JP2000293584A - Contents distribution system and method for managing contract - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inspect the contract execution state of a contents receiving server to be a secondary distribution agent by a contents server to be a contents supply source and to interrupt contents distribution contrary to a contract by invalidating a deciphering key for ciphered contents. SOLUTION: The contents distribution system consists of a contents server 1 to be a contents supply source, the Internet 2 to which the server 1 is connected, a contents receiving server 3 to which contents are supplied from the server 1 through the Internet 2, and a client 4 joining the server 3 through the Internet 2. The server 3 holds a contract execution state on the basis of a contents display request from the client 4, the authentication information of the client 4 and the contract information of the server 1. The server 1 periodically inspects the contract execution state, and when the contract is broken, invalidates a deciphering key.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to content distribution in information communication, and more particularly to a content distribution system and a contract management method having means and a method for checking a contract fulfillment state corresponding to content and preventing content distribution to a client.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a content distribution system for information communication, there is a need for a mechanism for preventing copyright protection and acts that violate a contract, such as a user copying and redistributing distributed content. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-269916, when an operator of an end user performs an authorized operation on a display device, the encrypted content is decrypted and displayed, and when an unlicensed operation is performed, the content is decrypted. The technology for protecting copyright by not displaying is disclosed.

According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 7-64786, a license program encrypts and records the usage status of the program, and the licensor decrypts the recording to obtain the usage status and obtains the usage status of the user. It discloses a system that prevents the use of programs contrary to the contract.

[0004] In information communication, a content supplier of a primary company that produces and converts a content into a database and supplies it to the outside, a content distributor of a secondary company that receives the supply of the content from the supplier and distributes the content, An end-user client who contracts with a subcontractor and receives the required content distribution concludes a contract between them,
Content distribution may be performed.

[0005] In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 9-269916 and 7-64786, when a secondary company distributes content, the content supplier sends the content to the end-user client contrary to the contract. It is difficult to know whether or not distribution is being performed. In other words, the subcontractor contracts beyond the number of clients in the contract, distributes specific content to clients outside the contract,
In addition, the content provider's contract is not protected against distribution beyond the contract period.

[0006]

A first problem is that the content distributed to the content receiving server can be secondarily distributed contrary to the contract. The reason is that there is no way for the content supplier to know that the content distribution server that performs secondary distribution increases the number of clients or extends the contract period and continues content distribution.

[0007] The second problem is that there is no means for preventing the content held by the content receiving server from being distributed contrary to the contract. The reason is that there is no means for the content supplier to protect the decryption key for the encrypted content.

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to provide a content server as a content supplier, which checks a contract fulfillment state of a content receiving server of a secondary distributor to prevent distribution contrary to the contract.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, according to the present invention,
A content server that supplies the content to the content receiving server via the Internet, and the content receiving server distributes the content to the client via the Internet;
A content server that performs encrypted content supply based on a contract, checks the fulfillment state of the contract, and invalidates a decryption key of the encrypted content that violates the contract, acquiring and holding the encrypted content from the content server, A content receiving server that performs registration of client authentication information, updates of the fulfillment state of the contract, authentication of the client's content display request, and decryption / delivery of encrypted content based on the result of referencing the fulfillment state of the contract. ,
The client is characterized in that the client performs authentication information registration of the client with the content receiving server and obtains and displays the decrypted content in response to the content display request.

Further, the content server sends content management means for supplying the content, contract information including decryption key information corresponding to the content to the content receiving server, and periodically checks the contract fulfillment state of the content.
And contract management means for invalidating the decryption key when the contract is violated.

[0011] Further, the content receiving server may be a content obtaining means for obtaining encrypted content from the content server via the Internet, a content storage unit for storing the encrypted content, and a contract information storage for storing contract information for the content server. Unit, a contract state storage unit that stores whether the contract fulfillment state of the content is a normal state or a violation state, an authentication information storage unit that stores client authentication information, and contract information from the content server, A contract information updating unit for updating contract information including a decryption key of the contract information storage unit; a contract state updating unit for determining consistency between a content access permitted client and the contract information, and updating the contract fulfillment state; Authentication information in the authentication information storage unit Authentication information updating means for updating, and content reference means for obtaining a decryption key of the encrypted content from the contract information based on the authentication of the content display request and the determination of the contract fulfillment state, decrypting the encrypted content, and sending the decrypted content to the client And the following.

