Content history log collecting system

• US 20040143661A1
• Filed: 01/12/2004
• Published: 07/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakanishi, Masanori, Tokuda, Katsumi, Murakami, Hiroki, Inoue, Mitsuhiro, Higashi, Akio
• Application Number:
  US10/754,512
• Publication Number:
  US 20040143661A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering

Abstract

The system of the present invention is a system comprising a server device which provides a license and a terminal device which controls content use based on the license provided from the server device, wherein the server device includes the first collecting unit operable to collect the first history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device, the second collecting unit operable to collect the second history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device separately from the collection by the first collection unit and the verifying unit operable to verify the first history logs collected by the first collection unit and the second history logs collected by the second collection unit, and the terminal device includes the first acquirement unit operable to acquire the first history logs concerning the content use and the second acquirement unit operable to acquire the second history logs concerning the content use and a history log sending unit operable to separately send the first history logs acquired in the first acquirement unit and the second history logs acquired in the second acquirement unit.

Claims

1. A system comprising a server device that provides a license and a terminal device that controls content use based on a license provided from the server device,

wherein the server device includes:

a first collecting unit operable to collect first history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device;

a second collecting unit operable to collect the second history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device separately from the collection by the first collection unit; and

a verifying unit operable to verify the first history logs collected by the first collecting unit and the second history logs collected by the second collecting unit; and

the terminal device includes;

a first acquirement unit operable to acquire the first history logs concerning the content use;

a second acquirement unit operable to acquire the second history logs concerning the content use; and

a history log sending unit operable to separately send the first history logs acquired by the first acquirement unit and the second history logs acquired by the second acquirement unit.

2. The system according to claim 1,

wherein the first acquirement unit securely acquires the first history logs, and the history log sending unit securely sends the first history logs.

3. The system according to claim 2,

wherein the second acquirement unit nonsecurely acquires the second history logs, and the history log sending unit nonsecurely acquires the second history logs.

4. The system according to claim 1,

wherein the first and the second history logs include at least one of a terminal ID, a content ID, a user ID, a description of user operation concerning the content use and user operation time respectively, and

the verifying unit verifies that the first history logs are substantially the same as the second history logs by comparing them with each other.

5. The system according to claim 4,

wherein the server device further includes a storage unit operable to store one of (a) at least one of the first history logs and the second history logs and (b) history logs generated based on (a) in a history log database unit according to the verification result by the verifying unit.

6. The system according to claim 5,

the verifying unit generates comparison information showing the comparison result when the comparison result is not substantially the same.

7. The system according to claim 6,

wherein the server device further includes:

a database unit operable to store the collection conditions concerning the history logs to be collected in the terminal device;

a generation unit operable to dynamically generate indication information indicating a request that the terminal device collect the history logs according to the collection condition stored in the database unit; and

an indication information sending unit operable to send the generated indication information to the terminal device; and

the first acquirement unit acquires the first history logs according to the indication information sent from the server device.

8. The system according to claim 7,

wherein the collection condition relates to a combination of two or more data selected from content use date and time, a use part of whole played-back part of a content, a description of user operation for using a content, a user profile, user'"'"'s terminal device ID, user'"'"'s use status, a content use status and a content service providing status.

9. The system according to claim 8,

wherein the server device further includes:

a use condition database unit operable to store content use conditions for each user of the terminal device; and

a license issuing unit operable to issue a license for permitting a user to use a content to the terminal device according to the use condition of a user stored in the use condition database unit; and

the terminal device further includes;

a content use unit operable to use a content according to the issued license; and

the indication information sending unit operable to send the license with the indication information.

24. The terminal device according to claim 8,

wherein the terminal device includes:

a receiving unit operable to receive the indication information and a license; and

a content use unit operable to use a content according to the received license.

10. A server device providing a terminal device that uses a content with a content, including:

a first collecting unit operable to collect first history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device;

a second collecting unit operable to collect the second history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device separately from the collection by the first collection unit; and

a verifying unit operable to verify the first history logs collected by the first collecting unit and the second history logs collected by the second collecting unit.

11. The server device according to claim 10,

wherein the first collecting unit securely collects the first history logs from the terminal device.

12. The system according to claim 11,

wherein the second collecting unit nonsecurely collects the second history logs.

13. The server device according to claim 10,

wherein the first and the second history logs include at least one of a terminal ID, a content ID, a user ID, a description of user operation concerning content use and user operation time respectively, and

the verifying unit verifies that the first history logs are substantially the same as the second history logs by comparing them with each other.

