Patent ID: 6873975
Filing Date: 2005-03-29
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A content usage control system which controls the usage of content supplied by an authorized information supplier including a content producer who is also an information producer and those persons authorized by the information producer, said system comprising: a user unit which enables a user to use the content, said user unit including a plurality of physical elements; a setting unit which sets a license as a structure expressed by a combination of logic sums and logic products of a plurality of partial licenses for the content based on ID information of the physical elements of said user unit including media used in said user unit and ID information of the user; and a usage control unit which controls the usage of the content by said user unit by using license information that is encrypted in a multiplex way in a predetermined order, at the request of the user unit intending to use the content, from the license set by said setting unit and a content decode key by the ID information of the physical elements through which the license information is passed in sequence until the content is decoded by use of the content decode key, wherein the license information is partially decoded by one of said physical elements, in inverse to said predetermined order, and then said partially decoded license information is sent to another of said physical elements to be decoded.