JP2004362109A - How to rent digital content - Google Patents

Abstract

A rental method that does not require a return and a rental method that allows content to be viewed only at a lending destination can be easily constructed at lower cost.
When renting a rental medium, a telephone number of a user telephone terminal and payment information of a rental fee are input to an information processing terminal device, and the fee management site FS registers the information in association with the information. When the rental medium 1 is reproduced on the computer PC2, a key box is created in the HDD by the key management program, and a request for inputting a telephone number is displayed on the computer PC2. When the telephone number is input, it is transmitted to the key management site KS, and the telephone number and payment information are inquired to the charge management site FS. When the payment information is confirmed, a key for decrypting the content is downloaded from the key management site KS to the key box of the computer PC2, and the decryption process of the digital content is executed using the key. The key downloaded to the key box is deleted after a predetermined number of times of reproduction or after a predetermined period has elapsed.
[Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for renting digital content on a medium such as a CD (compact disk) or a DVD (digital versatile disk) that stores movies, music, and the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Digital contents of movies and music using DVDs and CDs as rental media are now lined up in rental shops as usual, and anyone can use them easily, but the disadvantage is that the rental media must be returned. And late fees are causing troubles.
[0003]
In addition, there is a problem with the lending of rental media, and there is no end to the act of being copied to a hard disk or the like by a personal computer at the lending destination.
[0004]
As a technique for solving the above problem, a technique as shown in Patent Document 1 has been proposed. This technology limits the rental period by managing the encryption key using an IC card, makes it unnecessary to return the rental medium, and also prevents copy.
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-149061
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the case of the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, an IC card reader is required for the reproducing apparatus, and it is necessary to prepare the IC card reader at the burden of the user or at the rental company. Furthermore, the IC card itself may be expensive, and these costs are a bottleneck.
[0007]
In addition, when a content is recorded (downloaded) on a medium at a rental store, an encryption key is determined and written into an IC card. I can't take the approach.
[0008]
The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and it is possible to easily construct a rental system that does not require return and a rental system in which content can be viewed only at the rental destination at lower cost. .
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the present invention, the telephone number of the telephone terminal owned by the rental user is used for management. That is, when renting a rental medium, a telephone number is registered together with payment of a rental fee, and payment information (amount) is managed in a database using the telephone number as a key, so that the telephone number is used like a kind of electronic money. Things. The telephone number may be any one of a fixed telephone, a mobile telephone, and an IP telephone. Such management using a telephone number can be realized by applying a balance storage unit and a balance confirmation unit as disclosed in, for example, JP-A-2001-127918.
[0010]
Such a digital content rental method of the present invention is a rental method using a rental medium containing a key management program and encrypted digital content, and a telephone terminal owned by the rental user. At the time of lending, the telephone number of the telephone terminal and the payment information of the rental fee are input to the information processing terminal device (a personal computer or the like) of the rental store, and the information processing terminal device is connected to a fee management site (an information processing device connected via a communication line). ) To transmit the input telephone number and payment information, and associate the telephone number and payment information with the fee management site and register it in the database. A dry computer connected to a specified computer (such as a personal computer at home) When the rental medium is played back, the key management program contained therein starts up on the computer, creates a key box (folder) in an auxiliary storage device (HDD, etc.) of the computer, and stores the telephone number registered at the rental store. Displaying the input request on the computer display, and when a telephone number is input to the computer in response to the telephone number input request, the computer according to the key management program transmits the telephone number to a key management site (communication The key management site that received the telephone number transmitted to the information processing device connected to the line) inquires the charge management site whether the received telephone number is registered in the database and has the corresponding payment information. And the payment information corresponding to the received phone number is confirmed. Then, the process of downloading the decryption key for the digital content recorded on the rental medium from the key management site to the key box of the computer via the Internet, and the computer following the key management program uses the downloaded key. Performing a decryption process of the digital content to enable reproduction, and a process in which the computer according to the key management program erases the key downloaded to the key box after a predetermined number of times of reproduction of the digital content or after a predetermined period has elapsed. , Consisting of Note that the key management site and the fee management site may be configured on the same server.
[0011]
In this method, the key is deleted by the key management program after the digital content has been reproduced a predetermined number of times (after the key has been used a predetermined number of times) or after a predetermined period (the number of rental days) has elapsed. Therefore, subsequent reproduction becomes impossible. Therefore, it is not necessary to return the rental medium. The key may be deleted from the auxiliary storage device together with the key box. Further, the management of the period (the number of rental days) may be falsified by using the date and time in the computer. Therefore, a method of acquiring the key from a key management site via the Internet is preferable.
[0012]
According to the management method using the telephone number, there is no need to prepare an infrastructure such as a dedicated device for an IC card. Therefore, a very low cost and quick introduction is possible. Conventionally, the above problem has been encountered because the key is stored on the card in the IC card in the key box. However, according to the present invention, the key management program is simply inserted into the rental medium, and the decryption key is used. The key can be separately downloaded from the Web site to the key box. That is, the member card for exposing the key is not used, and is managed so as not to be seen through the secret communication in the network, and can be unifiedly managed on the Web site. Therefore, digital contents can be encrypted with a common key, and after mass-producing rental media recording the key, the key can be managed on a Web site, greatly contributing to cost reduction.
[0013]
Keys for decrypting digital content are downloaded and stored in a special key box, so they are not easily exposed to others.However, considering further security, the keys themselves must be encrypted and downloaded. Is preferred. The encryption may be performed individually using the telephone number of the registered user or a part of the telephone number. When reproducing the digital content, the key is decrypted using the telephone number or a part of the telephone number as a key, and the digital content is decrypted with the decrypted key and reproduced. The telephone number or a part of the telephone number as the key decryption key may be input to the computer according to the key management program by a user using input means such as a keyboard or a mouse, or may be stored in the storage means of the computer. Use what you have set.
[0014]
