Patent ID: 7031942

Claim:
An information signal outputting method for receiving a supplied information signal copy control information added thereto, and outputting said information signal, comprising: detecting whether said information signal is encrypted or not-encrypted by a plurality of the encryption key data and producing an output representative thereof; detecting said copy control information from said information signal and producing an output representative thereof, said copy control information comprising electronic watermark information embedded in said information signal; restricting output of said information signal when a combination of the outputs of said detection of whether said signal is encrypted or not-encrypted and the detection of said copy control information results in a combination that should not occur in normal use; and notifying a user that the information signal has been illegally copied when said control means restricts reproduction, modifying access to said information signal to allow reproduction of said information signal while simultaneously displaying an informative message to the user or to allow reproduction of said information signal while blanking a part of the reproduced signal.