RU2251146C2 - Copy protection system for digital data - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: copy protection.

SUBSTANCE: system has content distribution block, multiple recording and playback devices for digital data, calculations processing block, meant to perform communications with recording and playback devices and performing calculations processing for transferring license payments.

EFFECT: higher reliability of copy protection.

5 cl, 55 dwg

Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to copy protection systems and, more particularly, to a system for copy protection of music recording data when the user is charged the corresponding license fees.

State of the art

In recent years, compact discs (CDs) have become a popular form of media for music recordings. Such CDs are easy to carry, and users freely share their CDs with other users for listening. This distribution of musical records "from hand to hand" totals millions of hits. The problem here is that CDs are essentially not protected from piracy, i.e. from unauthorized copying. In addition, such CDs are copied without any problems to recordable compact discs (CDDs), which have recently become commercially available. Mini-disks (MDs) have also become popular as a medium for recording music data previously recorded on CDs. Thus, the data of the musical recording is easily copied to them, and if the musical recordings are shared bypassing the copyright law, the copyright holders suffer losses.

In order to prevent such easy copying, Japanese laid-out application No. 9-34841 (97-34841) discloses a conventional system for encrypting CDs before distributing them, transmitting the decryption key through the network, and making payments for their provision. Online distribution of music recordings and calculations over the network are widespread.

In the case of a conventional system, however, the online distribution of musical recordings and calculations are personalized on a one-to-one basis, and therefore the data of the musical recordings are not mass disseminated among users, as in the case of “hand-to-hand” distribution for CD. Until now, streamlining the distribution of music data has not been a matter of online distribution of music recordings.

Disclosure of invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a copy protection system, especially for online distribution of music recordings, realizing copy protection of music recording data by charging corresponding license fees for them and facilitating the distribution of music recording data.

To achieve this result, the present invention is characterized by the following features.

In a first aspect, the invention is directed to a digital data copy protection system for charging a user a corresponding license charge when implementing digital data copy protection, the system comprising

a content distribution unit for distributing additional distribution data, including digital data, over a network;

a plurality of digital data recording and reproducing devices interconnected via a network, each of which has the ability to store additional distribution data received from the content distribution unit, reproduce digital data and distribute the additional distribution data stored therein to other persons; and

a calculation processing unit for exchanging information with digital recording and reproducing devices over the network and performing calculation processing for charging royalties, each of the digital data recording and reproducing devices

communicates, before reproducing digital data, with a calculation processing unit, for performing purchase processing, to be ready to process calculations when receiving additional distribution data from a content distribution unit or from other digital data recording and reproducing devices via a network,

and adds, before distribution, the identifier (ID) of the distributor to the additional distribution data received from the content distribution unit or from other digital data recording and reproducing devices via the network,

in this case, if the additional distribution data to be processed is provided with a distributor ID, the calculation processing unit performs bonus processing for a user identified by the distributor ID.

As described above, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a copy protection system for digital data, which provides copy protection when charging the user the appropriate license fees, and provides the copyright holder more benefit by using a premium to encourage the user to distribute the data.

According to a second aspect, the present invention is directed to an apparatus for recording and reproducing digital data, capable of storing additional distribution data, including content that is digital data encrypted according to the first system, and credential management information having a content key used for the first system , as well as reproducing the contents after the purchase processing has been completed, in preparation for processing the calculations by executing zi with the processing unit calculations connected via a network, and the device contains

an additional distribution data receiving unit for externally receiving additional distribution data,

an additional distribution data storage unit for storing additional distribution data,

a purchase processing unit for executing, at the command of the user, a purchase processing for reproducing content included in the additional distribution data stored in the additional distribution data storage unit;

a data extraction unit for extracting additional distribution data from the additional distribution data storage unit;

a content decryption unit for decrypting, when processing the purchase, the additional distribution data stored in the additional distribution data storage unit, respectively, of the first system, and extracting the content;

a playback unit for reproducing content highlighted by the content decryption unit; and

a distributor identifier (ID) block for encrypting the first user ID, which is identification information unique to the device, and for adding the encrypted first user ID to the additional distribution data allocated by the data extraction unit for external output.

As described above, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for recording and reproducing digital data, having the ability to charge the user appropriate license fees and accordingly protect against copying when distributing additional distribution data including content such as music recordings.

According to a third aspect, the present invention is directed to a calculation processing unit for storing additional distribution data and for receiving digital data via a network from a digital recording and reproducing apparatus for reproducing content after processing of calculations, calculation management information corresponding to the additional distribution data, distributor ID, indicating the person who provided the additional distribution data, and the ID of the transmitter corresponding to the device count recording and reproducing digital information, said settlement processing unit comprises

a settlement processing information reception unit for receiving settlement management information and a distributor ID,

transmitter authorization unit for receiving a transmitter ID and transmitter identification;

a calculation processing unit for executing, in accordance with a calculation processing information received by the calculation processing information reception unit, the calculation processing in relation to the transmitter identified by the transmitter authorization unit; and

a bonus processing unit for executing premium processing for a distributor identified by the distributor ID received by the calculation processing information receiving unit.

As described above, according to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a calculation processing unit that provides copy protection when charging the user the appropriate license fees and provides the copyright holder with a greater benefit by providing a user identified by the distributor ID with a bonus to encourage the user to distribute data.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention are explained in the following detailed description of the invention, illustrated by the drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a digital data copy protection system according to a first embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of the first additional distribution data;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a configuration of second secondary distribution data; FIG.

4 is a schematic diagram illustrating how a user provides other users with additional distribution data that he has received in accordance with the present copy protection system;

5 is a block diagram showing a structure of a digital data recording and reproducing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention;

6 is a block diagram showing a first digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1011 implemented on a general purpose computer;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a digital data recording and reproducing apparatus for obtaining authorization management information; FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a table structure of authority information; FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the structure of additional distribution data management information 1605; FIG.

10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a digital data recording and reproducing apparatus for reproducing;

11 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed structure of a distributor ID block 411;

12 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed structure of a purchase processing unit 412;

13 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of calculation processing information;

Fig. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a digital data recording and reproducing apparatus for purchasing processing;

15 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed structure of a calculation processing unit 801;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a calculation processing unit 801 for processing calculations; FIG.

17 is a block diagram showing a structure of a digital data recording and reproducing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 18 is a diagram illustrating the structure of an SDAF packet in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention;

19a-19c are diagrams illustrating other structures of SDAF packets,

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating how an SDAF header is divided into SDAF packets; FIG.

21 is a diagram illustrating an example SDAF packet;

22 is a diagram illustrating a header structure;

23 and 24 are source codes describing the structure of the header using the C ++ language;

25a-25c are diagrams showing how to define a table of attributes of a CEL (content item);

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a correspondence between key pairs and content items; FIG.

Fig. 27 is a source code describing the structure of a key pair using the C ++ language;

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating the ability to refer to content items (CELs) from navigation data; FIG.

29 is a diagram illustrating an example of a navigation data structure;

30 is a diagram illustrating another example of a navigation data structure;

Fig. 31 is a table showing the specifications of MPEG2-AAC (Advanced MPEG Audio Encoding - Moving Image Compression Algorithm) as applied to an audio content element;

Fig. 32 is a table showing specifications for JPEG (still image compression algorithm) as applied to a content graphic;

Fig. 33 is a table showing MPEG-I specifications as applied to a content graphic element;

Fig. 34 is a table showing the specifications of PNG (portable network graphics) as applied to a content graphic element;

Fig. 35 is a table showing MPEG2 specifications as applied to a video content item;

Fig. 36 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a temporary search map;

Figs. 37, 38a and 38b are tables and diagrams showing in detail the title included in the temporary search map;

Fig. 39 is a table showing in detail each entry included in a temporary search map;

40 is a table showing an example of forwarding content items;

41a-41c are diagrams illustrating examples of how an SDAF packet is distributed;

42a-42c are diagrams illustrating examples of how an SDAF packet is created;

Fig. 43 is an external view of a portable music player;

Fig. 44 is a block diagram showing an example structure of a data conversion unit;

Fig. 45 is a block diagram showing another example structure of a data conversion unit.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(First option)

With reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a digital data copy protection system according to a first embodiment of the present invention is described below. Figure 1 schematically shows the structure of the system of protection against copying digital data.

The digital data copy protection system comprises, from the first to the third digital data recording and reproduction apparatus 1011-1013, a content server 102 for distributing digital data and a calculation server 103 for performing calculation processing. They are interconnected via the Internet. However, the use of the Internet does not impose restrictions, and a telephone line, a specialized network, a satellite broadcasting network or a cable television network can also be used. The number of devices for recording and reproducing digital data is also not critical.

According to figure 1, the device 1011-1013 recording and playback of digital data can be a computer connected to the Internet. The user receives digital data via the Internet or from a recording medium, such as a CD with music recordings, for playing back on his recording device and reproducing digital data.

2 and 3 are diagrams illustrating configurations of digital data distributed over the Internet. The digital data of FIG. 2 includes credential management information 203 and content 205. Credential management information 203 includes settlement management information 201 and a content key 202. Content 205 consists of one or more groups of audio data 204. Below, data thus configured is referred to as first additional distribution data.

The settlement management information 201 includes information related to charges for content, providing a preview, a number of previews, etc. The calculation management information 201 may also include information related to the calculation scheme based on the number of listenings, for example, for each listening or for a predetermined number of listenings, and a specified number. Content key 202 is used to encrypt and decrypt content 205. Content 205 is pre-encrypted with content key 202.

The authority management information 203 is pre-encrypted according to a predefined encryption system using a key different from the content key 202. Such a key is called a privilege management information key (not shown) and is typically stored in software running on digital data recording and playback devices 1011-1013. The software is installed by the user for its use. The key information management authority can encrypt and decrypt information in the hardware provided for this.

The key of the permission management information is stored in a memory area inaccessible to the user during normal operation. Such an area inaccessible to the user is hereinafter referred to as a protected area. The protected area is often provided in the built-in memory in a universal computer, but can also be located in specialized hardware, in a memory unit or on a recording medium.

The digital data shown in FIG. 3 comprises a user identifier (ID) 301 and first additional distribution data 302, as shown in FIG. The data thus configured is hereinafter referred to as second secondary distribution data.

The user ID 301 of FIG. 3 indicates information for identifying a user having digital data distributed to other parties. The user ID 301 is encrypted according to a predefined encryption system and is uniquely provided to each user. The user ID 301 is stored in the above protected area and may consist of several specific user IDs. A specific user ID is generated during the installation of such software, as described above, in the copy protection system, or provided from the calculation server 103 or other network nodes. Detailed information on the possibility of compiling a user ID 301 from several user-specific IDs is given below.

CD (CD), i.e. an external recording medium 417, as described below, in this embodiment has content (music recording data) and content identification information. Typically, the content identification information may be an ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) used to identify the names of music recordings.

Content recorded on the CD is presumably not encrypted. This CD may be an advanced CD, which combines the area of the musical CD (audio CD) and the ROM-CD area. In addition, privilege management information 203 encrypted in accordance with a predefined encryption system may be stored in the ROM-CD area.

The following describes the distribution of digital data in the proposed copy protection system. Suppose that user A acquires and plays back some digital data (typically a musical sound recording) with the first device 1011 for recording and reproducing digital data, and decides to invite user B to purchase a music sound of his choice. In this case, user A can save digital data on the recording medium and hand it to user B or directly transfer data via the Internet. This has positive aspects for both, since user A does not bother to describe what these digital data are (for example, the name of the piece of music, the name of the singer, etc.), and user B simply receives data from user A. After that , user B can also recommend his favorite sound recording to another user C. If such a wide distribution of digital data is estimated on the basis of use and corresponding charges are made, then the owner Copyright may benefit from such distribution. Essentially, this copy protection system is designed to meet these circumstances.

Figure 4 schematically shows a copy protection system used for such a purpose as described above. 4, user A having a first digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1011 downloads music recording data from the content server 102 (step 1) and makes an online payment to the settlement server 103 (step 2). Then, user A sends the music recording data to user B using the second digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1012 (step 3). User B makes an online payment to the settlement server 103 in relation to the music recording data (step 4). After that, user B sends the music recording data to user C using the third digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1013 (step 5). User C makes an online payment to the settlement server 103 in relation to the music recording data (step 6). In this case, users have the choice not to pay for music data and can simply forward the music data to other entities.

As such, this copy protection system may bill users for the provided music data in the process of its distribution, contributing to a greater degree to the benefit of copyright holders. Moreover, the system can provide a bonus, for example, in the form of a coupon, to encourage users to distribute music data to other users. More details are given below.

The following describes a digital data recording and reproducing apparatus driven by a user. 5 is a block diagram showing a structure of a first digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1011. The digital data recording and reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 5 comprises an additional distribution data receiving unit 401, a memory area 402 for storing the additional distribution data, an authorization management information acquiring unit 403, an ICM storage area 404, an allocation unit 405 content key, data reader 406, data compression block 407, data encryption block 408, IUP add block 409, data access block 410, distributor ID add block 411, purchase processing block 412, decryptor block 414 Ia contents reproduction control unit 415, a speaker 416 and a memory area 418 for storing the user ID.

Note that the speaker 416 may be externally connected to a digital data recording and reproducing apparatus. In addition, an authority management information (IMS) obtaining unit 403, an IEP storage area 404, a content key allocation unit 405, a data reading unit 406, a data compression unit 407, a data encryption unit 408, an IUP adding unit 409 are provided for converting unencrypted data into the data of additional distribution. If there is no need for such a conversion, these components may be omitted. The second and third digital data recording and reproducing devices 1012 and 1013 are structurally identical to the first digital data recording and reproducing device 1011 and therefore are not further described here.

Such a device for recording and reproducing digital data, in principle, can be implemented on a personal computer. 6 is a block diagram of a first digital data recording and reproducing device 1011 implemented on a personal computer.

