Information processing apparatus, executability determining method, and computer program for the same

• US 8,549,511 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2010
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Seki, Yasuharu, Onuma, Yoshitaka, Konno, Tatsuya
• Primary Examiner(s): DAO, THUY CHAN
• Application Number:
  US12/752,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20100192126A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,279 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/170
• 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 21/123 by using dedicated hardware, e.g. dongles, smart cards, cryptographic processors, global positioning systems [GPS] devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment

Abstract

An information processing apparatus is described which includes a list fetching section for fetching, from outside, a list of disabled contents information indicating disabling execution of an application program, when the contents data is subjected to a contents data reproducing/copying process for at least reproducing or copying the contents data. When it is determined that a type and/or a version of the application program identified by referring to the starting file corresponds to a type and/or a version of any disabled application program described in the list of disabled contents information, the starting file is not distributed to the application program.

Claims

1. A content data processing method comprising:

downloading, by a communication section, the content data from a distribution server;

storing the downloaded content data in a storage memory section;

determining, by an application program determining module, a type and version of an installed application program to reproduce the downloaded content data by referring to a starting file, the starting file being downloaded from a web server and including a content Uniform Resource Locator (URL) corresponding to the downloaded content data;

verifying, by a verifying section, the determined type and version of the installed application program as allowed or disallowed based on a verification file which indicates at least one type or version of an application program disallowed from processing the content data or at least one type or version of an application program allowed for processing the content data; and

reproducing, by a reproducing section, the content data with the application program, when the application program is verified as allowable, and displaying, by a display section, a message suggesting installation of another type or version of an application program, when the application program is verified as disallowed.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

fetching a link when the application program is verified as disallowed, wherein the application program accesses the link to install another version of the application program.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the verification file is dynamically updated to indicate a type or a version of an application program disallowed for a corresponding content data.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting a request to reproduce the downloaded content data to the web server and receiving from the web server the starting file corresponding to the downloaded content data in response to the request.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a link destination fetching section configured to fetch a link when the application program determined by the application program determining module is verified as disallowed, wherein

the application program accesses the link fetched by the link destination fetching section to install another version of the application program.

5. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a communication section configured to connect to a distribution server and download content data;

a storage memory section configured to store the downloaded content data;

an application program determining module configured to determine a type and version of an application program installed on the information processing apparatus to reproduce the downloaded content data by referring to a starting file, the starting file being downloaded from a web server and including a content Uniform Resource Locator (URL) corresponding to the downloaded content data;

a verifying section configured to verify the determined type and version of the installed application program as allowed or disallowed based on a verification file which indicates at least one type or version of an application program disallowed from processing the content data or at least one type or version of an application program allowed for processing the content data;

a reproducing section configured to reproduce the content data when the application program determined by the application program determining module is verified as allowed by the verifying section; and

a display section configured to display a message suggesting installation of another type or version of an application program when the application program determined by the application program determining module is verified as disallowed by the verifying section.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein

the verification file is dynamically updated to indicate a type or a version of an application program disallowed for a corresponding content data.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the information processing apparatus transmits a request to reproduce the downloaded content data to the web server and the web server transmits the starting file corresponding to the downloaded content data to the information processing apparatus in response to the request.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions therein, which, when executed by a processor cause the processor to execute a content data processing method comprising:

downloading, by a communication section, the content data from a distribution server;

storing the downloaded content data in a storage memory section;

determining, by an application program determining module, a type and version of an installed application program to reproduce the downloaded content data by referring to a starting file, the starting file being downloaded from a web server and including a content Uniform Resource Locator (URL) corresponding to the downloaded content data;

verifying, by a verifying section, the determined type and version of the installed application program as allowed or disallowed based on a verification file which indicates at least one type or version of an application program disallowed from processing the content data or at least one type or version of an application program allowed for processing the content data; and

reproducing, by a reproducing section, the content data with the application program, when the application program is verified as allowable, and displaying, by a display section, a message suggesting installation of another type or version of an application program, when the application program is verified as disallowed.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 9, further comprising transmitting a request to reproduce the downloaded content data to the web server and receiving from the web server the starting file corresponding to the downloaded content data in response to the request.