JP2005122654A - License control method, license control apparatus, license control program, and computer-readable recording medium recording the license control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable viewing by a plurality of players by changing a player or dividing a license in a license range, and further enabling secondary use of a license that could not be consumed by exchanging licenses.
SOLUTION: A means for grasping a usage situation after a license of digital contents is sold to a user, managing right information including a remaining value of the license, and a request from a user who owns the license And a means for rewriting and issuing a license so that it can be used by another user or another player in accordance with the value of the remaining license.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention controls digital license usage conditions (licenses) by encrypting digital content such as video using encryption technology and adding (encapsulating) information necessary for copyright management. In a content distribution management (DRM (Digital Rights Management)) system, a license control method, a license control device, a license control program, and a computer readable recording of the license control program that enable secondary use of a license once sold The present invention relates to a recording medium.

First, terms used in this specification are defined.
(1) “Digital content” means data obtained by digitizing content such as still images, video, music, text, software, etc., and means original digital data before copyright protection processing.

  (2) “Capsule content” means digital content that has been subjected to copyright protection processing (encapsulation) such as encryption or copyright management information addition in order to protect the copyright of the digital content.

  (3) "Right information" is necessary for copyright management, such as content ID for identifying content, attribute information such as title and author information of digital content, usage permission conditions such as viewable period and reproducible number of times, etc. This means data that contains various information.

  (4) “License” is data describing a license condition when the user views the capsule content on the user terminal. For example, the DRM system uses the user terminal such as rights information and user terminal information. It means data in which information necessary for controlling the viewing of capsule content is described above.

  (5) “Content distributor” means a person or organization that has the right to distribute digital content to users.

  In recent years, the distribution of digital contents such as music, video, and games has been activated through networks such as the Internet and cable television, or information storage media such as CDs and DVDs. On the other hand, digital content is easy to copy and has the characteristics that it does not deteriorate even with repeated copying. Therefore, illegal copies of digital content may be created and distributed between pirated vendors and consumers without the permission of the copyright holder. It is a problem. For this reason, development of a DRM system for preventing the spread of unauthorized copying of digital contents and protecting / managing copyright and the like is underway.

  In a conventional DRM system, a content distributor creates rights information including digital content attribute information and usage permission conditions, encapsulates the digital content based on the rights information, and distributes the capsule content to the market. The user obtains capsule content distributed in the market and a dedicated player necessary for viewing the capsule content. Furthermore, the digital content can be viewed by purchasing a license for viewing the capsule content from the content distributor at the amount shown or by negotiating with the content distributor (Non-Patent Document 1). It becomes.

Note that capsule content, dedicated players, and licenses have been put to practical use by multiple DRM systems such as Windows (registered trademark) Media Rights Manager (Microsoft), Real System Media Commerce Suite (RealNetworks), and Adobe Content Server (Adobe). .
Yaskawa et al., "Dynamic License Agreement Method for Reusing Web Content", IPSJ Transactions, Vol.43, No.SIG2 (TOD13), pp.179-191, 2002

  By the way, if a user purchases a license for viewing digital content from a content distributor, the license value (expiration date, number of times, etc.) will not be fully consumed, but it will be satisfied, tired, or misunderstood. You may not be able to view it, and the license value may remain.

  On the other hand, the license is a unique format of the DRM system managed by the content distributor, and the player used by the user is also limited, and other players cannot use it. Therefore, when a user who has purchased a license wants to change the player to view it, or with a plurality of players (for example, a PC (personal computer), an STB (set-top box), a mobile phone, a PDA (personal digital assistant)). It was not possible to handle cases such as splitting licenses for viewing.

  Further, in order to consume the remaining value of the license, even if the user tries to exchange the license for money by selling it at an auction or the like, since the players are currently limited, The exchange was not successful.

  When the value of the license remains, even if the user or the player is viewed in the range, there is no disadvantage to the copyright holder of the digital content. Rather, rather than illegally copying digital content, it is desirable to change the player within the scope of the license, view it with multiple players, exchange licenses, and increase the opportunities for using digital content.

  The present invention relates to a license control method and a license control that enable viewing by a plurality of players by changing the player or dividing the license within the scope of the license, and enabling secondary use of the license that could not be consumed by exchanging the license. An object is to provide a device, a license control program, and a computer-readable recording medium on which the license control program is recorded.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a license control method comprising: a first procedure for grasping a usage situation after a digital content license is sold to a user and managing right information including a remaining value of the license; A second procedure for rewriting and issuing a license so that it can be used by another user or another player in accordance with the value of the remaining license when requested by the owned user; Have.

