JPH11120679A - Data recorder and data reading method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To restrict the user's access or the number of accesses to data recorded on a read-only recording medium by confirming the identification information in the manner of reading out the identification requesting data from the recording medium or the access data from a storage means, and interrupting the access to the recording medium till the identification signal is received. SOLUTION: The identification information is read out from an optical disk 3 by a computer when the existence is decided by an access controller 8. Next, the polling is made so that the number N of accesses to the optical disk 3 stored in a memory 9 is decided by the controller 8. Next, the maximum accessible number M is read out from the optical disk 3 by the computer. Then, these N and M are compared to decide whether the further accessing right exists for the user or not. At this time, when N is smaller than M, the further accessing right exists, and the remaining accessible number is informed to the user by the computer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data recording apparatus and a data reading method, for example, a cartridge for storing a recording medium on which digital data is recorded, and a programmable monitoring apparatus for monitoring the number of times a user has accessed the data. And a data reading method for preventing a user from accessing data more than a predetermined number of times.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As data recording density has been increased, a large amount of data can be recorded on a recording medium housed in a removable cartridge. A user can purchase or borrow a cartridge containing a recording medium and access the data recorded on the recording medium any number of times. The cartridge manufacturer may set a higher shipping amount of the cartridge to compensate for the profit or loss due to the fear that a plurality of users may copy and use the data or the program recorded on the recording medium in the shipped cartridge. May be. Here, if the number of times of accessing the recording medium in the cartridge can be restricted for the user who has been authenticated, the manufacturer can provide the cartridge to many users at a lower cost.

[0003] In addition, manufacturers have so-called site licensing agreements (site licensing agreements) that allow users to install software on a predetermined number of workstations.
se). At this time, if a conventional cartridge containing a recording medium for recording the contracted software is delivered to the user, the software may be installed on an unauthenticated workstation.

As a method of restricting a user's access to data or a program recorded on a recording medium in a removable cartridge, for example, access information is recorded on a recording medium itself such as a magnetic disk, thereby restricting a user's access. Such a method is known. Here, the user's computer writes and updates the authentication information on the recording medium.

[0005] Such a method cannot be used for a recording medium on which writing cannot be performed. For example, writing to an optical disk cannot be performed by a device owned by the user. Such optical discs include, for example, a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) and a digital video disc (DVD).

There has also been proposed an apparatus for monitoring the use of a cartridge containing a recording medium without recording data on the recording medium itself. For example, Lang et a
U.S. Patent Application No. 08 / 778,604, filed Jan. 6, 1997, which discloses a mechanical pointer in a cartridge for a recording medium. This pointer is driven by an actuator in a compatible disk drive. When data is recorded or erased on the recording medium in the cartridge, the pointer moves to indicate the remaining amount of the writable area on the recording medium.
This pointer can be used to indicate the number of accesses instead of indicating the remaining amount of the writable area on the recording medium. However, if there is an unauthorized access to the data on the recording medium in the cartridge, , That access cannot be prevented.

[0007] A US patent application filed by the applicant and pending (Attorney Docket No. 7229/53176) is:
A monitoring device that is housed in a cartridge for a recording medium and monitors a data recording capacity is disclosed. This device includes a controller housed in a cartridge and contacts arranged on a side surface of the cartridge. This contact is connected to a contact in the disk drive that allows the computer to access the controller and update information about the state of the disk. However, this device cannot prevent a user from accessing data.

[0008]

As described above, there is a fear that data written on a recording medium such as a non-writable optical disk may be installed on an unauthenticated user's workstation or copied illegally. is there. As such, manufacturers need to limit user access or access times.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a data recording apparatus and a data reading method capable of limiting the number of times a user accesses data or a program recorded on a recording medium. The purpose is to:

Another object of the present invention is to provide a data reading method for restricting access to data on a non-writable recording medium stored in a cartridge.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a data recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises a housing, a recording medium for recording program data and authentication request data and housed in the housing. A storage unit disposed in the housing for storing access data; an interface unit connected to the storage unit for transmitting and receiving authentication information to and from the storage unit; reading authentication request data from a recording medium; And an authentication confirming means for confirming the authentication information by reading the authentication information and generating an authentication signal, and an access inhibiting means for inhibiting access to the recording medium until the authentication signal is received.

The data reading method according to the present invention includes a step of reading authentication information from a recording medium stored in the cartridge, a step of reading access information from a memory provided in the cartridge, and a step of reading the authentication information and the access information. Comparing the program information and reading the program information from the recording medium when the access is authenticated.

