JP4090446B2 - Electronic device and data management method in electronic device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus provided with a removable external recording medium, and more particularly to an electronic apparatus that requires authentication when using an external recording medium.

  With the increase in capacity and cost of hard disks, hard disks are used in televisions and audio / video (AV) devices such as personal computers. As a feature of AV devices equipped with a hard disk, a large amount of music, video data, etc. can be stored, and the stored data can be edited.

  In an audio system, a removable portable hard disk is used. The portable hard disk is detached from the audio system, connected to another electronic device such as a personal computer, and music files and video files are taken from the portable hard disk, and the taken music files can be played back on the audio system.

  However, it is not desirable from the viewpoint of copyright protection to allow copying of music files and the like without any limitation. For this reason, various measures are taken so that illegal copying can be restricted. For example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, on the data reproduction side, together with audio data, a signal indicating whether the data is prohibited from being copied is output, and on the data recording side, copying is performed. There is a method of recording only when permitted. There is also a method in which audio data is encrypted and recorded, and a licensed player is given a key used only to decrypt the encrypted data. Further, by recording a digital signature and a public key certificate when recording data on a recording medium, it is possible to identify the recording device that recorded the content, and when an illegally recorded recording medium is distributed, A method is disclosed that allows the recording device that performed the recording to be excluded from the system.

JP 2002-236622 A

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a conventional portable hard disk authentication method. The audio system includes a control unit (C / U) 100 that plays a central role in audio functions, and a hard disk 110 that can be attached to and detached from the control unit 100. The personal computer 120 is loaded with software for authenticating the hard disk 110. When the hard disk 110 removed from the control unit 100 is connected to the personal computer 120, the personal computer 120 authenticates the hard disk 110. When the authentication is performed, the hard disk 110 is permitted to edit a music file or a video file.

  From the viewpoint of copyright protection, it is desirable that one hard disk can be authenticated by the personal computer 120. For this reason, even if the hard disk 110 once authenticated by the personal computer 120 is connected to another personal computer 130, it cannot be used. If it is used in another personal computer 130, it is necessary to re-authenticate the hard disk, and if the re-authentication is performed, all the contents of the hard disk 110 are erased.

  As shown in FIG. 7, copying and moving of data between a PC and a hard disk (HD) is forbidden for an unauthenticated hard disk (shown as “non-authenticated” in the figure). In addition, browsing of contents recorded on the hard disk and editing of playlists for music files were also prohibited (indicated by “x” in the figure). For this reason, for example, even when the user buys a personal computer or owns a plurality of personal computers, even the contents of the hard disk cannot be known, which is a very inconvenient and inconvenient authentication method for the user. .

  The present invention solves the above-described problems of the conventional authentication method, and provides an electronic device and a data management method in the electronic device that can be used for a non-authenticated external recording medium under certain restrictions. The purpose is to do.

  An electronic device having a removable external recording medium according to the present invention determines whether or not the external recording medium is authenticated by the electronic device when the removable external recording medium is loaded. An authentication determining means, and a use restricting means for restricting the use of the external recording medium when it is determined that the external recording medium is not authenticated. It allows browsing and movement of data from the electronic device to an external recording medium.

  According to the present invention, a data management method in an electronic device having a removable external recording medium is used to determine whether or not the external recording medium is authenticated by the electronic device when the external recording medium is connected. Determining, and when the external recording medium is not authenticated, browsing and deleting data on the external recording medium, and permitting movement of data from the electronic device to the external recording medium, and prohibiting data copying; It is what has.

  According to the present invention, even if it is an external recording medium that has not been authenticated, the use of browsing and deleting data and the movement of data from an electronic device is permitted, but this poses a problem for copyright law protection. The use of such data copying or the like is prohibited, whereby the convenience of using the external recording medium when the user owns a plurality of electronic devices or the like can be improved.

  The electronic apparatus provided with the removable external recording medium according to the present invention is preferably implemented in a personal computer, and a hard disk is used as the external recording medium. Hereinafter, detailed embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. A personal computer (PC) 1 includes a detachable hard disk (HD) 10, an input unit 12 for inputting commands from a user, a program memory 14 for storing programs for controlling various operations of the personal computer, music data And a large-capacity memory 16 for storing various data such as video data, a display 18, a CPU 20 for controlling the operation of each unit in accordance with a program in the program memory 14, and a bus 22 for connecting each unit.

  The program memory 14 stores an authentication determination program 30 for authenticating the hard disk 10, a use restriction program 32 for imposing a certain restriction on the use of the hard disk when the hard disk cannot be authenticated, and the like. The authentication determination program 30 and the use restriction program 32 are not necessarily limited to software, and may be realized by hardware.

  The PC 1 authenticates the hard disk 10 when the hard disk 10 is connected. The authenticated hard disk 10 can freely edit data with the PC 1. However, if the hard disk 10 is allowed to be used for an unspecified number of personal computers without any restrictions, music files and video files are copied without permission through the hard disk 10, which is undesirable from the viewpoint of copyright protection. Can occur. On the other hand, it may be very inconvenient for the user to prohibit the use of the hard disk 10 that cannot be authenticated at all. Therefore, the PC 1 according to the present embodiment allows use of hard disks that cannot be authenticated within a range that does not cause a problem in the Copyright Act.