  A license control method according to claim 2, comprising: a first procedure for grasping a usage situation after a digital content license is sold to a user and managing right information including a remaining value of the license; According to the second procedure for managing the preference information of the user who owns the license and the user's preference information and the right information when a license exchange request is received from the user who owns the license, A third procedure for providing a list of replaceable license groups and their holders, and selecting a license holder to be exchanged from the list, and agreeing with the holder, depending on the remaining value of both licenses And a fourth procedure for rewriting and issuing the license to be exchanged.

  In the fourth procedure, when a notification of the exchange partner of the license selected from the list is received, the exchange negotiation between the exchange requesting user and the exchange partner user is mediated through a predetermined communication means. A procedure may be included (claim 3).

  5. The license control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a usage status after the digital content license is sold to the user is grasped, and the right information including the remaining value of the license is managed, and the usage holding the license And a means for rewriting and issuing the license so that it can be used by another user or another player according to the value of the remaining license when requested by the user.

  The license control device according to claim 5 is a means for grasping a usage situation after a digital content license is sold to a user, managing right information including a remaining value of the license, and a digital content license. A means for managing user preference information, etc., and a license group that can be exchanged according to user preference information and rights information when a license exchange request is received from a user who owns the license. Select the means to provide the list of holders and the holder of the license to be exchanged from the list, and renew and issue the exchanged license according to the remaining value of both licenses in accordance with the agreement with the holder. Means.

  The means for rewriting and issuing the license to be exchanged is a predetermined communication means for receiving an exchange negotiation between the user who requested the exchange and the user of the exchange partner when receiving a notification of the exchange partner of the license selected from the list. It is also possible to include a means for mediating via a claim (claim 6).

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a license control program having a processing procedure for causing a computer to execute each of the steps constituting the license control method according to any of the first to third aspects. The invention described in claim 8 is a computer-readable record in which a license control program having a processing procedure for executing each procedure constituting the license control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 by a computer is recorded. It is a medium.

  Since the license control method, apparatus, program, and recording medium of the present invention can rewrite the license within the range of the remaining value of the license, it is possible to easily deal with changes in the player and viewing with a plurality of players. And the license can be used effectively.

  In addition, if the exchangeable licenses are listed and negotiated with the license holder selected from among them, the license can be rewritten within the range of the remaining value. Therefore, it is possible to easily exchange licenses between both users.

  In this way, secondary use of the license becomes possible, so even if the content of the license remains because of satisfaction, tiredness, misunderstanding, etc., the value can be consumed sufficiently, and the content There is an effect of promoting distribution. In addition, since the license sold from the content distributor increases the chance of further distribution from the purchaser, there is an effect that the opportunity for using the content can be further expanded while ensuring the profits of the copyright holder.

  FIG. 1 shows a system configuration of a license control apparatus (DRM system) of the present invention. In the figure, user terminals 1A and 1B are connected to a network (for example, the Internet), and a plurality of copyright management systems 2, a plurality of license management systems 3, a plurality of sales management systems 4, and a plurality of license exchanges are connected to the network. A system 5 and a plurality of license exchange service systems 6 are connected.

  The user terminals 1A and 1B are configured by a PC (personal computer), an STB (set-top box), and the like, and correspond to both a case where users are different and a case where terminals are different for the same user. Each of the systems 2 to 6 is configured by a normal computer system or software (program) executed by the computer, and has a database (DB) for storing information depending on each system, and can perform distributed processing. It has become. The copyright management system 2 has content attribute information DB0, the license management system 3 has license information DB1, the sales management system 4 has sales information DB2 and user information DB3, and the license exchange system 5 has content attributes. The license exchange service system 6 includes a license information DB 7 and a user information DB 8.

  Further, the user terminals 1A and 1B and the systems 2 to 6 may execute processing according to a procedure to be described later according to a program provided on a storage medium such as a CD-ROM. In addition, each system 2-6 implements by the method of performing the authentication of a user within an own apparatus, or connecting to the common authentication system which is not shown in figure.

