Digital content distribution system and protection method

• US 6,751,598 B1
• Filed: 07/02/1997
• Issued: 06/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Sano, Koichi, Yagawa, Yuichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Stamber, Eric W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Retta, Yehdega
• Application Number:
  US08/887,251
• Time in Patent Office: 2,540 Days
• Field of Search: 705/24, 705/51, 705/59, 705/57, 380/4, 380/201-204, 369/275, 369/100, 369/900, 369/38, 369/47, 369/48, 369/54-58
• US Class Current: 705/51
• 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 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00094 involving measures which result in a restriction to authorised record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0021 involving encryption or decryption of contents recorded on or reproduced from a record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00253 wherein the key is stored on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/1259 with ROM/RAM areas
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/215 Recordable discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2537 Optical discs

Abstract

In a digital content distribution method and system, a storage medium is composed of a ROM area in which a key is stored and a RAM area in which a digital content is stored. A storage medium certification unit of a terminal equipment judges whether or not the key of the storage medium exists in the ROM area. Thereby, the use of an illegal copy of the digital content is prevented. If the key is valid, a digital content execution unit of the terminal equipment reads the digital content and executes it. A digital content updating unit of the terminal system transmits to a distributor a request for transmission of the digital content together with a user profile code. The distributor refers to a user management file to check the validity of the user profile code and the number of times of distribution. If they are valid, the latest edition of the digital content is transmitted to the terminal system so that the digital content is updated by the digital content updating unit. Thereby, the distribution and version-up of a digital content are facilitated.

Claims

1. A digital content protection system for reading a digital content from a server, determining whether a program is executable, and processing said digital content, comprising:

a drive unit for making an access to information in a storage medium mounted thereto, the storage medium having a read only storage area and a rewritable storage area;

a digital content access permitting section, including a judging section connected to said drive unit for reading a code from a predetermined location on said storage medium and judging whether or not said code matches with a predetermined code; and

a control section for distinguishing whether said predetermined location exists in said read only storage area or in said rewritable storage area to determine that, when said code exists in said read only storage area, said program is executable,

wherein information concerning said predetermined location is included at a predetermined position in said digital content, and said storage medium has a plurality of different keys at a plurality of predetermined locations on said read only storage area designated by said predetermined position.

2. A digital content protection system for reading a digital content from a server, determining whether a program is executable, and processing said digital content, comprising:

a drive unit for making an access to information in a storage medium mounted thereto, the storage medium having a read only storage area and a rewritable storage area;

a digital content access permitting section, including a judging section connected to said drive unit for reading a code from a predetermined location on said storage medium and judging whether or not said code matches with a predetermined code;

a control section for distinguishing whether said predetermined location exists in said read only storage area or in said rewritable storage area to determine that, when said code exists in said read only storage area, said program is executable, and

an execution section for controlling execution of said program in accordance with a result of said control section,

wherein when said predetermined location exists in said rewritable storage area, said execution of said program is not permitted.

3. A digital content protection method for reading a digital content from a server, determining whether a program is executable, and processing said digital content, comprising the steps of:

reading a code from a predetermined location on a storage medium to distinguish whether or not said predetermined location exists in a read only storage area of the storage medium instead of a rewritable storage area on said storage medium, and to judge whether or not said code matches with a predetermined code; and

permitting the decoding of the digital content read through a communication network, the permission being made when it is determined as the result of distinction that said location exists in said read only storage area and judgment that said code matches with said predetermined code,

wherein when said predetermined location exists in said rewritable storage area, said method does not permit execution of said program.

4. A digital content distribution system for reading a digital content from a server, determining whether a program is executable, and processing said digital content, comprising:

a terminal system including a drive unit for making an access to information in a storage medium mounted thereto, a digital content access permitting section including a judging section connected to said drive unit for reading a code from a predetermined location on said storage medium, and a control section for distinguishing whether said predetermined location exists in a read only storage area of said storage medium instead of a rewritable storage area of said storage medium, wherein said judging section judges whether or not said code matches with a predetermined code, and wherein said digital content access permitting section permits to decode a digital content read through a communication network, the permission being made when it is determined as the result of distinction by said judging section that said predetermined location exists in said read only storage area and judgment that said code matches with said predetermined code; and

a distributor for transmitting a digital content to said terminal system through the communication network in accordance with a request from said terminal system,

wherein when said predetermined location exists in said rewritable storage area, execution of said program is not permitted.

5. A removable storage medium comprising a read only storage area and a rewritable storage area, in which said read only storage area has a code stored at a predetermined storage location thereof and said rewritable storage area has a digital content stored therein, said read only storage area having a program code for executing a step of reading said code from said predetermined storage location to distinguish whether or not said predetermined storage location exists in said read only storage area instead of said rewritable storage area and to judge whether or not said code is a predetermined code, and a program code for executing a step of reading, upon determining that said predetermined storage location and said code are valid, said digital content from said rewritable storage area to determine to execute a program or a data reference,

wherein when said predetermined location exists in said rewritable storage area, execution of said program is not permitted.

6. A digital content distributor for performing the reading and writing of information for a removable storage medium composed of a read only storage area and a rewritable storage area, comprising means for reading information from said storage medium and writing information into said storage medium, storing means for storing a digital content, and processing means for reading a code from a predetermined storage location of said storage medium to distinguish whether or not said predetermined storage location exists in said read only storage area instead of said rewritable storage area to determine whether said digital content is not executable, and to judge whether or not said code is a predetermined code,

wherein when said predetermined location exists in said rewritable storage area, execution of said digital content is not permitted.

7. A digital content processor for reading a digital content from a relay system connected to a server, determining whether to permit to decode the digital content, and processing said digital content, comprising:

a drive unit for making an access to information in a storage medium mounted thereto, the storage medium having a read only storage area and a rewritable storage area;

a digital content access permitting section, including a judging section connected to said drive unit for reading a code from a predetermined location on said storage medium, and judging whether or not said code matches with a predetermined code;

a control section for distinguishing whether s predetermined location exists in said read only storage area or in said rewritable storage area;

wherein said digital content access permitting section permits to decode the digital content read from said rewritable storage area of said storage medium, the permission being made when it is determined as the result of distinction by said judging section that said predetermined location exists in said read only storage area and judgment that said code matches with said predetermined code, and

wherein when said predetermined location exists in said rewritable storage area, decoding of said digital content is not permitted.