Patent Publication Number: US-2005131885-A1

Title: Information processing apparatus and method, and program

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to information processing apparatuses and methods, and programs, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus and method in which the forms and conditions for providing content can be freely changed within the conditions licensed by content supplier sources. The invention also relates to a program implementing the above-described method.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Services for providing content are coming into widespread use. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-61066 discloses content providing services for providing music (audio information), that is, audio information providing services.  
       FIG. 1  illustrates the configuration implementing a known model of a business method for providing such services.  
      In  FIG. 1 , a user  1  is connected to each of content providers  2 A through  2 C via the Internet (not shown).  
      The user  1  obtains (purchases) content distributed from the content providers  2 A through  2 C in units of packages. That is, the content providers  2 A through  2 C provide (sell) content that can be distributed via the Internet to the user  1  in units of packages. The package is a unit for selling (purchasing) content as products. Accordingly, the package contains at least one item of content.  
      More specifically, the content provider  2 A generates and provides a package  11 A containing content  12 A. Similarly, the content providers  2 B and  2 C generate and provide a package  11 B containing content  12 B and a package  11 C containing content  12 C, respectively.  
      In this case, the user  1  determines whether he/she purchases the packages  11 A through  11 C based on package metadata  13 A through  13 C associated with the packages  11 A through  11 C, respectively, and content metadata  14 A through  14 C associated with the content items  12 A through  12 C, respectively.  
      More specifically, a user terminal (not shown) of the user  1  recognizes by referring to the package metadata  13 A and the content metadata  14 A that the package  11 A contains the content  12 A solely (the package type is “unit” consisting of one item of content) whose title is “drama A—episode  2 ” and that the viewing period and the price of the package  11 A are 7 days and 300 yen, respectively. The user terminal then provides the recognition result to the user.  
      The user can understand that he/she can purchase from the content provider  2 A the content  12 A (package  11 A) having a title of “drama A—episode  2 ” that can be viewed for 7 days at the price of 300 yen, and determines whether to purchase the package  11 A.  
      Similarly, the user terminal of the user  1  recognizes by referring to the package metadata  13 B and content metadata  14 -B that the package  11 B contains the content  12 B solely (the package type is “unit”) having a title of “drama B—episode  9 ” and that the viewing period and the price are 7 days and 500 yen, respectively. The user terminal then provides the recognition result to the user.  
      Then, the user can understand that he/she can purchase from the content provider  2 B the content  12 B (package  11 B) having a title of “drama B—episode  9 ” that can be viewed for 7 days at the price of 500 yen, and determines whether to purchase the package  11 B.  
      The user terminal of the user  1  also recognizes by referring to the package metadata  13 C and content metadata  14 C that the package  11 C contains the content  12 C solely (the package type is “unit”) having a title of “film C” and that the viewing period and the price are one month and 800 yen, respectively. The user terminal then provides the recognition result to the user.  
      Then, the user can understand that he/she can purchase from the content provider  2 C the content  12 C (package  11 C) having a title of “film C” that can be viewed for one month at the price of 800 yen, and determines whether to purchase the package  11 C.  
      As described above, the user  1  has to purchase from the content providers  2 A through  2 C the content items  12 A through  12 C under the conditions (for example, the above-described type, viewing period, and price) provided by the content providers  2 A through  2 C, respectively.  
      In other words, it is difficult for entities other than the content providers  2 A through  2 C to provide the content items  12 A through  12 C in the forms other than the packages  11 A through  11 C (other than the forms generated by the content providers  2 A through  2 C) or under the conditions other than the conditions (i.e., conditions indicated in the package metadata  13 A through  13 C) provided by the content providers  2 A through  2 C.  
      Because of this drawback, it is difficult to apply the following model of the business method to the field of the content providing services. That is, it is difficult to apply a business method model in which intermediary agents (secondary providers) repackage a plurality of products provided by different original providers (primary providers) and sell new packages.  
      More specifically, for example, in  FIG. 1 , as stated above, the content items  12 A through  12 C are provided from the content providers (primary providers)  2 A through  2 C in the form of the packages  11 A through  11 C, respectively. Since the type of each of the packages  11 A through  11 C indicates “unit”, an intermediary agent (secondary provider) (not shown) can repackage none of the content items  12 A through  12 C.  
      Even if the type of each of the packages  11 A through  11 C is “package” (consisting of two or more items of content), the other providing conditions (for example, the price and the viewing period) are fixed. Accordingly, even if the content items  12 A through  12 C are repackaged, the providing conditions of the new package are a mere combination of those of the original packages  11 A through  11 C. More specifically, for example, the price of the new package is the total of the original prices of the content items  12 A through  12 C (packages  11 A through  11 C), i.e., 1600 yen. The viewing period becomes inconsistent in the package; for example, the viewing period of the content item  12 -C is one month, while that of the content items  12 A and  12 B is 7 days.  
      The secondary providers include not only intermediary agents for reselling content (repackaging content and selling new packages), but also various other agents, for example, agents for selling products other than content by associating services for selling those products with content providing services, and agents for providing content billing services.  
      The providing conditions include not only the above-described price and viewing period, but also the quality of the content (Quality of services (QoS)) (image quality, audio quality, and communication quality), and recommendations and conversion services of codec (cross encoding services) that match user terminals.  
      In the above-described publication (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-61066), a method for providing audio content (plural of music pieces) matching user&#39;s favorites in an audio information providing system is disclosed. More specifically, in this method, when the user specifies user&#39;s favorites by selecting desired music genres and images of music and also specifies a desired price range, he/she can purchase a plurality of music pieces matching the user&#39;s favorites and price range.  
      The above publication, however, merely discloses that the price of each of the plurality of music pieces is weighted according to the user&#39;s favorites, and it is determined whether to purchase the music pieces by comparing the total cost of the weighted prices with the price range desired by the user. After all, the user has to purchase the music pieces at the price asked by the supply source (sales source).  
      The above publication does not assume business method models (for example, the above-described business method model with secondary intermediaries) other than the business method model disclosed in  FIG. 1 . Accordingly, the above publication does not disclose or suggest business methods other than the business method disclosed in  FIG. 1 , nor does it disclose that content is provided in units of packages, as in the configuration shown in  FIG. 1 .  
      Accordingly, the invention disclosed in this publication also suffers from the above-described problem unique to the known art in which the user has to purchase the content in the form and conditions determined (fixed) by content supplier sources.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Accordingly, in view of the above background, it is an object of the present invention to freely change forms and conditions for providing content within the conditions licensed by a supplier source (first provider).  
      The present invention provides an information processing apparatus for generating a second package containing at least one content item selected from content items contained in a first package provided by a second information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus includes: a storage unit for obtaining first metadata corresponding to the first package from the second information processing apparatus and storing the obtained first metadata therein, the first metadata including control information concerning conditions for generating the second package; a package generator for generating the second package containing at least one content item selected from the content items contained in the first package based on the control information contained in the first metadata stored in the storage unit; and a metadata generator for generating second metadata corresponding to the second package generated or to be generated by the package generator based on the control information.  
      The control information may include information concerning licensed elements that are allowed to be changed among elements forming the first metadata.  
      The control information may further include information concerning the type of operation to change each of the licensed elements.  
      The control information may further include information concerning a licensing condition for changing each of the licensed elements.  
      The control information may further include information concerning a device or an administrator for the device that is authorized to change each of the licensed elements.  
      The control information may further include information concerning content items that are allowed to be contained in the second package and selected from the content items of the first package.  
      The present invention also provides an information processing method for an information processing apparatus for generating a second package containing at least one content item selected from content items contained in a first package provided by a second information processing apparatus. The information processing method includes: a storage step of obtaining first metadata corresponding to the first package from the second information processing apparatus and storing the obtained first metadata therein, the first metadata including control information concerning conditions for generating the second package; a package generating step of generating the second package containing at least one content item selected from the content items contained in the first package based on the control information contained in the first metadata stored in the storage step; and a metadata generating step of generating second metadata corresponding to the second package generated or to be generated in the package generating step based on the control information.  
      The present invention also provides a program for allowing a computer to execute processing for generating a second package containing at least one content item selected from content items contained in a first package provided by a second information processing apparatus. The program includes: a storage step of obtaining first metadata corresponding to the first package from the second information processing apparatus and storing the obtained first metadata therein, the first metadata including control information concerning conditions for generating the second package; a package generating step of generating the second package containing at least one content item selected from the content items contained in the first package based on the control information contained in the first metadata stored in the storage step; and a metadata generating step of generating second metadata corresponding to the second package generated or to be generated in the package generating step based on the control information.  
      According to the information processing apparatus and method, and the program of the present invention, a second package containing at least one content item selected from content items contained in a first package provided by a second information processing apparatus is generated. More specifically, first metadata corresponding to the first package containing control information concerning a condition for generating the second package is obtained from the second information processing apparatus and is stored. Based on this control information, the second package containing at least one content item selected from the content items contained in the first package is generated, and the corresponding second metadata is also generated.  
      As is seen from the foregoing description, according to the present invention, content can be provided in units of packages. In particular, forms and conditions for providing content can be freely changed within the conditions licensed by a supplier source. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  illustrates a known model of a business method in content providing services;  
       FIG. 2  illustrates a model of a business method in content providing services supported by an information processing system (information processing apparatus) according to an embodiment the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  illustrates an example of sales promotions conducted by a content aggregator for the user in the model shown in  FIG. 2 ;  
       FIG. 4  illustrates another model of the business method in content providing services supported by the information processing system (information processing apparatus) of the present invention;  
       FIG. 5  illustrates an example of sales promotions conducted by a content aggregator for the user in the model shown in  FIG. 4 ;  
       FIG. 6  illustrates another model of the business method in content providing services supported by the information processing system (information processing apparatus) of the present invention;  
       FIG. 7  illustrates an example of sales promotions conducted by a content aggregator for the user in the model shown in  FIG. 6 ;  
       FIG. 8  is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the information processing system of the present invention;  
       FIG. 9  is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a content provider server in the information processing system shown in  FIG. 8 ;  
       FIG. 10  is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a content aggregator server in the information processing system shown in  FIG. 8 ;  
       FIG. 11  illustrates relationships between various IDs and metadata;  
       FIG. 12  illustrates relationships between package metadata, license metadata, and content metadata;  
       FIG. 13  illustrates an example of the configuration of the package metadata used in the information processing system shown in  FIG. 8 ;  
       FIG. 14  illustrates an example of the configuration of the access control information used in the information processing system shown in  FIG. 8 ;  
       FIG. 15  illustrates licensed elements and unlicensed elements contained in the access control information shown in  FIG. 14 ;  
       FIG. 16  is a flowchart illustrating package regenerating processing executed by the content aggregator server shown in  FIG. 10 ;  
       FIG. 17  illustrates a model of a business method in content providing services supported by an information processing system (information processing apparatus) according to another embodiment the present invention; and  
       FIG. 18  is a block diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of the information processing system of the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      The present invention is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings through illustration of preferred embodiments.  
