CONTENT PROTECTION SYSTEM

• US 20110302662A1
• Filed: 05/03/2011
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kannari, Shingo, Kazawa, Tsunehisa, Kanee, Kazuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,009,080 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/29
• 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 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]

Abstract

Provided is a content protection system, in which: a user terminal judges, when a content is to be reproduced or executed, whether or not the user terminal has a usage right of the content, and makes, if it is judged that the user terminal does not have the usage right of the content, a request to a license management apparatus to acquire the usage right of the content; the license management apparatus generates, when the request to acquire the usage right is received from the user terminal, license information containing information on an expiration date that is set based on a timing when the request is received, and transmits the generated license information to the user terminal; and the user terminal judges that the user terminal has the usage right of the content until the expiration date indicated by the license information received from the license management apparatus arrives.

Claims

1. A content protection system, comprising:

a user terminal; and

a license management apparatus,

the user terminal comprising;

judging means for judging, when a content is to be reproduced or executed, whether or not the user terminal has a usage right of the content; and

usage right requesting means for making, if the judging means judges that the user terminal does not have the usage right of the content, a request to the license management apparatus to acquire the usage right of the content,

the license management apparatus comprising;

license information generating means for generating, when the request to acquire the usage right is received from the user terminal, license information containing information on an expiration date that is set based on a timing when the request is received; and

license information transmitting means for transmitting the generated license information to the user terminal,

wherein the judging means judges that the user terminal has the usage right of the content until the expiration date indicated by the license information received from the license management apparatus arrives.

2. The content protection system according to claim 1, wherein the license information generating means generates the license information containing information on the expiration date that is set based on a timing when a predetermined permission period has passed from the timing when the request is received.

3. The content protection system according to claim 1, wherein:

the user terminal further comprises means for generating, when the content is to be acquired, temporary license information on the content; and

the usage right requesting means makes, when the temporary license information is present, the request to the license management apparatus to acquire the usage right of the content.

4. The content protection system according to claim 3, wherein:

the temporary license information contains information on a temporary expiration date; and

the user terminal further comprises means for displaying, as information on the usage right of the content, the temporary expiration date before acquiring the license information, and the expiration date indicated by the license information after acquiring the license information.

5. The content protection system according to claim 1, wherein:

the usage right requesting means transmits, when making the request to the license management apparatus to acquire the usage right of the content, user identification information for identifying a user who has provided an instruction to reproduce or execute the content to the license management apparatus;

the license information generating means judges whether or not the license information for granting the usage right of the content to the user identified by the user identification information has been generated, and when the license information has not been generated, newly generates the license information to the user; and

the license information transmitting means transmits, when it is judged that the license information has been generated for the user identified by the user identification information, the generated license information to the user terminal.

6. A user terminal to be connected to a license management apparatus, comprising:

judging means for judging, when a content is to be reproduced or executed, whether or not the user terminal has a usage right of the content; and

usage right requesting means for making, if the judging means judges that the user terminal does not have the usage right of the content, a request to the license management apparatus to acquire the usage right of the content,

wherein the judging means judges that the user terminal has the usage right of the content until an expiration date indicated by license information received from the license management apparatus in response to the request to acquire the usage right arrives, the expiration date being set based on a timing when the license management apparatus receives the request to acquire the usage right.

7. A content protection method using a user terminal connected to a license management apparatus, comprising:

a judging step of judging, by the user terminal, when a content is to be reproduced or executed, whether or not the user terminal has a usage right of the content; and

a usage right requesting step of making, by the user terminal, if it is judged in the judging step that the user terminal does not have the usage right of the content, a request to the license management apparatus to acquire the usage right of the content,

wherein, in the judging step, if license information is received from the license management apparatus in response to the request to acquire the usage right, it is judged that the user terminal has the usage right of the content until an expiration date indicated by the license information arrives, the expiration date being set based on a timing when the license management apparatus receives the request to acquire the usage right.

8. A computer-readable information storage medium having a program stored therein, the program causing a computer connected to a license management apparatus to function as:

judging means for judging, when a content is to be reproduced or executed, whether or not the computer has a usage right of the content; and

usage right requesting means for making, if the judging means judges that the computer does not have the usage right of the content, a request to the license management apparatus to acquire the usage right of the content,

wherein the judging means judges that the computer has the usage right of the content until an expiration date indicated by license information received from the license management apparatus in response to the request to acquire the usage right arrives, the expiration date being set based on a timing when the license management apparatus receives the request to acquire the usage right.