14. The server device according to claim 13,

wherein the server device further includes a storage unit operable to store one of (a) at least one of the first history logs and the second history logs and (b) history logs generated based on (a) in the history log database unit according to the verification result by the verifying unit.

15. The server device according to claim 14,

wherein the verifying unit generates comparison information showing the comparison result when the comparison result is not substantially the same.

16. The server device according to claim 15,

wherein the server device further includes:

a database unit operable to store the collection conditions concerning the history logs to be collected in the terminal device;

a generation unit operable to dynamically generate indication information indicating a request that the terminal device collect the history logs according to the collection condition stored in the database unit; and

an indication information sending unit operable to send the generated indication information to the terminal device.

17. The server device according to claim 16,

wherein the collection condition relates to a combination of at least two or more data selected from content use date and time, a use part of whole played-back part of a content, a description of user operation for using a content, a user profile, user'"'"'s terminal device ID, user'"'"'s use status, a content use status and a content service providing status.

18. The server device according to claim 17,

wherein the server device further includes:

a use condition database unit operable to store content use conditions for each user of the terminal device; and

a license issuing unit operable to issue a license for permitting a user to use a content to the terminal device according to the use condition of a user stored in the use condition database unit; and

the terminal device further includes;

a content use unit operable to use a content according to the issued license; and

the indication information sending unit operable to send the license with the indication information.

19. A terminal device for using a content including:

a first acquirement unit operable to acquire first history logs concerning the content use;

a second acquirement unit operable to acquire second history logs concerning the content use; and

a history log sending unit operable to separately send the first history logs acquired in the first acquirement unit and the second history logs acquired in the second acquirement unit to the server device.

20. The terminal device according to claim 19,

wherein the first acquirement unit securely acquires the first history logs, and the history log sending unit securely sends the first history logs.

21. The terminal device according to claim 20,

wherein the second acquirement unit nonsecurely acquires the second history logs, and the history log sending unit nonsecurely acquires the second history logs.

22. The terminal device according to claim 19,

wherein the first and the second history logs include at least one of a terminal ID, a content ID, a user ID, a description of user operation concerning the content use and user operation time respectively.

23. The terminal device according to claim 22,

wherein the first acquirement unit acquires the first history logs according to the indication information sent from the server device, and

the indication information relates to a combination of two or more data selected from content use date and time, a use part of whole played-back part of a content, a description of user operation for using a content, a user profile, user'"'"'s terminal device ID, user'"'"'s use status, a content use status and a content service providing status.

25. A history log collecting method for collecting history logs of a content in a system comprising a server device that provides the content and a terminal device that uses the content provided from the server device, the history log collecting method including:

a first acquirement step in which the terminal device acquires first history logs concerning the content use;

a second acquirement step in which the terminal device acquires second history logs concerning the content use;

a history log sending step in which the terminal device sends the first history logs and the second history logs separately;

a first collection step in which the server device collects the first history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device;

a second collection step in which the server device separately collects the first history logs and the second history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device; and

a verification step in which the server device verifies the collected first history logs and the collected second history logs.

26. A content history log collecting method executed in a server device that provides a terminal device that uses a content with a content, comprising:

a first collecting step of collecting first history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device;

a second collecting step of separately collecting the first history logs and second history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device; and

a verifying step of verifying the first history logs collected by the first collecting unit and the second history logs collected by the second collecting unit.

27. A history log collecting method for collecting content history logs in a terminal device that uses a content provided from a server, comprising:

a first acquirement step of acquiring first history logs concerning the content use;

a second acquirement step of acquiring second history logs concerning the content use; and

a history log sending step of separately sending the first history logs and the second history logs.

28. A program for causing a computer to execute the following steps so as to collect content history logs in a server device that provides the content for a terminal device that uses the content, the program comprising:

a first collecting step of collecting first history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device;

a second collecting step of separately collecting the first history logs and second history logs concerning the content use sent from the terminal device; and

a verifying step of verifying the first history logs collected by the first collecting unit and the second history logs collected by the second collecting unit.

29. A program for causing a computer to execute the following steps so as to collect content history logs in a terminal device that uses a content, the program comprising:

a first acquirement step of acquiring first history logs concerning the content use;

a second acquirement step of acquiring second history logs concerning the content use; and

a history log sending step of separately sending the first history logs and the second history logs.