      A description is first given, with reference to  FIGS. 2 through 7 , of a business method model supported by an information processing system to which the present invention is applied.  
       FIG. 2  illustrates the configuration of such a business method model. In  FIG. 2 , elements corresponding to those in  FIG. 1  are designated with like reference numerals. As described below, the information processing system of the present invention can support various business method models, and the configuration of the model shown in  FIG. 2  can solve the problem unique to the known model of the business method shown in  FIG. 1 .  
      In the model shown in  FIG. 2 , a certain number of users (one user  1  in  FIG. 2 ), a certain number of content providers (three content providers  2 A through  2 C in  FIG. 2 ), and a certain number of content aggregators (one content aggregator  21  in  FIG. 2 ) can be participated.  
      Additionally, as stated below with reference to  FIG. 6 , a certain number of other service providers (second service provider  51  in  FIG. 6 ) may be participated in this business method model.  
      The user  1  controls a user terminal (client)  105 , such as the one shown in  FIG. 8 , which can be connected to a network  102 , and obtains (purchases) content by using this user terminal  105 .  
      The content providers  2 A through  2 C control content provider servers  101 A through  101 C, respectively, such as those shown in  FIG. 8 , which can be connected to the network  102 , and provide (sell) content by using the content provider servers  101 A through  101 C, respectively.  
      That is, the content providers  2 A through  2 C are primary providers for providing content. In this specification, the primary provider is the one who first sets conditions for providing (selling) content, that is, the one who first creates content metadata.  
      On the other hand, the secondary provider is the one who provides (resells) content provided by the primary provider to other entities as the product of the secondary provider. In the example shown in  FIG. 2 , the content aggregator  21  is the secondary provider.  
      More specifically, the content aggregator  21  is an entity authorized to commercially sell content by the primary provider. For example, the content aggregator  21  controls a content aggregator server  103 , such as the one shown in  FIG. 8 , which can be connected to the network  102 , and repackages at least one content item provided by the primary provider and sells the new package by using the content aggregator server  103 .  
      The second service provider  51  is discussed later with reference to  FIG. 6 .  
      One example of the flow in the business method model is discussed below with reference to  FIG. 2 .  
      The actual processing is performed by the elements shown in  FIG. 8  (content provider servers  101 A through  101 C, a content aggregator server  103 , a second service provider server  104 , and a user terminal  105 ). A description is given below, however, assuming that the participants, i.e., the user  1 , the content providers  2 A through  2 C, the content aggregator  21 , and the second service provider  51  shown in  FIG. 6 , of this business method model execute the processing.  
      The content provider  2 A first generates content  12 A and corresponding content metadata  14 A. In the example shown in  FIG. 2 , the title of the content metadata  14 A is “drama A—episode  2 ”. The other descriptions of the content metadata  14 -A are discussed below with reference to  FIG. 12 .  
      Then, the content provider  2 A generates a package  11 A containing at least the content  12 A (only one content  12 A in the example in  FIG. 2 ) and corresponding package metadata  13 A. In the package metadata  13 A, the type is set to be “unit” (consisting of only one item of content) and the viewing period and the price are 7 days and 300 yen, respectively. The other descriptions of the package metadata  13 A are discussed below with reference to  FIGS. 12 and 13 .  
      As stated above, according to the related art, it is difficult for other entities, such as the content aggregator  21 , to provide the content  12 A in the forms other than the package  11 A (other than the form generated by the content provider  2 A) or under the conditions other than the predetermined conditions (other than the descriptions in the package metadata  13 A generated by the content provider  2 A).  
      To solve this problem, the assignee of the present application has invented a method for allowing an entity, for example, the content aggregator  21 , to change the package metadata  13 A. In this method, however, the package metadata  13 A may be altered without the permission of the content provider  2 A, and thus, the benefit of the content provider  2 A or the copyright of the content  12 A may be violated.  
      To further solve this problem as well as the above-described problem, the assignee of the present application has invented the following method.  
      In this method, the content provider  2 A generates access control information  15 A, such as that shown in  FIG. 2 , corresponding to the package metadata  13 A. Alternatively, the content provider  2 A adds the access control information  15 A as metadata for the package  11 A (content  12 A).  
      The access control information  15 A is new concept (information) introduced in this embodiment. Details of the access control information  15 A are given below.  
      The access control information  15 A indicates conditions under which the content aggregator  21  generates a new package  31 .  
      More specifically, in the access control information  15 A, the elements forming the package metadata  13 A (or also the elements forming the content metadata  14 A if necessary) are divided into a fixed portion and a variable portion that can be changed later by being updated or added. Then, the access control information  15 A indicates whether the elements forming the variable portion can be actually changed, in other words, whether the content provider  2 A permits an entity, such as the content aggregator  21 , to change the elements forming the variable portion. More precisely, the access control information  15 A may further include other related items of information, such as those shown in  FIG. 14 .  
      In this case, generally, the fixed portion contains elements for uniquely identifying the content  12 A corresponding to the content metadata  14 A and the package  11 A (content group) corresponding to the package metadata  13 A.  
      In contrast, the variable portion contains elements indicating the content owner, supply source, service provider, accompanying information indicating the rights for the user, effective period, price, how to obtain content, and how to play back content.  
      In other words, the access control information  15 A includes at least elements that can be changed (hereinafter referred to as “licensed elements”) by the content aggregator  21  among the elements forming the package metadata  13 A (and content metadata  14 A if necessary). The access control information  15 A may further include elements that cannot be changed (hereinafter referred to as “unlicensed elements”) by the content aggregator  21 .  
      The licensed elements include elements which are selected from the elements forming the variable portion, such as those shown in  FIG. 15  and which are allowed (licensed) to be changed by secondary providers by permission of the content provider  2 A, such as those indicated by the circles in  FIG. 15 .  
      In contrast, the unlicensed elements include not only the elements forming the fixed portion, such as elements provided with the word “fixed” at the end in  FIG. 15 , but also elements that the content provider  2 A does not permit the content aggregator  21  to change, such as those indicated by the cross (x) in  FIG. 15 , in the variable portion.  
      More specifically, in the access control information  15 A shown in  FIG. 2 , “type (change)”, “viewing period (change)”, and “price (change)” are licensed elements. That is, a secondary provider, such as the content aggregator  21 , is allowed (licensed) to change the “type”, “viewing period”, and “price” by permission of the content provider  2 A.  
      In contrast, in the access control information  15 A shown in  FIG. 2 , “service association” is an unlicensed element. That is, in the example shown in  FIG. 2 , among the elements forming the package metadata  13 A, the application of the “service association” is prohibited by the content provider  2 A. Details of the “service association” are discussed later with reference to  FIGS. 6 and 7 .  
      As in the content provider  2 A, when creating a package  11 B containing content  12 B, the content provider  2 B also generates the corresponding package metadata  13 B and access control information  15 B. When creating a package  11 C containing content  12 C, the content provider  2 C generates the corresponding package metadata  13 C and access control information  15 C.  
      In the example shown in  FIG. 2 , in the access control information  15 B, the “type (change)”, “viewing period (change)”, and “price (change)” are licensed elements, and “service association” is an unlicensed element. That is, among the elements forming the package metadata  13 B, changing of the “type”, “viewing period”, and “price” is licensed by the content provider  2 B, while the application of the “service association” is not licensed by the content provider  2 B.  
      In the access control information  15 C, only the “price” is a licensed element, and the “type (change)”, “viewing period (change)”, and “service association (change)” are unlicensed elements. That is, among the elements forming the package metadata  13 C, changing of only the “price” is licensed by the content provider  2 C, and changing of the “type” and “viewing period” and the application of the “service association” are not licensed by the content provider  2 C.  
      As discussed above, the content providers  2 A through  2 C each generate the access control information  15 A through  15 C, respectively, at their discretion so that they can give an instruction whether or not a secondary provider, such as the content aggregator  21  in  FIG. 2 , is allowed to change each of the elements forming the package metadata  13 A through  13 C (and the elements forming the content metadata  14 A through  14 C if necessary), respectively.  
      As stated above, various items of information other than the “licensed elements/unlicensed elements” may be contained in the access control information  15 A through  15 C according to the necessity. Specific examples of such items of information are discussed later with reference to  FIG. 14 .  
      The content aggregator  21  can generate a new package (repackages) containing at least one of the content items  12 A through  12 C based on the access control information  15 A through  15 C, and provides (sells) the new package to the user  1 .  
      More specifically, in the example shown in  FIG. 2 , in the access control information  15 C, the “type” is an unlicensed element that cannot be changed, and also, in the package metadata  13 C, the “type” is set to be “unit”. Accordingly, the content  12 C can be provided only in the package  11 C as a unit. That is, the content aggregator  21  cannot repackage the content  12 C.  
      Conversely, both in the access control information  15 A and  15 B, the “type” is set to be a licensed element that can be changed. Accordingly, the content items  12 A and  12 B can be provided as a package different from the packages  11 A and  11 B, respectively. That is, the content aggregator  21  can repackage the content item  12 A or  12 B and provides (sells) it to the user  1 .  
      Also, both in the access control information  15 A and  15 B, the “viewing period” and “price” are licensed elements. Accordingly, when generating a new package (repackages) containing at least one of the content items  12 A and  12 B, the content aggregator  21  can freely set the price or the viewing period of the new package at its discretion, in other words, the content aggregator  21  can change the original price or viewing period.  