As described above, in the rental method of the present invention, in the course of downloading the decryption key for the digital content via the Internet, the key is replaced with the telephone number of the telephone terminal owned by the user or a part of the telephone number. In the process of decrypting digital content using the downloaded key and making it reproducible by using the downloaded key, the computer according to the key management program uses the corresponding telephone number or the telephone number of the telephone number. It is possible to use a method that uses a part to decrypt the key.
[0015]
In this case, as an additional advantage, there is an advantage that security when the key encryption logic is exposed to the outside can be enhanced. That is, in the present invention, since the key management program is stored in the rental medium together with the digital contents, after the encryption logic is exposed, the key management program is changed to create a recorded rental medium, and the telephone number is different. It is possible to change the part to another encryption logic, such as using it for key decryption.
[0016]
In the rental method of the present invention, when the key management site confirms the payment information corresponding to the received telephone number, the key management site uses the display or speaker of the computer used by the user to manage the key. A key call is issued to the site or charge management site by the corresponding telephone terminal, and the key management is performed to determine whether the telephone number identified by the caller ID notification of the incoming call is the telephone number received by the key management site. According to the judgment of the site or the charge management site, a step of confirming possession of the telephone terminal can be included. That is, a method may be adopted in which the key is not downloaded unless possession is confirmed, and the identity verification is more firmly performed.
[0017]
In the rental method of the present invention as described above, a rental medium is attached to a magazine or rented by using a mail order channel, and the rental fee is separately charged at a rental store (a rental company store or a convenience store) by a telephone number. A method suitable for campaigns and the like, in which payment is made at the same time as registration, is included. Also, the user of the rental method according to the present invention can return or discard the rental medium after the rental is completed, but keep the rental medium at hand, and charge again when the user wants to view again. To make it renewable. In other words, it is possible to create a library in the home while taking copyright into consideration.
[0018]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows an outline of the system of the present invention.
[0019]
The rental medium 1 assorted in the rental shop R is obtained by digitizing music and a movie, encrypting the same, and recording it on a DVD or CD. These rental media 1 are mass-produced by press, and the digital contents are encrypted with a common key. The rental medium 1 also contains a key management program.
[0020]
When renting the rental medium 1, the rental user pays the rental fee, presents the telephone number of the telephone terminal 2 (mobile phone in this example) owned by the user, and provides the information processing terminal PC1 ( In this example). Then, the input telephone number and payment information are transmitted to a server (information processing device) which is a charge management site FS established as a Web site on the Internet, and the telephone number is associated with the payment information and stored in the database. be registered.
[0021]
The rental user who has borrowed the rental medium 1 sets the rental medium 1 in a drive mounted on the computer PC2 (in this example, a personal computer) at the rental destination C at home, for example. When the drive starts reading the rental medium 1, the key management program recorded on the rental medium 1 starts up in the computer PC2, and a key box is created in an auxiliary storage device of the computer PC2, for example, a hard disk. This key box is a folder on the hard disk.
[0022]
When the key management program starts, the computer PC2 displays a telephone number input screen on its display. In accordance with this, when the telephone number of the telephone terminal 2 registered at the time of lending is input from the input means of the keyboard or the mouse, the computer PC2 transmits the key management site KS of the Web site via the Internet by the mounted communication means. And transmits the input telephone number together with the digital content number read from the rental medium 1.
[0023]
The server (information processing device), which is the key management site KS that has received the telephone number, transmits the telephone number to the fee management site FS via the Internet or LAN, and provides the user with the charge management site using the telephone terminal 2. An instruction screen for requesting dialing to the FS is displayed on the computer PC2. It is preferable to request this dialing at a time interval such as within 2 minutes.
[0024]
The fee management site FS searches the database as to whether the telephone number sent from the key management site KS is registered and what the payment information is. In addition, an incoming call from the telephone network is monitored via the modem means, and if there is an incoming call, the telephone number is detected from the caller ID notification. If there is a registered telephone number that matches the telephone number of the incoming call, it is returned to the key management site KS together with the corresponding payment information, assuming that the identity has been confirmed. At the fee management site FS for which payment confirmation has been completed, the corresponding payment information is deleted or subtracted from the database.
[0025]
As a result, when the identity and the payment are confirmed, the key management site KS reads the key stored in the database in association with the digital content number, and reads the telephone number of the telephone terminal 2 (or a part thereof). And then transmitted to the computer PC2, and this key is put into a key box according to a key management program.
[0026]
The computer PC2 operating in accordance with the key management program reads out the key when it is obtained in the key box, and performs decryption using the telephone number (or a part thereof) of the telephone terminal 2. At this time, the telephone number stored by a so-called cache function can be used, or a new user can be used by asking for an input. When the key is decrypted in this way, the digital content recorded on the rental medium 1 is decrypted by the key, and the digital content can be reproduced. The reproduced digital content can be viewed by being transmitted from the computer PC2 to a television device TV or the like.
[0027]
The key box or the key management program has a date function, and accesses the key management site KS and checks the date each time the key inside is used. Then, after the rental days determined for each digital content have passed, the keys in the key box or the key box itself are erased from the hard disk and become unusable. Thereafter, the rental medium 1 cannot be played back, and the content recorded on the rental medium 1 is encrypted and cannot be viewed as it is, so there is no need to return the medium 1. The rental days are stored, for example, in the key management site KS in association with the digital content number, and are sent together with the download of the key. In addition, even if the rental medium 1 has passed the rental days, if the rental fee is paid again at the rental store and the payment information is registered or added to the fee management site FS, the key is downloaded and reproduced again. Will be able to do it.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, since the method of using the telephone number of the user for authentication is used, it is possible to construct a low-cost return-free rental system without preparing special dedicated equipment at the store.
[0029]
Also, the key itself for decrypting the content is stored and managed in a key management Web site and a key box created in an auxiliary storage device of the computer, and the digital content is encrypted with a common key and rented. The media can be recorded on a medium, and the key management program is also common. Therefore, it is possible to mass-produce rental media by pressing. This also greatly contributes to cost reduction.
[0030]
Further, once the rental medium is reproduced, the payment information is deducted, so that the reproduction information cannot be obtained even when the reproduction is performed on a different computer later, and the key is not downloaded from the key management site. Therefore, the rental of the rental medium can be effectively prevented.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a network diagram showing an outline of a digital content rental method of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 rental media 2 telephone terminal FS charge management site KS key management site