The device shown in Fig.6, contains an information processing unit 2 that processes data and controls other components, a program storage unit 3 that stores program data for operation of the information processing unit 2, an output unit 4 for displaying various information to the user and playback and output music recording data and the like, an input unit 5 for receiving user commands and data from an external recording medium, a general data storage unit 6 such as additional distribution data, a storage unit 7 Ia protected data storage, which should be kept secret from the user in a region inaccessible in normal operation, and a communication unit 8 in communication with various servers via the Internet. These components are connected by a common system bus.

The input unit 5 can be made in the form of a reader from ROM-CD, a reader from digital video disks, keyboard, mouse, and is designed to receive commands and user data, data from an external recording medium, such as ROM-CD, etc. The output unit 4 can be made in the form of a display, printer, loudspeaker and is designed to display various information generated by the information processing unit 2 to the user and to play back a music recording. The information processing unit 2 may comprise a central processing unit and performs various data processing to control other components while providing copy protection for digital data. Such data processing is described in more detail below.

The information processing unit 2 performs various data processing using a program. This program is stored in block 3 of the program storage and transmitted as necessary to block 2 information processing. The program storage unit 3 may be configured to store program information on a recording medium, for example, a hard disk or in a semiconductor memory, or on a removable recording medium such as an optical disk (e.g., CD, CVP) and a semiconductor memory board. If the recording medium used is a removable memory, it can be replaced by another medium with a different program, as necessary.

The general data storage unit 6 is a memory unit onto which writing is made and from which it is read, for example, a hard disk or a semiconductor memory, and is designed to store data that does not have to be kept secret from the user, for example, data of additional distribution. The secure data storage unit 7 may be a memory unit, such as a hard disk or specialized hardware, or a memory unit with an encrypted data storage area, and is designed to store data that must be kept secret from the user in an area inaccessible during normal operation. The communication unit 8 may be a modem and a router and is designed to communicate with the content server 102, the calculation server 103 and other devices for recording and reproducing digital data via the Internet.

Note that the execution of the device for recording and reproducing digital data is not limited to a personal computer. It can be performed, for example, in the form of a set-top box, which records broadcast programs.

The operation of the first digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1011 shown in FIG. 5 is described below. This device works differently when using secondary distribution data and unencrypted data. The first case is described below when user A receives additional distribution data, i.e. the first additional distribution data shown in FIG. 2, or the second additional distribution data shown in FIG. 3.

5, the first or second additional distribution data is supplied to the additional distribution data receiving unit 401 from the content server 102, the second or third digital data recording and reproducing devices 1012, 1013, driven by another user, or from an external recording medium 417, for example CD. Data is stored in an additional distribution data storage area 402. The data storage location is recorded in the additional distribution data management information, which is described in more detail below and which is stored in a secure storage area. Although the protected area may be provided separately from other storage areas, in this device it is provided in the area 402 storage data additional distribution.

The second case is described below when user A receives unencrypted music recording data from an external recording medium 417, such as a CD. Unencrypted music data can be obtained from the content server 102 or from other sources. If this is the case, then their copy protection is hardly ensured, and therefore such data will not be taken into account here. In addition, if the digital data recording and reproducing device is configured without an IUP obtaining unit 403, an IEP storage area 404, a content key extracting unit 405, a data reading unit 406, a data compression unit 407, a data encryption unit 408 and an IUP adding unit 409, the operations described below cannot be performed.

5, a data reader 406 reads unencrypted music recording data from an external recording medium 417 corresponding to content 205 including audio data 204. The IPM receiving unit 403 receives authorization management information from the content server 102 or the external recording medium 417. The obtained IPM is stored in the IPM storage area 404.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating in detail the operation of the first digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1011 for acquiring IUP information. In step S901, the IPM obtaining unit 403 obtains information identifying the contents from an external recording medium 417, such as a CD. The information identifying the content is an identification code, such as an ISRC, or header information for identifying the content.

In step S902, the IPM obtaining unit 403 determines whether the external recording medium has authorization management information corresponding to the content determined by the received content identification information. If yes, then the procedure proceeds to step S903, otherwise, to step S904.

In step S903, the IPM obtaining unit 403 obtains authority management information from the external recording medium 417. Then, the procedure proceeds to step S905. Note that the authority management information recorded on the external recording medium 417 is encrypted in a predetermined encryption system. Authorization management information may be recorded on an external recording medium such as a CD or in a protected area of a recording medium of another type, for example, on a secure digital card.

In step S904, the IPM obtaining unit 403 communicates with the content server 102 with security and receives authorization management information. Then, the procedure proceeds to step S905.

In step S905, the obtained authorization management information is stored in the memory area 404 for storing the IUP, more specifically, in a predetermined protected area provided in the device 1011 for recording and reproducing digital data. Alternatively, the credential management information is encrypted in a predetermined encryption system, and the corresponding decryption key for it is stored in a secure memory area.

In step S906, the IMS obtaining unit 403 adds the information relevant for the newly obtained authorization management information to the allocation management information distribution table in the memory area 404 for storing the IMS.

8 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a distribution table of authority information. 8, a distribution table for authorization management information has an index number 1501, content identification information 1502, and location information of location information 1503 of the authorization of authorization information. An index number 1501 is assigned in ascending order of each credential management information in the memory area 404 for storing the IUP. In the example of FIG. 8, the memory area 404 for storing the IUP has seven different units of authority information.

The content identification information 1502 includes the above content identification information unique to each credential management information. The location management information 1503 of the permission management information indicates the location where the permission management information is stored. In the example of FIG. 8, each of seven different units of authority information is stored in a file in the Header directory on the C-drive.

Content read from the data reader 406 is compressed by the data compressor 407 in a predetermined manner. Although the content does not have to be compressed, a smaller amount of data is preferred for transmission / reception operations over the Internet. In addition, it is also preferred in terms of the size of the memory area for storing information.

The compressed content is encrypted by a data encryption block 408. The key used to encrypt the content is the key extracted by the content key extracting unit 405 from the authority management information stored in the memory area 404 for storing the IPM.

The IUP adding unit 409 adds credential management information to the data encrypted by the data encryption unit 408 to generate the first additional distribution data. Such generated first additional distribution data is stored in the storage area 402 for storing the additional distribution data, and their storage location is recorded to the distribution information of the additional distribution data stored in the protected storage area.

9 is a diagram illustrating the structure of distribution information of additional distribution data 1605. The additional distribution data distribution information 1605 shown in FIG. 9 includes an index number 1601, data storage location information 1602, and a purchase status 1603. An index number 1601 is assigned in ascending order to each additional distribution data stored in the memory area 402 for storing the additional distribution data. The data storage location information 1602 indicates a location where additional distribution data is stored. In the example shown in FIG. 9, additional distribution data is stored in seven different folders. Purchase status 1603 indicates whether additional distribution data has already been acquired or not.

If the additional distribution data falling into the memory region 402 for storing the additional distribution data is that which came from the additional distribution data receiving unit 401, then the purchase state 1603 corresponding to the data is designated as “not yet acquired”. After the settlement processing described below is completed, purchase status 1603 changes to “acquired”. Here, the purchase state 1603 may be indicated by a predetermined symbol or flag corresponding to a predetermined bit.

If the additional distribution data that fell into the memory region 402 for storing the additional distribution data are those obtained by encrypting the data read by the data reading unit 406, for example, from an external recording medium 417, and converting the data into the additional distribution data by the IPM adding unit 409, purchase status 1603 corresponding to the data is changed to “acquired”. This is because the user has already purchased an external recording medium 417.

The following describes the operation of the device 1011 for recording and reproducing digital data shown in FIG. 5, for reproducing such stored additional distribution data and for distributing this data to other users.

5, in response to a user command to play back specific content, a read command input unit (not shown) inputs a command to the read data access unit 410 of the respective additional distribution data from the memory area 402 for storing the additional distribution data. The data access unit 410 then executes the command.

In the case where the calculation processing is already completed or a preview is available, the content decryption unit 414 obtains the content 205 shown in FIG. 2 from the additional distribution data extracted by the data access unit 410. The playback control unit 415 controls the playback of the selected content and then commands the speaker 416 to output audio data.

The operation of these content decryption unit 414 and playback control unit 415 are described in detail with reference to FIG. 10. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing performed to reproduce additional distribution data stored in the storage area 402 for storing additional distribution data.

In step S1301, the content decryption unit 414 extracts from the additional distribution data read by the data access unit 410, the content key 202 and the settlement management information 201 included in the authorization management information 203, as shown in FIG. 2. As already described, a particular software uses an authorization information key to decrypt this information.

In step S1303, the content decryption unit 414 accesses the distribution information of the additional distribution data 1605 and checks whether “purchased” is indicated in the purchase state 1603 for reproduced additional distribution data. If yes, then the procedure proceeds to step S1305, otherwise, to step S1304.

In step S1304, the content decryption unit 414 accesses the settlement management information 201 included in the decrypted permission management information 203 and checks whether a preview is available. If available, the procedure proceeds to step S1305, otherwise the processing ends, and the decrypted content is discarded. If the preview is available a predetermined number of times, then this number is indicated in the calculation management information 201. Previewing is available several times, and each time you listen, this number decreases by one.

In step S1305, the content decryption unit 414 uses a dedicated content key 202 to decrypt the encrypted content included in the additional distribution data read by the data access unit 410. In addition, the playback control unit 415 controls the playback of the read content and then enters a command into the speaker 416 to play back, for example, music recording. In order to record the number of times the content was listened, the number of times that the number of permissions in the authority management information 203 is incremented, and then the information is again encrypted and converted again into additional distribution data for storage in the storage area 402 for storing additional distribution data. Similarly, if the number of valid views has already been set, then the corresponding number in the authority management information 203 is negatively incremented, and then the information is encrypted again and converted into additional distribution data for storage. In addition, if accrual is made for each listening, then the corresponding purchase status 1603 changes to “not yet acquired” immediately after playback.

The following describes when content is distributed to other users. 5, in response to a user command to distribute some of the additional distribution data, similarly to the reproduction case, the allocation command issuing unit issues a command to the access data reading unit 410 of the corresponding additional distribution data. A distributor ID adding unit 411 searches the memory area 418 for storing the user ID of the specific user identifier to generate second additional distribution data 505. The generated second additional distribution data 505 is sent, for example, to a second digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1012. Of course, the data can be sent to other devices for recording and reproducing digital data, or it can be recorded on a portable recording medium, for example, on a secure digital board, and transferred to other users.

The following describes the structure of block 411 add ID distributor and how it works. 11 is a block diagram showing in detail the structure of a distributor ID adding unit 411. The distributor ID adding unit 411 shown in FIG. 11 comprises a user ID obtaining unit 501, a user ID encryption unit 502, a user ID adding unit 503, and a distribution information obtaining unit 504.

The user ID obtaining unit 501 obtains a specific user ID from a protected memory area, for example, from a memory area 418 for storing a user ID. A specific user ID is an identification code uniquely provided for each user or device for recording and reproducing digital data. Note that a specific user ID may be stored in advance in the memory area 418 for storing the user ID, or may be provided by the ID issuing server or the settlement server 103 using a predetermined procedure.

The distribution information obtaining unit 504 reads, by the data access unit 410, additional distribution data distribution information 1605 stored in the protected memory area. Thereafter, the purchase status 1603 in the additional distribution data distribution information 1605 is input to the user ID encryption unit 502.

The user ID encryption unit 502 then records the purchase status 1603 entered from the distribution information obtaining unit 504 to the user ID obtained by the user ID unit 501. Typically, a user ID consists of an ID and a purchase status. Then, the user ID encryption unit 502 encrypts the user ID in accordance with a predetermined encryption system.

The user ID adding unit 503 adds the user ID, encrypted by the user ID encryption unit 502, to the additional distribution data read by the data access unit 410, and thus forms the second additional distribution data 505.

In the case where the additional distribution data read by the data access unit 410 is the first additional distribution data that does not have a user ID 301, they can simply be provided with a distributor identifier. On the other hand, if the second additional distribution data already has a user ID, then the distributor ID can be added in various ways.

For example, a predefined user ID may be deleted before adding the distributor ID, or it may be accompanied by distributor identifiers in a time sequence. In the latter case, when there are many distributors IDs, their number may be limited to the last few. It is assumed here that the user IDs are the last two, namely the ID of the distributor of this device is followed by the ID of the other distributor related to the device from which the data is distributed.

With such an approach, it does not matter what type of additional distribution data is allocated by the data access unit 410, i.e. first or second additional distribution data, the user ID adding unit 503 adds the encrypted user ID in its header, so that the user IDs are at least the last two. In this way, second secondary distribution data 505 is generated.

The following describes the purchase processing in the device 1011 recording and reproducing digital data. As described above, the additional distribution data stored in the storage area 402 for storing the additional distribution data contains data that has not yet been acquired. Therefore, in response to a purchase command from a user, a purchase command issuing unit (not shown) instructs the purchase processing unit 412 to read data from the storage area 402 for storing additional distribution data related to the corresponding additional distribution data. Purchase processing unit 412 then executes a command and carries out settlement processing.

12 is a flowchart illustrating in detail a purchase processing unit 412. The purchase processing unit 412 of FIG. 12 comprises an IUP allocation unit 601, a settlement management information allocation unit 602, a distributor ID allocation unit 603, a settlement processing information generation unit 604, a settlement processing information transmission unit 605, a transmitter ID transmission unit 606, a normal completion receiving unit 607 and an additional distribution data distribution information rewriting unit 608.

The ICP allocation unit 601 extracts authorization management information from the read additional distribution data 610. The settlement management information allocation unit 602 then extracts the settlement management information from the authority management information allocated by the IMS allocation section 601. If the read data of the additional distribution already contains the added IDs of some user, then the distributor ID allocation unit 603 allocates the user ID and then instructs the calculation processing information generating unit 604 to add the highlighted user ID. To the extracted calculation management information, the calculation processing information generation unit 604 adds a user ID allocated by the distributor ID allocation unit 603 to generate the calculation processing information 611. The calculation processing information transmission unit 605 transmits the calculation processing information 611 thus generated to the calculation server 103.

