Content delivery apparatus, user terminal device, relief management method and computer program

• US 9,792,755 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2007
• Issued: 10/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Kurihara, Shinichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Huang, Tsan-Yu J
• Application Number:
  US11/878,383
• Publication Number:
  US 20080052240A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,738 Days
• Field of Search: 705 51, 705 59, 726 1, 726 2, 726 26
• 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 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2137 Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/127 Shopping or accessing services according to a time-limitation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0014 for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00 meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity G07F15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources

Abstract

A content delivery apparatus, when a content delivery request is outputted from a user terminal device, encrypts the requested content with an encryption key, adds a view period to it to deliver it to a request source and delivers a viewing key in response to a view request from the user terminal device within the view period. A user relief management unit monitors failure information notifying, grasps a delivery disabled period from the failure information, specifies a delivery destination user for a content of which the view period is overlapped with the delivery disabled period and issues a relief right with a relief period specified thereto to the specified user. A contract period processing unit manages the relief right and permits viewing within the relief period set by the relief right when a view right based on the relief right is output from the user terminal device.

Claims

1. A method for delivering a content item in a content delivery system, the content delivery system including a computer that encrypts and delivers a content in response to a request received via a network from a user terminal device, and to manage a valid period for the user terminal device to use the content, the method comprising:

detecting, by the computer, a period of time when communication on the network fails;

specifying, by the computer, a user terminal device to be issued a relief right, by determining that the valid period for the user terminal device to use the content overlaps with the period of time when the communication fails;

issuing, by the computer, the relief right to the user terminal device, the relief right indicating a relief period that allows the user terminal to decrypt the content at a time after the expiration of the valid period;

sending, by the computer, a notification to the user terminal device to notify a corresponding user of the issued relief right;

receiving, by computer from the user terminal, a view request to decrypt the content based on the relief right, the view request being received after the expiration of the valid period, and within the relief period;

delivering, by the computer, view permission information for the user terminal device to decrypt the content in response to the view request; and

storing, in a storage device, at least one of the view permission information or the content.

2. The relief management method of the content delivery system according to claim 1, further comprising:

starting the relief period based on a time when the user terminal device requests the view permission information for the first time after the valid period of the content.

3. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable code stored thereon that, when executed by a hardware processor causes the hardware processor to perform the steps comprising:

detecting, by the computer, a period of time when communication on the network fails;

specifying, by the computer, a user terminal device to be issued a relief right by determining that the valid period for the user terminal device to use the content overlaps with the period of time when the communication fails;

issuing, by the computer, the relief right to the user terminal device indicating a relief period that allows the user terminal device to decrypt the content at a time after the expiration of the valid period;

sending, by the computer, a notification to the user terminal device to notify corresponding user of the issued relief right;

receiving, by the computer from the user terminal, a view request to decrypt the content based on the relief right, the view request being received after the expiration of the valid period, and within the relief period;

delivering, by the computer view, permission information for the user terminal device to decrypt the content in response to the view request; and

storing, in a storage device, at least one of the view permission information or the content.