Claims (3)

A method for renting digital content using a key management program and a rental medium containing encrypted digital content, and a telephone terminal owned by the rental user,
At the time of lending the rental medium, the telephone number of the telephone terminal and the payment information of the rental fee are input in the information processing terminal device of the rental shop, and the information processing terminal device communicates with the charge management site to communicate the input telephone. Transmitting a number and payment information, and registering the charge management site in a database in association with the telephone number and payment information;
When the user who has rented the rental medium reproduces the rental medium with a drive connected to a predetermined computer, the key management program starts up on the computer, creates a key box in an auxiliary storage device of the computer, and Displaying a telephone number input request of the telephone terminal on a display of the computer;
When a telephone number is input to the computer in response to the telephone number input request, the computer according to the key management program transmits the telephone number to a key management site via the Internet, and receives the telephone number. A step in which the site inquires the charge management site whether the received telephone number is registered in the database and has corresponding payment information;
When the payment information corresponding to the received telephone number is confirmed, a key for decrypting the digital content recorded on the rental medium is downloaded from the key management site to the key box of the computer via the Internet. And a step in which the computer according to the key management program executes decryption processing of the digital content using the downloaded key to enable reproduction.
A step in which the computer according to the key management program deletes the key downloaded to the key box after playing the digital content a predetermined number of times or after a lapse of a predetermined period;
A method for renting digital content, comprising: When the key management site confirms the payment information corresponding to the received telephone number, the key management site uses a display or a speaker of a computer in use by the user to access the key management site or the charge management site. The key management site or the charge management site generates a dial call instruction by the telephone terminal of the telephone number, and determines whether the telephone number identified by the caller ID notification of the incoming call is the received telephone number. 2. The rental method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of determining possession of the telephone terminal by determining. In the process of downloading the decryption key for the digital content via the Internet, the key is encrypted and downloaded using the telephone number of the telephone terminal owned by the user or a part of the telephone number, and the downloaded key is encrypted. Requesting a computer that follows the key management program to decrypt the key using the telephone number or a part of the telephone number in the process of executing the decryption process of the digital content using the key and performing the decryption process. The rental method according to claim 1 or 2.

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