KR20080023960A - A relay file structure for distribution of digital contents - Google Patents

Abstract

A relay file structure for distributing digital contents is provided to improve legality and stability of contents distribution by including a relay file in a license area, realize second distribution of fast/wide streaming contents by reducing data transfer load by using the relay file with small capacity, and maximize a use range of the digital contents by smoothening restriction of digital contents size, communication function, and system performance largely. A first area includes a relay file and user ID information. A second area includes address information for enabling a first and second user to receive contents. A third area includes license information for checking use rights of the contents. The first area includes a relay file version and ID, a client ID, a first user ID, and a previous user ID, and is used as a header of the relay file. The second area includes a title, the ID, an address such as a URL(Uniform Resource Locator), and a copyright of the contents. The third area includes a license address, key generation information, and right information. The right information includes distribution information, a playback period, and a playback count. The distribution information informs a digital contents provider that the first user distributes the relay file secondarily to the second user.

Description

A relay file structure for distribution of digital content

1 is a block diagram of a digital content distribution system according to the present invention;

2 is a block diagram showing the structure of a relay file for distributing digital content according to the present invention;

3 is a flow chart showing a primary process of digital content distribution using a relay file according to the present invention;

4 is a flow chart showing a first embodiment of a license issuing process during a secondary distribution process of digital content using a relay file according to the present invention;

5 is a flowchart illustrating a second embodiment of a license issuing process during a secondary distribution process of digital content using a relay file according to the present invention;

6 is a flowchart illustrating a streaming service process using a relay file during the secondary distribution process of digital content using the relay file according to the present invention;

7 is a flowchart illustrating a relay file authentication process according to the present invention.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

100: streaming server 200: content server

300: license server 400: first user terminal

500: second user terminal

The present invention relates to a relay file structure for distributing digital content that enables secondary distribution of digital content, particularly streaming content.

Digital content distribution can be divided into primary distribution and secondary distribution.

First, primary distribution means that a server of a digital content producer provides digital content corresponding to a user's request to the user. In this case, the digital content may be classified into download content and streaming content according to a transmission method.

Downloaded content refers to digital content that can be executed after the entire content has been downloaded. Meanwhile, the streaming content refers to digital content that is executed by receiving a part of the entire content in real time.

Next, secondary distribution means that the user provides the digital content stored in his terminal to other users.

Until now, the secondary distribution has been performed by downloading encrypted digital content, that is, download content to another user's terminal.

However, the streaming content can only be distributed first to the user in the streaming server, and the second distribution to other users is impossible.

This is because a user who is provided with an initial service cannot distribute to another user because only a part of the entire content is transmitted from the streaming server to the user's terminal.

In more detail, the streaming content has a structure in which the encrypted digital content is continuously executed in the user's terminal. Therefore, with the concept of Digital Rights Management (DRM) introduced, digital content that can be secondaryly distributed is limited to download content, and in the case of streaming content, secondary distribution is not possible.

In this case, DRM refers to digital rights management, which protects the rights and interests of content providers, prevents illegal copying, and supports batch creation and distribution management of contents, such as charging royalties and settlement services. This includes digital rights management technology that ensures that only legitimate users use content and pay the appropriate fees, software and security technologies for copyright approval and enforcement, and payment technology.

For digital content producers, it is efficient to distribute encrypted digital content smoothly by performing various types of secondary distribution while satisfying DRM. As a result, almost all digital content is in the form of downloadable content that can be secondly distributed.

However, in the mobile environment, it is very difficult to service a large amount of download content due to limitations in capacity, processing power, and communication bandwidth.

As described above, the conventional digital content service has a problem that its capacity is extremely limited in the case of downloadable content for mobile that can be secondarily distributed. In addition, in the case of streaming content that can solve the capacity problem compared to the download content, there is a problem that secondary distribution is impossible. As a result, capacity limitation or secondary distribution is not possible, which causes problems of inconvenience of utilizing digital contents by both producers and users.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide a relay file structure for distributing digital content to enable secondary distribution of streaming content.

According to the present invention, a digital content provider relays the digital content to the first user who has requested the digital content so that the digital content can be distributed first, and the second user can relay the digital content to the second user. A structure of a relay file used for relaying to be distributed secondly, comprising: a first area including a relay file and user identification information, and a second including address information to which the first user or the second user can receive content And a third area including license information for confirming the use right of the content.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of a relay file structure for distributing digital content according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a digital content distribution system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a structure of a relay file for distributing digital content according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a digital content using a relay file according to the present invention. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a first distribution process, FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of a license issuing process during a second distribution process of digital content using a relay file, and FIG. 5 is a digital representation using a relay file according to the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a second embodiment of a license issuing process in the secondary content distribution process, FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a streaming service process using a relay file in the secondary digital content distribution process using the relay file according to the present invention. A flowchart illustrating a relay file authentication process according to the present invention.