13 is a block diagram illustrating a possible structure of calculation processing information 611. The settlement processing information 611 shown in FIG. 13 includes settlement management information 702 allocated by the settlement management information allocation section 602 and a user ID 701 allocated by the distributor ID allocation section 603. If the read additional distribution data does not have an added user ID, then the calculation processing information 611 includes only the calculation management information 702. The user ID 701 allocated by the distributor ID allocation unit 603 can include not only the ID belonging to the user who distributed the data to the recording and reproducing device, but also the IDs of other users who participated in the previous data distribution. Simultaneously or immediately after the calculation processing information transmission unit 605 transmitted the calculation processing information 611 shown in FIG. 13, the transmitter ID transmission unit 606 transmits to the calculation server 103 the transmitter ID 612, which is the specific user ID obtained from the protected area memory to identify the transmitter. Typically, such information is sequentially transmitted as a data set.

The normal completion receiving unit 607 receives a notification 613 from the calculation server 103 about the normal completion of the calculation processing, which informs it that the calculation processing is normally completed. After notification 613 is received that the calculation processing is normally completed, the overwriting information distribution information overwriting unit 608 changes the purchase status 1603 from “not yet acquired” to “acquired”, in the distribution distribution information 1605 of the additional distribution data stored in the memory area 402 for storage of additional distribution data.

The following describes the procedure for acquiring such additional distribution data with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In step S1201, the IPM allocation unit 601 extracts authorization management information from the read additional distribution data 610.

In step S1202, the settlement management information extracting section 602 uses the above-described privilege management information key to decrypt the extracted privilege management information. This decryption is performed by specialized software, as described above. In step S1203, the settlement management information extracting section 602 extracts the settlement management information from the decoded authorization management information. The highlighted settlement management information is information included in the calculation processing information 611.

At step S1204, determines whether the read additional distribution data is second additional distribution data. If so, then the procedure proceeds to step S1205, otherwise, to step S1207.

In step S1205, the distributor ID allocation unit 603 extracts the user ID from the second additional distribution data. In step S1206, the distributor ID allocation unit 603 adds the allocated user ID to the settlement management information to generate the settlement processing information 611, as shown in FIG. 13.

In step S1207, the calculation processing information transmitting unit 605 transmits the calculation processing information 611 to the calculation server 103. Simultaneously or sequentially, the transmitter ID transmission unit 606 receives the transmitter ID from the protected memory area and transmits the transmitter ID to the calculation server 103.

In step S1208, after the time required for the calculation server 103 to complete the processing, the normal completion receiving unit 607 determines whether a notification 613 about the normal completion of the calculation processing from the calculation server 103 is transmitted. If so, then the processing proceeds to step S1209, otherwise returns to step S1207. If the notification 613 about the normal completion of the calculation processing has not been transmitted, it does not matter how many times the processing is repeated in step S1207, the processing server 103 may continue processing further. Accordingly, an appropriate processing procedure (not shown) is used to handle errors.

In step S1209, the overdistribution data distribution information rewriting unit 608 reads the extra distribution data distribution information 1605 from the storage area 402 for storing the additional distribution data, changes the purchase status 1603 from “not yet acquired” to “acquired” and then writes the information again to the area 402 memory to store additional distribution data.

In the above description, it is assumed that the settlement processing information is transmitted to the settlement server online. However, the calculation processing information may be stored in a digital data recording and reproducing apparatus and then transmitted to the calculation server when necessary.

The structure and operation of the calculation server 103, which performs the calculation processing, is described below. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a calculation processing unit 801 provided in the calculation server 103. The calculation processing unit 801 shown in FIG. 15 comprises a calculation processing information receiving unit 802, a transmitter authorization unit 803, a calculation processing unit 804, a normal completion unit 805, a distributor ID allocation unit 806, a distributor ID decryption unit 807, and a bonus processing unit 808 .

The calculation processing information receiving unit 802 receives the calculation processing information 611 transmitted from the purchasing processing unit 412. The calculation processing information is then sent to the calculation processing unit 804 and to the distributor ID allocation unit 806. The transmitter authorization unit 803 receives the user ID 612 coming from the purchase processing unit 412 in the first digital data recorder 1011 and then determines the transmitter.

Based on the settlement management information included in the settlement processing information, the settlement processing unit 804 performs the settlement processing with respect to a user defined by the transmitter authorization unit 803. The normal completion notification unit 805 then transmits a notification 613 of the normal completion of the settlement processing to the purchase processing unit 412 in the first digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1011.

If the processing information 611 is provided with a user ID identifying the distributor, then the distributor ID allocator 806 allocates the distributor ID. As described above, the highlighted distributor ID can be an identifier for both the current and previous distributor. The distributor ID decryption unit 807 decrypts the distributor ID allocated by the distributor ID block 806. The bonus processing unit 808 performs bonus processing with respect to the user defined by the decrypted user ID. The processing details are described below.

The operation of the calculation processing unit 801 is described in detail below with reference to FIG. 16, where a flowchart of the processing algorithm for each component in the calculation processing unit 801 is shown.

In step S1401, the settlement processing information reception unit 802 receives the settlement processing information 611 from the purchase processing unit 412, while the transmitter authorization unit 803 receives the transmitter ID from the purchase processing unit 412.

In step S1402, the calculation processing unit 804 performs the calculation processing with respect to the user determined by the transmitter ID obtained by the transmitter authorization unit 803. This processing is performed based on the settlement management information included in the settlement processing information that has been received by the settlement processing information reception unit 802. As described above, the settlement management information includes, for example, the account necessary for charging.

In step S1403, the distributor ID allocation unit 806 determines whether the calculation processing information received by the calculation processing information reception unit 802 is provided with an identifier of any user. If so, the processing proceeds to step S1404, otherwise, to step S1406.

In step S1404, the distributor ID decryption unit 807 decrypts the user ID in a predetermined manner. In this case, the user ID may be the identifier of both the current and previous distributors.

In step S1405, the bonus processing unit 808 performs bonus processing with respect to the user determined by the decrypted user ID. The user is given a discount or coupon valid in relation to the next account. In this case, as described above, the user to whom such a bonus is granted may be either the current or the previous distributor. In this case, the bonus processing unit 808 increases the discount percentage or the face value of the coupon for the current distributor to a greater extent than for the previous distributor. This is due to the fact that the current distributor is a person directly involved in the dissemination of data, while the previous distributor takes an indirect part in this.

The decrypted user ID is provided with the above calculation information. Accordingly, for a user who has already acquired music data, the bonus processing unit 808 increases the discount percentage or face value of the coupon to a greater extent than for a user who has not yet acquired them.

As follows from the above, in the proposed system of protection against copying digital data, the payment on the user's account and his contribution to the data dissemination procedure determine the discount percentage or the nominal value of the coupon. In this way, the user may be interested in acquiring data or participating in the dissemination of data in order to increase the value of his premium. With such user participation, the proposed system of protection against copying digital data can provide higher benefits for copyright owners while protecting their rights.

As described above, the premium to the user may be, for example, a discount or coupon, but is not limited to these examples only. The premium may be exchanged for points exchanged for goods, special services; those. any option is possible if such a bonus serves to attract the interest of users.

(Second Embodiment)

The digital data copy protection system of the second embodiment is much the same as that described with respect to the first embodiment. More specifically, the content server 102 and the calculation server 103 are identical to the corresponding nodes in the first embodiment. In addition, the device for recording and reproducing digital data in this embodiment is almost the same in structure. Therefore, in the second embodiment, only differences from the first embodiment are described. Any of the identical components is denoted by the same reference numeral and is not described again.

17 is a block diagram showing the structure of a digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1701 made in accordance with a second embodiment. 17, the digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1701 comprises an additional distribution data receiving unit 401, a memory area 402 for storing the additional distribution data, an authority management information (40) obtaining unit 403, a memory area 404 for storing the additional distribution, a key allocation unit 405 contents, data reader 406, data compression block 407, data encryption block 408, IUP add block 409, data access block 410, distributor ID add block 411, purchase processing block 412, decryption block 414 contents reproduction control unit 415, a speaker 416, a memory area 418 for storing the user ID data adding unit 1702, a memory area 1703 for storing additional information and the display 1704.

As follows from the above, the difference from the first digital data recording and reproducing device 1011 corresponding to the first embodiment is the additional inclusion of the data adding unit 1702, the memory area 1703 for storing additional information and the display 1704. The operation of the data adding unit 1702 is described below.

The data adding unit 1702 reads from the memory area 1703 for storing additional information image data previously provided by the user and / or additional information including playback control information such as image data and audio data. This image information is added to the audio data that is compressed by the data compression unit 407. Typically, additional information is provided at the end of the audio data and consists of one or more data groups. More specifically, additional information is provided at the end of the audio data 204 in the content 205 shown in FIG. Note that additional information may be pre-added to the audio data for compression along with the audio data.

The image data provided by the user is displayed when playing back the contents in a predetermined order in time. Playback control information is provided for controlling reproduction of content. For example, the playback control information controls the order and timing when playing back a plurality of audio data, or controls the timing when playing back image data provided by a user.

The data encryption unit 408 encrypts the audio data with image data added by the data addition unit 1702. Of course, only audio data can be encrypted. Otherwise, the digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1701 operates similarly to the first digital data recording and reproducing apparatus 1001 according to the first embodiment, and therefore is not described again.

Note that in the device shown in FIG. 17, a speaker 416 is used to reproduce the contents, and a display 1704 can be used to display the image. As already described above with reference to FIG. 6, if the device is implemented on a conventional personal computer, then the display may be a CRT or other means for displaying various information. Therefore, if the content information includes image data, the image should be displayed using the display 1704, which is widely known in relation to personal computers.

As described above, in accordance with the proposed system of protection against copying digital data, it is no longer necessary to encrypt CDs for charging the corresponding license fees for them and protecting against copying them. In addition, using the playback control information for the image and audio data provided by the user, the contents of the music recording for distribution as additional distribution data may become even more interesting.

(Third Embodiment)

As a third embodiment, a specific example of the additional distribution data mentioned in the first and second embodiments is described below, represented by a content distribution format called SDAF (Secure Digital Audio Data Format). With reference to FIGS. 18-39, detailed specifications of the SDAF format are first presented, and then with reference to FIGS. 40-46 describe how the SDAF format is used.

A content distribution format (SDAF) according to the present embodiment is used to describe multimedia content including audio, images, video, text and file data. The multimedia content described by the SDAF standard is referred to below as the SDAF header. Presentation data containing an SDAF header is here referred to as a content element (CEL). Each content item (CEL) has a CEL identifier that is unique in the SDAF header (hereinafter referred to as CEL_ID).

The SDAF header is distributed in blocks called SDAF packets. Each SDAF package is assigned a package identifier that is unique throughout the distribution system. On Fig presents an example SDAF package. As shown in FIG. 18, the SDAF header 2000 consists of a plurality of SDAF packets. Each 2001 SDAF package contains a header 2011, navigation data 2012, a plurality of content elements (CEL) 2013, and a 2014 sentence.

The 2011 header includes information such as the location, size, and attribute of each data in the packet. This information determines the structure of the package. The navigation data 2012 is the playback control information defining the operation of the playback device (player) when playing the SDAF header. From the navigation data 2012, links are made to the content element (CEL) included in the package to which the navigation data relates, or to other packages. CEL 2013 is obtained by encrypting each presentation data constituting the SDAF header, more specifically, encrypting audio, images, video, text and file data. The decryption key pair for decryption CEL 2013 and CEL_ID is called the key pair. The 2014 offer includes many key pairs and purchase rules that describe the purchase price and validity period for each key pair.

19a-19c are diagrams showing three types of SDAF packets. The complete package 2001 shown in FIG. 19c includes, similarly to FIG. 18, the heading 2011, navigation data 2012, a plurality of CEL 2013 and the offer 2014. The proposal package 2002, shown in FIG. 19a, includes the heading 2011, navigation data 2012 and the 2014 offer, but does not include any CEL 2013. The 2003 CEL package shown in FIG. 19b contains the 2011 heading and the 2013 CEL set. Because the SDAF header requires navigation data 2012, the full 2001 package and the 2002 offer package can be played individually, but the 2003 CEL package cannot be Playback.

The CEL packet is used to split the SDAF header according to the distribution channel. For example, if distribution is performed using a CD-ROM, then the SDAF header is recorded as a complete packet in the CD-ROM. On the other hand, when distributed over the Internet, the SDAF header is split into a complete package and many CEL packages for distribution. For example, the SDAF header is split into a complete package including audio CEL and many CEL packages, including video CEL, referenced from the full package for distribution.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 20, the SDAF header can be split into a plurality of SDAF packets via recording tracks. When splitting the packets, as shown in FIG. 20, the SDAF 2020 header, including audio data for the five tracks, is split into three packets 2021–2023. The packets 2021–2023 have the packet names Single1, Single2 and album, respectively. The first and second packets 2021 and 2022 contain audio CEL for one track and navigation data to control CEL playback. The third packet 2023 includes audio CELs for three tracks and navigation data for controlling playback of all audio CELs included in packets 2021-2023. By dividing the SDAF header into multiple SDAF packets, it is possible to reduce the size of each data and simplify the processing of each data.

The header, sentence, navigation data and CEL constituting the SDAF package are described in this order below.

The 2011 heading is described first. The SDAF packet shown in FIG. 21 is an example and the header 2031 of the SDAF packet 2030 is described. In the SDAF packet 2030, it is assumed that the size of the navigation data 2032 and the size of the sentence 2034 are each 400H in hexadecimal notation. This package includes three CEL 2033 content elements whose types are audio data, image, and file, respectively. The dimensions of these CELs are assumed to correspond to 400000H, 18000H and 8000H in hexadecimal notation.

