Key generating method and key generating apparatus

• US 7,929,693 B2
• Filed: 04/24/2006
• Issued: 04/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Yamashita, Kosei, Matsuda, Masafumi, Inoue, Makoto, Sako, Yoichiro, Terauchi, Toshiro, Miyajima, Yasushi, Sasaki, Toru, Nakamura, Takatoshi, Takehara, Mitsuru, Asukai, Masamichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu; Kimyen
• Assistant Examiner(s): To; Baotran N
• Application Number:
  US11/409,629
• Publication Number:
  US 20070036355A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,821 Days
• Field of Search: 380/44, 380/45, 380/46, 380/47, 713/186, 382/115
• US Class Current: 380/44
• 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: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2137 Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data

Abstract

A key generating method is disclosed which includes the steps of: firstly detecting first change information as first change information data; secondly detecting second change information different from the first change information as second change information data; and merging the first change information and the second change information into key information.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented key generating method comprising the steps of:

operating at least one processor on at least one computer to perform acts of;

detecting first change information as first change information data;

detecting second change information different from said first change information as second change information data;

merging a value indicative of a key generation count, said first change information and said second change information into key information;

determining whether a value of the key information is within a predetermined range;

when the value of the key information is not within the predetermined range, then incrementing the value indicative of a key generation count and repeating the acts of detecting first change information, detecting second change information, merging, and determining; and

when the value of the key information is within the predetermined range, then performing additional processing, wherein;

the first change information comprises information indicative of a biological condition of a user;

the second change information comprises information indicative of activities of an animal kept by the user as a pet; and

determining whether the key information is within a predetermined range is indicative of a determination that the emotion of the user surges while the pet of the user is asleep.

2. The key generating method according to claim 1, wherein said first change information and said second change information each comprises change information about an identical user.

3. The key generating method according to claim 2, wherein said first change information is indicative of a biological condition of the user and said second change information is indicative of an ambient environment of said user.

4. The key generating method according to claim 1, wherein said first change information is associated with a first user and said second change information is associated with a second user.

5. The key generating method according to claim 1, wherein said merging act comprises adding the value indicative of a key generation count to the result of performing an EXCLUSIVE-OR operation on each of digits constituting said first change information data and said second change information data.

6. The key generating method according to claim 1, wherein said merging act comprises adding the value indicative of a key generation count to a result of calculating data on a correlation between said first change information data and said second change information data.

7. The key generating method according to claim 1, wherein the value indicative of the key generation count has a different number of digits than each of the first change information data and the second change information data.

8. The key generating method according to claim 1, wherein the acts of detecting first change information, detecting second change information, merging, and determining are performed by at least one processor of a user terminal.

9. The key generating method according to claim 1, wherein the acts of detecting first change information and detecting second change information are performed by at least one processor of a user terminal and the acts of merging and determining are carried out by at least one processor of a server connected to said user terminal via a network.

10. The key generating method according to claim 4, wherein the act of detecting first change information is performed by at least one processor of a first user terminal, the act of detecting second change information is performed by at least one processor of a second user terminal, and the acts of merging and determining are performed by at least one processor of a server connected to said first and said second user terminals via a network.

11. The key generating method of claim 1, wherein one of the first change information and the second change information is time-of-day information.

12. The key generating method of claim 1, wherein the additional processing comprises adjusting temperature and humidity of a room.

13. The key generating method of claim 1, wherein the additional processing comprises automatically adjusting coloring and/or luminance of lighting fixtures.

14. The key generating method of claim 1, wherein the additional processing comprises automatically adjusting brightness and contrast of videos.

15. The key generating method of claim 1, wherein:

the acts of detecting first change information, detecting second change information, and merging are performed by at least one processor of a first user terminal to generate first key information associated with a first user;

the acts of detecting first change information, detecting second change information, and merging are further performed by at least one processor of a second terminal to generate second key information associated with a second user;

the method further comprises performing by at least one processor of a server an act of merging the first key information and the second key information to generate secondary key information;

determining whether the key information is within a predetermined range comprises performing by at least one processor of the server an act of determining whether the secondary key information is within the predetermined range; and

the additional processing is performed by at least one processor on the server.

16. The key generating method of claim 15, wherein the additional processing comprises allowing a single user of the first user and the second user to reproduce contents on a user terminal.

17. The key generating method of claim 15, wherein the additional processing comprises allowing both the first user and the second user to reproduce contents on a user terminal.

18. A key generating apparatus comprising:

a first detection device configured to detect first change information as first change information data;

a second detection device configured to detect second change information different from said first change information as second change information data;

a key generation device configured to merge a value indicative of a key generation count, said first change information, and said second change information into key information; and

a control device configured to;

determine whether a value of the key information is within a predetermined range; and

when the control device determines that the value of the key information is not within the predetermined range, then instruct the key generation device to increment the value indicative of a key generation count and to repeat the merging with newly detected first change information and second change information, wherein;

the first change information comprises information indicative of a movement of a user;

the second change information comprises information indicative of a movement of an entertainment robot; and

determining whether the key information is within a predetermined range is indicative of a determination that the movement of the user is synchronized with the movement of the entertainment robot.