Digital content distribution system using a relay file according to the present invention, if there is a license request from the first user terminal 400 or the second user terminal 500, as shown in Figure 1 corresponding to the pre-stored distribution information If there is a streaming request using a relay file from the license server 300, the first user terminal 400, or the second user terminal 500, which issues a license to the user terminal, the digital content corresponding to the relay file may be received. The streaming server 100 streaming to the user terminal 400 or the second user terminal 500, and the relay file matched to the requested content in response to the content request of the first user terminal 400, the first user Primary distribution to the terminal 400, and transmitted from the first user terminal 400 in accordance with the secondary distribution of the relay file from the first user terminal 400 to the second user terminal 500 The distribution information includes a content server 200 for transmission to the license server (300).

Various streaming contents stored in the streaming server 100 have a relay file matched with each other, and the relay files are stored in the content server 200.

The first user terminal 400 and the second user terminal 500 may be mobile devices such as mobile phones. However, a user terminal receiving the relay file firstly is defined as a first user terminal 400, and a terminal receiving second relay file through the first user terminal 400 is defined as a second user terminal 500. do. Of course, when the first user terminal 400 receives the second relay file from the second user terminal 500, the first user terminal 400 is defined as the second user terminal 500.

In this case, the first user terminal 400 is configured to transmit the distribution information to the content server 200 when the relay file is secondly distributed to the second user terminal 500.

The relay file does not include actual content and is a small file including only general information that a user can access to the content, and the configuration thereof is as shown in FIG.

That is, the relay file includes a first area, a second area, and a third area. The first area is a header area including a relay file and user identification information, and the second area is a content area including address information to which the first user or the second user can receive content, and the third area. The area is a license area including license information for confirming the use right of the content.

The header area includes a relay file version, a relay file identifier (ID), a client identifier, an initial user identifier, and a previous user identifier.

The content area includes a content title, a content identifier, a content address, and a content copyright. At this time, the content address uses a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

The license area includes a license address, key generation information, and right information. At this time, the license address uses a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) similarly to the content address. The right information includes distribution information, reproduction period, and reproduction count. The distribution information is information for informing the digital content provider that the first user distributes the relay file to the second user secondly. In addition, the right information may be added a new item according to the needs of the provider side or the user side.

Since the above-mentioned relay file is extremely small compared to the content itself, for example, it is within a few KB, it does not occupy a large amount of memory of the terminal and can be stored for a long time and can be deleted if necessary.

Therefore, in the prior art, it was not possible to distribute the streaming content secondly, but in the present invention, the second distribution is possible because only a very small file size is transmitted compared to the actual content.

Hereinafter, the secondary distribution of digital content using a relay file according to the present invention will be described.

First, since the first distribution must be basically performed for the second distribution of streaming content, the first distribution process will be described with reference to FIG. 3 as follows.

The first user terminal 400 requests the predetermined content to the content server 200 according to the user's request (S31).

Subsequently, the content server 200 transmits the relay file matching the requested content to the first user terminal 400 (S32).

The first user terminal 400 requests a license issuance to the license server 300 using the relay file (S33).

At this time, in order to obtain a license, the user must pay a predetermined fee. The exception is of course free content that the user does not have to pay for.

Subsequently, when the payment of the user's payment is confirmed, the license server 300 issues a license for streaming content using the relay file (S34).

The first user terminal 400 requests the streaming server 100 to stream the corresponding content using the relay file (S35).

Subsequently, the streaming server 100 requests authentication to the content server 200 or the license server 300 using the license, and when the authentication is completed, streams the corresponding content to the first user terminal 400 (S36).

Therefore, the user can use streaming content playback or the like through the first user terminal 400.

Next, a second distribution process of streaming content using a relay file will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

The user of the first user terminal 400 may secondaryly distribute the content to the desired second user terminal 500 regardless of time and place. In this case, the secondary distribution of the content may be performed only by transmitting the relay file stored in the first user terminal 400 to the second user terminal 500. Since streaming content itself does not store the entire contents on the terminal, but uses only temporary storage, secondary distribution was not possible in the past, but infinite secondary distribution is possible because it transmits a small amount of relay files that can access the contents. It is possible.

Here, the license issuance according to the secondary distribution process can be made in two ways, the first method will be described with reference to FIG.