Further, the client includes authentication information input means for inputting authentication information of the client to the content receiving server, and content display means for acquiring and displaying decrypted content in response to a content display request. It is characterized by the following.

[0013] Further, the contract information includes information on the number of clients capable of distributing the content, the name of the supplied content, the number of clients distributing the supplied content, the distribution deadline of the content, and the content distribution server. And a decryption key.

Further, the authentication information includes client authentication information including a client name and a client password contracted by the content receiving server for distribution, and content access permission information including a content name to be distributed to the client and a client name capable of referring to the content. And characterized in that:

Further, in the contract management method of the content distribution system, the content server that stores the content supplies the content to the contracted content receiving server via the communication network, and the content receiving server distributes the content to the contracted client. ,
The content server manages the contract information and the decryption key of the encrypted content corresponding to the content with respect to the content receiving server, periodically checks the contract fulfillment state of the content, and determines the decryption key of the violating content. Invalidate, the content receiving server acquires and holds the encrypted content from the content server, inspects and stores the contract fulfillment state with respect to the authentication information registration of the client, and authenticates the content display request to the client. The client decrypts and distributes the encrypted content according to the inspection result of the contract status, and the client registers the client's own authentication information with the content receiving server and acquires and displays the decrypted content requested to be displayed.
It is characterized by performing.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1 illustrating the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, a content server 1 serving as a content provider, the Internet 2 to which the content server 1 is connected, and content reception provided from the content server 1 through the Internet 2 It comprises a server 3 and a client 4 subscribing to the content receiving server 3 via the Internet 2.

The content server 1 is a content management means 1 for producing content, creating a database, and supplying the database.
1 and manages a contract with the content receiving server 3,
Contract management means 1 for periodically inspecting the fulfillment state of a contract and invalidating the decryption key to prevent content distribution contrary to the contract
And 2. The content receiving server 3 includes a content storage unit 31, a contract information storage unit 32, a contract state storage unit 33, an authentication information storage unit 34, a content acquisition unit 35, a content reference unit 36, and a contract information update unit 37. , Contract status updating means 38, and authentication information updating means 3
9 is provided. The content storage unit 31 stores and stores the encrypted content. The contract information storage unit 32 stores contract information 320 including the total number of users of the supplied content, the content name, the number of users who can refer to the content, the distribution term, and the decryption key of the encrypted content. The authentication information storage unit 34 includes client authentication information 341 including a registered client user name and password,
Content access permission information 342 including a content name and a client name permitted to access the content
Is stored. The contract state storage unit 33 stores information indicating whether the content is in a normal state or a breached state in compliance with the contract.

The content acquisition means 35 acquires encrypted content from the content server 1 on the Internet 2 and stores the encrypted content in the content storage unit 31. The contract information updating unit 37 acquires information on the contract from the contract management unit 12 of the content server 1 and updates the contract information 320 of the contract information storage unit 32 of the content receiving server 3. The authentication information updating unit 39 updates the authentication information 340 in the authentication information storage unit 34 with the information on the authentication sent from the client 4. The contract status updating means 38
The contract fulfillment state is called from the contract information updating means 37 and the authentication information updating means 39, and refers to the contract information 320 of the contract information storage unit 32, the client authentication information 341 and the content access permission information 342 of the authentication information storage unit 34, and determines the contract fulfillment state. An inspection is performed, and the inspection result is stored in the contract state storage unit 33. The content reference unit 36 searches the client authentication information 341 using the user name and the password included in the content display request from the client 4 as keys,
After the client is authenticated, the content access permission information 342 is searched using the name of the content to be accessed and the user name as keys, and whether or not the access to the content is permitted is checked. When the contract fulfillment state is normal, the encrypted content is decrypted with the decryption key. If the contract fulfillment status is abnormal, client 4
Is not authenticated, and the display of the content is prevented.