      More specifically, in the example shown in  FIG. 2 , the content aggregator  21  can generate the new package  31  containing both the content items  12 A and  12 B.  
      In this case, the content aggregator  21  can generate package metadata  32  by setting the “type” of the package  31  to be “fixed/pack” (changed from the “unit” set in the package  11 A or  11 B), the “viewing period” to “one month” (changed from “7 days” set in the package  11 A or  11 B), and the “price” to be “1000 yen” (changed from “300 yen” set in the package  11 A or “500 yen” set in the package  11 B). In the package metadata  32 , the definition of “fixed” in the “type: fixed/pack” is described later.  
      The content aggregator  21  then generates advertisement information, such as that shown in  FIG. 3 , based on the new package metadata  32  and content metadata  14 A and  14 B, and provides the information to the user  1 .  
       FIG. 3  illustrates an example of the display format (image) when the user terminal  105  ( FIG. 8 ) of the user  1  displays advertisement information on a display unit (not shown). In actuality, the content aggregator server  103  ( FIG. 8 ) of the content aggregator  21  generates the advertisement information in the form of hyper text markup language (HTML) or broadcast markup language (BML) text corresponding to the image shown in  FIG. 3 , and sends it to the user terminal  105  of the user  1  via the network  102  ( FIG. 8 ).  
      Then, the user terminal  105  of the user  1  interprets the advertisement information (HTML or BML text), converts it to the image shown in  FIG. 3 , and then provides it to the user  1 .  
      When the user  1  wishes to purchase the package  31  by looking at the image shown in  FIG. 3 , he/she presses a purchase button (or by using a remote commander (not shown)) shown in  FIG. 3  so as to obtain (purchase) the package  31  from the content aggregator  21 .  
      Conventionally, the user  1  has to directly obtain (purchase) the content  12 A whose title is “drama A—episode  2 ” from the content provider  2 A under the providing conditions that the viewing period is 7 days and the price is 300 yen. The user  1  also has to directly obtain (purchase) the content  12 B whose title is “drama B—episode  9 ” from the content provider  2 B under the providing conditions that the viewing period is 7 days and the price is 500 yen.  
      Accordingly, if the user  1  wishes to view each of the content items  12 A and  12 B for 28 days (=7 days×4=about one month), he/she has to pay 1200 yen (=300×4) to the content provider  2 A, and also has to pay 2000 yen (=500×4) to the content provider  2 B. That is, the user must pay a total of 3200 yen.  
      In contrast, according to the present invention (business method model supported by the present invention), the user  1  can purchase both the content items  12 A and  12 B from the content aggregator  21  under the new providing conditions that the viewing period is one month and the price is 1000 yen.  
      Another model of the business method is described below with reference to  FIG. 4 . In the model shown in  FIG. 4 , the content of the access control information  15 A through  15 C are different from that shown in  FIG. 2 . As a result, the content aggregator  21  generates a new package and corresponding package metadata different from those shown in  FIG. 2  and sells the package to the user  1 . In  FIG. 4 , elements corresponding to those in  FIG. 2  are designated with like reference numerals.  
      As in  FIG. 2 , in  FIG. 4 , in both the access control information  15 A and  15 B, the “type (change)”, “viewing period (change)”, and “price (change)” are licensed elements, and the “service association” is an unlicensed element. Also in the access control information  15 C, the “type (change)”, “viewing period (change)”, and “price (change)” are licensed elements, and the “service association” is an unlicensed element.  
      Accordingly, in the example shown in  FIG. 4 , in any of the package metadata  13 A through  13 C, all the elements “type”, “viewing period”, and “price” can be changed, in other words, changing of these elements is licensed by the content providers  2 A through  2 C, respectively.  
      Thus, for example, as shown in  FIG. 4 , the content aggregator  21  generates a new package  41  containing all the content items  2 A through  2 C, and more precisely, the package  41  containing two content items selected by the user  1  from the content items  12 A through  12 C, as described below.  
      In this case, the content aggregator  21  can generate new package metadata  42  by setting the “type” of the package  41  to be “selectable/pack” (changed from the “unit” set in the packages  11 A through  11 C), the “viewing period” to be 7 days (changed from one month set in the package  11 C), and the “price” to be 500 yen (changed form 300 yen set in the package  11 A or 800 yen set in the package  11 C).  
      The difference between “fixed” and “selectable” of the “type” is as follows. The “fixed” means that content contained in a package is fixed. The “selectable” means that content items contained in a package can be selected by the user, i.e., a preset number of content items can be selected from a preset number of content items.  
      For example, in the package metadata  42 , the type of the package  41  is “selectable/pack”. Accordingly, when the user  1  purchases the package  41 , he/she can select a specified number (for example, two) of content items from the three content items  12 A through  12 C and thus purchases the package  41  containing the selected two content items from the content aggregator  21 .  
      More specifically, the content aggregator  21  can generate advertisement information (HTML or BML text) corresponding to the image shown in  FIG. 5  based on the package metadata  42  and the content metadata  14 A through  14 C, and provides the information to the user terminal  105  ( FIG. 8 ) of the user  1 .  
      Then, the user terminal  105  of the user  1  interprets the advertisement information, converts it into the image shown in  FIG. 5 , and provides it to the user  1 .  
      If the user  1  wishes to purchase the package  41  by looking at the image shown in  FIG. 5 , he/she checks two boxes (or by using a remote commander) from the boxes indicated at the left of the titles (drama A—episode  2 , drama B—episode  9 , and film C) of the content items so as to select two content items to be contained in the package  41 .  
      Then, by pressing the purchase button (or by using the remote commander), the user  1  can purchase the package  41  containing the selected (checked) two content items from the content aggregator  21 .  
      More specifically, if the user  1  checks the boxes at the left of the drama A—episode  2  and the film C, the content items  12 A and  12 C are contained in the package  41 .  
      Conventionally, the user  1  has to directly obtain (purchase) the content  12 A whose title is “drama A—episode  2 ” from the content provider  2 A under the providing conditions that the viewing period is 7 days and the price is 300 yen. The user  1  also has to directly obtain (purchase) the content  12 C whose title is “film C”, from the content provider  2 C under the providing conditions that the viewing period is one month and the price is 800 yen.  
      Accordingly, if the user  1  wishes to view each of the content items  12 A and  12 C for 7 days, he/she has to pay 300 yen to the content provider  2 A and also has to pay 800 yen to the content provider  2 C. That is, the user must pay a total of 1100 yen.  
      In contrast, according to the business method in this embodiment, the user  1  can purchase both the content items  12 A and  12 C from the content aggregator  21  under the new providing conditions that the viewing period is 7 days and the price is 500 yen.  
      Additionally, conventionally, when selecting two items from the content items  12 A through  12 C, the user  1  has to contact each of the content providers  2 A through  2 C so as to obtain and compare the purchase conditions. In actuality, the user terminal  105  shown in  FIG. 8  accesses a shop server  111 , such as that shown in  FIG. 9 , managed by each of the content providers  2 A through  2 C, and compares web pages of the shop servers  111 . This is troublesome and time-consuming.  
      On the other hand, in the business method of the present embodiment, the user  1  can easily select and purchase two content items from the content items  12 A through  12 C merely by contacting the content aggregator  21  (in actuality, the user terminal  105  accesses a shop server  121  shown in  FIG. 10  managed by the content aggregator  21 ) and by performing a simple operation, for example, by using the user interface image shown in  FIG. 5 .  
      Another model of the business method of the present invention, which is different from that shown in  FIG. 2  or  4 , is described below with reference to  FIG. 6 . The model shown in  FIG. 6  is different from that shown in  FIG. 2  or  4  in that the application of “service association”, which is an unlicensed element in  FIG. 2  or  4 , is implemented, that is, another service (second service) is associated with content providing services. In  FIG. 6 , elements corresponding to those in  FIGS. 2 and 4  are designated with like reference numerals.  
      As in  FIG. 4 , in the example shown in  FIG. 6 , in all the access control information  15 A through  15 C, the “type (change)”, “viewing period (change)”, and “price (change)” are licensed elements. In  FIG. 6 , the “service association” is also a licensed element.  
      Accordingly, in the example shown in  FIG. 6 , in any of the package metadata  13 A through  13 C, the “type”, “viewing period”, and “price” can be changed, in other words, changing of these items is licensed by the content providers  2 A through  2 C.  
      The “service association” means that a certain package providing service can be associated with another service (second service). That is, if the “service association” is a licensed element, the corresponding package providing service can be associated with another service. In contrast if the “service association” is an unlicensed element, the corresponding package providing service cannot be associated with another service.  
      In the example shown in  FIG. 6 , in any of the access control information  15 A through  15 C, the “service association” is set to be a licensed element, the providing service of each of the packages  11 A through  11 C can be associated with another service. Additionally, in the access control information  15 A through  15 C, since the “type” is a licensed element, any of the content  12 A through  12 C can be contained in a new package (package  61  in  FIG. 6 ) (repackaged). That is, the generation of a new package containing at least one of the content items  12 A through  12 C is licensed, as in  FIG. 4 , and the association of the new package with another service is also licensed.  
      The definition of the “second service” (another service) in this specification is as follows. In this specification, content includes not only general content, such as television broadcasting programs, films, photographs, music pieces (moving pictures, still images, sound, and a combination thereof), but also software or hardware that can be used (viewed or experienced) by users, such as promotions, documents, products (including goods), and conversation. To apply the present invention, however, metadata must be associated with content. Accordingly, in this specification, services for providing content that is associated with at least one metadata are referred to as “content providing services”, and other services are referred to as “second services”. That is, if a service is for providing content, it is handled as a “second service” unless the content provided by this service is associated with metadata.  
      Thus, in this specification, an entity for providing a second service defined as described above to the user  1  is referred to as a “second service provider”. As stated above, the second service provider can be a participant of a model in the business method of this embodiment. In the example shown in  FIG. 6 , one second service provider  51  participates in the model of this business method.  
      As discussed above, the content aggregator  21  can generate, as shown in  FIG. 6 , the new package  61  containing all the content items  12 A through  12 C, and more precisely, the package  61  containing two content items selected by the user  1  from the content items  12 A through  12 C.  