(Preliminary process of license exchange)
First, a prior process for exchanging licenses will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows the structure of a database used in the license control apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 (1) shows an example of the structure of the content attribute information DB0. FIG. 2 (2) shows an example of the structure of the license information DBs 1, 5, and 7. FIG. 2 (3) shows an example of the structure of the sales information DB2. FIG. 2 (4) shows an example of the structure of the user information DBs 3, 6 and 8. FIG. 3 shows a processing procedure of a prior process for license exchange.

  Digital content is given attribute information such as title, keyword, and genre from the copyright holder, and is registered in the copyright management system 2 together with authentication information and copyright holder information. The registered information is stored in the content attribute information DB0, and a content ID (CID) that identifies the digital content is assigned.

  Next, the copyright owner and the content distributor negotiate the use permission condition (license) related to the CID, and the agreed rights information, authentication information, and content distributor information are registered in the license management system 3. The registered information is stored in the license information DB 1 and is assigned a license ID for specifying the right information.

  Next, the content distributor determines sales conditions within the scope of the contracted right information, and sells the license to the user via the sales management system 4. Information on the sales conditions and the user who purchased the license at this time is stored in the sales information DB 2 and the user information DB 3.

  Next, when the digital content is viewed based on the license purchased by the user, the usage status is notified from the user terminal 1A (1B) to the sales management system 4 or the license management system 3. This information is stored in the sales information DB 2 or the license information DB 1 and the usage status of the license by the user is grasped by the DRM system. On the other hand, even if the user views the digital content based on the license purchased by the user, the usage status is not notified, and the DRM system compares the information when the license is requested by the user with the actual condition of the license. You may make it grasp | ascertain a utilization condition.

  Next, the current license information (license ID and the like) and user preference information are registered in the license exchange service system 6. The registered information is stored in the license information DB 7 and the user information DB 8. At this time, the license information DB 7 and the user information DB 8 may be registered in the license exchange system 5 from the license exchange service system 6, and similar data may be stored in the license information DB 5 and the user information DB 6. Further, the license exchange system 5 may search the copyright management system 2 based on the CID of the information in the license information DB 5 and store the content attribute information in the content attribute information DB 4.

(First embodiment of license exchange)
The license exchange processing procedure will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 shows a first embodiment of license exchange.

  When the user A wishes to exchange the license, the user terminal 1A makes a license exchange request to the license exchange service system 6. The license exchange service system 6 provides services such as advertisement, questionnaire, and billing to the user terminal 1A, and at the same time, the license exchange system 5 based on the license information and preference information of the user A registered in advance in the preliminary process. Search for. If information registration is not performed from the license exchange service system 6 to the license exchange system 5 in the preliminary process, the preference information and license information of the user A are sent here.

  The license exchange system 5 searches the content attribute information DB4, the license information DB5, and the user information DB6 and starts creating a list of license exchange candidates. At this time, filtering that completely satisfies the conditions of the user A (preference information, attribute information such as the genre of digital contents, rights information such as the number of licenses), and the degree to which each condition is met is represented by an evaluation value. A list of exchangeable license groups and their holders is created using filtering or the like indicating a predetermined number of data and notified to the license exchange service system 6. This list includes license information and user contact information.

  The license exchange service system 6 sends the list received from the license exchange system 5 to the user terminal 1A, and the user A selects the exchange desired license from the list and notifies the license exchange service system 6.

  Next, the license exchange service system 6 sends an email inquiring whether or not exchange is possible to the notified license owner (here, the user terminal 1B of the user B) and waits for a reply. When an answer cannot be obtained from the user terminal 1B within a predetermined period, an email for prompting an answer is transmitted and the answer is waited for. When the user B approves the license exchange, a reply mail is returned to the license exchange service system 6. Upon receiving the response mail, the license exchange service system 6 notifies the user terminals 1A and 1B of the license exchange, and issues a license issuance request including the unique information of the users A and B from the user terminals 1A and 1B, respectively. Accept. Upon receiving the unique information of users A and B, the license exchange service system 6 confirms the license information with the sales management system 4 (or license management system 5).

  Next, the license exchange service system 6 sends the old licenses A and B of the users A and B to the license management system 3 and requests a new license issuance. The license management system 3 rewrites the license holder information and issues new licenses A and B. The license exchange service system 6 distributes the issued new licenses A and B to the user terminals 1A and 1B, respectively. Upon receipt of the license, each user terminal can view the exchanged new digital content.

