Pay information providing system for descrambling information from plural sources and rescrambling the information before sending to a terminal or terminals

• US 6,289,314 B1
• Filed: 09/16/1997
• Issued: 09/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsuzaki, Natsume, Tatebayashi, Makoto, Ohmori, Motoji
• Primary Examiner(s): Cosimano, Edward R.
• Application Number:
  US08/929,652
• Time in Patent Office: 1,456 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/400, 705/41, 705/34, 705/27, 705/26, 705/51, 705/52, 705/50, 705/53, 705/57, 348/3, 348/7, 348/8, 348/10, 348/5.5, 379/93.01, 379/93.02, 455/1, 455/2, 455/3.1, 455/3.2
• US Class Current: 705/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A server scrambles received pay information in an internal scrambler and then transmits the result to a terminal which sent a request. A second charge managing portion determines a charge for the pay information for billing a contractor who manages the server, based on a coefficient of charge outputted from a terminal managing portion. The coefficient of charge is determined based on attributes of the terminal that uses the pay information, the number of the terminals which use the pay information, attributes of users who use the terminals, etc. The charge of use can thereby be obtained according to a degree of actual use at a users'"'"' side.

Claims

1. A server for receiving information transmitted from a plurality of transmitting stations and distributing the information to one or more terminals, wherein

the information transmitted from each of the transmitting stations is scrambled,

said server comprising:

a plurality of receiving portions operable to respectively receive the information transmitted from each of the transmitting stations,

a plurality of descrambling portions operable to respectively descramble the information received by each of said receiving portions,

one rescrambling portion operable to rescramble all of said descrambled information with a single scrambling method, and

a distributing portion operable to distribute said rescrambled information into each of the terminals, wherein

the information transmitted from each of the transmitting stations is scrambled with a different scrambling method, respectively, and

each of said descrambling portions is operable to descramble the information received by each of said receiving portions by descrambling methods corresponding to each of the scrambling methods, respectively.

2. The server according to the claim 1, wherein

a scramble key unique to each of the terminals is set in said rescrambling portion, and

each of said descrambling portions is operable to rescramble said descrambled information by the scramble key unique to each of the terminals.

3. The server according to the claim 1, further comprising a random number generating portion operable to generate a random number, wherein:

said rescrambling portion is operable to rescramble said descrambled information by a random number generated by said random number generating portion, and to encrypt the random number by an encryption key unique to each of the terminals; and

said distributing portion is further operable to distribute said encrypted random number of each of the terminals.

4. A receiving station for receiving information transmitted from a plurality of transmitting stations, wherein

the information transmitted from each of the transmitting stations is scrambled,

said receiving station comprising:

one server, and

one or more terminals, and

said server comprising;

a plurality of receiving portions operable to respectively receive the information transmitted from each of the transmitting stations,

a plurality of descrambling portions operable to respectively descramble the information received by each of said receiving portions,

one rescrambling portion operable to rescramble all of said descrambled information with a single scrambling method, and

a distributing portion operable to distribute said rescrambled information to each of said terminals, and

each of said terminals comprises a redescrambling portion operable to redescramble the rescrambled information, wherein

the information transmitted from each of the transmitting stations is scrambled with a different scrambling method, respectively, and

each of said descrambling portions is operable to descramble the information received by each of said receiving portions by descrambling methods corresponding to each of the scrambling methods, respectively.

5. The receiving station according to the claim 4, wherein

a scramble key unique to each of said terminals is set in said rescrambling portion,

said rescrambling portion is operable to rescramble said descrambled information by the scramble key unique to each of said terminals,

a redescramble key unique to each of said terminals is set in each of said terminals to redescramble the rescrambled information by the scramble key unique to each of said terminals, and

said receiving station further comprises a redescrambling portion included in each of said terminals operable to redescramble said rescrambled information by the redescramble key unique to said each terminal.

6. The receiving station according to the claim 4, further comprising a random number generating portion operable to generate a random number, wherein

said rescrambling portion is operable to rescramble said descrambled information by a random number generated by said random number generating portion, and to encrypt the random number by an encryption key unique to each of said terminals,

said distributing portion is further operable to distribute said encrypted random number to each of said terminals,

a decryption key unique to each of said terminals is set to each of said terminals to decrypt the random number encrypted by the encryption key unique to each of said terminals, and

said receiving station further comprises a redescrambling portion included in each of said terminals operable to decrypt the encrypted random number by the decryption key unique to said each terminal, and to redescramble said rescrambled information by said random number decrypted by said redescrambling portion.