content reproducing apparatus compared with the license checker is download time information recorded in the content. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the content reproducing apparatus is: And a host notifying unit which accesses a license management server and transmits at least a part of license information of a content generation module stored in the corresponding content, when the content is unjustly generated as a result of the inspection of the license checking unit. Playback device. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the content playback device comprises: And a license update unit for updating license information stored in the content according to the update information that the license has already been updated from the license management server. In the content playback method in the content playback device, a) downloading the content and storing it in a memory; c) comparing the license information of the content generation module recorded in the content stored in the memory with the time information based on the clock of the content reproducing apparatus in response to the reproduction command to confirm whether the content is legitimate; d) if not legitimate, outputting information indicating that the license has expired content; e) playing content stored in the memory; Content playback method comprising a. The method of claim 5 wherein the regeneration method is: b) recording the download time in the content based on a clock of the content reproducing apparatus; And the time information of the content reproducing apparatus to be compared in the step c) is download time information recorded in the content. The method of claim 5 or 6, wherein the content playback method is: Connecting to a license management server and notifying license expiration information including identification information of a content generation module that generated the corresponding content; Content playback method characterized in that it further comprises. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the content playback method is: Receiving license update information from a license management server and updating license information included in the content with updated license period information; Content playback method characterized in that it further comprises. A content generation module for generating content by including license information of the content generation module in the content; A license management server including a license monitoring unit for receiving information on the content generated by the content generation module whose license period has expired from the content reproducing apparatus and notifying the user of the corresponding content generation module of the expiration of the license period; License management system comprising a. The method of claim 9, And a renewal information notifying unit for transmitting the information for notifying the fact of renewal to the notified media playback terminal when the license management server checks whether the license is renewed for the corresponding content generation module and is renewed.

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