Information management device, method, recording medium, and program

• US 20050075981A1
• Filed: 04/10/2003
• Published: 04/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nagano, Motohiko, Kawamoto, Yoji, Ezura, Yuichi, Ishiguro, Ryuji
• Granted Patent: US 7,503,073 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/51
• 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 acquiring means for acquiring the content;

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

content storing means for storing the content acquired by the content acquiring means, to which the identification information obtained by the identification information obtaining means is added; and

usage-right storing means for storing a usage right as information about use of the content, the usage right including 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.

2. An information managing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising playback means for playing back the content when the identification information added to the content and the identification information obtained by the identification information obtaining means are identical.

3. An information managing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content acquiring means acquires the content via a recording medium attached to the information managing apparatus.

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

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

a content acquiring step of acquiring the content;

an identification information obtaining step of obtaining identification information for identifying the information managing apparatus;

a content storing step of storing the content acquired in the content acquiring step and storing the resulting content, to which the identification information obtained in the identification information obtaining step is added; and

a usage-right storing step of storing a usage right as information about use of the content, the usage right including 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.

6. A recording medium of an information managing apparatus for managing content, said recording medium having a computer-readable program recorded therein, the program including:

a content acquisition control step of controlling acquisition of the content;

an identification information obtaining control step of controlling obtaining of identification information for identifying the information managing apparatus;

a content storage control step of controlling storage of the content acquired in the content acquisition control step, to which the identification information obtained in the identification information obtaining control step is added; and

a usage-right storage control step of controlling storage of a usage right as information about use of the content, the usage right including 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.

7. A program causing a computer for controlling an information managing apparatus for managing content to execute:

a content acquisition control step of controlling acquisition of the content;

an identification information obtaining control step of controlling of obtaining of identification information for identifying the information managing apparatus;

a content storage control step of controlling storage of the content acquired in the content acquisition control step, to which the identification information obtained in the identification information obtaining control step is added; and

a usage-right storage control step of controlling storage of a usage right as information about use of the content, the usage right including 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.