System for processing information, device for processing information, and program

• US 20060005261A1
• Filed: 06/24/2005
• Published: 01/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Takeda, Takashi, Sukigara, Ryu, Ohshige, Yoichi, Koresawa, Akio
• Granted Patent: US 7,765,601 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/27
• 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 2221/2137 Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data

Abstract

An information processing system including: first and second information processing devices in communication through a network. The first device has a license information-sending unit that sends license information containing utilizing-time limit information for utilizing a content in response to a request from the second device. The second device has: a license information-receiving unit that receives the license information sent by the license information-sending unit; a time information acquisition unit that acquires time information through the network; an internal clock-setting unit that refers to the time information acquired by the time information acquisition unit to set time information of a built-in internal clock; and a utilization-controlling unit that controls utilization of the content in association with the license information received by the license information-receiving unit based on the time information of the internal clock set by the internal clock-setting unit or a counter working independently of the internal clock.

Claims

1. An information processing system, comprising:

a first information processing device; and

a second information processing device operable to communicate with said first information processing device through a network;

said first information processing device having

a license information-sending unit operable to send a piece of license information containing a piece of utilizing-time limit information for utilizing a content in response to a request from said second information processing device; and

said second information processing device having

a license information-receiving unit operable to receive the license information sent by said license information-sending unit,

a time information acquisition unit operable to acquire a piece of time information through the network,

an internal clock-setting unit operable to refer to the time information acquired by said time information acquisition unit and to set a piece of time information of a built-in internal clock, and

a utilization-controlling unit operable to control utilization of the content that the license information received by said license information-receiving unit targets, based on the time information of said internal clock set by said internal clock-setting unit or a piece of time information of a counter working independently of said internal clock.

2. An information processing device operable to receive a piece of information for utilizing a content from a different information processing device connected with the information processing device through a network, comprising:

a license information-receiving unit operable to receive a piece of license information containing a piece of utilizing-time limit information for utilizing the content from the different information processing device;

a time information acquisition unit operable to acquire a time information through the network;

an internal clock-setting unit operable to refer to the time information acquired by said time information acquisition unit and to set a piece of time information of a built-in internal clock; and

a utilization-controlling unit operable to control utilization of the content that the license information received by said license information-receiving unit targets, based on the time information of said internal clock set by said internal clock-setting unit or a piece of time information of a counter working independently of said internal clock.

3. The information processing device of claim 2, further comprising:

a time-judging unit operable to judge whether or not the time information of said internal clock is faster than that of said counter; and

a counter-setting unit operable to set the time information of said counter so as to coincide with the time information of said internal clock when said time-judging unit judges that the time information of said internal clock is faster than that of said counter.

4. The information processing device of claim 2, further comprising:

a counter-setting unit operable to refer to the time information acquired by said time information acquisition unit and to set the time information of said counter.

5. The information processing device of claim 2, further comprising a flag-checking unit operable to check a contents playback-authorizing flag showing that the content is available, when utilization of the content is directed, the contents playback-authorizing flag managed by said different information processing device,

wherein when it is recognized by said flag-checking unit that the contents playback-authorizing flag is not present, said utilization-controlling unit exercises control to forbid utilization of the content.

6. The information processing device of claim 5, wherein the license information contains a utilizing-limit datum for the case of utilizing the content offline, the information processing device further comprising:

a number-of-utilizations-counting unit operable to count a number of times that the content is utilized when said utilization-controlling unit controls offline utilization of the content; and

a utilizing-limit-judging unit operable to judge whether or not the number of utilizations of the content counted by said number-of-utilizations-counting unit is equal to or less than the utilizing-limit datum when the offline utilization of the content is directed,

said utilization-controlling unit exercising control to forbid the offline utilization of the content when said utilizing-limit-judging unit judges that the number of utilizations of the content is above the utilizing-limit datum.

7. The information processing device of claim 6, wherein said number-of-utilizations-counting unit resets the number of utilizations of the content when the contents playback-authorizing flag is recognized by said flag-checking unit.

8. A program that forces a computer to execute a process to receive a piece of information for utilizing a content from an information processing device connected with the computer through a network, comprising:

a license information-receiving step of receiving a piece of license information containing a piece of utilizing-time limit information for utilizing the content from the information processing device;

a time information-acquiring step of acquiring a piece of time information through the network;

an internal clock-setting step of referring to the time information acquired according to the process of said time information-acquiring step and then setting a piece of time information of a built-in internal clock; and

a utilization-controlling step of controlling utilization of the content that the license information received according to the process of said license information-receiving step targets, based on the time information of the internal clock set according to the process of said internal clock-setting step or a piece of time information of a counter working independently of the internal clock.

9. An information processing device operable to provide a piece of information for utilizing a content to a different information processing device connected with the information processing device through a network, comprising:

a license information-sending unit operable to send a piece of license information containing a piece of utilizing-time limit information for utilizing the content in response to a request from said different information processing device;

a flag-setting unit operable to set, for each user, a contents playback-authorizing flag showing that the content is available, the contents playback-authorizing flag checked by said different information processing device when the content corresponding to the license information sent by said license information-sending unit is utilized, and

a flag-disabling unit operable to disable the setting of the contents playback-authorizing flag made by said flag-setting unit, based on the utilizing-time limit information contained by said piece of license information.

10. The information processing device of claim 9, wherein the license information contains a utilizing-limit datum for the case of utilizing the content offline.

11. A program that forces a computer to execute a process to provide a piece of information for utilizing a content to an information processing device connected with the computer through a network, comprising:

a license information-sending step of sending a piece of license information containing a piece of utilizing-time limit information for utilizing a content in response to a request from the information processing device;

a flag-setting step of setting, for each user, a contents playback-authorizing flag showing that the content is available, the contents playback-authorizing flag checked by the information processing device when the content corresponding to the license information sent according to the process of said license information-sending step is utilized, and

a flag-disabling step of disabling the setting of the contents playback-authorizing flag made according to the process of said flag-setting step, based on the utilizing-time limit information contained by the license information.