      In this case, the content aggregator  21  can generate new package metadata  62  by setting the “type” of the package  61  to be “selectable/pack/service association” (changed from the “unit” set in the packages  11 A through  11 C) and setting elements, such as “viewing period” and “price” (changed from the original elements set in the packages  11 A through  11 C).  
      Specific examples of the “viewing period” and “price” are not indicated in the package metadata  62  shown in  FIG. 62  because they are different according to the content items contained in the package  61 , as shown in  FIG. 7 .  
      Then, the content aggregator  21  can generate advertisement information indicating that the content providing service of the new package  61  is associated with a second service provided by the second service provider  51 . More specifically, the content aggregator  21  can generate advertisement information (HTML or BML text) corresponding to the image shown in  FIG. 7  based on the new package metadata  62  and the content metadata  14 A through  14 C, and provides the advertisement information to the user terminal  105  ( FIG. 8 ) of the user  1 .  
      Then, the user terminal  105  of the user  1  interprets this advertisement information, converts it into the image shown in  FIG. 7 , and provides it to the user  1 .  
      By looking at the image shown in  FIG. 7  and also visiting a car site (not shown), the user  1  can obtain a free test-drive ticket and also obtain (purchase) the content  12 A having a title of “drama A—episode  2 ”, the content  12 B having a title of “drama B—episode  9 ”, and the content  12 C having a title of “film C” at a discount price.  
      If the user  1  wishes to obtain a free test-drive ticket, he/she can obtain it by contacting the second service provider  51  and by performing required processing. In actuality, the user terminal  105  can download data indicating the test-drive ticket by accessing the second service provider server  104  shown in  FIG. 8  managed by the second service provider  51  and by performing the required processing.  
      As stated above, the test-drive ticket can be handled as the content defined in this specification because it can be used by the user. However, since metadata is not associated with the text-drive ticket, the text-drive ticket providing service (download service) is treated as a second service.  
      If the user  1  wishes to obtain content (at least one of the content items  12 A through  12 C), he/she can purchase the package  61  from the content aggregator  21  by pressing two purchase buttons (or using a remote commander) corresponding to desired content items selected from the purchase buttons indicated at the right of the content information (“drama A—episode  2  300 yen/7 days→200 yen/7 days”, “drama B—episode  9  500 yen/7 days→350 yen/7 days”, and “film C 800 yen/one month→500 yen/one month”).  
      More specifically, if the user  1  presses the purchase buttons indicated at the right of “drama A—episode  2  300 yen/7 days→200 yen/7 days” and “film C 800 yen/one month→500 yen/one month”, he/she can purchase the package  61  containing the content  12 A and the package  61  containing the content  12 C (or the package  61  containing the content items  12 A and  12 C) from the content aggregator  21 .  
      In this case, the package metadata  62  corresponding to the package  61  containing the content  12 A indicates that the “viewing period” is 7 days and the “price” is 200 yen. The package metadata  62  corresponding to the package  61  containing the content  12 C indicates that “viewing period” is one month and the “price” is 500 yen.  
      As discussed above, in the business method of the present invention, content providing services can be easily associated with second services, which has been difficult in a known business method ( FIG. 1 ).  
      In the models of the business method described with reference to  FIGS. 2 through 7 , the content aggregator  21  (secondary provider) repackages a plurality of content items (content items  12 A through  12 C) supplied from different sources (primary providers, i.e., the content providers  2 A through  2 C) based on information (access control information  15 A through  15 C) indicating whether the sales conditions (providing conditions) specified by the primary providers can be changed, and then sells the new package. Such a business method can be easily implemented by an information processing system ( FIG. 8 ) of the present invention, though it is difficult to achieve by a known information processing system. In other words, the information processing system of the present invention can solve the problems unique to the related art.  
      A description is now given of the information processing system of the present invention corresponding to (or supporting) a model of the business method, such as that shown in  FIG. 2 .  
      In the information processing system of this embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 8 , the content provider servers  101 A through  101 C managed by the content providers  2 A through  2 C ( FIG. 2 ), the content aggregator server  103  managed by the content aggregator  21  ( FIG. 2 ), the second service provider  104  managed by the second service provider  51  ( FIG. 6 ), and the user terminal (client)  105  managed by the user  1  ( FIG. 2 ) are connected to each other via the network  102 .  
      The type of network  102  is not particularly restricted, and is, for example, the Internet.  
      The content provider servers  101 A through  101 C, the content aggregator server  103 , the second service provider server  104 , and the user terminal (client)  105  do not have to be connected to the network  102  if they can communicate with each other by another means.  
      The content providers  2 A through  2 C are simply referred to as the “content provider  2 ” unless they have to be individually distinguished. Similarly, the content provider servers  101 A through  101 C are simply referred to as the “content provider server  101 ” unless they have to be individually distinguished.  
      If the content providers  2 A through  2 C are referred to as the “content provider  2 ” and if the content provider servers  101 A through  101 C are referred to as the content provider server  101 , the packages  11 A through  11 C are simply referred to as the “package  11 ” unless they have to be individually distinguished. For the same reason, the content items  12 A through  12 C may be referred to as the “content  12 ”, package metadata  13 A through  13 C may be referred to as the “package metadata  13 ”, the content metadata  14 A through  14 C may be referred to the “content metadata  14 ”, and the access control information  15 A through  15 C may be referred to as the “access control information  15 ”.  
      A detailed configuration of the content provider server  101  is discussed below with reference to  FIG. 9 . In this example, the content provider server  101  includes the shop server  111 , a metadata database server  112 , a settlement server  113 , a digital right management (DRM) server  114 , a content server  115 , and a package generating server  116 .  
      These elements send and receive information to and from other servers or clients (for example, the content aggregator server  103 ) via the network  102  ( FIG. 8 ).  
      In response to access from the user terminal (client)  105  via the network  102 , the shop server  111  provides navigation information in the form of HTML or BML text indicating how to obtain content to the user terminal  105 .  
      When the model of the business method shown in  FIG. 2  is implemented, the user  1  (user terminal  105 ) obtains the content via the content aggregator  21  (content aggregator server  103 ) instead of directory obtaining the content from the content provider  2  (content provider server  101 ). In this case, the above-described processing by the shop server  111  is not essential, and the following processing is executed.  
      To implement the model of the business method shown in  FIG. 2 , in response to access and a request from the content aggregator server  103  via the network  102  to send predetermined information, the shop server  111  provides the corresponding information to the content aggregator server  103 .  
      More specifically, for example, the shop server  111  receives a request from the content aggregator server  103  to send metadata corresponding to the package  11  generated by the package generating server  116 . In this case, the shop server  111  issues a request to search for metadata corresponding to the package  11  to the metadata database  112 .  
      In response to this search request, the metadata database  112  searches the stored metadata for the metadata corresponding to the package  11 , i.e., the content metadata  14 , the package metadata  13 , and the access control information  15 , and provides the searched metadata to the shop server  111 . The shop server  111  provides the metadata including the content metadata  14 , the package metadata  13 , and the access control information  15  to the content aggregator server  103  via the network  102 .  
      The content aggregator server  103  may directly issue a request to send metadata to the metadata database  112  without requesting the shop server  111 . In this case, in response to this request, the metadata database  112  reads the stored metadata including the content metadata  14 , the package metadata  13 , and the access control information  15  and directly provides it to the content aggregator server  103  via the network  102 .  
      When the content provider  2  inputs various items of information by using mainly the shop server  111 , that is, when major user interfaces are provided for the shop server  111 , the shop server  111  performs processing in response to the information input form the content provider  2 .  
      More specifically, for example, when generating the package  11 , the package generating server  116  also generates the corresponding access control information  15 . In this case, the content provider  2  may input at least part of the access control information  15 , for example, “licensed elements/unlicensed elements”, “type of license”, and “licensing conditions”, which are discussed in detail later with reference to  FIG. 14 , into the shop server  111 . In this case, the shop server  111  provides the input information to the package generating server  116 . When inputting information concerning the elements forming the package metadata  13  and the content metadata  14  from the content provider  2 , the shop server  111  may provide the input information to the package generating server  116 , though it is not shown.  
      If the content provider  2  directly operates the package generating server  116 , the transfer processing of the various information from the shop server  111  to the package generating server  116  is omitted.  
      The shop server  111  issues a settlement (billing) request for the user  1  or the content aggregator  21  to the settlement server  113 . Then, the settlement server  113  communicates with the party designated in the settlement request (user terminal  105  managed by the user  1  or the content aggregator server  103  managed by the content aggregator  21 ) so as to perform settlement (billing) processing, and then outputs a settlement result to the shop server  111 .  
      When providing a permission  21  to repackage (resell) the package  11  to the content aggregator, the shop server  111  issues a request to authorize the content aggregator  21  to the DRM server  114 . Authorization is to provide a right to repackage the package  11 , for example, when implementing the model of the business method shown in  FIG. 2 , i.e., a right to change the elements specified as the licensed elements in the access control information  15  to a secondary provider, such as the content aggregator  21 .  
      The DRM server  114  communicates with a DRM server  124  ( FIG. 10 ) of the content aggregator server  103  and executes DRM processing based on the authorization request from the shop server  111 . This DRM processing includes authentication processing to validate whether the content aggregator  21  is an authorized secondary provider (for example, an authorized entity to resell the content provided by the content provider  2 ) and also includes processing required for copyright management. If the DRM processing has been successfully executed, the DRM server  114  reports to the package generating server  116  that the content aggregator  21  is an authorized entity for the package  11 . In contrast, if the DRM processing has not been successfully executed, the DRM server  114  reports to the package generating server  116  that the content aggregator  21  is an unauthorized entity for the package  11 .  
      When the content aggregator server  103  repackages the package  11  provided by the content provider server  101  (regenerates a new package), the storage location of the content contained in the new package is not restricted. For example, the content in the new package may remain in the content server  115  of the content provider server  101 . In this embodiment, however, the storage location of the content in the new package is the content aggregator server  103  itself, and more specifically, content server  125  shown in  FIG. 10 .  
      In this case, the content server  115  of the content provider server  101  has to provide the package  11  containing the content  12  to the content aggregator server  103 .  
