Method and apparatus for re-importing content

Abstract

A method and apparatus for protecting digital content in a digital rights management (DRM) system. The method of re-importing a second content file, which was imported from a first content file, as a third content file, includes determining whether to allow the re-importing of the second content file based on a difference between a current usage bind of the content determined in an import process and an original usage bind of the content and changing a usage bind of the content from the current usage bind to the original usage bind based on the result of determination. Therefore, when the usage bind of content, which had to be a domain bound, was inevitably determined to be a device bound due to a situation at the time of a content import process, the content can be freely used in the domain bound, which is the original usage bind of the content, according to usage constraints information (UCI) of the content.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a related art digital content protection environment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a digital content protection environment according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a content re-import apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a table showing permission of content re-import according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a usage rule table according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a license format according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 7A and 7B are flowcharts illustrating a content re-import method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of re-importing a second content file, which was imported from a first content file, as a third content file, the method comprising: determining whether to allow re-importing of the second content file based on a difference between a current usage bind of the content determined in an import process and an original usage bind of the content; andchanging a usage bind of the content from the current usage bind to the original usage bind based on a result of the determination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of whether to allow the re-import comprises allowing the re-importing if the current usage bind of the content is a device bound which limits the usage bind of the content to a device and the original usage bind of the content is a domain bound which limits the usage bind of the content to all devices in a domain.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising extracting an import type of the content indicating which usage bind should originally be determined for the content, from a license for the content, and the determining of whether to allow the re-importing comprises recognizing the difference based on the extracted import type of the content and determining whether to allow the re-importing based on the recognized difference.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining of whether to allow the re-importing comprises allowing the re-importing if the current usage bind of the content is the device bound and the import type of the content should be user specified which indicates that the usage bound of the content should be a domain bound.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a usage rule of the content in the changed usage bind; andissuing a license including the determined usage rule.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: restoring a content key used to encrypt the content by decrypting an encrypted content key included in the second content file using an encryption key corresponding to the current usage bind; andencrypting the restored content key using an encryption key corresponding to the original usage bind.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the original usage bind is determined based on usage constraints information included in the first content file.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content file does not comply with a predetermined rule of a digital rights management system, and the second and third content files comply with the predetermined rule of the digital rights management system.

9. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for executing a method of re-importing a second content file, which was imported from a first content file, as a third content file is recorded, the method comprising: determining whether to allow re-importing of the second content file based on a difference between a current usage bind of the content determined in an import process and an original usage bind of the content; andchanging a usage bind of the content from the current usage bind to the original usage bind based on a result of determination.

10. An apparatus for re-importing a second content file, which was imported from a first content file, as a third content file, the apparatus comprising: a re-importing determination unit which determines whether to allow re-importing of the second content file based on a difference between a current usage bind of content determined in an import process and an original usage bind of the content; anda usage bind change unit which changes a usage bind of the content from the current usage bind to the original usage bind based on a result of determination by the re-importing determination unit.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the re-importing determination unit allows the re-importing if the current usage bind of the content is a device bound which limits the usage bind of the content to a device and the original usage bind of the content is a domain bound which limits the usage bind of the content to all devices in a domain.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising an extraction unit extracting an import type of the content indicating which usage bind should originally be determined for the content, from a license for the content, and the re-importing determination unit recognizes a difference based on the extracted import type of the content and determines whether to allow the re-importing based on the recognized difference.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the re-importing determination unit allows the re-importing if the current usage bind of the content is the device bound and the import type of the content indicates that the usage bind of the content should be a domain bound specified by a user.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising: a usage rule determination unit which determines a usage rule of the content in the changed usage bind; anda license issuance unit which issues a license including the determined usage rule.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising: a decryption unit which restores a content key used to encrypt the content by decrypting an encrypted content key included in the second content file using an encryption key corresponding to the current usage bind; andan encrypting unit which encrypts the restored content key using an encryption key corresponding to the original usage bind.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the original usage bind is determined based on usage constraints information included in the first content file.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first content file does not comply with a predetermined rule of a digital rights management system, and the second and third content files comply with the predetermined rule of the digital rights management system.