Information processing device and method, and recording medium

• US 8,041,185 B2
• Filed: 08/16/2001
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Wakahara, Tatsuya
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Topgyal; Gelek W
• Application Number:
  US09/930,756
• Publication Number:
  US 20020085311A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,715 Days
• Field of Search: 386/1, 386/94, 386/201, 386/208, 360/60, 380/201, 380/208, 380/203
• US Class Current: 386/248
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/91314 the copy protection signal being a pulse signal inserted in blanking intervals of the video signal, e.g. pseudo-AGC pulses, pseudo-sync pulses
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/91328 the copy protection signal being a copy management signal, e.g. a copy generation management signal [CGMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/91364 the video signal being scrambled
• 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 21/4334 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 21/47211 for requesting pay-per-view content payment schemes payment architectures or payment protocols G06Q20/00, G07F
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/913 for scrambling ; for copy protection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A system and method of determining the copy protection features of a program, and notifying a potential user of the program of these features, is provided. The copy protection features of the program first are analyzed. On the basis of this analysis, a message such as “this program cannot be recorded with IEEE1394, optical digital audio” is displayed to the user. By displaying such a message, the user can easily recognize that copy protection is applied to the program and that, for example, the program can be recorded (picture-recorded) in an analog style but cannot be digitally recorded. Accordingly, the user is easily made aware of the copy protection features of the program before using or purchasing the program.

Claims

1. An information processing device, characterized by comprising a processor for implementing:

judging means for judging whether restriction on recording is imposed on a program which a user desires to watch and/or listen to;

analyzing means for analyzing the restriction if it is judged by said judging means that the restriction on recording is imposed on the program; and

display control means for controlling a display to display on a screen a message concerning an analysis result of said analyzing means,

said analyzing is based on whether the type of content included in the program is digital television content, digital audio content, or digital data content, and said analyzing is further based on the format of the content included in the program, each possible format of the content being cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data, such that for each of digital television content, digital audio content, and digital data content there are at least three formats and each format of each type of content is cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data,

for each copy control type there are a plurality of digital recording control data flags, at least one combination of copy control data and digital recording control data flag being associated with at least two copy management systems such that the copy management systems are applied to respective content formats.

2. The information processing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein in accordance with each of a case where said analyzing means determines that analog recording is released by paying an additional fee, a case where said analyzing means determines that analog recording is allowed, but digital recording is not allowed and a case where said analyzing means determines that neither analog recording nor digital recording is allowed, said display control means controls the display on the screen to make the user recognize the respective cases.

3. The information processing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said display control means controls the display so that the analysis result is displayed on the screen for a predetermined time.

4. An information processing method, characterized by comprising using a processor to perform:

a judging step for judging whether restriction on recording is imposed on a program which a user desires to watch and/or listen to;

an analyzing step for analyzing the restriction if it is judged in the processing of said judging step that the restriction on recording is imposed on the program; and

a display control step for controlling a display to display on a screen a message concerning an analysis result of said analyzing step,

said analyzing is based on whether the type of content included in the program is digital television content, digital audio content, or digital data content, and said analyzing is further based on the format of the content included in the program, each possible format of the content being cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data, such that for each of digital television content, digital audio content, and digital data content there are at least three formats and each format of each type of content is cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data,

for each copy control type there are a plurality of digital recording control data flags, at least one combination of copy control data and digital recording control data flag being associated with at least two copy management systems such that the copy management systems are applied to respective content formats.

5. The information processing method as claimed in claim 4, wherein in accordance with each of a case where the processing of said analyzing step determines that analog recording is released by paying an additional fee, a case where the processing of said analyzing step determines that analog recording is allowed, but digital recording is not allowed and a case where the processing of said analyzing step determines that neither analog recording nor digital recording is allowed, said display control step controls the display on the screen to make the user recognize the respective cases.

6. The information processing device as claimed in claim 4, wherein said display control step controls the display so that the processing result is displayed on the screen for a predetermined time.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer-readable program, the program being operable to perform an information processing method including:

a judging step for judging whether restriction on recording is imposed on a program which a user desires to watch and/or listen to;

an analyzing step for analyzing the restriction if it is judged in the processing of said judging step that the restriction on recording is imposed on the program; and

a display control step for controlling a display to display on a screen a message concerning an analysis result of said analyzing step,

said analyzing is based on whether the type of content included in the program is digital television content, digital audio content, or digital data content, and said analyzing is further based on the format of the content included in the program, each possible format of the content being cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data, such that for each of digital television content, digital audio content, and digital data content there are at least three formats and each format of each type of content is cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data,

for each copy control type there are a plurality of digital recording control data flags, at least one combination of copy control data and digital recording control data flag being associated with at least two copy management systems such that the copy management systems are applied to respective content formats.

8. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 7, wherein in accordance with each of a case where the processing of said analyzing step determines that analog recording is released by paying an additional fee, a case where the processing of said analyzing step determines that analog recording is allowed, but digital recording is not allowed and a case where the processing of said analyzing step determines that neither analog recording nor digital recording is allowed, said display control step controls the display on the screen to make the user recognize the respective cases.

9. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 7, wherein said display control step controls the display so that the processing result is displayed on the screen for a predetermined time.

10. A system for providing a person seeking to use or view a program copy protect information regarding the program, said system comprising:

a display; and

a processor adapted to execute instructions, said instructions including instructions for causing said processor to perform the steps of identifying the presence of copy protect data within said program, analyzing said copy protect data to determine the type of said copy protect data and controlling said display to display on a screen a message concerning an analysis result of said analyzing, said analyzing is based on whether the type of content included in the program is digital television content, digital audio content, or digital data content, and said analyzing is further based on the format of the content included in the program, each possible format of the content being cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data, such that for each of digital television content, digital audio content, and digital data content there are at least three formats and each format of each type of content is cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data,

for each copy control type there are a plurality of digital recording control data flags, at least one combination of copy control data and digital recording control data flag being associated with at least two copy management systems such that the copy management systems are applied to respective content formats.

11. A system as in claim 10, wherein said system further comprises a receiver adapted to receive a broadcast of said program.

12. A system as in claim 10, wherein said display is adapted to display said program and said instructions further comprise instructions for causing said processor to perform said identifying, said analyzing and said controlling steps before said display of said program.

13. A system as in claim 12, wherein said program requires paying money for said display of said program.

14. A system as in claim 10, wherein said system further comprises a recorder adapted for copying said program and said instructions further comprise instructions for causing said processor to perform said identifying, said analyzing and said controlling steps before said copying of said program.

15. A system as in claim 14, wherein said program requires paying money for said copying of said program.

16. A system as in claim 10, wherein said instructions further comprise instructions for causing said processor to perform the step of controlling said display to display a menu containing interactive prompts for receiving said person'"'"'s input.

17. A system as in claim 16, wherein said prompts include a prompt for said person to acknowledge the presence of said copy protect data within said program.

18. A system as in claim 16, wherein said prompts include a prompt for said person to cancel a viewing of said program or a prompt for said person to cancel the display of said information.

19. A system as in claim 16, wherein said prompts include a prompt for said person to pay for a viewing of said program or a prompt for said person to pay for a recording of said program.

20. A system as in claim 10, wherein said copy protect data comprises data preventing digital and/or analog copying of said program.

21. A system as in claim 10, wherein said instructions further comprise instructions for causing said processor to perform the step of controlling said display to terminate the display of said information upon expiration of a predetermined time period.

22. A system as in claim 10, wherein said instructions further comprise instructions for causing said processor to perform the step of controlling said display to display the type of said copy protect data.

23. A method for providing a person seeking to use or view a program copy protect information regarding the program, said method comprising:

using a processor for

identifying the presence of copy protect data within said program;

analyzing said copy protect data to determine the type of said copy protect data; and

controlling a display to display to display on a screen a message concerning an analysis result of said analyzing step,

said analyzing is based on whether the type of content included in the program is digital television content, digital audio content, or digital data content, and said analyzing is further based on the format of the content included in the program, each possible format of the content being cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data, such that for each of digital television content, digital audio content, and digital data content there are at least three formats and each format of each type of content is cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data,

for each copy control type there are a plurality of digital recording control data flags, at least one combination of copy control data and digital recording control data flag being associated with at least two copy management systems such that the copy management systems are applied to respective content formats.

24. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable software code stored on said medium for providing a person seeking to use or view a program copy protect information regarding the program, said code comprising instructions for causing a processor of a system to perform the steps of identifying the presence of copy protect data within said program, analyzing said copy protect data to determine the type of said copy protect data and controlling a display of said system to display on a screen a message concerning an analysis result of said analyzing, said analyzing is based on whether the type of content included in the program is digital television content, digital audio content, or digital data content, and said analyzing is further based on the format of the content included in the program, each possible format of the content being cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data, such that for each of digital television content, digital audio content, and digital data content there are at least three formats and each format of each type of content is cross-referenced to a plurality of copy control types and a plurality of digital recording control data,

for each copy control type there are a plurality of digital recording control data flags, at least one combination of copy control data and digital recording control data flag being associated with at least two copy management systems such that the copy management systems are applied to respective content formats.