Patent ID: 7636691

Claim:
A method for distribution of content, the method comprising: receiving, from a user terminal, a request that includes content specifying information which specifies the content desired by a user; transmitting the content specifying information to a content provider; obtaining the specified content from the content provider; encrypting the specified content using a content key; adding a content ID of the specified content to the encrypted content; transmitting the encrypted content and the added content ID through the user terminal to a player apparatus; generating a use condition associated with the content ID for specifying use of the specified content in accordance with the use condition; and at a time subsequent to the transmitting of the encrypted content and the added content ID through the user terminal to the player apparatus, receiving, in response to the user attempting to reproduce the encrypted content using the player apparatus, a request for the content key and the use condition from the player apparatus through the user terminal, the request including the content ID, in response thereto, transmitting the content key and the use condition through the user terminal to the player apparatus, receiving, from the player apparatus through the user terminal, an encoded message confirming that the player apparatus has received the content key and the use condition, and decoding the encoded message thereby confirming that the player apparatus has received the content key and the use condition.