TERMINAL APPARATUS, SERVER AND SYSTEM THEREOF

• US 20100088750A1
• Filed: 08/08/2008
• Published: 04/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakahara, Tohru, Wakabayashi, Tohru, Kemi, Shinya, Tanaka, Akihiro, Murakami, Hiroki, Okamoto, Ryuichi, Miura, Koji, Sakurai, Atsunori
• Granted Patent: US 8,260,714 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• 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: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A terminal apparatus is provided which can guarantee operation of a use condition bytecode while securing the degree of freedom for a service provider generating the use condition bytecode. A terminal apparatus (300), in which a license (1200) includes a use condition determining logic code (1204) and a version number (1202), includes a license obtainment unit (304) which obtains the license (1200), a use condition verification unit (302) which determines, based on the version number (1202), whether or not the operation of the use condition determining logic code (1204) has been confirmed, a use condition bytecode execution unit (303) which executes the use condition determining logic code (1204) when the operation of the use condition determining logic code (1204) has been determined to have been confirmed, and a content playback unit (306) which playbacks content based on the use condition determining logic code (1204).

Claims

1. A terminal apparatus which uses, based on a license, content that is a digital copyrighted work, said terminal apparatus comprising:

a license obtainment unit configured to obtain the license which includes a use condition determining code that is a program for determining whether or not use of the content is permitted, and determination information for determining whether or not operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed;

an operation confirmation determination unit configured to determine, based on the determination information included in the obtained license, whether or not the operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed;

a use condition determining code execution unit configured to execute the use condition determining code when the operation of the use condition determining code has been determined to have been confirmed; and

a content playback unit configured to determine whether or not the use of the content is permitted based on the executed use condition determining code and to playback the content when the use of the content has been determined to be permitted.

2. The terminal apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the determination information includes version information that is information which indicates a version of the use condition determining code included in the obtained license,

said terminal apparatus further comprises

an operable version management unit configured to manage operable version information that is information which indicates the version of the use condition determining code that is operable in said terminal apparatus, and

said operation confirmation determination unit is configured to determine whether or not the operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed by comparing the version information and the operable version information.

3. The terminal apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the version information is information which indicates a version number of the use condition determining code,

the operable version information is information which indicates a version number of the use condition determining code that is operable, and

said operation confirmation determination unit is configured:

to determine that the operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed when the version number indicated by the version information is equal to or less than the version number indicated by the operable version information; and

to determine that the operation of the use condition determining code has not been confirmed when the version number indicated by the version information is greater than the version number indicated by the operable version information.

4. The terminal apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the determination information includes profile information that is information which indicates a profile of the use condition determining code included in the obtained license,

said terminal apparatus further comprises

an operable profile management unit configured to manage operable profile information that is information which indicates a profile of the use condition determining code that is operable in said terminal apparatus, and

said operation confirmation determination unit is configured to determine whether or not the operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed by comparing the profile information and the operable profile information.

5. The terminal apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the determination information includes information of at least one of said terminal apparatus and a terminal apparatus in which the use condition determining code is operable, and

said operation confirmation determination unit is configured to determine, using the information of at least one of said terminal apparatus and the terminal apparatus included in the determination information, whether or not the operation of the use condition determining code in said terminal apparatus which uses the content has been confirmed.

6. The terminal apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said license obtainment unit is configured to obtain, from a server, the license that includes the determination information generated by the server.

7. A server which distributes a license in response to a license distribution request from a terminal apparatus, said server comprising:

a use condition determining code operation verification unit configured to verify whether or not a use condition determining code operates, the use condition determining code being a program for determining whether or not use of content, which is a digital copyrighted work, is permitted;

a determination information generation unit configured to generate, based on a result of the verification performed by said use condition determining code operation verification unit, determination information used by the terminal apparatus for determining whether or not the operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed in the terminal apparatus; and

a license distribution unit configured to distribute the license to the terminal apparatus, the license including the use condition determining code and the generated determination information.

8. A system comprising a server and a terminal apparatus, said server distributing a license in response to a license distribution request from said terminal apparatus, said terminal apparatus using, based on the distributed license, content that is a digital copyrighted work,

wherein said server includes:

a use condition determining code operation verification unit configured to verify whether or not a use condition determining code operates, the use condition determining code being a program for determining whether or not use of content, which is a digital copyrighted work, is permitted;

a determination information generation unit configured to generate, based on a result of the verification performed by said use condition determining code operation verification unit, determination information used by said terminal apparatus for determining whether or not operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed in said terminal apparatus; and

a license distribution unit configured to distribute the license to said terminal apparatus, the license including the use condition determining code and the generated determination information, and

said terminal apparatus includes;

a license obtainment unit configured to obtain the license;

an operation confirmation determination unit configured to determine, based on the determination information included in the obtained license, whether or not the operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed;

a use condition determining code execution unit configured to execute the use condition determining code when the operation of the use condition determining code has been determined to have been confirmed; and

a content playback unit configured to determine whether or not the use of the content is permitted based on the executed use condition determining code and to playback the content when the use of the content has been determined to be permitted.

9. A content use method in which content that is a digital copyrighted work is used based on a license, said content use method comprising:

obtaining the license which includes a use condition determining code that is a program for determining whether or not use of the content is permitted, and determination information for determining whether or not operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed;

determining, based on the determination information included in the obtained license, whether or not the operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed;

executing the use condition determining code when the operation of the use condition determining code has been determined to have been confirmed; and

determining whether or not the use of the content is permitted based on the executed use condition determining code, and playing back the content when the use of the content has been determined to be permitted.

10. A program for using, based on a license, content that is a digital copyrighted work, said program causing a computer to execute:

obtaining the license which includes a use condition determining code that is a program for determining whether or not use of the content is permitted, and determination information for determining whether or not operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed;

determining, based on the determination information included in the obtained license, whether or not operation of the use condition determining code has been confirmed;

executing the use condition determining code when the operation of the use condition determining code has been determined to have been confirmed; and

determining whether or not the use of the content is permitted based on the executed use condition determining code, and playing back the content when the use of the content has been determined to be permitted.