MANAGEMENT SERVER

• US 20150156058A1
• Filed: 05/16/2013
• Published: 06/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Uefuji, Takashi, Ukai, Hiroki
• Granted Patent: US 10,659,287 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A management server capable of improving the convenience of a content distribution service for a user who purchases a vehicular device is disclosed. The management server manages provision of a content distribution service for content execution device, which includes a vehicular device and a mobile communication terminal each installed with a cooperative application to execute content based on mutual cooperation. When user identification information transmitted from the content execution device may match user identification information managed by the user identification information management portion, the management server permits provision of the content distribution service for the content execution device regardless of whether or not a vehicular device included in the content execution device is registered.

Claims

1. A management server that manages provision of a content distribution service for a content execution device, which includes a vehicular device and a mobile communication terminal each installed with a cooperative application for executing content based on mutual cooperation with each other, the management server comprising:

a registered vehicular device enabling portion that configures the vehicular device included in the content execution device as a registered vehicular device when the content execution device start the cooperative application for the first time; and

a user identification information management portion that manages user identification information in association with vehicular device identification information, the vehicular device identification information identifying the registered vehicular device, the user identification information being entered when the content execution device, which includes the registered vehicular device, start the cooperative application for the first time,

wherein the management server permits the provision of the content distribution service for the content execution device when the user identification information transmitted from the content execution device matches the user identification information managed by the user identification information management portion regardless of whether a vehicular device included in the content execution device is the registered vehicular device.

2. The management server according to claim 1, wherein:

when the user identification information received from the content execution device including the registered vehicular device differs from the managed user identification information, the user identification information management portion manages the received user identification information in association with the vehicular device identification information of the registered vehicular device.

3. The management server according to claim 2, wherein:

when the user identification information received from the content execution device including the registered vehicular device differs from the managed user identification information, the user identification information management portion manages the received user identification information in association with the vehicular device identification information of the registered vehicular device under a condition where a total number of user identification information managed in association with the vehicular device identification information of the registered vehicular device does not reach a predetermined count.

4. The management server according to claim 1, further comprising:

a user identification information removal portion that removes the user identification information managed by the user identification information management portion in response to a removal request from the content execution device.

5. The management server according to claim 4, wherein:

the user identification information removal portion removes the user identification information selected in the content execution device.