Information acquisition system, information acquisition method and information processing program

• US 20050125683A1
• Filed: 11/10/2004
• Published: 06/09/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Matsuyama, Shinako, Akagiri, Kenzo, Suginuma, Koji
• Application Number:
  US10/985,729
• Publication Number:
  US 20050125683A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/189
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/33 using certificates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2107 File encryption
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/062 applying encryption of the keys cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution using key encryption key H04L9/0822
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

It is envisaged to relieve the load imposed on the authentication processing as anonymity is maintained to prevent the leakage of the private information, such as taste information of a user. In an information acquisition system 1, a storage server 2 encrypts contents data and other information provided, in their entirety, using a common cipher key for data encryption DEK, and stores the encrypted information as encrypted data EN (DATA). The storage server 2 further encrypts the cipher key for data encryption DEK, as the key information of the encrypted data EN (DEK), using cipher key data KEK, and publicizes the encrypted data EN (DATA), encrypted with the cipher key for encryption DEK, and the encrypted key data EN (DEK), encrypted with the cipher key data KEK. An information processing terminal 3 encrypts the retrieval key word, by the cipher key data KEK, received from the management server 4, and retrieves the encrypted data EN (DATA), stored in the storage server 2, by the encrypted retrieval keyword EN (REF).

Claims

1. An information acquisition system comprising:

an information providing device, including data storage means, having data stored therein, and data transmitting means for transmitting data specified from said stored data to outside;

an information processing terminal, including taste information acquisition means for acquiring taste information representing a taste of a user, retrieval information generating means for generating retrieval information based on the taste information, information retrieving means for retrieving information matched to the retrieval information from said information providing device, and information presenting means for presenting a retrieved result to said user; and

a management device for supervising a connection of said information processing terminal to said information providing device; and

wherein

said information providing device, said information processing terminal and said management device are interconnected over a network.

2. The information acquisition system according to claim 1 wherein said information processing terminal includes, as said taste information acquisition means, information acquisition means for acquiring experience information pertinent to an event experienced by the user;

and wherein the information acquisition system further comprises;

private information adding means for adding private information, privately needed by the user, as an evaluation value, to the experience information;

storage means for storing said experience information and the private information;

data storage controlling means for classifying the experience information, added by said based on attributes, and for storing classified experience information in said storage means; and

correlation calculating means for calculating a correlation value among evaluated values;

wherein

said information retrieving means retrieves information matched to information featured by said correlation value, as the retrieval information, from said information providing device; and

wherein said information presenting means presents a retrieved result for said user.

3. The information acquisition system according to claim 1 wherein:

said management device includes cipher key generating means for generating a first cipher key for supervising a connection of said information processing terminal to said information providing device;

said information providing device includes;

cipher key generating means for generating a second cipher key for data encryption, used for encrypting data stored in said data storage means, with the first cipher key having been received over said network from said management device, and

key encrypting means for encrypting the second cipher key for data encryption, with encrypted data and encrypted cipher key being stored in said data storage means; and

said information processing terminal includes;

retrieval information encrypting means for encrypting said retrieval information using the first cipher key received over said network from said management device,

cipher key decoding means for decoding the encrypted cipher key using the first cipher key

data decoding means for decoding the encrypted data using the second cipher key and

comparing means for comparing the encrypted retrieval information to the encrypted data.

4. An information acquisition method for acquiring information stored in an information providing device including data storage means, by use of an information processing terminal of a user, said information providing device and the information processing terminal being interconnected over a network, with a management device, said method comprising:

a taste information acquisition step of acquiring taste information representing a taste of the user;

a retrieval information generating step for generating retrieval information based on the taste information;

an information retrieving step of retrieving information, matched to the retrieval information, from said information providing device; and

an information presenting step of presenting retrieved results to said user.

5. The information acquisition method according to claim 4 wherein said taste information acquisition step includes an information acquisition step of acquiring experience information pertinent to an event experienced by the user;

and wherein the information acquisition method further comprises;

a private information adding step of adding private information, as needed privately by the user, to the experience information, as an evaluation value;

a storage step of storing said experience information and the private information in a storage means;

a data storage controlling step of classifying the experience information, according to attributes, for storage in said storage means; and

a correlation calculating step of calculating a correlation value among evaluation values;

wherein

by use of information featured by said correlation value, as the retrieval information, information matched to said retrieval information is retrieved in said information retrieving step, and wherein

the retrieved result is presented to said user in said information presenting step.

6. The information acquisition method according to claim 4 further comprising:

in said management device;

an encryption key generating step of generating a first cipher key for supervising a connection of said information processing terminal to said information providing device;

in an information presenting terminal;

a cipher key generating step of generating a second cipher key for data encryption for encrypting data stored in said data storage means, and

a key encrypting step of encrypting the second cipher key by use of the first cipher key received over said network from said management device; and

in said information processing terminal;

a retrieval information encrypting step of encrypting said retrieval information by the first cipher key,

a cipher key decoding step of decoding the second cipher key using the first cipher key,

a data decoding step of decoding encrypted data using the second cipher key, and

a comparing step of comparing said encrypted retrieval information to said encrypted data.

7. An information program for an information processing terminal, the program comprising computer executable instructions for executing:

an information acquisition step of acquiring experience information pertinent to an event experienced by a user;

a private information adding step of adding private information, as needed privately by the user, to the experience information, as an evaluation value;

a storage step of storing the experience information and the private information in a storage means;

a data storage controlling step of classifying the experience information, according to attributes, for storage in said storage means;

a correlation calculating step of calculating a correlation value among evaluation values;

a taste information acquisition step of acquiring taste information representing the taste of the user;

a retrieval information generating step of generating retrieval information based on the taste information;

an information retrieving step of retrieving information matched to the retrieval information, from another information processing apparatus connected to a network; and

an information presenting step of presenting a retrieved result to said user, wherein information featured by said correlation value is used as the retrieval information to retrieve information matched to said retrieval information, and the retrieved result is presented to the user.