22 is a diagram showing the structure of header 2031. In header 2031, data, as described below, is stored sequentially; header size is equal to BCH in hexadecimal notation. Note that the structure of the header 2031 can be described in C ++, as shown in FIGS. 23 and 24. FIGS. 23 and 24 are diagrams showing a sequential source code divided into two, and before dividing, the source code 2062 shown in FIG. .24 follows the source code 2061 shown in FIG.

At the beginning of header 2031, a magic number 2041 (4 bytes) is stored, indicating that the file is in SDAF format. The magic number value 2041 is a sequence of characters "SDAF". Then saved version number 2042 (4 bytes) SDAF. Then, the identifier (ID) 2043 packets (16 bytes) and the size of 2044 packets (4 bytes) are stored. Then, the navigation data location information 2045 (SDAF_LOCATION_NAV in FIG. 23), the offer location information 2046 (SDAF_LOCATION_OFFER in FIG. 23) and the number of content elements (CEL) in the packet 2047 are then stored. Then, the information 2048 (SDAF_LOCATION_CEL in FIG. 24) for each CEL. Finally, a CEL attribute table 2049 indicating an attribute of each CEL is stored.

The navigation data location information 2045 indicates the location and size of the navigation data 2032. The offer location information 2046 indicates the location and size of the offer 2034. Each of these two pieces of information consists of a shift (4 bytes) from the start of the SDAF packet and the size of each fragment (4 bytes).

CEL information 2048 consists of CEL_ID 2051 (16 bytes), CEL type 2052 (2 bytes), CEL encryption type 2053 (2 bytes), CEL data location information 2054, and CEL attribute table location information 2055. CEL_ID 2051 is the identifier of the content item that is unique in the SDAF header. Type 2052 CEL may have a value corresponding to audio, image, video, text and file. CEL encryption type 2053 indicates the algorithm used for CEL encryption. Each CEL data location information 2054 and CEL attribute table location information 2055 consists of a shift (4 bytes) from the start of the SDAF packet and a size (4 bytes). If the shift or size is zero, then this means that the data is missing.

CEL attribute table 2049 is a list of attributes defined for each type of CEL. The audio CEL attribute table (SDAF_ATTR_AUDIO in FIG. 24) includes at least a codec, a number of quantized bits, a sampling rate, and a number of audio channels.

The graphic CEL attribute table (SDAF_ATTR_GRAPHIC in FIG. 24) includes at least the height and width of the image and the type of encryption. The video-CEL attribute table includes at least the height and width of the video and the type of encryption. A text element attribute table includes at least a type of text encryption, for example, Unicode or music shift JPS (Japanese Industrial Standards). The file CEL attribute table includes at least the MIME type (Multipurpose Extension for Messaging over the Internet).

The CEL attribute table 2049 is not defined as a fixed-length table, but as a variable-length tag (descriptor) structure, as shown in FIGS. 25a-25c. If a tag structure is used, then the tag length and tag ID are stored before the data, as shown in FIG. For example, the graphic CEL attribute table consists of a characteristic tag 2053 and an encryption type tag 2064. Table elements are defined using a tag structure, and a new table element can be added to the data format or the data format can only be changed by adding a tag. The CEL attribute table is defined using a tag structure with great extensibility.

The 2014 offer is described below. As noted above, the offer includes many key pairs and purchase rules for each key pair. Each key pair consists of a decryption key for decrypting a content item (CEL) and a content item identifier (CEL_ID). 26 is a diagram showing a correspondence between a key pair and a CEL. As shown in FIG. 26, a key pair 2072 consists of a decryption key 2073 and a CEL_ID 2074, and each key pair 2072 is associated with each CEL 2071. The proposal includes not only the CEL key pair included in the SDAF package, but all key pairs other CELs included in SDAF packets of the same SDAF header. In other words, when an SDAF header is split into multiple SDAF packets, only one SDAF packet includes a sentence, and this sentence includes all key pairs of other CELs included in the SDAF header.

Purchase rules are described using a language to describe the conditions for using a key pair, called an authority management language. The terms of use for the key pair include the date of purchase, the period of use, and whether a specific CEL or SDAF header was purchased. The purchase rules are determined by the application of these terms of use, and at the same time the same CEL can be sold at different prices depending on the conditions.

The 2012 navigation data is described below. The navigation data is created by the content creator so that the user can use CEL in the most efficient way, defining the logical structure of the SDAF header.

SDAF uses XML (Extensible Labeling Language) to describe navigation data, which is a description language for tags in text format. If the data structure is described in XML, then the tag structure in text format is used. Therefore, the data described in XML is redundant compared to binary data. However, the XML language is accepted because of its very good extensibility.

The CEL pointer is used to refer to CEL from navigation data. The CEL pointer is a concatenation of the package identifier and the content item identifier (CEL_ID) using the "?" (question mark) as a delimiter. However, for a CEL included in an SDAF package that includes navigation data, the package ID and delimiter are omitted, and CEL_ID becomes the CEL pointer. The CEL pointer may determine the CEL regardless of the physical CEL address.

28 is a diagram showing how to refer to the CEL from the navigation data using the CEL pointer. 28, navigation data 2081 and presentation data 2082 are shown as an example. Presentation data 2082 includes an audio CEL 2083 encoded according to the MPEG2-AAC standard and a graphic CEL 2084 encoded according to the JPEG standard. The packet identifier and the CEL_ID of the audio CEL are both 1, while the corresponding graphic CEL identifiers are 1 and 2, respectively. In this case, a CEL pointer of the form “1? 1” included in the navigation data 2081 indicates an audio CEL 2083, which has a packet identifier of “1” and a CEL_ID of “1”. A CEL pointer of the form "1? 2" indicates a graphic CEL 2084, which has a packet identifier of "1" and a CEL_ID of "2". As you can see from this example, only a change in the package identifier of the CEL pointer after creating the SDAF header can cause a change in the structure of the SDAF package. Therefore, it is possible to structure the SDAF header as a single packet or to split the SDAF header into multiple SDAF packets.

27 and 30 are diagrams showing the structure of navigation data based on the following presentation method. Each rectangle represents a navigation data item. An arrow passing from element A to element B indicates that element A includes element B as a child element. Each mark provided at the beginning of each arrow indicates the following:

* indicates that an element includes 0 or more child elements;

+ indicates that an element includes 1 or more child elements;

? indicates that the element includes 0 or 1 spawned element.

If element A includes object P without an arrow, then this means that element A has object P as a feature. Underlined objects represent CEL pointers. PCDATA represents a character string consisting of characters included in a predefined set of characters. This view defines a hierarchical structure with a TITLE element (title) as the root.

The TITLE 2101 element describes the layout (transport) information of the SDAF header. This element has three attributes: UPC, VERSION, LANGUAGE. The UPC attribute describes the Universal Product Code, which is the international standard for product codes. The VERSION attribute describes the version number of the SDAF navigation structure. The LANGUAGE attribute describes the language type according to ISO 639. Its default value is “en”, which means “English”.

The METADATA element 2102 describes information such as the genre of a PLAYLIST element or a TRACK element. The METADATA element has the TYPE attribute. The TYPE attribute describes the type of the METADATA element.

ASSOC element 2103 describes information for referring to a CEL content element included in other SDAF headers. This item has an REF attribute. The REF attribute describes a CEL pointer.

URL element 2104 describes a Unified Resource Locator. This element has two attributes: ID and TYPE. The ID attribute describes the identification number of this element. The TYPE attribute describes the type of the URL element.

PLAYLIST element 2105 describes a playlist, which is the basic unit for the SDAF header. The header list corresponds to the “album” in a normal packet transmission medium and is included in all SDAF headers. The PLAYLIST element may include a MENU element, which is a menu for a playlist. The PLAYLIST element has five attributes: NAME, ARTIST, PRODUCTID, THUMBNAILID, and ONSTART. The NAME attribute describes the name of the playlist. The PRODUCTID attribute describes the information corresponding to the directory code in the CD. The THUMBNAILID attribute describes the CEL pointer of the image-CEL element, which is typical in a playlist. The OBSTART attribute describes the playlist playback operation. If the ONSTART attribute is "MENU", the playback device stops playback and displays the playlist menu. If the attribute is TRACK ", then the playback device starts playback of the first TRACK element included in the PLAYLIST element. All PLAYLIST elements have at least one TRACK element 2106.

TRACK element 2106 describes a track including one audio CEL. The TRACK element may include a menu of tracks, a slideshow (frame-by-frame output), text, a file, etc. The TRACK element has seven attributes: ID, NAME, ARTIST, ISRC, AUDIOID, TSMID, THUMBNAILID. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The NAME attribute describes the name of the TRACK element. The ARTIST attribute describes the name of the artist. The ISRC attribute describes the International Standard Record Code. The AUDIOID attribute describes the CEL pointer of an audio CEL element related to a TRACK element. The TSMID attribute describes the CEL pointer of the temporary search card corresponding to the audio CEL. The temporary search map is explained below. The THUMBNAILID attribute describes the CEL pointer of the image-CEL element, which is typical in the TRACK element.

MARKER element 2107 describes a marker for use in locating a start in a TRACK element. This item has two attributes TIME and NAME. The TIME attribute describes the location of the marker in milliseconds. The NAME attribute describes the name of the token.

SYNCSLIDESHOW element 2108 describes a slideshow (frame output) for displayed slides or menus, following the display timing information defined by SYNCMAP element 2109. Element 2108 SYNCSLIDESHOW has three attributes: ID, NAME, TYPE. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The NAME attribute describes the name of the slideshow. The TYPE attribute describes a category of information contained on a track, such as merits, lyrics, annotations of musical recordings, biographies, image sets, advertising.

SYNCMAP element 2109 describes display timing information for a slide or menu defined in the SYNCSLIDESHOW element. SYNCMAP element 2109 has three attributes: MENUID, PLAIID, TIME. The MENUID attribute describes the identification number of the slide or menu that should be displayed. The PLAYID attribute describes the index number for determining the button that should be set to the playback state in the menu. The TIME attribute describes the timing of the display in milliseconds.

Element 2110 SLIDESHOW describes a slide show (frame output) for displaying slides or menus with predefined display intervals. Element 2110 SLIDESHOW has four attributes: ID, NAME, TYPE, INTERVAL. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The NAME attribute describes the name of the slideshow. The TYPE attribute describes a category of information contained on a track, such as merits, lyrics, annotations of musical recordings, biographies, image sets, advertising. The INTERVAL attribute describes the interval in which a slide or menu is displayed.

Element 2111 SYNCTEXT describes text information for display with a predefined timing. Text information is described using element 2112 SYNCTEXTBLOCK. Alternatively, the text information may be determined by reference to a portion of the text CEL. The SYNCTEXT element has four attributes: ID, TEXTID, REFID, TYPE. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The TEXTID attribute describes the CEL pointer of a text CEL. The REFID attribute describes the identification number of the TEXTREF element in the text CELL defined by the TEXTID attribute. The TEXTID element is described below. The TYPE attribute describes a category of information contained on a track, such as merits, lyrics, annotations of musical recordings, biographies, image sets, advertising.

Element 2112 SYNCTEXTBLOCK describes text information for display with predefined timing. This item has a TIME attribute. The TIME attribute describes the timing of the display in milliseconds.

Element 2113 TEXT describes the text information. Text information is described in text data format. Alternatively, the text information may be determined by reference to a portion of the text CEL. The TEXT element has the same attribute types as the SYNCTEXT element.

VIDEO element 2114 describes any existing video CEL element. This element has three attributes: ID, VIDEOID, TYPE. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The VIDEOID attribute describes the CEL video-CEL pointer. The TYPE attribute describes a category of information contained on a track, such as merits, lyrics, annotations of musical recordings, biographies, image sets, advertising.

Element 2115 FILE describes any existing file CEL. This element has three attributes: ID, FILEID, TYPE. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The FILEID attribute describes the CEL pointer of a file CEL. The TYPE attribute describes a category of information contained on a track, such as merits, lyrics, annotations of musical recordings, biographies, image sets, advertising.

Element 2116 SLIDE describes a slide. This element has three attributes: ID, NAME, BACKGROUNDID. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The NAME attribute describes the name of the slide. The BACKGROUNDID attribute describes the CEL pointer of the graphic CEL on the slide screen.

Element 2117 MENU describes the menu. This element has four attributes: ID, NAME, BACKGROUNDID and SELECTID. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The NAME attribute describes the name of the menu. The BACKGROUNDID attribute describes the CEL pointer of the graphical CEL displayed on the menu screen. The SELECTID attribute describes the index number for determining the button that should be set to the select state.

BUTTON element 2118 describes the on-screen buttons arranged on the menu screen. The BUTTON element includes, as spawned elements, one or more pairs of TEXTBUTTON and COMMAND elements or pairs of GRAPHICBUTTON and COMMAND elements. The BUTTON element has seven attributes: INDEX, TAB, UP, RIGHT, LEFT, AUTOACTION. The INDEX attribute describes the index number that is unique in the MENU element. The TAB attribute describes a serial number that is provided in a sequential and cyclical manner for each of the menu buttons.

The attributes UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT describe the index number of the selected destination button located above, below, to the left, to the right, respectively, of the current button. The AUTOACTION attribute describes a flag that indicates whether the state automatically changes from the selected to active.

TEXTBUTTON element 2119 describes the on-screen buttons represented by text. This element has eleven attributes: X, Y, WIDTH, HEIGHT, FONTSIZE, NORMALCOLOR, SELECTCOLOR, ACTIONCOLOR, PLAYINGCOLOR, TEXTID, REFID. Attributes X, Y, WIDTH, HEIGHT describe the location on the display of the button using a coordinate system having a coordinate origin in the upper left corner of the menu. The FONTSIZE element describes the font size measured in points. The NORMALCOLOR, SELECTCOLOR, ACTIONCOLOR, and PLAYINGCOLOR attributes describe the display color in RGB (red, green, blue) when the button state corresponds to normal, selected, active, and playback. The TEXTID attribute describes the CEL pointer of an external text content element (CEL). The REFID attribute describes the identification number of the TEXTREF element in a text CEL defined by TEXTID.

