Patent ID: 8306230

Claim:
An information processing apparatus capable of playing content distributed through a network, the information processing apparatus comprising: a secure module having tamper resistance including: a key storage block to store a decryption key for use in decryption of encrypted content, which is distribution data; a decryption block to receive the distribution data and to derypt the distribution data to obtain the content by using the decryption key stored in the key storage block; and an encryption block to divide the content obtained by the decryption in the decryption block into a plurality of split pieces of content, to encrypt each of the split pieces of content by using a temporary encryption key to be changed at prescribed time intervals, to output the result as internal transmission data, and to output information on a temporary decryption key for use in decryption of the internal transmission data each time the temporary encryption key is changed; receiving unit to receive the distribution data distributed through the network and to transfer the distribution data to the decryption block in the secure module; playback unit to obtain the internal transmission data and the information on the temporary decryption key output from the encryption block in the secure module, decrypt the internal transmission data to obtain the split pieces of content by using the temporary decryption key, and to play the content by combining the plurality of split pieces of content obtained by the decryption; and a shared storage unit to be accessible from both the encryption block in the secure module and the playback unit, wherein the encryption block selects a storage position from a plurality of candidate positions included in the shared storage unit, stores the temporary decryption key in the selected storage position and outputs position information indicating the storage position of the temporary decryption key each time the temporary encryption key is changed; and the playback unit obtains the temporary decryption key from the shared storage unit in accordance with the position information output by the encryption block.