Information managing apparatus and method, recording medium, and program

• US 7,503,073 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2003
• Issued: 03/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nagano, Motohiko, Kawamoto, Yoji, Ezura, Yuichi, Ishiguro, Ryuji
• Primary Examiner(s): LAFORGIA, CHRISTIAN A
• Application Number:
  US10/480,312
• Publication Number:
  US 20050075981A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,161 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 726/27
• 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: 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 20/00144 involving a user identifier, e.g. a unique customer ID
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00166 involving measures which result in a restriction to authorised contents recorded on or reproduced from a record carrier, e.g. music or software
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00181 using a content identifier, e.g. an international standard recording code [ISRC] or a digital object identifier [DOI]
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00188 involving measures which result in a restriction to authorised devices recording or reproducing contents to/from a record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00195 using a device identifier associated with the player or recorder, e.g. serial numbers of playback apparatuses or MAC addresses
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0021 involving encryption or decryption of contents recorded on or reproduced from a record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00536 wherein encrypted content data is subjected to a further, iterated encryption, e.g. interwoven encryption
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00753 wherein the usage restriction limits the number of copies that can be made, e.g. CGMS, SCMS, or CCI flags
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00797 wherein the usage restriction limits the number of times a content can be reproduced, e.g. using playback counters
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0084 wherein the usage restriction can be expressed as a specific time or date
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00884 involving a watermark, i.e. a barely perceptible transformation of the original data which can nevertheless be recognised by an algorithm

Abstract

The present invention relates to an information managing apparatus and method, a recording medium, and a program in which unauthorized use of content can be prevented. A ripping module 91 of a client 1 retrieves the content recorded on a CD 81. In the client 1, a content ID for identifying the content and a unique ID unique to the client 1 are generated, and these IDs are added to the content retrieved by the ripping module 91. A usage right containing the usage conditions of the content, etc., is generated and saved. The usage right includes information indicating that an apparatus (client) having the same ID to the unique ID added to the content is only allowed to play back the content. The present invention is applicable to an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer.

Claims

1. An information managing apparatus for managing content, comprising:

content retrieving means for retrieving the content;

identification information obtaining means for obtaining identification information for identifying the information managing apparatus;

content storing means for storing the content and adding the identification information to the content;

usage-right storing means for storing a usage right regulating use of the content, the usage right comprising the identification information and information for allowing use of the content on an apparatus having the same identification information as the identification information added to the content, wherein the usage right allows use of the content in a hierarchical tree-based key management system, wherein the apparatus is a device node leaf of the hierarchical tree-based key management system;

encryption means for encrypting the content using a content key, wherein the content key is generated based on a root key of the hierarchical tree-based key management system; and

means for allowing playback of the content only when the playback is allowed by the usage right and the identification information added to the content and the identification information obtained by the identification information obtaining means correspond.

2. An information managing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content retrieving means retrieves the content from a recording medium attached to the information managing apparatus.

3. An information managing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification information obtaining means uses a generated random number as the identification information.

4. An information managing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the device node leaf is configured below a playback-only device sub-category node on the hierarchical tree-based key management system.

5. An information managing method for an information managing apparatus for managing content, the information managing method comprising:

retrieving the content;

obtaining identification information for identifying the information managing apparatus;

storing the content and storing the resulting content, to which the identification information is added;

storing a usage right regulating use of the content, the usage right comprising the identification information and information for allowing use of the content on an apparatus having the same identification information as the identification information added to the content, wherein the usage right allows use of the content in a hierarchical tree-based key management system, wherein the apparatus is a device node leaf of the hierarchical tree-based key management system;

generating a content key based on a root key of the hierarchical tree-based key management system;

encrypting the content using the content key; and

allowing playback of the content only when the playback is allowed by the usage right and the identification information added to the content and the identification information obtained by the identification information obtaining means correspond.

6. An information managing method according to claim 5, wherein the device node leaf is configured below a playback-only device sub-category node on the hierarchical tree-based key management system.