Further, the data reading method according to the present invention comprises:
The manufacturer gives the user a passcode to increase the number of accesses to the recording medium.

Further, in the data recording apparatus and the data reading method according to the present invention, a memory is provided in a cartridge accommodating a non-writable recording medium, and the number of times the user has actually accessed the recording medium is stored in the memory. .

Further, in the data recording apparatus and the data recording method according to the present invention, a contact for a drive for a recording medium is provided, and a device in a cartridge for storing the recording medium exchanges authentication information with the drive via the contact. Then, the number of times the user accesses the recording medium is limited.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a non-volatile memory and a controller are provided in a substantially rectangular cartridge for storing an optical disk, whereby the number of times a user has accessed a recording medium is counted and stored. Also, a contact connected to the controller is provided at the end of the cartridge, and an external computer accesses the controller via the contact. Each time the computer accesses the optical disk, 1 is added to the number of accesses. When the user needs to access the optical disk, the computer receives the access data from the controller,
At this time, if a predetermined number of accesses have already been made, the computer does not permit the user to access the optical disk.

In still another embodiment of the present invention, the optical disk drive is provided with a predetermined number of first contacts, and the first contacts are connected to the second contacts provided on the side surface of the disk cartridge. Provided are a disk cartridge and a disk drive. The disk controller sends a signal to the access controller in the cartridge via these contacts to check whether the access controller is present in the cartridge. At this time,
If an access controller exists, the disk controller reads the access information from the access controller and compares the access information with the authentication information recorded on the optical disk. Thereby, when it is confirmed that the user has been authenticated, access is permitted, and 1 is added to the authentication information of the access controller. If the user has not been authenticated, access is denied and the optical disk is ejected from the disk drive.

As described above, the data recording apparatus and the data reading method according to the present invention limit the number of times a user accesses a recording medium stored in a cartridge and restrict the access of a user who has not been authenticated. .

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a data recording apparatus and a data reading method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a disk cartridge to which the present invention is applied, which is a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG.
Accommodates the optical disk 3, and a contact 6 is provided on one side surface of the disk cartridge 1. The contact 6 is connected to an access controller 8 having a nonvolatile memory 9. The power of the access controller 8 and the memory 9 is supplied from a battery 10.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an optical disk drive 20 that houses the disk cartridge 1. The optical disc 3 is driven to rotate by a rotating mechanism (not shown), and the read head 26 reads data recorded on the optical disc 3. The spring contact 22 is provided so as to face the contact 6 provided on the side surface of the disk cartridge 1. The spring contact 22 electrically connects the access controller 8 and the disk controller 24. The other end of the disk controller 24 is connected to a computer 25. The read head 26 is controlled by the computer 25 to read data or a program from the optical disc 3.

The computer 25 sends a command to the disk controller 24 and reads the access data stored in the memory 9 of the disk cartridge 1 from the access controller 8 via the contact 6 and the spring contact 22.

The operation of the computer 25 is shown in FIGS.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In step S 1 shown in FIG. 3, the disk cartridge 1 is inserted into the optical disk drive 20. In step S2, the computer 25, based on the signal supplied from the disk controller 24,
It is determined whether or not the disk cartridge 1 has the access controller 8.

In step S2, the computer 25
When it is determined that the access controller 8 is present, the process proceeds to step S3 to read the authentication information from the optical disc 3.

In step S4, the computer 25
Determines whether the access to the disk 3 requires the access controller 8. When the access controller 8 is not necessary, the computer 25 proceeds to step S5 and performs the normal processing of the disk 3.

In step S4, the computer 25
When it is determined that the access controller 8 is necessary to access the program or data recorded on the optical disc 3, the process proceeds to step S6, and notifies that the user has no access right using, for example, a display device. Then, in step S7, the optical disk 3 is ejected, and the process ends.

In step S2, the computer 25
Proceeds to step S8 when the access controller 8 is detected. The computer 25 polls the access controller 8 to determine the number N of accesses to the optical disk 3 stored in the memory 9.

In step S9, the computer 25
Reads the maximum accessible number M from the optical disk 3.

In step S10, the computer 2
5 compares N and M to determine if the user has more access rights. Here, when N is less than or equal to M, there is further access right, and the computer 25 proceeds to step S11 to inform the user of the remaining accessible number.