The GRAPHICBUTTON element 2120 describes a screen button represented graphically. This element has eight attributes: X, Y, WIDTH, HEIGHT, NORMALID, SELECTID, ACTIONID, PLAYINGID. Attributes X, Y, WIDTH, HEIGHT describe the location on the display of the button using a coordinate system having a coordinate origin in the upper left corner of the menu. The NORMALID, SELECTID, ACTIONID, and PLAYINGID attributes describe the pointer to the content item (CEL) of the display on the CEL display when the state of the button corresponds to normal, selected, active, and playback.

Element 2121 COMMAND describes a navigation operation when the user presses one of the on-screen buttons. This element has two attributes: TYPE and TARGET. The TYPE attribute describes any one of the commands SHOW, FUNCTION, GOTO, NEXT, PREVIOUS. The SHOW command is used to display an element defined by the TARGET attribute. The FUNCTION command is intended to execute an element defined by the TARGET attribute. This command is used when displaying the playlist menu. The GOTO command is designed to move from the currently displayed element to a specific sibling. The NEXT command is designed to move from the currently displayed element to the next sibling. The PREVIOUS command is used to move from the currently displayed element to the previous sibling. The TARGET attribute describes the parameter of the command defined by the TYPE attribute. If the SHOW command is specified, the TARGET attribute describes the identification number of the item to be displayed. If a FUNCTION command is specified, the TARGET attribute describes the identification number of the item to be executed. If the GOTO command is specified, the TARGET attribute describes the identification number of the sibling that is currently displayed.

The TEXTREF element describes text category information for use in links from navigation data to a portion of text data stored in a text content element (CEL). Text data included in the TEXTREF element is referenced by determining the identification number of the TEXTREF element from the navigation data. The TEXTREF attribute has an ID attribute. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header.

The element 2013 CEL is described below. The CEL element has five types: audio, graphic, video, text, and file. In SDAF, the format and data parameter are defined for each type of CEL.

The data included in the audio CEL is audio data encoded in accordance with MPEG2-AAC (Advanced Audio Encoding) [low complexity profile]. Note that MPEG2-AAC is defined in ISO / IEC 13818-7: 1997 (E) Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 7 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). The bitstream encoded by MPEG2-AAC is assumed to have the ADTS (Transport Audio Data Stream) format. In addition, the data described in ISO / IEC 13818-7 is limited as shown in FIG. Of these parameters, parameters other than sampling_frequency_index (sampling rate index) and channel_configuration (channel configuration) are limited due to the choice of low complexity profile defined according to ISO / IEC 13818-7. In addition, the average bit rate is 64 or 128 kbit / s.

The data included in the graphic CEL is data encoded in accordance with the JPEG, MPEG-I frame or PNG (Portable Network Graphics) algorithms. 32, 33 and 34 are tables defining JPEG, MPEG-I frame, and PNG, respectively. The specifications for the coding algorithms applicable to the graphic CEL are limited, as shown in these figures.

The data included in the video CEL is video data encoded in accordance with MPEG2. On Fig presents a table showing the specification of MPEG2. The specification for the encoding algorithm applicable to the graphic CEL is limited, as shown in FIG. 35.

The data included in the text CEL is PLAIN (plaintext) or XML (Extensible Labeling Language) text in SDAF. Encoding type complies with Unicode or music shift JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard).

As an example of a file CEL, the CEL of a temporary search map that includes a temporary search map as data is described below. A temporary search map is a table consisting of the address of an audio frame. 36 is a diagram showing the structure of a temporary search map. As shown in FIG. 36, the temporary search map 2090 consists of a header 2091 and a plurality of records 2092. FIGS. 27, 38a, 38b show a table and diagrams illustrating the header 2091 in detail. As shown in FIGS. 27, 28a, 38b, the header 2091 includes the duration of playback between the records presented in milliseconds and the total number of records. On Fig presents a table showing the details of each entry. As shown in FIG. 39, each recording includes an address of an audio frame at a recording point. The first record indicates the starting location of the audio frame included in the audio CEL.

Note that in the present embodiment, the MPEG2-AAC encoding algorithm is used to compress the data of the music included in the audio CEL. Alternatively, coding algorithms such as MP3 (MPEG1 Audio Layer 3), Dolby-AC3 or DTS (Digital Theater System) can be used.

Below, with reference to FIGS. 40-45, it is described how SDAF is used. As indicated above, SDAF is a format for describing multimedia content, primarily used for distributing music data. The SDAF format can be applied to various types of recording media, such as hard drives, optical discs, such as digital video discs, RAM, semiconductor memory, such as memory cards.

In addition to distributing music data, the SDAF format can be used in combination with existing music data. For example, as mentioned below, the SDAF format can be used in combination with music recording data that is compliant with the standards for digital multi-purpose audio discs (DVD-Audio). Similarly, the SDAF format can be applied to other recording media such as digital multi-purpose video discs (DVD-Video), CDs, video CDs, photo CDs.

DVD-Audio compliant music data includes audio content encoded using linear pulse code modulation (LPCM), and frame image content encoded according to MPEG-I. A DVD-Audio compliant playback device displays a menu screen for interactive user operations. In DVD-Audio standards, such a menu screen is displayed by superimposing a maximum of four color sub-video images onto a background image to display and provide multiple rectangular areas in the sub-video images. Such rectangular areas are called buttons, and each button is assigned a command. However, some restrictions apply to a number of display colors and button shapes, and therefore, the person creating the content cannot freely design the menu screen.

This problem can be partially solved by pre-recording the data of the menu screen described in the SDAF format on a regular DVD audio disc, and displaying the menu screen using this data during playback. More specifically, a DVD audio disc records multimedia content described in the SDAF and a redirection pointer for links from the SDAF to the original content on the DVD audio disc. Further, a DVD audio disc with such data recorded thereon is called an extended DVD audio disc, and a playback device of such an expanded DVD audio disc is called an SDAF compatible DVD audio playback device.

40 is a diagram showing an example of CEL redirection pointers that correspond to one DVD audio disc. Each line represents a forwarding indicator for each content included in the original DVD audio disc. The CEL redirect pointer includes the identifier CEL_ID 2201, file name 2202, start address 2203, end address 2204. CEL_ID 2201 is a content identifier that is unique on the disk. File name 2202 is the name of a file that includes the corresponding contents. The start and end addresses 2203 and 2204 are offset values indicating the start location and end location, respectively, of each content in the file. The CEL forwarding indicator is recorded, for example, in a file named DVDA.MAP in the SDAF directory provided in the ROM area of the extended DVD audio disc.

All of the various playback control functions, such as controlling the playback order of the audio recording, reproducing the frame-by-frame image output and the menu function defined by the DVD-Audio standards, can be described using the SDAF navigation data. For example, a menu function can be implemented by superimposing images of JPEG buttons with any number of colors and shapes on the background image of an MPEG-I frame to display and associate each area of the button with a command.

When the management information included in the DVD audio disc is converted to SDAF navigation data, information indicating the contents is converted to CEL_ID using the CEL forwarding indicator. The menu screen is converted to JPEG button images. The resulting images are arranged in locations so as to overlap the background image. Navigation data and button images obtained as described above are stored in one SDAF package and recorded in a file with the name, for example, SDAF.SDR in the SDAF directory provided in the ROM area of the extended DVD audio disc. A method for playing an expanded DVD audio disc is described below.

An SDAF format reproducing apparatus for reproducing multimedia content described by the SDAF format is described below. The SDAF format reproducer reproduces the distributed music recording data as follows. First, the playback device searches for packet identifiers and navigation information to obtain the CEL_IDs of the CEL elements required for playback. The playback device searches the purchase database using the sets of received packet identifiers and CEL_ID to determine whether or not each content item is purchased (CEL). If any CEL has not yet been purchased, the playback device analyzes the encoded offer and pays a predetermined price through the existing electronic distribution system. After the acquisition, a pair of keys stored in the offer are stored in the purchase database. When determining that the SDAF packet needed for playback was not found in the playback device, the playback device forwards the packet identifier to the data distribution device. The data distribution device forwards the SDAF packet with the received packet identifier to the playback device. After acquiring all the CELs required for playback, the playback device decrypts the CEL using key pairs stored in the purchase database for playback. At this point, the playback device interprets the navigation data to control playback.

The SDAF header is sent to the playback device after being divided into one or more SDAF packets. 41a-41c are diagrams showing distribution examples of SDAF packets. In the distribution method shown in Fig. 41a, the packet 2301 includes only audio content, while the packet 2302 includes only image or video content. Moreover, links to audio content included in package 2301 can be made from package 2302. Therefore, a user who has purchased only package 2301 can only play audio content. The user who purchased the package 2302, in addition to the package 2301, can play the graphic content along with the audio content. The SDAF header can be defined by adding CEL to an existing track.

In the distribution method, as shown in FIG. 41b, package 2303 includes a plurality of objects of audio content and graphic content. A single packet may contain all CELs included in the SDAF header.

In the distribution method, as shown in FIG. 41c, one SDAF header is divided into distribution packets 2304, 2305, 2306. Package 2305 includes content for track # 1, while package 2306 includes content for track # 2. In this distribution method, it is possible to select any one of packages 2305 and 2306 for distribution.

Moreover, a new SDAF package may be created in the playback device, including user-owned content. 42a-42c are diagrams showing examples of how to form SDAF packets. 42a-42c, the user package is an SDAF package created by the user, while the acquired package is a common SDAF package. Content surrounded by a bold line is acquired by the user. It is assumed that the user has acquired ownership of data read from the CD, i.e. audio content received from the CD, and graphic content created by himself.

As shown in FIG. 42a, a user can create a package 2401 including audio content acquired by himself. In addition, as shown in FIG. 42b, a user can create a package 2402 that includes audio and graphic content acquired by himself. In addition, as shown in FIG. 42c, the user can create a package 2404 from which the audio content included in the acquired package 2403 can be referenced. If the package 2404 is reproduced, the audio content included in the acquired package and the graphic content acquired are reproduced. by user. Therefore, the image included in the purchased package can be changed by the user, or a new image created by the user can be added to the purchased package.

The following describes an SDAF-compatible DVD audio player. The playback device controls the playback operation by tracking the navigation data described by the SDAF format, instead of the original playback control information compatible with DVD-Audio standards. The playback device reads the navigation data and the CEL pointer from the extended DVD-Audio standard disc and operates in accordance with the read navigation data. If the reference to the original audio or graphic content is made from navigation data, the playback device makes a reference to the CEL pointer to obtain information about the location where the content is stored, and reproduces the content. The playback device reads the background image from the DVD-Audio area on the disc and the button images from the SDAF data, and combines them to display the menu screen.

When using an extended DVD-Audio standard disc, an existing DVD-Audio standard playback device can perform normal playback, while an SDAF compatible DVD-Audio standard device can display a menu screen using navigation data described by SDAF.

The following describes a data conversion device for copying multimedia content defined in the SDAF to an external storage medium for a portable music player. The portable device for playing music is made using a semiconductor memory as an external storage medium and is characterized by its small size, light weight and high-speed data recording ability. A portable music player includes, as shown in FIG. 43, a liquid crystal display 2501 capable of displaying text, a control panel for controlling playback of audio data, and headphones 2503 for outputting an audio signal. In addition, a memory card 2500 for storing audio data can be interchangeably inserted into a portable music player. The portable music player reproduces audio content compatible with MPEG2-AAC and also reproduces text information on the display. However, the data recording format of the memory card is not an SDAF format, but a unique format.

Fig. 44 is a block diagram showing a structure of a data conversion apparatus for converting contents recorded on an extended DVD-Audio standard disc to a predetermined format, and for recording the converted contents on a memory card for a portable music player. On Fig it is assumed that the audio content of the LIKM format, the playback control information described using SDAD, and additional text information are recorded on the disk 2601.

In the data conversion apparatus shown in FIG. 44, the data reading unit 2602 reads the playback control information from the disc 2601 and provides it to the playback control information analysis unit 2603. A playback control information analysis section 2603 analyzes the read playback control information to check whether the contents recorded on the disc 2601 can be reproduced or needs to be converted.

Then, the block 2602 sequentially reads from the disc 2601 content that can be played by the portable music player, and provides the read content to the block 2605 data conversion. At this point, content that cannot be played by the portable music player is not read. A data conversion unit 2505 converts the read content according to the type of the memory card 2500. For example, text information that cannot be directly played by a portable music player, such as titles, is not converted. On the other hand, the audio content of the LICM format is converted to the MPEG2-AAC format so that the portable playback device can play the content.

The playback control information converting unit 2604 generates playback control information for the portable music recording device based on the playback control information analyzed by the playback control information analyzing unit 2603. The data recording unit 2606 records the reproduction control information generated by the reproduction control information converting unit 2604 and the contents converted by the data converting unit 2605 to the memory board 2500.

Note that the data conversion unit shown in FIG. 44 can convert arbitrary content other than audio content to a predetermined format and write the converted content to the memory card 2500. In addition, the data recording format of the memory card can be an arbitrary format other than SDAF. Further, in order to support a plurality of external recording media, the data conversion device may include a data conversion unit, a playback control information conversion unit, and a data recording unit for each external recording medium.

Furthermore, if no navigation data of the SDAF format is recorded on the disc 2601, as shown in FIG. 45, missing data can be obtained via the communication network. On Fig, it is assumed that the identification number is recorded on the disk 2601. For example, the identification number of the CD with the music recording is a directory code, ISRC code, etc.

The data reading unit 2602 reads the disk identification number and provides it to the communication unit 2607. The communication unit 2607 communicates with the content information server 2611 via the communication network 2610. The communication unit 2607 can access the content information server 2611 via the Internet or can directly access a content information server 2611 via a telephone line. The content information north 2611 stores the missing data in association with the identification number, and, in response to a request from the data conversion device, sends the missing data to the data conversion device. After receiving the missing data, the data conversion device performs the same operation as the data conversion device, as shown in FIG.

