Digital data processing device that restricts usage of data present on a recording medium

• US 6,810,200 B1
• Filed: 04/13/2000
• Issued: 10/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Delphi Technologies, Inc. (BorgWarner Incorporated), Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Aoyama, Shoichi, Koshiba, Kenichi, Syoda, Yukie, Ohtani, Yukako
• Primary Examiner(s): Boccio, Vincent
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fletcher, James A
• Application Number:
  US09/548,625
• Time in Patent Office: 1,657 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.591, G11/B.364, H04/L.900, 360/60, 369/84, 369/85, 380/201, 380/203, 380/202, 386/94, 705/51, 705/52, 705/56, 705/57, 705/58
• US Class Current: 386/248
• 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: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4184 providing storage capabilities, e.g. memory stick
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42646 for reading from or writing on a non-volatile solid state storage medium, e.g. DVD, CD-ROM
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content 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 21/8113 comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/913 for scrambling ; for copy protection

Abstract

A digital data recording control system reads music data from a CD and records (i.e., copies) the music data onto an SD card. The CD also stores an ISRC that specifies the content of the CD, that is, the music data present on the CD. The digital data recording control system includes: a recording number information storage unit for associating the ISRC with a number of times the music data has been recorded onto an SD card; a limit information storage unit for storing information showing a limit on a number of times the music data is permitted to be recorded; and a record judging unit for: (1) having a digital data reading unit read the ISRC from the CD and, if a number of times associated with the read ISRC is lower than the limit, read the music data from the CD; and (2) having a recording unit convert the read music data into an MP3 format and record the converted music data onto the SD card.

Claims

1. A digital data processing device for reading content data from a first recording medium having the content data and ID (identification) information, and using the read content data, the digital data processing device comprising:

a limit information storage unit for storing limit information showing a limit on a number of times the content data is permitted to be used;

a use information storage unit that has a storage region capable of storing a combination of the ID information present on the first recording medium and use information showing a number of times the content data has been used;

an ID information reading unit for reading the ID information from the first recording medium;

a use judging unit for referring to said use information storage unit to obtain the use information that is in the same combination as the read ID information, comparing the number of times in the obtained use information with the limit in the limit information, and judging whether usage of the content data is permitted based on a comparison result,

wherein when the read ID information does not exist in said use information storage unit, said use judging unit assumes that use information, which would be in a same combination as the read ID information, shows the number of times as zero, and obtains the use information showing the number of times as zero; and

a content data using unit for using the content data if said use judging unit judges that the usage of the content data is permitted, and updating the use information each time the content data is used,

wherein when the read ID information does not exist in said use information storage unit, said content data using unit, instead of performing an update, places a combination of the read ID information, and the use information, which shows the number of times the content data has been used as one, into said use information storage unit.

2. The digital data processing device of claim 1,

wherein said content data using unit includes a recording unit for accessing a second recording medium to write data, and uses the content data by having said recording unit write the content data onto the second recording medium.

3. The digital data processing device of claim 2,

wherein the ID information stored on the first recording medium specifies the content data present on the first recording medium.

4. The digital data processing device of claim 1,

wherein the limit in the limit information corresponds to the ID information and shows the limit on the number of times the content data, which is present on the first recording medium together with the ID information, is permitted to be used, and

wherein said use judging unit compares the number of times in the use information with the limit corresponding to the read ID information, and judges that the usage of the content data is permitted when the number of times in the use information is smaller than the limit.

5. The digital data processing device of claim 1,

wherein the use information is expressed as a number, and

wherein said content data using unit updates the use information by incrementing the number by one, and when the incremented number of times becomes equal to the limit in the limit information, said content data using unit deletes a combination containing the updated use information from said use information storage unit and updates the limit to zero.

6. The digital data processing device of claim 1,

wherein the first recording medium is read-only.

7. The digital data processing device of claim 1,

wherein the content data is at least one of audio data and image data.

8. The digital data processing device of claim 3,

wherein the content data is audio data,

wherein the first recording medium is a compact disc, and

wherein the ID information is an ISRC (International Standard Recording Code).