In step S12, the computer 2
Step 5 determines whether the user has performed an operation of ejecting the disk cartridge 1. If the user does not perform the operation of ejecting the disc cartridge 1, the computer 2
5 performs a normal process in step S13, and thereafter repeats this operation until the user performs an operation to eject the disk cartridge.

When a disc ejection command is received in step S12, the computer 25 proceeds to step S14 shown in FIG. In step S14, the computer 25 adds 1 to the number of accesses N, and ejects the disc cartridge 1 in step S15.

In step S10 shown in FIG. 3, when the computer 25 determines that the access count N exceeds the maximum accessible count M, the computer 25 proceeds to step S16 shown in FIG. Notify the user that it is gone. In step S17, the user can input the necessary authentication passcode to the computer 25 via an input device such as a keyboard provided in the computer 25, and reset the access count N. This authentication passcode will be described later.

In step S18, the computer 2
Step 5 determines whether the input authentication passcode is correct. If the authentication passcode is correct, in step S19, the computer 25 resets the number of accesses N stored in the memory 9 to 0 and returns to step S1 shown in FIG.
Proceed to 1.

When it is determined in step S18 shown in FIG. 5 that the input authentication passcode is incorrect,
The computer 25 recommends that the user contact the manufacturer of the optical disc 3 to obtain a valid authentication passcode, and ejects the disc cartridge 1 in step S21.

With the disk cartridge 1, for example, when a computer program is installed in a workstation, the number of workstations to be installed can be limited. A user can purchase a so-called device setting license (site license), receive such a disk cartridge, and install a program recorded on the disk cartridge a predetermined number of times. That is, the number of accesses increases each time the user performs the installation, and the user can perform the installation until the maximum number of accesses permitted by the device setting license is reached. Here, when the user attempts to install this program on another workstation, the user makes an additional contract,
As a result, an authentication passcode is obtained, the access count is reset using the authentication passcode, and the installation is permitted a predetermined number of times.

In this embodiment, video data can be recorded on the optical disk 3 and used for rental of a video disk at a rental video store. In this case, the rental video store purchases a video program with a limited number of playbacks. The rental fee paid by the customer of the rental video store can be calculated based on the number of times the customer plays the video.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the serial number of the optical disc 3 may be encrypted and stored in the memory 9 instead of the number of accesses to the optical disc 3. That is, in the manufacturing process of the optical disk 3, a unique serial number is assigned to the optical disk 3, and the serial number is encrypted and stored in the memory 9. When the disk cartridge 1 is inserted into the optical disk drive 20, the computer 25 compares the serial number of the optical disk 3 with the encrypted serial number stored in the memory 9. If the compared numbers do not match, the computer 25 reads the optical disk 3
Is regarded as an unauthorized copy, and the disc cartridge 1 is ejected from the disc drive 20.

Further, the disk cartridge 1 prevents the operation system from being installed in another computer, for example, when the operation system recorded on the optical disk 3 is shipped together with a specific computer 25. can do. That is, the manufacturer of the computer 25 records the operation system on the optical disk 3 in the disk cartridge 1 and assigns a unique serial number to each manufactured computer. Then, the serial number of the specific computer 25 is stored in the memory 9 of the disk cartridge 1 shipped together with the specific computer 25. This operation system is designed to function only when the serial number stored in the memory 9 of the disk cartridge 1 matches the serial number of the computer 25.
As a result, this operating system cannot be installed and used on an unauthorized computer.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the disk cartridge 1 inserted into the conventional disk drive 28. The size and shape of the disc cartridge 1 are equal to those of a conventional disc cartridge. Conventional disk drive 28
Does not have a spring contact and therefore has a computer 2
5 cannot access information stored in the memory 9. The software recorded on the optical disc 3 is designed to be able to access a part of the software, for example, a part of a function for demonstration, without accessing the authentication information stored in the memory 9. In order to use all the functions of this software, a user must obtain a disk drive 20 corresponding to a disk cartridge to which the present invention is applied.

FIGS. 7 to 10 are views showing a second embodiment of the present invention. Disk cartridge 3 shown in FIG.
Numeral 0 indicates that the corner portion 31 of the conventional disk cartridge is detachable along the peeling line 33.