Next, the operation of executing the contract management method of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, and with reference to FIGS. The operation at the time of updating the contract information will be described with reference to FIG. The contract information updating means 37 of the content receiving server 3 acquires the contract information 320 from the contract management means 12 of the content server 1 on the Internet 2 (Step 51 in FIG. 2). The contract information updating unit 37 updates the contract information 320 in the contract information storage unit 32 (Step 5).
2). The contract status updating means 38 performs the contract information 320 of the contract information storage unit 32, the client authentication information 341 of the authentication information storage unit 34, and the content access permission information 342.
, The authentication information 341 and the content access permission information 342 of the authentication information storage unit 34 are stored in the contract information storage unit 32.
It is checked whether or not a contract fulfillment state that violates the contract information 320 is registered (step 53). Inspection contents include whether the total number of registered users exceeds the total number of contract users, whether the number of users who can refer to each content exceeds the number of contracts, and whether the contract expiration date has passed. ,. When the inspection result violates the contract (No in step 54), the contract state updating unit 38 updates the information in the contract state storage unit 33 to “abnormal” (step 5).
6). When the contract is complied with (Yes in step 54), the information in the contract state storage unit 33 is updated to “normal” (step 55). For example, it is assumed that the contract information 320 of the contract information storage unit 32 is as shown in FIG. 5, and the client authentication information 341 and the content access permission information 342 of the authentication information storage unit 34 are as shown in FIG. FIG.
, The content server 1 determines that the total number of users is "2
If the number is changed from "0" to "10", the client authentication information 341 currently violates the contract because 20 users from user A to user T are registered. The contract status becomes "abnormal".

The operation at the time of updating the authentication information will be described with reference to FIG.
The client authentication information 341 and the content access permission information 34 of the authentication information storage unit 34 of the content receiving server 3 are obtained by using the authentication information input from the authentication information input unit 42 of the content receiving server 3.
2 is updated (step 61 in FIG. 3). The contract status updating means 38 refers to the contract information 320 of the contract information storage unit 32 and the client authentication information 341 and the content access permission information 342 of the authentication information storage unit 34, and information that violates the contract with the content server 1 is obtained. It is checked whether or not it has been registered (step 62). The inspection is performed to determine whether the total number of registered users exceeds the number of contract users, whether the number of users who can refer to each content exceeds the number of contracts, and whether the contract period has expired. The contract status updating means 38 determines that the inspection result is the contract information 3
If it violates 20 (No in step 63), the contract fulfillment state in the contract state storage unit 33 is updated to "abnormal" (step 65). If the contract is kept (Yes in step 63), the contract fulfillment state in the contract state storage unit 33 is updated to "normal" (step 64). To illustrate,
Assuming that the information in the contract information storage unit 32 and the authentication information storage unit 34 are as shown in FIG. 6, when the access right to the content A is given to the user C by the authentication information input unit 42 of the client 4, the content A Are user A, user B, and user C. At present, the maximum number of people who can refer to the content A in the contract information storage unit 32 is two, which violates the contract. Therefore, the fulfillment state of the contract becomes “abnormal”.

The operation at the time of referring to the contents will be described with reference to FIG.
When requesting display of content from (Step 7 in FIG. 4)
0), the content display means 41 inputs a user name, a password, and a requested content name (step 71). The content reference unit 36 searches the input user name in the client authentication information 341 of the authentication information storage unit 34,
It is checked whether the password is correct (step 72 in FIG. 4). If the input user name and password are incorrect (No in step 72), the content display means 4
1 is notified of an authentication error (step 79), and the process ends. If the user name and password are correct (step 72
No), the content access permission information 342 of the authentication information storage unit 34 is searched to determine whether the user is permitted to refer to the requested content (step 7).
3). If access is not permitted (step 74
No), an authentication error is notified to the content display means 41, and the process ends (step 79). If the access is permitted (Yes in step 74), it is checked whether or not the contract status is normal with reference to the contract status storage unit 33 (step 75). When the fulfillment state of the contract in the contract state storage unit 33 is abnormal (No in step 76), an authentication error is notified and the process ends (step 79). If the fulfillment state of the contract is normal (Yes in step 76), the content is decrypted (step 77), and the decrypted content is displayed on the content display means 41 (step 78). In addition,
The contract information updating means 37 and the authentication information updating means 39 described above.
And the content reference means 36 can operate asynchronously and independently.

In this embodiment, it is apparent that the content management means 11 and the contract management means 12 of the content server 1 can be changed to a configuration in which each is connected to the Internet 2 as a separate server.

