CONTENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, DISTRIBUTION METHOD, CONTENT PROCESSING DEVICE, AND PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20100223674A1
• Filed: 05/07/2010
• Published: 09/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation), Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation), Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Shimoji, Tatsuya, Kitazato, Naohisa, Matsui, Yoshinori, DEWA, Yoshiharu
• Granted Patent: US 8,307,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2747 Remote storage of video programs received via the downstream path, e.g. from the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43622 Interfacing an external recording device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47211 for requesting pay-per-view content payment schemes payment architectures or payment protocols G06Q20/00, G07F
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6334 for authorisation, e.g. by transmitting a key wireless communications network key management H04W12/04; wireless communications network access security H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6408 Unicasting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8355 involving usage data, e.g. number of copies or viewings allowed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

The present invention provided a content delivery system that can deliver content by way of the Internet. In the system, a browser requests a content server to deliver a startup file. The content server transmits the startup file to the browser. The startup file describes that the content is to be delivered by streaming or that it is to be delivered by downloaded files. A content reproducing section determines if the content is that to be delivered by streaming or that to be delivered by downloaded files according to the description of the startup file it receives from the browser. A television receiving set may be used as content processing apparatus for receiving the delivery of the content from a content delivery apparatus of such a system.

Claims

1. A content processing apparatus configured to receive content from a content delivery apparatus via a network, the content processing apparatus comprising:

a memory configured to store first data including a title of the content;

a display configured to display a list of content based on the first data;

a network interface configured to transmit request information including first request information corresponding to a license of the content, second request information corresponding to an acquisition destination of the content, a license ID, and a user ID;

the network interface configured to receive a result indicating whether reproduction of the content is permitted based on the first request information, the license ID and the user ID, and to receive the destination information corresponding to the content based on the second request information; and

a reproduction section configured to reproduce the content when said result indicates that reproduction of the content is permitted.

2. The content processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first data stored in the memory is metadata including titles corresponding to a plurality of content data.

3. The content processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the destination information corresponding to the content is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) corresponding the content delivery apparatus from which the content is retrieved by the content processing apparatus.

5. The content processing method according to claim 3, wherein the first data stored at the memory is metadata including titles corresponding to a plurality of content data.

6. The content processing method according to claim 3, wherein the destination information corresponding to the content is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) corresponding the content delivery apparatus from which the content is retrieved by the content processing apparatus.

4. A content processing method performed by a content processing apparatus for receiving content from a content delivery apparatus via a network, the method comprising:

storing, at a memory of the content processing apparatus, first data including a title of the content;

displaying, at a display of the content processing apparatus, a list of content based on the first data;

transmitting, from a network interface of the content processing apparatus, request information including first request information corresponding to a license of the content, second request information corresponding to an acquisition destination of the content, a license ID, and a user ID;

receiving, by the network interface of the content processing apparatus, a result indicating whether reproduction of the content is permitted based on the first request information, the license ID and the user ID, and receiving the destination information corresponding to the content based on the second request information; and

reproducing, at the content processing apparatus, the content when said result indicates that reproduction of the content is permitted.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer program instructions, which when executed by a content processing apparatus, cause the content processing apparatus to perform a method for receiving content from a content delivery apparatus via a network, the method comprising:

storing first data including a title of the content;

displaying a list of content based on the first data;

transmitting request information including first request information corresponding to a license of the content, second request information corresponding to an acquisition destination of the content, a license ID, and a user ID;

receiving a result indicating whether reproduction of the content is permitted based on the first request information, the license ID and the user ID, and receiving the destination information corresponding to the content based on the second request information; and

reproducing the content when said result indicates that reproduction of the content is permitted.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 7, wherein the first data is metadata including titles corresponding to a plurality of content data.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 7, wherein the destination information corresponding to the content is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) corresponding the content delivery apparatus from which the content is retrieved by the content processing apparatus.

10. A content delivery apparatus configured to provide content to a content processing apparatus via a network, the content delivery apparatus comprising:

a network interface configured to receive, from the content processing apparatus, request information including first request information corresponding to a license of the content, second request information corresponding to an acquisition destination of the content, a license ID, and a user ID; and

the network interface configured to transmit, to the content processing apparatus, a result indicating whether reproduction of the content is permitted based on the first request information, the license ID and the user ID, and to transmit the destination information corresponding to the content based on the second request information.

11. The content delivery apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising:

a judgment module configured to judge whether reproduction of the content is permitted based on the first request information, the license ID and the user ID.

12. The content delivery apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the destination information corresponding to the content is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) corresponding a storage location of the content.

13. A content delivery method performed by a content delivery apparatus for providing content to a content processing apparatus via a network, the content delivery method comprising:

receiving, at a network interface of the content delivery apparatus from the content processing apparatus, request information including first request information corresponding to a license of the content, second request information corresponding to an acquisition destination of the content, a license ID, and a user ID; and

transmitting, from the network interface of the content delivery apparatus to the content processing apparatus, a result indicating whether reproduction of the content is permitted based on the first request information, the license ID and the user ID, and transmitting the destination information corresponding to the content based on the second request information.

14. The content delivery method according to claim 13, further comprising:

judging whether reproduction of the content is permitted based on the first request information, the license ID and the user ID.

15. The content delivery method according to claim 13, wherein the destination information corresponding to the content is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) corresponding a storage location of the content.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer program instructions, which when executed by a content delivery apparatus cause the content delivery apparatus to perform a method for providing content to a content processing apparatus via a network, the content delivery method comprising:

receiving, from the content processing apparatus, request information including first request information corresponding to a license of the content, second request information corresponding to an acquisition destination of the content, a license ID, and a user ID; and

transmitting, to the content processing apparatus, a result indicating whether reproduction of the content is permitted based on the first request information, the license ID and the user ID, and transmitting the destination information corresponding to the content based on the second request information.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 16, further comprising:

judging whether reproduction of the content is permitted based on the first request information, the license ID and the user ID.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 16, wherein the destination information corresponding to the content is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) corresponding a storage location of the content.