      The provision of the package  11  may be performed in any form, for example, it may be encrypted or not encrypted. However, if the package  11  is provided to the content aggregator server  103  by being encrypted, the DRM server  114  sends a key Kc′ (not shown) required for encrypting the package  11  to the content server  115  when DRM processing for the content aggregator  21  (content aggregator server  103 ) has succeeded. The DRM server  114  also sends a corresponding key kc′ to the content aggregator server  103  when DRM processing has succeeded.  
      When the content provider server  101  directly provides (sells) the package  11  to the user  1 , the DRM server  114  performs DRM processing on the user terminal  105  of the user  1 . In this case, the DRM server  114  executes processing basically similar to that of the DRM server  124  of the content aggregator server  103  shown in  FIG. 10 . Details of this processing are discussed below.  
      The content server  115  stores the content  12  as a unit or a package (package  11 ).  
      The package generating server  116  generates or obtains at least one content item  12  and also generates or obtains the corresponding content metadata  14 , though it is not shown. The package generating server  116  then supplies the content  12  to the content server  115  and supplies the content metadata  14  to the metadata database  112 .  
      The package generating server  116  also generates the package  11  containing at least one content item  12  stored in the content server  115  and also generates the corresponding package metadata  13  and the access control information  15 . The package generating server  116  then supplies the package  11  to the content server  115  and also supplies the package metadata  13  and the access control information  15  to the metadata database  112 .  
      Details (configuration examples) and relationships of the package  11 , the content  12 , the package metadata  13 , the content metadata  14 , and the access control information  15  generated by the package generating server  116  are discussed below with reference to  FIGS. 11 through 15 .  
      The content server  115  stores the supplied package  11 , and in response to a request to send the package  11  from the content aggregator server  103 , the content server  115  encrypts the package  11  by using the key Kc supplied from the DRM server  114  if necessary, and supplies the package  11  to the content aggregator server  103 .  
      The package  11  may be distributed from the content server  115  by streaming distribution or downloading distribution (distributing a downloading file). The purpose of distributing the package  11  to the content aggregator  21  is to repackage the package  11  (generate a new package containing the content  12 ) rather than to play back the content  12 . Accordingly, it is preferable that the package  11  be supplied by downloading distribution.  
      If encryption of the package  11  is not necessary, the content server  115  simply supplies the package  11  to the content aggregator server  103 .  
      Although the content server  101  is formed of a plurality of servers, as shown in  FIG. 9 , it may be formed of only one server. The configuration of each server is not particularly restricted as long as it is formed of hardware that can execute the above-described processing, and may be, for example, a personal computer, such as that shown in  FIG. 18 .  
      A description is given, with reference to  FIG. 10 , of a detailed configuration of the content aggregator server  103 . In this example, the content aggregator server  103  is formed of the shop server  121 , a metadata database  122 , a settlement server  123 , the DRM server  124 , a content server  125 , and an access control server  126 .  
      These elements send and receive information to and from other servers or clients, such as the content provider server  101  or the user terminal  105 , via the network  102  ( FIG. 8 ).  
      The shop server  121  issues an instruction to generate a package to be sold by the content aggregator  21  managing the shop server  121 , namely, an instruction to repackage the package  11  provided by the content provider server  101  (hereinafter such an instruction is referred to as a “package regenerating instruction), to the access control server  126 .  
      The package  11  provided by the content provider server  101  is hereinafter referred to as an “original package”. The package regenerated by the access control server  126 , for example, the package  31 ,  41 , or  61  shown in  FIG. 2, 4 , or  6 , based on the original package  11  is hereinafter referred to as an “updated package”.  
      After the access control server  126  generates and provides an updated package to the content server  125  in response to a package regenerating instruction (details of such processing are given below), when receiving access from the user terminal  105  via the network  102 , the shop server  121  provides navigation information in the form of HTML or BML text indicating how to obtain the updated package to the user terminal  105 . For example, the shop server  121  provides navigation information corresponding to the image shown in  FIG. 3, 5 , or  7  to the user terminal  105 .  
      The image shown in  FIG. 3, 5 , or  7  indicates that, to generate the navigation information, package metadata, such as the package metadata  32 ,  42 , or  62  shown in  FIG. 2, 4 , or  6 , respectively, of the updated package and content metadata such as the content metadata  14 A,  14 B, or  14 C shown in  FIG. 2, 4 , or  6 , of the content contained in the updated package is required. The metadata of the updated package is collectively referred to as “updated metadata”. That is, to generate navigation information for the updated package, updated metadata is required.  
      Accordingly, the shop server  121  issues a request to search for the updated metadata to the metadata database  122  if necessary. Then, the metadata database  122  searches the stored metadata (including metadata for the original package) for the updated metadata based on the search request, and provides it to the shop server  121 .  
      Then, when the user  1  presses the purchase button indicated in the image shown in  FIG. 3, 5 , or  7  and when the user terminal  105  transmits a corresponding signal, the shop server  121  receives the signal and issues a settlement (billing) request to the settlement server  123 .  
      Then, the settlement server  123  communicates with the user terminal  105  to perform settlement (billing) based on the settlement request, and outputs a settlement result to the shop server  121 .  
      The settlement server  123  performs not only the settlement processing for the user terminal  105  (user  1 ), but also settlement processing in response to the settlement processing performed by the settlement server  113  ( FIG. 9 ) of the content provider server  101  (settlement processing for the content aggregator server  103 ).  
      The shop server  121  also requests the DRM server  124  to issue a license for the user  1 . Details of the license are given below.  
      The DRM server  124  communicates with the user terminal  105  to perform DRM processing based on the license issuing request. The DRM processing includes authentication processing to verify whether the user  1  is a licensed user, processing for providing and obtaining a key Kc required for decrypting encrypted data, and processing required for copyright management. If the DRM processing has been successfully performed, the DRM server  124  supplies the key Kc required for encrypting the updated package (content purchased by the user) to the content server  125 . If the DRM processing has been successfully performed, the DRM server  124  supplies the corresponding key Kc to the user terminal  105 .  
      In addition to the DRM processing for the user terminal  105  (user  1 ), the DRM server  124  executes processing in response to the DRM processing performed by the DRM server  114  ( FIG. 9 ) of the content provider server  101 .  
      The content server  125  encrypts the updated package by using the key Kc supplied from the DRM server  124 , and supplies the updated package to the user terminal  105  by streaming distribution or downloading distribution.  
      Upon receiving the updated package from the content aggregator server  103 , the user terminal  105  decrypts and plays back the content contained in the updated package by using the key Kc supplied from the DRM server  124 . If the updated package is supplied by streaming distribution, the user terminal  105  decrypts the content when receiving it. If the updated package is supplied by downloading distribution, the user terminal  105  temporarily stores the package in a built-in storage unit and then decrypts it when receiving an instruction to play it back from the user  1 .  
      The updated package distributed from the content server  125  to the user terminal  105  is generated by the access control server  126 .  
      More specifically, as stated above, the content provider server  101  sends the original package  11  and the corresponding metadata (hereinafter referred to as the “original metadata”) before generating an updated package. Then, the content aggregator server  103  stores the original package  11  in the content server  125  and stores the original metadata containing the access control information  15  in the metadata database  122 .  
      When all the content items  12  to be contained in the updated package are stored in the content server  125 , the access control server  126  obtains the original package  11  containing the target content  12  from the content server  125 , and also obtains the original metadata including the access control information  15  corresponding to the original package  11  from the metadata database  122 . The access control server  126  then repackages the target content  12  contained in the obtained original package  11  (generates a new updated package containing the target content  12 ) based on the obtained access control information  15 , and generates updated metadata corresponding to the updated package.  
      More specifically, in the example shown in  FIG. 10 , the updated package is generated by a package regenerator  131 , and the updated metadata is generated by a package metadata regenerator  132 .  
      The updated package generated by the package regenerator  131  is stored in the content server  125 , and the updated metadata generated by the package metadata regenerator  132  is stored in the metadata database  122 .  
      Upon completing the above-described series of processing, the access control server  126  issues a corresponding message (hereinafter referred to as a “package regeneration completion message”) to the shop server  121 . Upon receiving this message, the shop server  121  performs processing, such as generating the above-described navigation information, on the updated package.  
      Details (configuration examples) and relationships of the updated package and the updated metadata are given below with reference to  FIGS. 11 through 15 . Details of generating the updated package and the updated metadata are given below with reference to  FIG. 16 .  
      As described above, the content aggregator server  103  generates an updated package containing at least one item of the content  12  contained in the original package  11  provided by the content server  101 .  
      More specifically, in the example shown in  FIG. 2 , the metadata database  122  obtains the original metadata including the access control information (metadata)  15 A, that is, the access control information  15 A, the package metadata  13 A, and the content metadata  14 A, from the content provider server  101 A, and stores the original metadata therein.  
      Similarly, the metadata database  122  obtains the original metadata including the access control information (metadata)  15 B, that is, the access control information  15 B, the package metadata  13 B, and the content metadata  14 B, from the content provider server  101 B, and stores the original metadata therein.  
      The package regenerator  131  generates the updated package  31  based on the original metadata stored in the metadata database  122 , and stores it in the content server  125 .  
      The package metadata regenerator  132  generate the updated metadata corresponding to the updated package  31 , i.e., the package metadata  32 , based on the original metadata stored in the metadata database  122 . The package metadata regenerator  132  also associates each of the content metadata  14 A and  14 B with the package metadata  32 , and stores the updated metadata (package metadata  32  and the content metadata  14 A and  14 B) in the metadata database  122 .  
      Although the content aggregator server  103  is formed of a plurality of servers, as shown in  FIG. 10 , it may be formed of only one server. The configuration of each server is not particularly restricted as long as it is formed of hardware that can execute the above-described processing, and may be, for example, a personal computer, such as that shown in  FIG. 18 .  
      The configuration of the second service provider server  104  shown in  FIG. 8  is not particularly restricted as long as it is formed of hardware connectable to the network  102  and having functions, such as a function of providing second services, required for implementing the model ( FIGS. 6 and 7 ) of the business method of this embodiment. The second service provider server  104  may be, for example, a personal computer, such as that shown in  FIG. 18 .  