[0023]

The first effect is that when a performance state contrary to the contract occurs in the content receiving server, the content server can prohibit access to the content. The reason is that the inspection result of the contract fulfillment state for the contract information and authentication information is stored, and when the content display request is authenticated, access is granted if the contract fulfillment state is violated by referring to the contract fulfillment state. This is because they do not.

The second effect is that the content distribution can be prevented by invalidating the decryption key of the encrypted content. The reason is that the content server periodically checks the contract fulfillment state of the content receiving server, and when the content is in violation of the contract, updates the contract information and invalidates the decryption key.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a contract update operation of the contract management method according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an authentication information updating operation of the contract management method according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a content reference operation of the contract management method of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram exemplifying contract information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram exemplifying content authentication information and content access permission information of authentication information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Content Server 2 Internet 3 Content Receiving Server 4 Client 11 Content Management Unit 12 Contract Management Unit 31 Content Storage Unit 32 Contract Information Storage Unit 33 Contract Status Storage Unit 34 Authentication Information Storage Unit 35 Content Acquisition Unit 36 Content Reference Unit 37 Contract Information Update Means 38 Contract status updating means 39 Authentication information updating means 41 Content display means 42 Authentication information input means 320 Contract information 340 Authentication information 341 Client authentication information 342 Content access permission information

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A content distribution system in which a content server that supplies content supplies content to a content reception server via the Internet, and wherein the content reception server distributes the content to a client via the Internet. A content server that performs encrypted content supply based on a contract, checks the fulfillment state of the contract, and invalidates a decryption key of the encrypted content that violates the contract, acquiring and holding the encrypted content from the content server, A content receiving server that performs registration of client authentication information, updates of the fulfillment state of the contract, authentication of the client's content display request, and decryption / delivery of encrypted content based on the result of referencing the fulfillment state of the contract. , Previous A content distribution system, comprising: a client that performs registration of authentication information of the client itself with the content reception server and acquisition and display of decrypted content in response to a content display request. 2. The content server, comprising: content management means for supplying content; and contract information including decryption key information corresponding to the content, sent to the content receiving server, and periodically checks the contract fulfillment state of the content. 2. The content delivery system according to claim 1, further comprising: contract management means for invalidating the decryption key when the state is in violation of the above. 3. The content receiving server, a content acquisition unit that acquires encrypted content from the content server via the Internet, a content storage unit that stores the encrypted content, and a contract information storage that stores contract information with the content server. A contract status storage unit that stores whether the contract fulfillment status of the content is normal or a violation status; an authentication information storage unit that stores client authentication information; and contract information from the content server. A contract information updating unit for updating contract information including a decryption key in the contract information storage unit; a contract state updating unit for determining consistency between a content access permitted client and the contract information and updating the contract fulfillment state; Authentication information in the authentication information storage unit Authentication information updating means for updating, and content reference means for obtaining a decryption key of the encrypted content from the contract information based on the authentication of the content display request and the determination of the contract fulfillment state, decrypting the encrypted content, and sending the decrypted content to the client The content distribution system according to claim 1, comprising: 4. The client includes: authentication information input means for inputting authentication information of the client to the content receiving server; and content display means for acquiring and displaying decrypted content in response to a content display request. The content distribution system according to claim 1, wherein: 5. The contract information, wherein the content receiving server includes: a number of clients capable of distributing the content; a content name of the supplied content; a number of clients distributing the supplied content; a distribution deadline of the content; The content distribution system according to claim 1, further comprising: a decryption key. 6. The authentication information includes: client authentication information including a client name and a client password for which the content receiving server makes a distribution contract; and content access permission information including a content name to be distributed to the client and a client name capable of referring to the content. The content distribution system according to claim 1, wherein: 7. A contract management method for a content distribution system, wherein a content server for storing content supplies a content to a contracted content receiving server via a communication network, and the content receiving server distributes the content to a contracted client. The content server manages the contract information and the decryption key of the encrypted content with respect to the content for the content receiving server, periodically inspects the contract fulfillment state of the content, and decrypts the violated encrypted content. Invalidating the key, the content receiving server acquires and holds the encrypted content from the content server, inspects and stores the contract fulfillment state with respect to the authentication information registration of the client, and authenticates the content display request to the client. And contract status inspection According to the result, the encrypted content is decrypted and delivered, and the client performs, on the content receiving server, registration of the authentication information of the client itself, and obtains and displays the decrypted content requested to be displayed. Content distribution system contract management method.