Patent ID: 7743426

Claim:
An information processing method, comprising: an input step, of inputting information data and management data for managing intellectual property with respect to the information data, the information data being encoded; a decoding step, of decoding the information data inputted in the input step; a reproducing step, of reproducing decoded information data decoded in the decoding step; a judgment step, of judging, based on the management data, whether an intellectual property management type of the information data is a first intellectual property management type or a second intellectual property management type, wherein the information data of the first intellectual property management type includes first authentication data and the information data is authenticatable using the first authentication data after being decoded, wherein the information data of the second intellectual property management type excludes the first authentication data, which is usable for authentication after the information data is decoded, and includes second authentication data, the information data being authenticatable using the second authentication data without being decoded; and an authentication step: in a case where the intellectual property management type of the information data is judged as the first intellectual property management type in the judgment step: of outputting to the decoding step a first startup notice for starting the decoding step to decode the information data and a request for notice that decoding the information data is completed, and, when the notice is received, of executing an authentication process for the information data, and, in a case where the intellectual property management type of the information data is judged as the second intellectual property management type in the judgment step: of executing the authentication process for the information data, and, when the authentication process succeeds, of outputting to the decoding step a second startup notice for starting the decoding step to decode the information data and excluding the request for the notice that decoding the information data is completed, and when the authentication process fails, the decoding step is not performed, wherein, when the decoding step receives the first startup notice, the decoding step does not output the decoded information data to the reproducing step until an authentication result from the authentication step indicating that the authentication process has succeeded is received, and when the decoding step receives the second startup notice, the decoding step outputs the decoded information data to the reproducing step when the decoding process of the information data is completed, and at least one of the steps is performed by at least one computer processor.