      Similarly, the configuration of the user terminal  105  shown in  FIG. 8  is not particularly restricted as long as it is formed of hardware connectable to the network  102  and having functions, such as a user interface function of providing the content obtaining operation and a function of providing content and various items of information, required for implementing the model ( FIGS. 2 through 7 ) of the business method of this embodiment. The second service provider server  104  may be, for example, a personal computer, such as that shown in  FIG. 18 .  
      The configuration of the information processing system of the present invention that can support the business method shown in  FIGS. 2 through 7  has been described.  
      A description is now given, with reference to  FIGS. 11 through 15 , of detailed configurations and relationships of a package, corresponding package metadata and access control information, content contained in the package, and corresponding content metadata, which can be used in the models of the business method shown in  FIGS. 2 through 7 , i.e., in the information processing system shown in  FIG. 8 .  
       FIG. 11  illustrates relationships between various items of information, such as settlement, DRM processing, and playback processing.  FIG. 11  shows that the device ID and user ID are in one-to-one correspondence. The device ID is the ID assigned to the user terminal  105  ( FIG. 8 ), and the user ID is the ID assigned to the user  1  ( FIG. 2 ) using the user terminal  105 . The user terminal  105  and the user  1  can be individually identified by these IDs.  
      Although the content aggregator  21  has been described as a seller, it can be a user as viewed from the content provider  11 . That is, the content provider  11  can assign the user ID and the device ID to the content aggregator  21  or the content aggregator server  103  to verify that it is an authorized secondary provider.  
      The user  1  having a predetermined user ID contracts with the content aggregator  21 , which is the administrator of the content aggregator server  103 , to purchase an updated package, for example, the package  31 ,  41 , or  61  shown in  FIG. 2, 4 , or  6 , as a product. The package is associated with package metadata based on one-to-one correspondence. More specifically, the package  31  shown in  FIG. 2  corresponds to the package metadata  32 , the package  41  shown in  FIG. 4  corresponds to the package metadata  42 , and the package  61  shown in  FIG. 6  corresponds to the package metadata  62 .  
      In the present invention, the package metadata is associated with access control information based on one-to-one correspondence. In  FIG. 2, 4 , or  6 , the association between the package metadata  32 ,  42 , or  62  and the access control information is not shown.  
      Each package corresponds to at least one content item. More specifically, the package  31  shown in  FIG. 2  corresponds to the content items  12 A and  12 B, the package  41  shown in  FIG. 4  corresponds to the content items  12 A,  12 B, and  12 C, and the package  61  shown in  FIG. 6  corresponds to the content items  12 A,  12 B, and  12 C.  
      One content item consists of the content body, Download.xml as a downloading management information file, and a startup file. The content body is the body of the content indicating a television program, a film, or a music piece.  
      Download.xml is a management information file required when the content is downloading content, and includes a directory and file names. When receiving all the files indicated in the directory, the entire content has been downloaded.  
      The startup file contains information concerning the distribution type, i.e., whether the content is downloading data or streaming data.  
      The content is associated with the content ID based on one-to-one correspondence. The content can be uniquely identified by the content ID. The content ID is associated with content metadata based on one-to-one correspondence. More specifically, in the example shown in  FIG. 2 , a predetermined content ID is assigned to each of the content items  12 A and  12 B, and the content metadata  14 A and  14 B are assigned to the corresponding content IDs.  
      The content metadata includes, as shown in  FIG. 12 , the content ID (Content_id), title name, genre, and program description. In  FIGS. 2, 4 , and  6 , among the above elements, only the title name is indicated as “title”.  
      A number n of license IDs (n is an integer of one or greater) are associated with one content ID. Similarly, n license metadata is associated with one content metadata.  
      The license ID uniquely identifies a license. Each license consists of the license ID, usage rules, and content keys. The content keys include a certain number of keys (corresponding to the key Kc shown in  FIG. 10 ) required for decrypting the content corresponding to the license, and are associated with the content ID based on a one-to-one correspondence.  
      The license ID is associated with license metadata based on one-to-one correspondence. The license metadata includes, as shown in  FIG. 12 , the license ID, content ID, content uniform resource locator (URL), license URL, distribution type, content title name, and usage rule text.  
      The license metadata and the content metadata are associated with each other based on an n:1 correspondence by the number of content IDs.  
      The content URL of the license metadata indicates the access destination to obtain the content. The license URL indicates the access destination to obtain the license. The distribution type indicates whether the content associated with the license is supplied by stream distribution or downloading distribution.  
      The package and the license ID are associated with each other based on an m:n basis (m is an integer of one or greater). Similarly, the package metadata and the license metadata correspond to each other based on an m:n basis.  
      The package metadata includes, as shown in  FIG. 12 , the package ID/version, sales source information, package type, package information, and license ID list.  
      More specifically, the package metadata may be formed, as shown in  FIG. 13 . The package metadata includes major elements satisfying the following seven factors.  
      The first factor is to describe sales promotion information for selling content consisting of single item. The second factor is to describe sales promotion information for selling a plurality of fixed content items as a pack. The third factor is to describe sales promotion information for allowing the user to select and purchase a certain number of content items from a plurality of content items. The fourth factor is to represent typical forms of billing, in particular, to support variations in the forms of billing. The fifth factor is to allow sellers to indicate discount information with respect to the proper price. The sixth factor is to describe information related to programs or commercials or coupon information for obtaining content. The seventh factor is to describe source information for tracing the route through which sales promotion information has been obtained.  
      More specifically, in the package metadata shown in  FIG. 13 , “PackageID/Version” is information for identifying the package.  
      The “PackageType” indicates whether the type of package is the “Container (pack)” or “Unit”. As stated above, the “unit” means that only one content item is associated with the package, in other words, the package contains only one content item. Conversely, the “Container (pack)” means that two or more content items are associated with the package, in other words, the package contains two or more content items.  
      The “Container” is further divided into “Set” and “Choice”.  
      The “Set” means, as discussed with reference to the package metadata  32  shown in  FIG. 2  or the image shown in  FIG. 3 , that the content items contained in (associated with) a package is fixed, and billing is conducted, assuming that all the content items are purchased.  
      The “Set” is further divided into “Fixed” and “Variable”. The “Fixed” means that the content in a package is fixed when the user purchases the package, such as a DVD resale package for content which was broadcast before. Conversely, the “Variable” means that the content (subscription form) is not fixed when the user purchases the package, such as sport program broadcast series.  
      In contrast to the “Set”, “Choice” means, as discussed with reference to the package metadata  42  shown in  FIG. 4  or the image shown in  FIG. 5 , that certain content items can be selected by the user among the content items contained in a package and that billing is conducted according to the number of selected content items.  
      The “PackageType” may also include “service association” described with reference to  FIG. 6 .  
      The “PackageName/Description/Genre” indicates the name of the package, specific descriptions of the package, and the genre of the package.  
      The “Supplier (sales source information)” indicates information concerning the package seller. More specifically, in the “Supplier (sales source information)” of the package metadata  32 ,  42 , or  62  shown in  FIG. 2, 4 , or  6 , respectively, the information concerning the content aggregator  21  is indicated.  
      The “Promotion (promotion information)” indicates sales promotion information for the package. More specifically, in the “Promotion (promotion information)” of the package metadata  32  shown in  FIG. 2 , information, such as “summer vacation limited sales”, is indicated, as in the image shown in  FIG. 3 .  
      The “PackageRef/HowRelated (package reference/upper/related)” indicates the package ID of the upper- or related-package of the package in this package metadata.  
      The “TargetID (description identifier)” represents the destination for positional information (broadcasting schedules or addresses) concerning instances, such as the package or content contained in the package.  
      The “Price (billing information)” includes the contract type, price, usage-mode dictionary reference, etc. More specifically, the “Price (billing information)” includes “ContractType (standard/discount), “ActionType (playback/output usage-mode dictionary reference)”, “FixedPrice (fixed price/unit regardless of the amount of use), “VariablePrice (unit dependent on the amount of use) “Currency (currency unit)”, and “PriceValidPeriodFrom/To (effective period)”.  
      The “ContractType” indicates whether the type of price set for the package is “Standard” or “Discount”. The “Standard” means that the total cost (proper price) of the individual prices for the content items contained in the package is set as the price of the package. The “Discount” means that a discount price, which is less expensive than the price set as the “Standard”, is set as the price of the package.  
      The “ActionType (playback/output usage-mode dictionary reference)” indicates the usage mode of the package (content). For example, if the “ActionType (playback/output usage-mode dictionary reference)” indicates “when recording (copying) the content into a removable recording medium”, the user is charged every time the content contained in the package is recorded in a removable recording medium.  
      In the “FixedPrice (fixed price/unit regardless of the amount of use), the fixed price/unit regardless of how much the content is used is indicated. The basic unit for the fixed price is designated in the “UOM (unit of fixed price)”. More specifically, for example, “500/month”, is indicated in the “FixedPrice”.  
      Conversely, in the “VariablePrice (unit dependent on the amount of use)”, the price/unit dependent on the amount by the user has used the content (so-called “metered rate”) is designated. The basic unit for the variable price is designated in the “UOM (unit of fixed price)”. More specifically, for example, “100/time”, is indicated in the “VariablePrice”.  
      The “Currency (currency unit)” represents the currency unit for the numeric value indicated in the “FixedPrice” or “VariablePrice”. More specifically, if “¥(Yen)” is indicated in the “Currency (currency unit)”, the above-described information “500/month” means that the user is charged for 500 yen per month regardless of how many times the user uses the content, and the above-described information “100/time” means that the user is charged for 100 yen every time he/she uses the content.  
      The “PriceValidPeriodFrom/To (effective period)” indicates the effective period during which the user can use the package when he/she purchases the package under the above-described price conditions.  
      In the examples shown in  FIGS. 2, 4 , and  6 , the “PriceValidPeriodFrom/To (effective period)” is simply represented by the “viewing period”, and the items of information in the “Price (billing information)” other than the “PriceValidPeriodFrom/To (effective period)” is simply represented by the “price”.  
      If the contract type of the upper package of the package in this package metadata is “Discount”, “DiscountPrice (discount purchase/sales conditions/price)” (containing information indicated at the right side of  FIG. 13 ) is also contained in the package metadata. The configuration of this information is similar to that of the above-described “Price (billing information)”.  
