Patent ID: 7430541

Claim:
A database updating apparatus comprising: a network; a server arranged to provide database-related information, via the network; and a user computer arranged to access the server, via the network, and to retrieve the database-related information, wherein the user computer comprises an optical disc recording/reproducing apparatus, and is configured to: record data on and reproduce data from an optical disc, in which a database an encryption key, and a date and time of a last update of the database are recorded, wherein the date and time of the last update are generated by the server, transmit the date and time of the last update to the server, record modified/updated data for initial data of the database on the optical disc, and record an encrypted password which is encrypted using the encryption key on the optical disc; wherein the server determines if modification/update of the database recorded on the optical disc is needed based on the transmitted date and time, and transmits the modified/updated data to the optical disc recording/reproducing apparatus, and wherein the initial data of the database is recorded in a read only region of the optical disc prior to a first access of the server by the user computer, and the modified/updated data for the initial data of the database transmitted from the server is recorded in a recordable region of the optical disc.