As noted above, the content distribution SDAF according to the present embodiment is a format for describing multimedia content and is mainly used for distributing music data. Thus, the use of SDAF in combination with the available music data allows you to expand the function of the available music data.

Note that, as can be seen from the comparison of FIG. 3 and FIG. 18, the correlation between the music recording data described in the first to third embodiments above and the SDAF according to this embodiment is as follows. The header 40 shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to the header 2011 shown in FIG. 18. The navigation information 41 shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to the navigation data 2012 shown in FIG. 18. The content 42 shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to CEL 2013 shown in FIG. 18. The calculation information 43 shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to the sentence 2014 shown in FIG. 18.

Although the invention has been described in detail above, the foregoing description is illustrative in all aspects, but not limiting. It is clear that numerous other variations and modifications can be introduced without changing the essence of the invention.

(Fourth option)

In the fourth embodiment, as a specific example of copy-protected data, as mentioned in the first to third embodiments, a content distribution format called an SDAF (Secure Digital Audio Format) format is described below. With reference to FIGS. 18 and 19, detailed characteristics of the SDAF format are described below, and then using the SDAF format is described with reference to FIGS. 40-45.

A content distribution format (SDAF) according to an embodiment of the invention is used to describe multimedia content, including audio, images, video, text and file data. The multimedia content described in connection with the SDAF format is called the SDAF header. Presentation data, each of which contains an SDAF header, is called a content element (CEL). Each CEL is assigned a CEL identifier that is unique in the SDAF header and for which the abbreviation ID_CEL is used further.

The SDAF header is distributed in blocks called SDAF packets. Each SDAF package is assigned a package identifier that is unique throughout the distribution system. On Fig presents an example SDAF package. As shown in FIG. 18, the SDAF 2000 header consists of a plurality of SDAF packets. Each SDAF 2001 package contains a heading 2011, navigation data 2012, a plurality of content elements (CEL) 2013, and a 2014 sentence.

The 2011 header includes information such as the location, size, and attribute of each data in the packet. This information determines the structure of the package. The navigation data 2012 is the playback control information defining the operation of the playback device (player) when playing the SDAF header. From the navigation data 2012, links are made to the content element (CEL) included in the package to which the navigation data relates, or to other packages. CEL 2013 is obtained by encrypting each presentation data constituting the SDAF header, more specifically, encrypting audio, images, video, text and file data. The decryption key pair for decryption CEL 2013 and CEL_ID is called the key pair. The 2014 offer includes many key pairs and purchase rules that describe the purchase price and validity period for each key pair.

19a-19c are diagrams showing three types of SDAF packets. The complete package 2001 shown in FIG. 19c includes, similarly to FIG. 18, the heading 2011, navigation data 2012, a plurality of CEL 2013 and the offer 2014. The proposal package 2002, shown in FIG. 19a, includes the heading 2011, navigation data 2012 and 2014 sentence, but does not include any CEL 2013. The 2003 CEL packet shown in FIG. 19b contains the 2011 header and a plurality of CEL 2013. Since the navigation data 2012, the full 2001 package and the 2002 package are required to play the SDAF header sentences can be played individually, but the 2003 CEL package cannot be reproduced.

The CEL packet is used to split the SDAF header according to the distribution channel. For example, if distribution is performed using a CD-ROM, then the SDAF header is recorded as a complete packet in the CD-ROM. On the other hand, when distributed over the Internet, the SDAF header is split into a complete package and many CEL packages for distribution. For example, the SDAF header is split into a complete package including audio CEL and many CEL packages, including video CEL, referenced from the full package for distribution.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 20, the SDAF header can be split into a plurality of SDAF packets via recording tracks. In packet splitting, as shown in FIG. 20, the SDAF 2020 header, including audio data for five tracks, is split into three packets 2021-2023. Packages 2021-2023 have the package names Single 1, Single 2, and album, respectively. The first and second packets 2021 and 2022 contain audio CEL for one track and navigation data to control CEL playback. The third packet 2023 includes audio CELs for three tracks and navigation data for controlling playback of all audio CELs included in packets 2021-2023. By dividing the SDAF header into multiple SDAF packets, it is possible to reduce the size of each data and simplify the processing of each data.

The header, sentence, navigation data and CEL constituting the SDAF package are described in this order below.

The 2011 heading is described first. The SDAF packet shown in FIG. 21 is an example and the header 2031 of the SDAF packet 2030 is described. In the SDAF packet 2030, it is assumed that the size of the navigation data 2032 and the size of the sentence 2034 are each 400H in hexadecimal notation. This package includes three CEL 2033 content elements whose types are audio data, image, and file, respectively. The dimensions of these CELs are assumed to correspond to 400000H, 18000H and 8000H in hexadecimal notation.

22 is a diagram showing the structure of header 2031. In header 2031, data, as described below, is stored sequentially; header size is equal to BCH in hexadecimal notation. Note that the structure of the header 2031 can be described in C ++, as shown in FIGS. 23 and 24. FIGS. 23 and 24 are diagrams showing a sequential source code divided into two, and before dividing, the source code 2062 shown in FIG. .24 follows the source code 2061 shown in FIG.

At the beginning of header 2031, a magic number 2041 (4 bytes) is stored, indicating that the file is in SDAF format. The magic number value 2041 is a sequence of characters "SDAF". Then saved version number 2042 (4 bytes) SDAF. Then, the identifier (ID) 2043 packets (16 bytes) and the size of 2044 packets (4 bytes) are stored. Then, the navigation data location information 2045 (SDAF_LOCATION_NAV in FIG. 23), the offer location information 2046 (SDAF_LOCATION_OFFER in FIG. 23) and the number of content elements (CEL) in the packet 2047 are then stored. Then, the information 2048 (SDAF_LOCATION_CEL in FIG. 24) for each CEL. Finally, a CEL attribute table 2049 indicating an attribute of each CEL is stored.

The navigation data location information 2045 indicates the location and size of the navigation data 2032. The offer location information 2046 indicates the location and size of the offer 2034. These two pieces of information consist of both a shift (4 bytes) from the start of the SDAF packet and each size (4 bytes).

CEL information 2048 consists of CEL_ID 2051 (16 bytes), CEL type 2052 (2 bytes), CEL encryption type 2053 (2 bytes), CEL data location information 2054, and CEL attribute table location information 2055. CEL_ID 2051 is the identifier of the content item that is unique in the SDAF header. Type 2052 CEL may have a value corresponding to audio, image, video, text and file. CEL encryption type 2053 indicates the algorithm used for CEL encryption. Each CEL data location information 2054 and CEL attribute table location information 2055 consists of a shift (4 bytes) from the start of the SDAF packet and each size (4 bytes). If the shift or size is zero, then this means that the data is missing.

CEL attribute table 2049 is a list of attributes defined for each type of CEL. The audio CEL attribute table (SDAF_ATTR_AUDIO in FIG. 24) includes at least CODEC, number of quantized bits, sample rate, and number of audio channels. The graphic CEL attribute table (SDAF_ATTR_GRAPHIC in FIG. 24) includes at least the height and width of the image and the type of encryption. The video-CEL attribute table includes at least the height and width of the video and the type of encryption. A text attribute table includes at least a type of text encryption, for example, Unicode or music shift JPS (Japanese Industrial Standards). The file CEL attribute table includes at least the MIME type (Multipurpose Extension for Messaging over the Internet).

The CEL attribute table 2049 is not defined as a fixed-length table, but as a variable-length tag (descriptor) structure, as shown in FIGS. 25a-25c. If a tag structure is used, then the tag length and tag ID are stored before the data, as shown in FIG. For example, the graphic CEL attribute table consists of a characteristic tag 2053 and an encryption type tag 2064. Table elements are defined using a tag structure, and a new table element can be added to the data format or the data format can only be changed by adding a tag. The CEL attribute table is defined using a tag structure with great extensibility.

The 2014 offer is described below. As noted above, the offer includes many key pairs and purchase rules for each key pair. Each key pair consists of a decryption key for decrypting a content item (CEL) and a content item identifier (CEL_ID). 26 is a diagram showing a correspondence between a key pair and a CEL. As shown in FIG. 26, a key pair 2072 consists of a decryption key 2073 and a CEL_ID 2074, and each key pair 2072 is associated with each CEL 2071. The proposal includes not only the CEL key pair included in the SDAF package, but all key pairs other CELs included in SDAF packets of the same SDAF header. In other words, when an SDAF header is split into multiple SDAF packets, only one SDAF packet includes a sentence, and this sentence includes all key pairs of other CELs included in the SDAF header.

Purchase rules are described using a language to describe the conditions for using a key pair, called an authority management language. The terms of use for the key pair include the date of purchase, the period of use, and whether a specific CEL or SDAF header was purchased. The purchase rules are determined by the application of these terms of use, and at the same time the same CEL can be sold at different prices depending on the conditions.

The 2012 navigation data is described below. The navigation data is created by the content creator so that the user can use CEL in the most efficient way, defining the logical structure of the SDAF header.

SDAF uses XML (Extensible Labeling Language) to describe navigation data, which is a tag description language in text format. If the data structure is described in XML, then the tag structure in text format is used. Therefore, the data described in XML is redundant compared to binary data. However, the XML language is accepted because of its very good extensibility.

The CEL pointer is used to refer to CEL from navigation data. The CEL pointer is a concatenation of the package identifier and the content item identifier (CEL_ID) using the "?" (question mark) as a delimiter. However, for a CEL included in an SDAF package that includes navigation data, the package ID and delimiter are omitted, and CEL_ID becomes the CEL pointer. The CEL pointer may determine the CEL regardless of the physical CEL address.

28 is a diagram showing how to refer to the CEL from the navigation data using the CEL pointer. 28, navigation data 2081 and presentation data 2082 are shown as an example. Presentation data 2082 includes an audio CEL 2083 encoded according to the MPEG2-AAC standard and a graphic CEL 2084 encoded according to the JPEG standard.

The packet identifier and the CEL_ID of the audio CEL element are both 1, while the corresponding graphic CEL identifiers are 1 and 2, respectively. In this case, a CEL pointer of the form “1? 1” included in the navigation data 2081 indicates an audio CEL element 2083, which has a packet identifier of “1” and a CEL_ID of “1”. A CEL pointer of the form "1? 2" indicates a graphic CEL 2084, which has a packet identifier of "1" and a CEL_ID of "2". As you can see from this example, only a change in the package identifier of the CEL pointer after creating the SDAF header can cause a change in the structure of the SDAF package. Therefore, it is possible to structure the SDAF header as a single packet or to split the SDAF header into multiple SDAF packets.

27 and 30 are diagrams showing the structure of navigation data based on the following presentation method. Each rectangle represents a navigation data item. An arrow passing from element A to element B indicates that element A includes element B as a child element. Each mark provided at the beginning of each arrow indicates the following:

* indicates that an element includes 0 or more child elements;

+ indicates that an element includes 1 or more child elements;

? indicates that the element includes 0 or 1 spawned element.

If element A includes object P without an arrow, then this means that element A has object P as an attribute. Underlined objects represent CEL pointers. PCDATA represents a character string consisting of characters included in a predefined set of characters. This view defines a hierarchical structure with a TITLE element (title) as the root.

The TITLE 2101 element describes the layout (transport) information of the SDAF header. This element has three attributes: UPC, VERSION, LANGUAGE. The UPC attribute describes the Universal Product Code, which is the international standard for product codes. The VERSION attribute describes the version number of the SDAF navigation structure. The LANGUAGE attribute describes the language type according to ISO 639. Its default value is “en”, which means “English”.

The METADATA element 2102 describes information such as the genre of a PLAYLIST element or a TRACK element. The METADATA element has the TYPE attribute. The TYPE attribute describes the type of the METADATA element.

ASSOC element 2103 describes information for referring to a CEL content element included in other SDAF headers. This item has an REF attribute. The REF attribute describes a CEL pointer.

URL element 2104 describes a Unified Resource Locator. This element has two attributes: ID and TYPE. The ID attribute describes the identification number of this element. The TYPE attribute describes the type of the URL element.

PLAYLIST element 2105 describes a playlist, which is the basic unit for the SDAF header. The header list corresponds to the “album” in a normal packet transmission medium and is included in all SDAF headers. The PLAYLIST element may include a MENU element, which is a menu for a playlist. The PLAYLIST element has five attributes: NAME, ARTIST, PRODUCTID, THUMBNAILID, and ONSTART. The NAME attribute describes the name of the playlist. The PRODUCTID attribute describes the information corresponding to the directory code in the CD. The THUMBNAILID attribute describes the CEL of the graphic CEL, which is typical in a playlist. The ONSTART attribute describes a playlist playback operation. If the ONSTART attribute is "MENU", the playback device stops playback and displays the playlist menu. If the attribute is "TRACK", then the playback device starts playback of the first TRACK element included in the PLAYLIST element. All PLAYLIST elements have at least one TRACK element 2106.

TRACK element 2106 describes a track including one audio CEL element. The TRACK element may include a menu of tracks, a slideshow (frame-by-frame output), text, a file, etc. The TRACK element has seven attributes: ID, NAME, ARTIST, ISRC, AUDIOID, TSMID, THUMBNAILID. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The NAME attribute describes the name of the TRACK element. The ARTIST attribute describes the name of the artist. The ISRC attribute describes the International Standard Record Code. The AUDIOID attribute describes the CEL pointer of an audio CEL element related to a TRACK element. The TSMID attribute describes the CEL pointer of the temporary search card corresponding to the audio CEL element. The temporary search map is explained below. The THUMBNAILID attribute describes the CEL of the graphical CEL, which is typical in a TRACK element.

MARKER element 2107 describes a marker for use in locating a start in a TRACK element. This item has two attributes TIME and NAME. The TIME attribute describes the location of the marker in milliseconds. The NAME attribute describes the name of the token.

