Patent ID: 7725400

Claim:
A viewing management method for managing the viewing of media content recorded on an information recording medium readable with a prescribed reproduction device, said method comprising the following steps: said prescribed reproduction device presenting an acquisition code prerecorded on said information recording medium to a viewer desiring to view a viewing management target media content; said prescribed reproduction device receiving a password acquired by the viewer from a server computer based on the acquisition code; and said prescribed reproduction device starting reproduction of said viewing management target media content via an authentication process based on the password, wherein a password management table associating said password with said acquisition code is prerecorded on said information recording medium, and the step of presenting the acquisition code occurs each time a media content reproduction request is received from the viewer and includes: said prescribed reproduction device generating a random number based on a prescribed random function; and said prescribed reproduction device selecting and presenting an acquisition code corresponding to the generated random number from the password management table.