FIG. 8 is a view showing the access control module 35 together with the disk cartridge 30 by removing the corner 31 from the disk cartridge 30. The projection 38 of the disk cartridge 30 and the recess 39 of the access control module 35 are engaged with each other.
Is stably held by the disk cartridge 30, as shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view showing the access control module 35 in detail. The access control module 35 includes an access controller 8, a memory 9, a battery 10, and a contact 6, similarly to the disk cartridge 1 in the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 shows a third embodiment of the data recording apparatus according to the present invention. The disc cartridge 40 is
Contact points 41 are provided on the side surface, and these contact points 41 are electrically connected to an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (hereinafter, referred to as an EEPROM) 42 provided in the casing of the disk cartridge 40. This disk cartridge 40 is the optical disk drive 2 shown in FIG.
0 is inserted. The data described in the first embodiment is written to and read from the EEPROM 42, and a signal for erasing or updating the data in the EEPROM 42 is also supplied from the disk controller 24 to the EEPROM 42 via the contact 41. Is done. In this embodiment, since power and control signals are supplied from the disk controller 24 to the disk cartridge 40,
The disk cartridge 40 does not require the access controller 8 and the battery 10 as provided in the disk cartridge 1 described in the first embodiment.

In place of the EEPROM, a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory may be provided to store the access information.

The above embodiments are merely examples of the embodiments of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited by the details of the above embodiments. Those skilled in the art can variously modify these embodiments, and those modifications are included in the spirit of the present invention described in the appended claims.

[0047]

As described above, a data recording apparatus according to the present invention records a housing, program data and authentication request data, and is provided with a recording medium housed in the housing and a housing. A storage unit for storing access data, an interface unit connected to the storage unit for transmitting and receiving authentication information to and from the storage unit, reading authentication request data from a recording medium, reading access data from the storage unit, and confirming authentication information , An authentication confirming means for generating an authentication signal, and an access inhibiting means for inhibiting access to the recording medium until the authentication signal is received.

Further, in the data reading method according to the present invention, a step of reading authentication information from a recording medium stored in a cartridge, a step of reading access information from a memory provided in the cartridge, and a step of reading the authentication information and the access information. Comparing the program information and reading the program information from the recording medium when the access is authenticated.

According to the present invention, a cartridge manufacturer can restrict a user's access or the number of times of access to data recorded on a read-only recording medium such as an optical disk, and an unauthorized user can use the data. Or installing the program on a workstation for which a contract has not been made.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a disk cartridge to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a disk drive for reading data by inserting a disk cartridge.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a data read operation.

FIG. 4 is a continuation of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a continuation of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional disk drive into which a disk cartridge to which the present invention is applied is inserted.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conventional disk cartridge in which a peeling line is provided at a corner.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a disk cartridge with its corners removed together with an access control module.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a disk cartridge on which an access control module is mounted.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of an access control module.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 disk cartridge, 3 recording media, 6 contacts,
8 access controllers, 9 memories, 10 batteries

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A housing, a recording medium stored in the housing for recording program data and authentication request data, a storage means arranged in the housing and storing access data, and the storage means Interface means for transmitting and receiving authentication information to and from the storage means; reading the authentication request data from the recording medium; reading the access data from the storage means to check the authentication information; and generating an authentication signal. A data recording apparatus comprising: an authentication confirming unit that performs access; and an access blocking unit that blocks access to the recording medium until the authentication signal is received. 2. The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said storage means includes a memory, a memory controller, and a power supply. 3. The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said storage means is an erasable programmable read only memory. 4. The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said interface means includes a contact disposed on a side surface of said housing. 5. The authentication request data indicates the number of times that the recording medium can be accessed, the access data indicates the number of times that the recording medium has been actually accessed, and when the recording medium has been accessed. 2. The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising access number increasing means for increasing the number of times of said access. 6. The authentication request data is a unique first serial number given to the recording medium; the access data is a second serial number; 2. The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the authentication signal is generated when the serial number of the authentication data matches the second serial number. 7. The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording medium is an optical disk. 8. The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording medium is a compact disk read-only memory. 9. The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording medium is a digital video disk. 10. The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said storage means is provided in a module detachably mounted on said housing and forming a part of said housing. 11. A step of reading authentication information from a recording medium stored in a data recording device, a step of reading access information from a memory provided in the data recording device, and comparing the authentication information with the access information. A data reading method, comprising: reading out program information from the recording medium when access has been authenticated. 12. A step of determining whether or not the memory exists in the data recording device, and a step of determining whether or not authentication information recorded on the recording medium requires the presence of the memory. 12. The data reading method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of: when the authentication information requires the presence of a memory, and when the memory does not exist, preventing reading of the program information from the recording medium. 13. A method for receiving a passcode, determining whether the passcode is correct, and resetting the memory access information when the passcode is correct. The data reading method according to claim 11.