SYNCSLIDESHOW element 2108 describes a slideshow (frame output) for displayed slides or menus, following the display timing information defined by SYNCMAP element 2109. Element 2108 SYNCSLIDESHOW has three attributes: ID, NAME, TYPE. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The NAME attribute describes the name of the slideshow. The TYPE attribute describes a category of information contained on a track, such as merits, lyrics, annotations of musical recordings, biographies, image sets, advertising.

SYNCMAP element 2109 describes display timing information for a slide or menu defined in the SYNCSLIDESHOW element. SYNCMAP element 2109 has three attributes: MENUID, PLAIID, TIME. The MENUID attribute describes the identification number of the slide or menu that should be displayed. The PLAYID attribute describes the index number for determining the button that should be set to the playback state in the menu. The TIME attribute describes the timing of the display in milliseconds.

Element 2110 SLIDESHOW describes a slide show (frame output) for displaying slides or menus with predefined display intervals. Element 2110 SLIDESHOW has four attributes: ID, NAME, TYPE, INTERVAL. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The NAME attribute describes the name of the slideshow. The TYPE attribute describes a category of information contained on a track, such as merits, lyrics, annotations of musical recordings, biographies, image sets, advertising. The INTERVAL attribute describes the interval in which a slide or menu is displayed.

Element 2111 SYNCTEXT describes text information for display with a predefined timing. Text information is described using element 2112 SYNCTEXTBLOCK. Alternatively, the text information may be determined by reference to a portion of the text CEL. The SYNCTEXT element has four attributes: ID, TEXTID, REFID, TYPE. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The TEXTID attribute describes the CEL pointer of a text CEL. The REFID attribute describes the identification number of the TEXTREF element in the text CELL defined by the TEXTID attribute. The TEXTID element is described below. The TYPE attribute describes a category of information contained on a track, such as merits, lyrics, annotations of musical recordings, biographies, image sets, advertising.

Element 2112 SYNCTEXTBLOCK describes text information for display with predefined timing. This item has a TIME attribute. The TIME attribute describes the timing of the display in milliseconds.

Element 2113 TEXT describes the text information. Text information is described in text data format. Alternatively, the text information may be determined by reference to a portion of the text CEL. The TEXT element has the same attribute types as the SYNCTEXT element.

VIDEO element 2114 describes any existing video CEL element. This element has three attributes: ID, VIDEOID, TYPE. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The VIDEOID attribute describes the CEL pointer of a video-CEL element. The TYPE attribute describes a category of information contained on a track, such as merits, lyrics, annotations of musical recordings, biographies, image sets, advertising.

Element 2115 FILE describes any existing file CEL. This element has three attributes: ID, FILEID, TYPE. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The FILEID attribute describes the CEL pointer of a file CEL. The TYPE attribute describes a category of information contained on a track, such as merits, lyrics, annotations for musical recordings, biographies, image sets, advertising.

Element 2116 SLIDE describes a slide. This element has three attributes: ID, NAME, BACKGROUNDID. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The NAME attribute describes the name of the slide. The BACKGROUNDID attribute describes the CEL pointer of the graphic CEL on the slide screen.

Element 2117 MENU describes the menu. This element has four attributes: ID, NAME, BACKGROUNDID and SELECTID. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header. The NAME attribute describes the name of the menu. The BACKGROUNDID attribute describes the CEL pointer of the graphical CEL displayed on the menu screen. The SELECTID attribute describes the index number for determining the button that should be set to the select state.

BUTTON element 2118 describes the on-screen buttons arranged on the menu screen. The BUTTON element includes, as spawned elements, one or more pairs of TEXTBUTTON and COMMAND elements or pairs of GRAPHICBUTTON and COMMAND elements. The BUTTON element has seven attributes: INDEX, TAB, UP, RIGHT, LEFT, AUTOACTION. The INDEX attribute describes the index number that is unique in the MENU element. The TAB attribute describes a serial number that is provided in a sequential and cyclical manner for each of the menu buttons. The attributes UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT describe the index number of the selected destination button located above, below, to the left, to the right, respectively, of the current button. The AUTOACTION attribute describes a flag that indicates whether the state automatically changes from the selected to active.

TEXTBUTTON element 2119 describes the on-screen buttons represented by text. This element has eleven attributes: X, Y, WIDTH, HEIGHT, FONTSIZE, NORMALCOLOR, SELECTCOLOR, ACTIONCOLOR, PLAYINGCOLOR, TEXTID, REFID. Attributes X, Y, WIDTH, HEIGHT describe the location on the display of the button using a coordinate system having a coordinate origin in the upper left corner of the menu. The FONTSIZE element describes the font size measured in points. The NORMALCOLOR, SELECTCOLOR, ACTIONCOLOR, and PLAYINGCOLOR attributes describe the display color in RGB (red, green, blue) when the button state corresponds to normal, selected, active, and playback. The TEXTID attribute describes the CEL pointer of an external text content element (CEL). The REFID attribute describes the identification number of the TEXTREF element in a text CEL defined by TEXTID.

The GRAPHICBUTTON element 2120 describes a screen button represented graphically. This element has eight attributes: X, Y, WIDTH, HEIGHT, NORMALID, SELECTID, ACTIONID, PLAYINGID. Attributes X, Y, WIDTH, HEIGHT describe the location on the display of the button using a coordinate system having a coordinate origin in the upper left corner of the menu. The NORMALID, SELECTID, ACTIONID, and PLAYINGID attributes describe the pointer to the content item (CEL) of the display on the CEL display when the state of the button corresponds to normal, selected, active, and playback.

Element 2121 COMMAND describes a navigation operation when the user presses one of the on-screen buttons. This element has two attributes: TYPE and TARGET. The TYPE attribute describes any one of the commands SHOW, FUNCTION, GOTO, NEXT, PREVIOUS. The SHOW command is used to display an element defined by the TARGET attribute. The FUNCTION command is intended to execute an element defined by the TARGET attribute. This command is used when displaying the playlist menu. The GOTO command is designed to move from the currently displayed element to a specific sibling. The NEXT command is designed to move from the currently displayed element to the next sibling. The PREVIOUS command is used to move from the currently displayed element to the previous sibling. The TARGET attribute describes the parameter of the command defined by the TYPE attribute. If the SHOW command is specified, the TARGET attribute describes the identification number of the item to be displayed. If a FUNCTION command is specified, the TARGET attribute describes the identification number of the item to be executed. If the GOTO command is specified, the TARGET attribute describes the identification number of the sibling that is currently displayed.

The TEXTREF element describes text category information for use in links from navigation data to a portion of text data stored in a text content element (CEL). Text data included in the TEXTREF element is referenced by determining the identification number of the TEXTREF element from the navigation data. The TEXTREF attribute has an ID attribute. The ID attribute describes an identification number that is unique in the SDAF header.

The element 2013 CEL is described below. The CEL element has five types: audio, graphic, video, text, and file. In SDAF, the data format and parameter are defined for each type of CEL.

The data included in the audio CEL is audio data encoded in accordance with MPEG2-AAC (Advanced Audio Encoding) [low complexity profile]. Note that MPEG2-AAC is defined in ISO / IEC 13818-7: 1997 (E) Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 7 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). The bitstream encoded by MPEG2-AAC is assumed to be in the ADTS (Transport Audio Data Stream) format. In addition, the data described in ISO / IEC 13818-7 is limited as shown in FIG. Of these parameters, parameters other than samplmg_frequency_index (sampling rate index) and channel_configuration (channel configuration) are limited due to the choice of low complexity profile defined according to ISO / IEC 13818-7. In addition, the average bit rate is 64 or 128 kbit / s.

The data included in the graphic CEL is data encoded in accordance with the JPEG, MPEG-I frame, or PNG (Portable Network Graphics) algorithms. 32, 33 and 34 are tables defining JPEG, MPEG-I frame, and PNG, respectively. The specifications for the coding algorithms applicable to the graphic CEL are limited, as shown in these figures.

The data included in the video CEL is video data encoded in accordance with MPEG2. On Fig presents a table showing the specification of MPEG2. The specification for the encoding algorithm applicable to the graphic CEL is limited, as shown in FIG. 35.

The data included in the text CEL is PLAIN (plaintext) or XML (Extensible Labeling Language) text in SDAF. Encoding type complies with Unicode or music shift JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard).

As an example of a file CEL, the CEL of a temporary search map that includes a temporary search map as data is described below. A temporary search map is a table consisting of the address of an audio frame. 36 is a diagram showing the structure of a temporary search map. As shown in FIG. 36, the temporary search map 2090 consists of a header 2091 and a plurality of records 2092. FIGS. 27, 38a, 38b show a table and diagrams illustrating the header 2091 in detail. As shown in FIGS. 27, 28a, 38b, the header 2091 includes the duration of playback between the records presented in milliseconds and the total number of records. On Fig presents a table showing the details of each entry. As shown in FIG. 39, each recording includes an address of an audio frame at a recording point. The first record indicates the starting location of the audio frame included in the audio CEL.

Note that in the present embodiment, the MPEG2-AAC encoding algorithm is used to compress the data of the music included in the audio CEL. Alternatively, coding algorithms such as MP3 (MPEG1 Audio Layer 3), Dolby-AC3 or DTS (Digital Theater System) can be used.

Below, with reference to FIGS. 40-45, it is described how SDAF is used. As indicated above, SDAF is a format for describing multimedia content, primarily used for distributing music data. The SDAF format can be applied to various types of recording media, such as hard drives, optical discs, such as digital video discs, RAM, semiconductor memory, such as memory cards.

In addition to distributing music data, the SDAF format can be used in combination with existing music data. For example, as mentioned below, the SDAF format can be used in combination with music recording data that is compliant with the standards for digital multi-purpose audio discs (DVD-Audio). Similarly, the SDAF format can be applied to other recording media such as digital multi-purpose video discs (DVD-Video), compact discs, video compact discs, photo compact discs.

DVD-Audio compliant music data includes audio content encoded using linear pulse code modulation (LPCM), and frame image content encoded according to MPEG-I. A DVD-Audio compliant playback device displays a menu screen for interactive user operations. In DVD-Audio standards, such a menu screen is displayed by superimposing a maximum of four color sub-video images onto a background image to display and provide multiple rectangular areas in the sub-video images. Such rectangular areas are called buttons, and each button is assigned a command. However, some restrictions apply to a number of display colors and button shapes, and therefore, the person creating the content cannot freely design the menu screen.

This problem can be partially solved by pre-recording the data of the menu screen described in the SDAF format on a regular DVD audio disc, and displaying the menu screen using this data during playback. More specifically, a DVD audio disc records multimedia content described in the SDAF and a redirection pointer for links from the SDAF to the original content on the DVD audio disc. Further, a DVD audio disc with such data recorded thereon is called an extended DVD audio disc, and a playback device of such an expanded DVD audio disc is called an SDAF compatible DVD audio playback device.

40 is a diagram showing an example of CEL redirection pointers that correspond to one DVD audio disc. Each line represents a forwarding indicator for each content included in the original DVD audio disc. The CEL redirect pointer includes the identifier CEL_ID 2201, file name 2202, start address 2203, end address 2204. CEL_ID 2201 is a content identifier that is unique on the disk. File name 2202 is the name of a file that includes the corresponding contents. The start and end addresses 2203 and 2204 are offset values indicating the start location and end location, respectively, of each content in the file. The CEL forwarding indicator is recorded, for example, in a file named DVDA.MAP in the SDAF directory provided in the ROM area of the extended DVD audio disc.

All of the various playback control functions, such as controlling the playback order of the audio recording, reproducing the frame-by-frame image output and the menu function defined by the DVD-Audio standards, can be described using the SDAF navigation data. For example, a menu function can be implemented by superimposing images of JPEG buttons with any number of colors and shapes on the background image of an MPEG-I frame to display and associate each area of the button with a command.

When the management information included in the DVD audio disc is converted to SDAF navigation data, information indicating the contents is converted to CEL_ID using the CEL forwarding indicator. The menu screen is converted to JPEG button images. The resulting images are arranged in locations so as to overlap the background image. Navigation data and button images obtained as described above are stored in one SDAF package and recorded in a file with the name, for example, SDAF.SDR in the SDAF directory provided in the ROM area of the extended DVD audio disc. A method for playing an expanded DVD audio disc is described below.

An SDAF format reproducing apparatus for reproducing multimedia content described by the SDAF format is described below. The SDAF format reproducer reproduces the distributed music recording data as follows. First, the playback device searches for packet identifiers and navigation information to obtain the CEL_IDs of the CEL elements required for playback. The playback device searches the purchase database using the sets of received packet identifiers and CEL_ID to determine whether or not each content item is purchased (CEL). If any CEL has not yet been purchased, the playback device analyzes the encoded offer and pays a predetermined price through the existing electronic distribution system. After the acquisition, a pair of keys stored in the offer are stored in the purchase database. When determining that the SDAF packet needed for playback was not found in the playback device, the playback device forwards the packet identifier to the data distribution device. The data distribution device forwards the SDAF packet with the received packet identifier to the playback device. After acquiring all the CELs required for playback, the playback device decrypts the CEL using key pairs stored in the purchase database for playback. At this point, the playback device interprets the navigation data to control playback.

The SDAF header is sent to the playback device, being divided into one or more SDAF packets. 41a-41c are diagrams showing distribution examples of SDAF packets. In the distribution method shown in Fig. 41a, the packet 2301 includes only audio content, while the packet 2302 includes only image or video content. Moreover, links to audio content included in package 2301 can be made from package 2302. Therefore, a user who has purchased only package 2301 can only play audio content. The user who purchased the package 2302, in addition to the package 2301, can play the graphic content along with the audio content. The SDAF header can be defined by adding CEL to an existing track.

In the distribution method, as shown in FIG. 41b, package 2303 includes a plurality of objects of audio content and graphic content. A single packet may contain all CELs included in the SDAF header.