9. The digital data processing device of claim 2,

wherein the ID information present on the first recording medium distinguishes the first recording medium from other recording media.

10. The digital data processing device of claim 2,

wherein the content data is divided into a plurality of sets of partial content data,

wherein the ID information contains a plurality of sets of part-ID information, each of the sets of part-ID information specifying a different set of the sets of partial content data,

wherein said ID information reading unit reads a set of the sets of part-ID information specifying a set of the sets of partial content data, and

wherein said use judging unit judges whether usage of the set of partial content data specified by the read set of part-ID information is permitted.

11. The digital data processing device of claim 2,

wherein the limit in the limit information corresponds to the ID information and shows the limit on the number of times the content data, which is present on the first recording medium together with the ID information, is permitted to be used, and

wherein said use judging unit compares the number of times in the use information with the limit corresponding to the read ID information, and judges that the usage of the content data is permitted when the number of times in the use information is smaller than the limit.

12. The digital data processing device of claim 2,

wherein the first recording medium is read-only.

13. The digital data processing device of claim 2, wherein the content data is at least one of audio data and image data.

14. The digital data processing device of claim 1,

wherein the content data is at least one of audio data and image data, and

wherein said content data using unit includes a reproducing unit for reproducing at least one of sounds and images from the at least one of the audio data and the image data, and using the content data by having said reproducing unit reproduce the at least one of the sounds and the images from the content data.

15. The digital data processing device of claim 14,

wherein the ID information stored on the first recording medium specifies the content data present on the first recording medium.

16. The digital data processing device of claim 14,

wherein the ID information present on the first recording medium distinguishes the first recording medium from other recording media.

17. A digital data processing method for having a computer read content data from a recording medium having the content data and ID information, and use the read content data, the computer including a storage unit for storing limit information showing a limit on a number of times the content data is permitted to be used, the digital data processing method comprising:

storing in the storage unit, a combination of the ID information present on the recording medium, and use information showing a number of times the content data has been used;

reading the ID information from the recording medium;

a use judging operation of referring to the storage unit to obtain the use information that is in the same combination as the read ID information, comparing the number in the obtained use information with the limit in the limit information, and judging whether usage of the content data is permitted based on a comparison result,

wherein when the read ID information does not exist in the use information storage unit, said use judging operation further comprises assuming that use information, which would be in a same combination as the read ID information, shows the number of times as zero, and obtaining the use information showing the number of times as zero; and

a content data using operation of using the content data if the usage of the content data is judged to be permitted in said use judging operation, and updating the use information each time the content data is used,

wherein when the read ID information does not exist in the use information storage unit, said content data using operation further comprises placing, instead of performing said updating, a combination of the read ID information, and the use information, which shows the number of times the content data has been used as one, into the use information storage unit.

18. A control program stored on a computer-readable recording medium for having a computer perform digital data use processing by having the computer read content data from a second recording medium having the content data and ID information, and use the read content data, the computer including a storage unit for storing limit information showing a limit on a number of times the content data is permitted to be used, the digital data use processing comprising:

storing in the storage unit, a combination of the ID information present on the second recording medium, and use information showing a number of times the content data has been used;

reading the ID information from the second recording medium;

a use judging operation of referring to the storage unit to obtain the use information that is in the same combination as the read ID information, comparing the number in the obtained use information with the limit in the limit information, and judging whether usage of the content data is permitted based on a comparison result,

wherein when the read ID information does not exist in the use information storage unit, said use judging operation further comprises assuming that use information, which would be in a same combination as the read ID information, shows the number of times as zero, and obtaining the use information showing the number of times as zero; and

a content data using operation of using the content data if the usage of the content data is judged to be permitted in said use judging operation, and updating the use information each time the content data is used,

wherein when the read ID information does not exist in the use information storage unit, the content data using operation further comprises placing, instead of performing said updating, a combination of the read ID information, and the use information, which shows the number of times the content data has been used as one, into the use information storage unit.