Digital signal processing apparatus, digital signal processing method, information center, and data delivery system

• US 20070061473A1
• Filed: 11/15/2006
• Published: 03/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Koyata, Tomohiro, Konno, Taro
• Granted Patent: US 7,853,530 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00884 involving a watermark, i.e. a barely perceptible transformation of the original data which can nevertheless be recognised by an algorithm
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10 Digital recording or reproducing

Abstract

Disclosed herein are a digital signal processing apparatus, a digital signal processing method, an information center, and a data delivery system capable of judging reliably whether digital signals such as music data recorded on a storage medium have been legally purchased by a customer from a legitimate vendor so that only when the digital signals are judged to be legitimately purchased data will a new service be offered to the customer.

Claims

1. A digital signal processing method comprising the steps of:

receiving identification information and inquiry information from a terminal device over a communication line, said identification information identifying digital data that have undergone a predetermined low bit rate coding process and that are subject to an inquiry, said inquiry information being generated by said terminal device based on said digital data;

retrieving said digital data subject to said inquiry from a digital data storage of said information center based on said identification information for identifying said digital data;

generating reference inquiry information based on retrieved digital data;

comparing generated reference inquiry information with received inquiry information;

generating an inquiry result based on a result of the step of comparing; and

transmitting the inquiry result.

2. An information center for judging whether digital data that have been recorded on a storage medium loaded into a terminal device and that have undergone a predetermined low bit rate coding process are legitimately purchased data, said information center comprising:

receiving means for receiving identification information and inquiry information from said terminal device over a communication line, said identification information identifying said digital data that have undergone said predetermined low bit rate coding process and that are subject to an inquiry, said inquiry information being generated by said terminal device based on said digital data;

retrieving means for retrieving said digital data subject to said inquiry from a digital data storage of said information center based on said identification information for identifying said digital data;

reference inquiry information generating means for generating reference inquiry information based on retrieved digital data;

comparing means for comparing generated reference inquiry information with received inquiry information;

inquiry result generating means for generating an inquiry result based on a comparison by said comprising means; and

transmitting means which, when the comparison reveals a match between the generated reference inquiry information and the received inquiry information, transmits predetermined service information to said terminal device.

3. A data delivery system having an information center that stores digital data having undergone a predetermined low bit rate coding process, and a terminal device connected to said information center by a communication line that records digital data delivered from said information center onto a storage medium loaded by a customer,

wherein said terminal device comprises:

transmitting means for transmitting inquiry information and identification information to said information center over said communication line, said inquiry information being generated based on said digital data that have been recorded on said storage medium after undergoing said predetermined low bit rate coding process and which are subject to an inquiry, said identification information identifying said digital data;

receiving means for receiving a result of said inquiry conducted by said information center based on said inquiry information;

discriminating means for judging, based on said result of said inquiry, whether said digital data recorded on said storage medium are legitimately purchased data; and

controlling means which, when said digital data are judged to be legitimately purchased data, executes a process to offer an additional service to said customer; and

wherein said information center comprises;

receiving means for receiving said identification information and said inquiry information from said terminal device, said identification information identifying said digital data that have undergone said predetermined low bit rate coding process and that are subject to said inquiry;

retrieving means for retrieving said digital data subject to said inquiry from the digital data storage of said information center based on said identification information for identifying said digital data;

reference inquiry information generating means for generating reference inquiry information based on said digital data retrieved by said retrieving means;

comparing means for comparing said reference inquiry information generated by said reference inquiry information generating means with said inquiry information received by said receiving means;

inquiry result generating means for generating an inquiry result based on a comparison result by said comparing means; and

transmitting means for transmitting said inquiry result generated by said inquiry result generating means.

4. The data delivery system according to claim 3, wherein said additional service is offered to said customer by said controlling means performing one of copying and moving said digital data from said storage medium to another storage medium.

5. The data delivery system according to claim 3, wherein said additional service is offered to said customer by said controlling means converting said digital data recorded on said storage medium after undergoing said predetermined low bit rate coding process with an algorithm of a first predetermined version into digital data having undergone a low bit rate coding process with an algorithm of a second predetermined version, before replacing the unconverted digital data with the converted digital data on said storage medium.

6. The data delivery system according to claim 3, wherein said additional service is offered to said customer by said controlling means restoring said digital data having undergone said predetermined low bit rate coding process onto said storage medium.

7. The data delivery system according to claim 3, wherein said additional service is offered to said customer by said controlling means converting said digital data recorded on said storage medium after undergoing said predetermined low bit rate coding process of a predetermined bit rate into digital data having undergone a low bit rate coding process of a different bit rate, before replacing unconverted digital data with converted digital data on said storage medium.

8. The data delivery system according to claim 3, wherein said additional service offered to said customer comprises furnishing said customer, free of charge, with a product related to a producing party who produces said digital data purchased legitimately by said customer from said information center.

9. The data delivery system according to claim 3, wherein said terminal device further comprises charging means for processing charges;

and

wherein, when said discriminating means judges that said digital data recorded on said storage medium are legitimately purchased data, said charging means either charges one of nothing and a reduced amount to said customer for said additional service offered to said customer.