In the distribution method, as shown in FIG. 41c, one SDAF header is divided into distribution packets 2304, 2305, 2306. Package 2305 includes content for track # 1, while package 2306 includes content for track # 2. In this distribution method, you can select any one of the packages 2305 and 2306 for distribution.

Moreover, a new SDAF package may be created in the playback device, including user-owned content. 42a-42c are diagrams showing examples of how to form SDAF packets. 42a-42c, the user package is an SDAF package created by the user, while the acquired package is a common SDAF package. Content surrounded by a bold line is the property of the user. It is assumed that the property of the user is the data read from the CD, i.e. audio content received from the CD, and graphic content created by himself.

As shown in FIG. 42a, a user can create a package 2401 including audio content acquired by himself. In addition, as shown in FIG. 42b, a user can create a package 2402 that includes audio and graphic content acquired by himself. In addition, as shown in FIG. 42 c, the user can create a package 2404 from which the audio content included in the acquired package 2403 can be referenced. If the package 2404 is played back, the audio content included in the acquired package and the graphical content owned by the user are reproduced. . Therefore, the image included in the purchased package may be changed by the user, or a new image created by the user may be added to the purchased package.

The following describes an SDAF-compatible DVD audio player. The playback device controls the playback operation by tracking the navigation data described by the SDAF format, instead of the original playback control information compatible with DVD-Audio standards. The playback device reads the navigation data and the CEL pointer from the extended DVD-Audio standard disc and operates in accordance with the read navigation data. If the reference to the original audio or graphic content is made from navigation data, the playback device makes a reference to the CEL pointer to obtain information about the location where the content is stored, and reproduces the content. The playback device reads the background image from the DVD-Audio area on the disc and the button images from the SDAF data, and combines them to display the menu screen.

When using an extended DVD-Audio standard disc, an existing DVD-Audio standard playback device can perform normal playback, while an SDAF compatible DVD-Audio standard device can display a menu screen using navigation data described by SDAF.

In the above description, the SDAF packet and the CEL redirect pointer are stored on disk. Alternatively, this data may be downloaded via a network to a playback device. This method can be applied to CDs and DVDs that have already been sold to the user. In addition, content elements (CELs) that are accessible through a communications network may be referenced using a URL.

The following describes a data conversion device for copying multimedia content defined in the SDAF to an external storage medium for a portable music player. The portable device for playing music is made using a semiconductor memory as an external storage medium and is characterized by its small size, light weight and high-speed data recording ability. A portable music player includes, as shown in FIG. 43, a liquid crystal display 2501 capable of displaying text, a control panel for controlling playback of audio data, and headphones 2503 for outputting an audio signal. In addition, a memory card 2500 for storing audio data can be interchangeably inserted into a portable music player. The portable music player reproduces audio content compatible with MPEG2-AAC and also reproduces text information on the display. However, the data recording format of the memory card is not an SDAF format, but a unique format.

Fig. 44 is a block diagram showing a structure of a data conversion apparatus for converting contents recorded on an extended DVD-Audio standard disc to a predetermined format, and for recording the converted contents on a memory card for a portable music player. On Fig, it is assumed that on the disk 2601 recorded audio content of the LIKM format, the playback control information described using SDAF, and additional text information.

In the data conversion apparatus shown in FIG. 44, the data reading unit 2602 reads the playback control information from the disc 2601 and provides it to the playback control information analysis unit 2603. A playback control information analysis section 2603 analyzes the read playback control information to check whether the contents recorded on the disc 2601 can be reproduced or needs to be converted.

Then, the block 2602 sequentially reads from the disc 2601 content that can be played by the portable music player, and provides the read content to the block 2605 data conversion. At this point, content that cannot be played by the portable music player is not read. A data conversion unit 2605 converts the read content according to the type of the memory card 2500. For example, text information that cannot be directly played back by a portable music player, such as titles, is not converted. On the other hand, the audio content of the LICM format is converted to the MPEG2-AAC format so that the portable playback device can play the content.

The playback control information converting unit 2604 generates playback control information for the portable music recording device based on the playback control information analyzed by the playback control information analyzing unit 2603. The data recording unit 2606 records the reproduction control information generated by the reproduction control information converting unit 2604 and the contents converted by the data converting unit 2605 to the memory board 2500.

Note that the data conversion unit shown in FIG. 44 can convert arbitrary content other than audio content to a predetermined format and write the converted content to the memory card 2500. In addition, the data recording format of the memory card can be an arbitrary format other than from SDAF. Further, in order to support a plurality of external recording media, the data conversion device may include a data conversion unit, a playback control information conversion unit, and a data recording unit for each external recording medium.

In addition, if no navigation data described by the SDAF format is recorded on disk 2601, as shown in FIG. 45, then the missing data can be obtained through the communication network. On Fig, it is assumed that the identification number is recorded on the disk 2601. For example, the identification number of the CD with the music recording is a directory code, ISRC code, etc.

The data reading unit 2602 reads the disk identification number and provides it to the communication unit 2607. The communication unit 2607 communicates with the content information server 2611 via the communication network 2610. The communication unit 2607 can access the content information server 2611 via the Internet or can directly access a content information server 2611 via a telephone line. The content information server 2611 stores the missing data in association with the identification number and, in response to a request from the data conversion device, sends the missing data to the data conversion device. After receiving the missing data, the data conversion device performs the same operation as the data conversion device, as shown in FIG.

As noted above, the content distribution SDAF according to the present embodiment is a format for describing multimedia content and is mainly used for distributing music data. Thus, the use of SDAF in combination with the available music data allows you to expand the function of the available music data.

Note that the correlation between the additional distribution data in the first and second embodiments and the SDAF according to the present embodiment is as follows. Additional information, including playback control information, such as image data and audio data in the second embodiment, corresponds to the navigation data 2012 shown in FIG. The content 205 or audio data 204 shown in FIG. 2 and image data in the second embodiment correspond to the content item (CEL) 2013 shown in FIG. 18. The authority information 203 shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to the sentence 2014 shown in FIG. 18.

Although the invention has been described in detail above, the foregoing description is illustrative in all aspects, but not limiting. It is clear that numerous other variations and modifications can be introduced without changing the essence of the invention.

Industrial applicability

According to the present invention, a digital data protection system for copying can realize the online distribution of music records “from hand to hand” and greatly facilitate the distribution of music records while providing protection against copying and charging the user with appropriate license fees.

Claims (13)

1. A system for protecting against copying digital data for charging the user with appropriate royalties while providing protection against copying digital data, comprising a content distribution unit (102) for distributing additional distribution data including said digital data over a network (104), a plurality of devices (1011, 1012, 1013) recording and reproducing digital data interconnected by the aforementioned network (104), each of which provides storage of additional data distribution received from the content distribution unit (102), reproducing said digital data and distributing said additional distribution data stored therein to other users, and a calculation processing unit (103) for communicating with recording devices (1011, 1012, 1013) and reproducing digital data through the aforementioned network (104) and performing calculation processing for charging said license fees, wherein each of the recording and reproducing devices (1011, 1012, 1013) of digital data, before reproducing said digital data, communicates with a calculation processing unit (103) for processing purchase data in order to prepare for processing calculations when receiving additional distribution data from a content distribution unit (102) or from other digital data recording and reproducing devices by mentioned network (104), and before distribution adds the identifier of the distributor to the data of additional distribution received from block (102) distribution contents or from other devices for recording and reproducing digital data via the aforementioned network (104), while if the additional distribution data to be processed is provided with the said distributor identifier, the calculation processing unit (103) performs premium processing with respect to the user identified by the said Distributor ID 2. A device (1011) for recording and reproducing digital data, configured to store additional distribution data including content representing digital data encrypted in accordance with the first encryption system, and credential management information having a content encryption key used to said first encryption system, and reproducing said content after processing the purchase data, in order to prepare for processing calculations by communicating with a calculation processing unit (103) connected via a network (104), comprising means (401) for receiving additional distribution data for receiving externally mentioned additional distribution data from outside, means (402) for storing additional distribution data, intended for storing said additional distribution data, means (412) for processing purchase data intended to execute said processing of purchase data at the command of a user so that reproduce the content included in the additional distribution data stored in the means (402) for storing the additional distribution data, means (410) for accessing data intended for reading the additional distribution data from the means (402) for storing the additional distribution data, means (414 ) to decrypt the content intended to be decrypted, when processing purchase data, additional distribution data stored in the storage means (402) i additional distribution data, in accordance with the first decryption system, and highlighting said content, a reproducing means (415 and 416) for reproducing content allocated by the means (414) for decrypting the contents, and means (411) for adding a distributor identifier, designed to encrypt a user ID, which is identification information unique to the device, and to add an encrypted user ID to additional distribution data, read by means (410) for accessing data, for external output. 3. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that the privilege management information is also encrypted in accordance with the second encryption system, the encryption key of the privilege management information used for the second encryption system is stored in a protected area of the memory to which the user does not have regular access way. 4. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that the means (411) for adding the identifier of the distributor contains a means (504) for receiving distribution information intended to obtain data on the purchase status, indicating whether or not the processing of purchase data by the means (412) processing the purchase data, means (501) for obtaining a user identifier intended to obtain a user identifier stored in a protected area of memory to which the user does not have access in the usual way, means (502) for encrypting a user identifier intended to be added to said user identifier obtained by means (501) for obtaining a user identifier, purchase status data obtained by means (504) for obtaining distribution information, for encryption in accordance with a predetermined system encryption and means (503) for adding a user identifier for adding a user identifier encrypted by means (502) for encryption a user identifier, additional data distribution read out means (410) for data access. 5. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that the means (412) for processing purchase data comprises means (602) for extracting settlement management information intended to extract settlement management information from additional distribution data read out by the means (410) for access to the data, means (603) for allocating the identifier of the distributor, intended to allocate the identifier of the user identifier, if it is included in the additional distribution data, means ohm (410) for accessing data, said user identifier being identification information unique to another digital data recording and reproducing device that is a distributor of additional distribution data, means (604) for generating calculation processing information to be added if being a distributor identifier, a user identifier is allocated by means (602) for allocating a distributor identifier of a specified user identifier the caller, which is the identifier of the distributor, to settlement management information allocated by means (603) for extracting settlement management information and generating settlement processing information, means (605) for transmitting settlement processing information for transmitting settlement processing information generated by means (604) for generating calculation processing information, to the calculation processing unit (103), which is provided externally, and means (606) for transmitting the identifier of the transmitter, intended e for transmitting the user ID, which is identification information unique to the device as a transmitter identifier to the secured externally unit (103) processing calculations. 6. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that it further comprises means (406) for reading data, designed to read content representing unencrypted digital data, means (403) for obtaining information management authority, designed to receive information management authority having a content encryption key for encrypting content read by means (406) for reading data, means (405) for extracting a content encryption key for extracting a cipher key of content from permission management information obtained by means (403) for obtaining privilege management information, data encryption means (408) for encrypting content in accordance with the first system using the content encryption key allocated by means (405) for extracting the encryption key content, and means (409) for adding privilege management information for adding relevant privilege management information to content encrypted with a means (408) for encrypting data, for storing in a means (402) for storing data of additional distribution. 7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that it further comprises means for compressing data for compressing the contents read by means (406) for reading data in a predetermined manner and for entering the compressed contents into means (408) for data encryption. 8. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that it further comprises means (1703) for storing additional information for storing content reproduction control information including information related to content reproduction control and image data added as content and means (1702) for adding data intended to add content playback information and image data stored in means (1703) for storing additional information and, to the corresponding content for issuing them to the means (408) for encrypting data. 9. The calculation processing unit (103) for storing data of additional distribution and for receiving through the network (104) from the device (1011, 1012, 1013) recording and reproducing digital data configured to reproduce the contents of the calculation management information after the calculation is processed corresponding to said additional distribution data, a distributor identifier indicating who distributed the additional distribution data, and a transmitter identifier, respectively of the device for recording and reproducing digital data (1011, 1012, 1013), comprising means (802) for receiving settlement information for receiving settlement information and a distributor identifier, means for authorizing a transmitter for receiving a transmitter identifier (803) and for identifying the transmitter, means (804) for processing calculations, designed to be performed, in accordance with information management calculations adopted by means (802) for receiving information processing calculations, processing calculations in relation to the transmitter identified by means (803) for authorizing the transmitter, and means (808) for processing premiums designed to perform premium processing for the distributor identified by the distributor identifier adopted by means (802) for receiving settlement processing information. 10. A method of recording and reproducing digital data for storing additional distribution data including content representing digital data encrypted in accordance with a first encryption system and authorization management information having a content encryption key used for said first encryption system, and reproducing said content after processing purchase data in order to prepare for processing calculations, including the steps of receiving additional data about distribution for receiving the mentioned additional distribution data from outside, processing purchase data for executing purchase data processing at the user's command to reproduce the contents included in the additional distribution data, decrypting the contents for decryption, while processing the purchase data, additional distribution data in in accordance with said first decryption system, and for highlighting said content, reproducing for reproduction with held, selected at the stage of decrypting the content, and adding the identifier of the distributor to add, at the command of the user, the user identifier, which is unique identification information, to the additional distribution data for output. 11. A recording medium configured for computer reading and writing on which a program is written for execution on a computer system having the ability to store additional distribution data including content that is digital data encrypted in accordance with the first encryption system, and information having a content encryption key used for said first encryption system and reproducing the content after processing the calculations, wherein The program provides a method including the steps of receiving additional distribution data for receiving said additional distribution data from outside, processing purchase data to execute purchase data processing upon a user command to reproduce content included in the additional distribution data, decrypting the content to be decrypted, when executed processing purchase data at the aforementioned stage of processing purchase data, data of additional distribution in correspondence with the first system for decrypting and extracting said content, reproducing to reproduce the content allocated in the content decrypting step, and adding a distributor identifier to encrypt the first user identifier, which is unique identification information, and adding the user identifier to the additional distribution data for output. Priority on points: 09/01/1999 - according to claims 1-3, 5-11; 08/30/2000 - according to claim 4.

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