  When the information necessary for issuing a license is registered in the license exchange service system 6, the license exchange service system 6 rewrites the license holder information without requesting the license management system 3 to issue a license. A new license may be issued to the user terminals 1A and 1B. Further, this function may be performed by the license exchange system 5.

(Second Embodiment of License Exchange)
The license exchange processing procedure will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the license exchange method of the present invention.

  In the first embodiment, the user A who has requested the license exchange selects the license to be exchanged from the list and notifies the license exchange service system 6 of the license exchange service system 6, and the license exchange service system 6 is the owner of the license (here, the user). B's user terminal 1B). In the present embodiment, this negotiation is performed between the users based on the contact information of the users in the list. If the negotiation is successful, the license exchange service system 6 is requested to issue a license issuance including the specific information from the user terminals 1A and 1B. Hereinafter, it is the same as that of 1st Embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the user A and the user B are the same person, and can be applied to secondary use of a license within one user. For example, when viewing digital contents by dividing a license among a plurality of players or viewing with another player, request a license issuance from each user terminal (player) to obtain a corresponding new license. Can be issued. In this case, filtering and list creation performed in the license exchange system 5 are not required, and the list is not presented from the license exchange service system 6 to the user terminal.

The block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of the license control apparatus of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of the database utilized with the license control apparatus of this invention. The flowchart which shows the prior process of license exchange. The figure which shows 1st Embodiment of license exchange. The figure which shows 2nd Embodiment of license exchange.

Explanation of symbols

1A, 1B User terminal 2 Copyright management system 3 License management system 4 Sales management system 5 License exchange system 6 License exchange service system

Claims (8)

In a license control method of a content distribution management system for controlling a use permission condition (license) of encapsulated digital content,
A first procedure for grasping a usage situation after the license of the digital content is sold to a user and managing right information including a remaining value of the license;
Secondly, when a request is received from a user who holds the license, the license is rewritten and issued so that it can be used by another user or another player according to the value of the remaining license. A license control method comprising: a procedure. In a license control method of a content distribution management system for controlling a use permission condition (license) of encapsulated digital content,
A first procedure for grasping a usage situation after the license of the digital content is sold to a user and managing right information including a remaining value of the license;
A second procedure for managing preference information and the like of a user who holds the license of the digital content;
When a license exchange request is received from a user who owns the license, a license group that can be exchanged and a list of the holders are provided according to the user's preference information and the right information. Procedure and
Selecting a license holder to be exchanged from the list, and renewing and issuing the license to be exchanged according to the remaining value of both licenses in accordance with an agreement with the holder; Feature license control method. The license control method according to claim 2,
In the fourth procedure, when a notification of the exchange partner of the license selected from the list is received, exchange negotiation between the exchange requesting user and the exchange partner is mediated through a predetermined communication means. A license control method characterized by comprising a procedure for In a license control apparatus of a content distribution management system that controls use permission conditions (license) of encapsulated digital content,
Means for grasping a usage situation after the license of the digital content is sold to a user and managing right information including a remaining value of the license;
Means for rewriting and issuing a license so that it can be used by another user or another player according to the value of the remaining license when requested by the user holding the license; A license control apparatus comprising: In a license control apparatus of a content distribution management system that controls use permission conditions (license) of encapsulated digital content,
Means for grasping a usage situation after the license of the digital content is sold to a user and managing right information including a remaining value of the license;
Means for managing preference information and the like of a user holding the license of the digital content;
Means for providing a list of exchangeable license groups and their holders according to the user's preference information and the right information when a license exchange request is received from a user who holds the license;
Means for selecting a license holder to be exchanged from the list, and rewriting and issuing the license to be exchanged according to the remaining value of both licenses in accordance with an agreement with the owner. License control device. The license control device according to claim 5,
The means for rewriting and issuing the license to be exchanged, upon receiving notification of the exchange partner of the license selected from the list, performs exchange negotiation between the user who requested the exchange and the user of the exchange partner, according to a predetermined communication A license control apparatus comprising means for mediating through the means.   A license control program comprising a processing procedure for executing each procedure constituting the license control method according to claim 1 on a computer. A computer-readable recording medium on which a license control program having a processing procedure for executing each procedure constituting the license control method according to claim 1 by a computer is recorded.

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