      The “RMPInfo/Ref (RMP system dependence information/reference)” indicates information dependent on a rights management &amp; protection (RMP) system or a reference destination of the information. The RMP is a technique for handling management protection of broadcasting content.  
      The “MaxNumOfItems (maximum number of elements)” indicates the number of elements (content items) that can be contained in a package when the package type of package is “Container (pack)”.  
      The “Origin (source information)” designates the source (primary provider) of each item of content contained in the package. More specifically, the information concerning the content provider  2 A is indicated in the “Origin (source information)” in the package metadata  13 A ( FIG. 2 ). In this case, the above-described “Supplier (sales source information)” coincides with the “Origin (source information)”. In the “Origin (source information) in the package metadata  32  ( FIG. 2 ), the information concerning the content provider  2 A and information concerning the content provider  2 B is indicated.  
      In the “Coupon”, coupon information, for example, “if you buy one content, you can get another content free”, “consumption tax refund” is indicated.  
      In the “license ID list”, the license ID contained in the package is designated. That is, the package metadata is associated with the license metadata corresponding to the license ID.  
      The configuration of the package metadata to which the present invention is applied is not restricted to the example shown in  FIG. 13 . The package metadata may be configured in any manner as long as it contains at least one item designated as a licensed element in the access control information.  
      As stated above, one access control information (metadata) is associated with one package metadata. An example of the configuration of the access control information to which the present invention is applied is shown in  FIG. 14 .  
      In the access control information shown in  FIG. 14 , in the “target package identifier”, the package ID of the package associated with the access control information is indicated.  
      In the “target content identifier”, information concerning the content items licensed by the primary provider, i.e., the content providers  2 A through  2 C shown in  FIG. 2 , among the content items in the package is indicated. For example, the content ID (Content_id) shown in  FIG. 12  or the target description identifier (TargetID) shown in  FIG. 13  is indicated.  
      In the “authorized entity (ProviderName)/unauthorized entity (UnproviderName)”, information concerning an authorized entity (ProviderName) and information concerning an unauthorized entity (UnproviderName) set by the primary provider for the package corresponding to the access control information are indicated.  
      That is, for the entity authorized as an authenticated secondary provider (for example, the content aggregator  21 ) for the target package (content) by the primary provider, the name or ID of the authenticated secondary provider is indicated in the “authorized entity/unauthorized entity”.  
      On the other hand, for the entity which is not authorized as an authenticated secondary provider for the target package (content) by the primary provider, the name or ID of the unauthenticated secondary provider is indicated in the “authorized entity/unauthorized entity”.  
      The “licensed element (ElementName)/unlicensed element (UnelementName) indicates whether each element (for example, “Supplier (sales source information)”) of the package associated with the access control information is a licensed element or an unlicensed element.  
       FIG. 15  illustrates an example of the “licensed elements (ElementName)/unlicensed elements (UnelementName) when the access control information shown in  FIG. 14  is associated with the package metadata shown in  FIG. 13 .  
      In  FIG. 15 , the licensed element candidates are elements that can be changed (the above-described variable portions) among the elements forming the package metadata, that is, the elements that can be changed by a secondary provider by permission of the primary provider.  
      At the left of the licensed element candidates in  FIG. 15 , the circles indicate that the primary provider has permitted a secondary provider to change the corresponding elements, and the cross (x) indicate that the primary provider has prohibited the secondary provider from changing the corresponding elements.  
      In this case, the elements with the circles, i.e., the “PackageType”, “Supplier (sales source information)”, “PackageRef/HowRelated (package reference/upper/related)”, and “Price (billing information) (including discount billing information)” are indicated in the “licensed elements (ElementName)/unlicensed elements (UnelementName)” as the licensed elements (see the top right of  FIG. 15 ).  
      In contrast, the elements with the cross (x), i.e., the “PackageName/Description/Genre”, “Promotion (promotion information)”, “RMPInfo/Ref” (RMP system dependence/reference), “Origin (source information)”, and “Coupon”, are indicated in the “licensed elements (ElementName)/unlicensed elements (UnelementName)” as the unlicensed elements (see the bottom right of  FIG. 15 ).  
      The elements forming the package metadata shown in  FIG. 13  include elements that are not licensed element candidates, i.e., “packageID/Version” and “TargetID (target description identifier)”, elements fixed as invariable elements regardless of with/without the permission of the primary provider. Such fixed elements are also indicated in the “licensed elements (ElementName)/unlicensed elements (UnelementName)” as the unlicensed elements (see the bottom right of  FIG. 15 ).  
      The “license ID list” is formed by the secondary provider (content aggregator  21 ) and is excluded from the “authorized entity (ProviderName)/unauthorized entity (UnproviderName)”.  
      Referring back to  FIG. 14 , the “type of license (create or modify)” indicates the type of license (operation) given to the elements in the “authorized entity (ProviderName)/unauthorized entity (UnproviderName)”. The type of license (operation) is not particularly restricted, and it is classified into “create (new)” and “modify” in the example shown in  FIG. 14 . The same type of license (operation) may be set in all the licensed elements, or different types of licenses may be set in the individual licensed elements.  
      The “licensing conditions” indicate conditions under which the primary provider permits the secondary provider to change licensed elements. The types of conditions are not particularly restricted. In the example shown in  FIG. 14 , information, such as “fee for the information changing operation to be paid to the origin (source) of the licensed elements” and “type of information to be provided to the origin (number of sales items, target user information, etc.), is indicated.  
      The configuration of the access control information to which the present invention is applied is not restricted to the example shown in  FIG. 14 . The access control information may be configured in any manner as long as it includes at least information concerning the licensed elements among the elements forming the corresponding package metadata.  
      A description is now given, with reference to the flowchart of  FIG. 16 , of processing for repackaging an original package, i.e., processing for generating an updated package and updated metadata (hereinafter referred to as “package regenerating processing”), by the content aggregator server  103  shown in  FIG. 10 , by referring to the access control information, such as that shown in  FIG. 14 .  
      In step S 1 , the content aggregator server  103  obtains the original package  11  and the corresponding original metadata (including the access control information  15 ) from the content provider  101  and stores them. More specifically, the original metadata is stored in the metadata database  122 , and the original package  11  is stored in the content server  125 .  
      In the example shown in  FIG. 2 , from the content provider  2 A (content provider  101 A shown in  FIG. 8 ), the access control information  15 A, the package metadata  13 A, and the content metadata  14 A are supplied as the original metadata, and the package  11 A including the content  12 A is supplied as the original package.  
      From the content provider  2 B (content provider  101 B shown in  FIG. 8 ), the access control information  15 B, the package metadata  13 B, and the content metadata  14 B are supplied as the original metadata, and the package  11 B including the content  12 B is supplied as the original package.  
      From the content provider  2 C (content provider  101 C shown in  FIG. 8 ), the access control information  15 C, the package metadata  13 C, and the content metadata  14 C are supplied as the original metadata, and the package  11 C including the content  12 C is supplied as the original package.  
      Step S 1  is performed at any time as long as it is performed before the shop server  121  of the content aggregator server  103  instructs the access control server  126  to regenerate a package.  
      In step S 2 , the access control server  126  of the content aggregator server  103  determines whether an instruction to regenerate a package has been given from the shop server  121 .  
      If the result of step S 2  is NO, the process returns to step S 2 , and repeats step S 2  until it is determined that an instruction to regenerate a package has been given. That is, the access control server  126  always monitors an instruction from the shop server  121 .  
      It is now assumed, for example, that the content aggregator  21  ( FIG. 2 ) inputs an instruction to regenerate a package containing the content items  12 A and  12 B into the shop server  121 .  
      In this case, in response to the instruction, the shop server  121  issues a package regenerating instruction to the access control server  126 .  
      Then, the access control server  126  determines in step S 2  that an instruction to regenerate a package has been given, and then reads the access control information  15  of the original metadata of the original package  11  from the metadata database  122  in step S 3 .  
      More specifically, in the example shown in  FIG. 2 , the access control information  15 A,  15 B, and  15 C are read.  
      In step S 4 , the access control server  126  determines by referring to the “authorized entity (ProviderName)/unauthorized entity (UnproviderName)” ( FIG. 14 ) of the read access control information  15  whether the content aggregator server  103  or the content aggregator  21  ( FIG. 2 ) is an authorized entity.  
      In the example shown in  FIG. 2 , a package containing the content items  12 A and  12 B is to be generated.  
      In this case, if, in the “authorized entity (ProviderName)/unauthorized entity (UnproviderName)” of at least one of the access control information  15 A and  15 B, the content aggregator  21  (or content aggregator server  103 ) is not indicated as an authorized entity, or if the content aggregator  21  (or content aggregator server  103 ) is indicated as an unauthorized entity, it is determined in step S 4  that the content aggregator  21  is not an authorized entity. Then, in step S 8 , the access control server  126  performs predetermined error handling, and the package regenerating processing is terminated.  
      In contrast, if, in the “authorized entity (ProviderName)/unauthorized entity (UnproviderName)” of both the access control information  15 A and  15 B, the content aggregator  21  (or content aggregator server  103 ) is indicated as an authorized entity, it is determined in step S 4  that the content aggregator  21  is an authorized entity. The process then proceeds to step S 5 .  
      In step S 5 , the access control server  126  determines whether target elements (package information) in the original metadata are licensed elements.  
      In the example shown in  FIG. 2 , the “type”, “viewing period”, and “price” are licensed elements (package information).  
      In this case, if a package containing all the content items  12 A,  12 B, and  12 C (not shown in  FIG. 2 ) is to be generated, the access control information  15 C corresponding to the package metadata  13 C shows that the “type (change)” and the “viewing period (change)” are unlicensed elements. Accordingly, the access control server  126  determines in step S 5  that at least part of the target elements of the original metadata is not a licensed element. Thus, in step S 8 , the access control server  126  performs predetermined error handling, and the package regenerating processing is terminated.  