The first user terminal 400 transmits the relay file to the second user terminal 500 at the user's request (S41).

At the same time, the first user terminal 400 transmits the corresponding distribution information to the content server 200 when the relay file is transmitted to the second user terminal 500 (S42). In this case, the distribution information may include information for identifying the second user terminal 500 that secondly distributed the relay file.

Subsequently, the content server 200 transmits the distribution information to the license server 300 (S43).

On the other hand, the second user terminal 500 requests the issue of its license to the first user terminal 400 (S44).

Subsequently, the first user terminal 400 requests the content server 200 to issue a license of the second user terminal 500 (S45).

The content server 200 requests the license server 300 to issue a license of the second user terminal 500 (S46).

Accordingly, the license server 300 issues a license to the second user terminal 500 with reference to the distribution information (S47).

Next, a second method of issuing a license according to the secondary distribution process will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

The first user terminal 400 transmits the relay file to the second user terminal 500 at the user's request (S51).

At the same time, the first user terminal 400 transmits the corresponding distribution information to the content server 200 when the relay file is transmitted to the second user terminal 500 (S52). In this case, the distribution information may include information for identifying the second user terminal 500 that secondly distributed the relay file.

Subsequently, the content server 200 transmits the distribution information to the license server 300 (S53).

On the other hand, the second user terminal 500 directly requests the license issuance of its own license to the license server 300 (S54).

Accordingly, the license server 300 issues a license to the second user terminal 500 with reference to the distribution information (S55).

Next, the streaming service process using the relay file during the digital content secondary distribution process in the state where the license issuing is completed will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

In response to the user request, the second user terminal 500 requests streaming by using the relay file distributed second to the streaming server 100 (S61).

Subsequently, the streaming server 100 requests authentication of the relay file from the license server 300 (S62).

In addition, the license server 300 authenticates the right relay file with the streaming server 100 by referring to the relay file and the distribution information (S63).

Accordingly, the streaming server 100 reads the content area of the relay file, finds the content title, identifier, address, and the like, and streams the digital content requested by the user accordingly (S64).

Meanwhile, the above-described relay file authentication process may be performed in the content server 200, and the detailed process will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the header area of the relay file is read to check the version and the identifier (S71), and it is determined whether the relay file is a legitimate relay file (S72).

If the determination result (S72) is a legitimate relay file, the license area of the relay file is read to determine whether a license exists (S73).

If the license does not exist (S73), the license is requested to the user (S74), and the user is issued a license.

As a result of the determination (S73), if a license exists, the license authority information of the relay file is examined (S75), and it is determined whether there is a valid license authority (S76).

As a result of the determination (S76), if there is no valid license authority, that is, the license exists but is an invalid license, the user requests a license (S77), so that the user is issued a valid license.

As a result of the determination (S76), if there is a legitimate license authority, the streaming server 100 authenticates that the relay file is legitimate (S78).

As those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may implement the present invention in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features, the embodiments described above should be understood as illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. Should be. The scope of the present invention is shown by the following claims rather than the detailed description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents are included in the scope of the present invention. Should be.

When the relay file of the structure according to the present invention is used for distributing digital content, the following effects can be obtained.

First, since the license file is included in the relay file, the legality and stability of content distribution can be improved.

Second, the use of low-capacity relay files reduces the data transfer load, enabling rapid and broad distribution of streaming content.

Third, the secondary distribution of streaming content is possible, which greatly reduces the digital content's capacity, communication performance, and usage system's performance, thereby maximizing the range of digital content and providing users with a ubiquitous environment. can do.

Claims (7)

The digital content provider may relay the digital content to the first user who requested the predetermined digital content instead of providing the actual digital content, and the first user may receive the digital content secondly to the second user. In the structure of the relay file used to relay so that The relay file may include a first area including a relay file and user identification information, a second area including address information to which the first user or the second user can distribute the content, and a permission for using the content. A relay file structure for distributing digital content, comprising a third area including license information. The method of claim 1, The first region includes a relay file version, a relay file identifier, a client identifier, an initial user identifier, and a previous user identifier, and is used as a header of the relay file. Relay file structure for distribution. The method of claim 1, And the second area includes a content title, a content identifier, a content address, and a content copyright. The method of claim 3, wherein The content address is a relay file structure for the distribution of digital content, characterized in that using the Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The method of claim 1, And the third area includes a license address, key generation information, and rights information. The method of claim 5, And the rights information includes distribution information, a reproduction period, and a number of reproductions. The method of claim 6, And the distribution information is information for notifying the digital content provider that the first user distributes the relay file to the second user secondly.

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