      Conversely, if, in the example shown in  FIG. 2 , a package (package  31 ) containing the content items  12 A and  12 B is to be generated, the access control information  15 A corresponding to the package metadata  13 A and the access control information  15 B corresponding to the package metadata  13 B both indicate that all the target elements (“type”, “viewing period”, and “price”) are licensed elements. In this case, the access control server  126  determines in step S 5  that the target elements (package information) of the original metadata are licensed elements, and proceeds to step S 6 .  
      In step S 6 , the package regenerator  131  of the access control server  126  selects the target content  12  from the content items  12  contained in the original package  11 , regenerates a package containing the target content  12  (generates an updated package), and stores the generated package in the content server  125 .  
      More specifically, in the example shown in  FIG. 2 , the package regenerator  131  selects the content  12 A contained in the package  11 A and the content  12 B contained in the package  11 B as target content items, regenerates the package  31  containing the target content items (generates the updated package  31 ), and stores the package  31  in the content server  125 .  
      Then, in step S 7 , the package metadata regenerator  132  of the access control server  126  generates updated metadata of the updated package (changes the target elements in the original metadata based on the access control information), and stores the updated metadata in the metadata database  122 .  
      More specifically, in the example shown in  FIG. 2 , the package metadata regenerator  132  generates the updated metadata  32  of the updated package  31 , i.e., changes the “type” into “fixed/pack”, the “viewing period” into “one month”, and “price” into “1000 yen”, and stores the updated metadata  32 . The package regenerating processing is then completed.  
      The information processing system (information processing apparatus) of the present invention that can support the business method models shown in  FIGS. 2 through 7  has been described with reference to  FIGS. 8 through 16 .  
      The information processing system (information processing apparatus) of the present invention can support various models of the business method other the models shown in  FIGS. 2 through 7 .  
      An example of such a model is shown in  FIG. 17 . More specifically,  FIG. 17  illustrates the configuration of a model of the business method supported by the information processing system of the present invention. In  FIG. 17 , elements corresponding to those in  FIG. 2  are designated with like reference numerals.  
      As in the business method shown in  FIG. 2 , in  FIG. 17 , a certain number of users (two users  1  and  151  in  FIG. 7 ), a certain number of content providers (one content provider  2 A in  FIG. 7 ), and a certain number of content aggregators (one content aggregator  21  in  FIG. 7 ) can be participated.  
      Additionally, a service provider  152  is also participated in this business method model. The service provider  152  may be considered as a second service provider for providing a service different from the service provided by the second service provider  51  shown in  FIG. 6 .  
      As stated above, the user  1  controls the user terminal (client)  105 , such as the one shown in  FIG. 8 , which can be connected to a network  102 , and obtains (purchases) content by using this user terminal  105 .  
      When using the content, the user  1  rates the content, generates rating information  83  consisting of the result of rating (so-called “recommendation information”) and information concerning the user  1  himself/herself (so-called “introducer information”), and supplies the rating information  83  to another user  151  and the service provider  152 .  
      The rating is a process for assigning values to content based on certain obligations or criteria. There are two types of ratings, i.e., self-rating and third-party rating. The self-rating means that a content provider rates the content provided by the content provider. That is, in the example shown in  FIG. 17 , the content provider  2 A rates (evaluates) the content  12 A. The third-party rating means that a third party rates content provided by another content provider. That is, in the example shown in  FIG. 17 , the user  1  rates the content  12 A.  
      The user  151  manages a terminal (not shown) having functions and configuration similar to those of the user terminal (client)  105 , and considers, for example, whether to purchase the content  12 A by using this terminal based on the rating information  83  supplied from the user  1 .  
      The service provider  152  manages a server (not shown) having functions and configuration similar to those of the second service provider server  104  ( FIG. 8 ) that can be connected to the network  102 , collects and analyzes rating information supplied from many users, for example, the rating information  83  supplied form the user  1 , and provides the analysis results or various services based on the analysis results. Although in the example shown in  FIG. 17  the service provider  152  provides services to the content provider  2 A, it may provide services to the user  1  or  151 , the content aggregator  21 , or another entity.  
      The third-party rating presents the following three problems as viewed from the content provider (content provider  2 A in the example shown in  FIG. 17 ). The first problem is that the content provider may not know that materials provided by the content provider have been rated or the rating results. The second problem is that the rating results may not be appropriate. The third problem is that an arbitration procedure cannot be taken when the content provider does not agree with the third party rating.  
      To solve these problems, the content provider  2 A can add, as shown in  FIG. 17 , the third-party rating licensing to the access control information  15 A.  
      If, for example, the third-party rating is indicated as a licensed element, as indicated by the circle in  FIG. 17 , it means that the content provider  2 A allows the third-party rating for the package  11 A (content  12 A).  
      In this case, when generating an updated package  161  containing the content  12 A of the package  11 A, the content aggregator  21  can add information required for allowing the user  1  to perform the third-party rating to updated package metadata  162 , though it is not shown.  
      The user  1  who purchased (obtained) the package  161  can rate the package  161 , and provides the rating results to the user  151  or the service provider  152  as the rating information  83 .  
      Conversely, if the third-party rating is indicated as an unlicensed element, though it is not shown, it means that the content provider  2 A prohibits the third-party rating for the package  11 .  
      In this case, when generating the updated package  161  containing the content  12 A of the package  11 A, the content aggregator  21  cannot add information required for allowing the user  1  to perform the third party rating to the updated package metadata  162 , though it is not shown.  
      Accordingly, the user  1  who purchased the package  161  cannot rate the package  161 .  
      In the example shown in  FIG. 17 , information indicating whether to allow the third-party rating is indicated as a licensed element or an unlicensed element. Alternatively, it may be handled as a licensing condition ( FIG. 14 ).  
      A summary of the above-described business method model that can be supported by the information processing system (information processing apparatus) of the present invention is as follows. In this model, a content provider assigns content and rights to change the metadata of the content to a content aggregator. The content aggregator updates part of the metadata (licensed elements) so as to provide a new value/creation to general users, and then returns profit obtained by the provision of the new value/creation to the original owner of the metadata (content provider itself).  
      The information processing system (information processing apparatus) of the present invention can also support a business method model for adding services concerning the quality (QoS) of a network or a provider, such as the image quality or the communication quality. In this case, service information concerning the quality (QoS) is contained as elements forming metadata, and such service information can be classified into licensed elements and unlicensed elements.  
      Similarly, the information processing system (information processing apparatus) of the present invention can also support a business method model that can provide recommendations of codec or conversion services (cross encoding services) that match client terminals, such as television receivers, video cassette tape recorders, set-top boxes, and personal computers. In this case, information concerning the recommendations or conversion services of codec is contained as elements forming metadata, and such information can be classified into licensed elements and unlicensed elements.  
      As discussed above, the information processing system (information processing apparatus) of the present invention can support business method models for providing various services. In this case, information concerning the corresponding services is contained in metadata, and access control information including information concerning the rights or licenses that can be defined as a class is generated (access control information is added to the metadata. In other words, information concerning services provided by the content defined in this specification is contained in metadata (if metadata does not exist, metadata including such information is generated), and access control information including information concerning the rights or licenses (providing conditions) is generated.  
      From the viewpoint of metadata, in the information processing system (information processing apparatus) of the present invention, it is necessary that metadata (structure) simply contain a descriptor (fixed portion) for uniquely identifying the corresponding content or content group (package) and a variable portion that can be changed later by being updated or added. As stated above, the content in a broad sense also contains commercials.  
      Information concerning the variable portion is not particularly limited, and may contain various types of information, such as the content owner, supply source, service provider, accompanying information indicating the rights for the user, effective period, price, how to obtain content, and how to play back content.  
      Information contained in the variable portion varies depending on the agent that changes licensed elements. More specifically, for a sales agent, information contained in the variable portion can be sales promotion information. For a settlement (billing) agent, such information may be the form of billing. If the content aggregator is an agent, such information may be content production, sales, billing, related services, etc. In this case, the content aggregator can combine a plurality of content items to generate an updated package which is different from the original package.  
      The information defining the variable portion and the licensed elements is indicated in the access control information, which is independent of the package metadata. However, the above-described information may be formed in various manners; for example, such information can be contained in part of the package metadata.  
      The above-described series of processing may be executed by hardware or software. In this case, the servers and the client shown in  FIG. 8 , that is, each of the content provider servers  101 A,  101 B, and  101 C, the content aggregator server  103 , the second service provider server  104 , and the user terminal (client)  105  can be formed as at least one personal computer, such as that shown in  FIG. 18 .  
      In  FIG. 18 , a central processing unit (CPU)  201  executes various types of processing according to a program stored in a read only memory (ROM)  202  or a program loaded into a random access memory (RAM)  203  from a storage unit  208 . In the RAM  203 , data required for executing various types of processing by the CPU  201  is also stored.  
      The CPU  201 , the ROM  202 , and the RAM  203  are connected to each other via a bus  204 . An input/output interface  205  is also connected to the bus  204 .  
      The input/output interface  205  is connected to an input unit  206  including a keyboard and a mouse, an output unit  207  including a cathode ray tube (CRT) or liquid crystal display (LCD) and a speaker, the storage unit  208  including a hard disk, and a communication unit  209  including a modem. The communication unit  209  performs communication processing via the network  2  ( FIG. 8 ), such as the Internet.  
      A drive  210  is connected to the input/output interface  205 , and a removable recording medium  211 , such as a magnetic disk, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory, is installed in the drive  210  when necessary, and a computer program read from the removable recording medium  211  is installed into the storage unit  208  when necessary.  
      When software is used to execute the above-described series of processing, a corresponding software program is installed from a recording medium or via a network.  
      This recording medium may be formed of the removable recording medium  211  storing the program therein, such as a magnetic disk (including a floppy disk), an optical disc (compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) and a digital versatile disk (DVD)), a magneto-optical disk (mini-disk (MD)), or a semiconductor memory, which is distributed for providing the program to the user separately from the apparatus. Alternatively, the recording medium may be formed of the ROM  202  or a hard disk contained in the storage unit  208  storing the program therein, which is distributed to the user while being contained in the apparatus.  
      In this specification, steps forming the program recorded in the recording medium may be executed in chronological order defined in the specification. Alternatively, they may be executed concurrently or individually.  
      In this specification, the system indicates an entire apparatus consisting of a plurality of devices.