  The authentication operation of the PC 1 and the hard disk usage restriction according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the hard disk 10 is connected to the PC 1 via an interface such as a USB (step S101), the connection of the hard disk 10 is detected in the PC 1. Then, the authentication discrimination program 30 in the program memory 14 is activated, and the CPU 20 identifies the hard disk 10 (step S102). The hard disk 10 is identified by, for example, reading a serial number that is data unique to the hard disk.

  Furthermore, the CPU 20 reads the HD authentication data stored in the hard disk 10 (step S103). The HD authentication data is for identifying the PC that has authenticated the hard disk 10 and is a code unique to the PC. For example, the serial number of the PC can be used. Next, the CPU 20 reads PC authentication data stored in the large capacity memory 16 (step S104). The PC authentication data is data unique to the hard disk to which the PC has been authenticated, for example, a serial number of the hard disk. The HD authentication data and the PC authentication data are created when the hard disk is first authenticated by the PC, and are stored in the hard disk 10 and the large-capacity memory 16.

  The CPU 20 determines whether or not the serial number of the PC included in the HD authentication data matches the serial number of its own PC 1, and the HD serial number included in the PC authentication data identifies the identified hard disk 10. It is determined whether or not it matches the serial number (step S105).

  When all of these authentication data match, the CPU 20 authenticates the hard disk 10 and permits the hard disk 10 to be freely used as an external recording medium (step S106).

  When authentication to the hard disk 10 is performed by the PC 1, as shown in FIG. 3A, data (displayed as a music file in the figure) can be freely copied and moved between the PC 1 and the hard disk 10 without any limitation. be able to. Furthermore, it is possible to automatically update the contents of the hard disk 10 to be the same as the contents of the large capacity memory 16 of the PC 1.

  On the other hand, when the authentication data does not match, the hard disk 10 is handled as an external recording medium that is not authenticated (step S107). In this case, the use restriction program 32 is activated, and the CPU 20 imposes a certain restriction on the use of the hard disk 10. One criterion for how much use is permitted is use within a range that does not induce copyright infringement as described above.

  In this embodiment, when the hard disk 10 cannot be authenticated, copying of data between the PC 1 and the hard disk 10 is prohibited, and data transfer from the hard disk 10 to the PC 1 is prohibited, as shown in FIG. It is forbidden. However, data movement from the PC 1 to the hard disk 10 is permitted. This is because by transferring data from the PC 1, no data remains in the PC 1, and unauthorized copying does not occur.

  In order to restrict such use, for example, the CPU 20 monitors a user instruction input from the input unit 12, and if the instruction corresponds to copying or moving as shown in FIG. Or try to reject the input.

  In addition to the one shown in FIG. 3B, the CPU 20 may permit browsing of the hard disk 10 and deletion of data on the hard disk 10. This is because browsing and data deletion are not substantially involved in unauthorized duplication of data.

  Further, when a playlist for a plurality of music files is stored in the hard disk 10, the CPU 20 may permit editing of the playlist. This is because the editing does not directly edit the music file and does not result in unauthorized copying or alteration of the music file.

  FIG. 4 shows a summary of usage examples permitted for a hard disk that is not authenticated in this embodiment. As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when the hard disk is not authenticated, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience and inconvenience for the user by enabling the use of the hard disk within a range not infringing on the copyright. . In particular, when the user purchases a new PC or owns a plurality of PCs, the contents of the hard disk can be browsed on a non-authenticated PC, thereby improving convenience.

  Next, a preferred use example of the PC 1 provided with the removable hard disk 10 is shown in FIG. Here, it is assumed that the PC 1 can authenticate only one hard disk. As shown in FIG. 5, when the hard disk 10 is authenticated by the PC 1, music files and video files stored in the PC 1 can be copied to the hard disk 10. By connecting the hard disk 10 to the audio player 40, the user can play back music files and the like stored in the hard disk 10 on the audio player 40.

  On the other hand, when the hard disk 10 is connected to another PC 2, the user cannot be authenticated by the PC 2, but can browse and delete the hard disk 10 and move data from the PC 2. For this reason, compared with the conventional authentication method, the convenience for a user can be improved.

  Note that the audio player may be a car audio device mounted on a vehicle, an audio device fixed at home, or the like. The number of hard disks that can be authenticated by the PC 1 is not necessarily limited to one.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. However, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims. Deformation / change is possible.

  In the above embodiment, a hard disk is used as an example of a detachable recording medium. However, any other rewritable recording medium can be applied to a semiconductor memory or a magnetic recording medium. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, a personal computer (PC) is used as an example of the electronic device, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any electronic device that can use an external recording medium may be used. For example, an audio system, a home appliance system, or a navigation system may be used. Further, the device used in this specification is not limitedly interpreted, and is a broad concept including a system in which a plurality of devices are connected.

  The electronic device and the data management method in the electronic device according to the present invention can be used in a personal computer, an audio system, a video system, a navigation system, a home appliance system, and the like in which a recording device such as a hard disk can be attached and detached.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the personal computer based on the Example of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the authentication operation | movement of the hard disk in a present Example. It is a figure explaining the usage example when not authenticating, when authenticating a hard disk. It is a figure which shows the usage example recognized with respect to the hard disk which has not been authenticated. It is a figure which shows the example of application of PC provided with the removable hard disk which concerns on a present Example. It is a figure explaining the authentication system of the conventional hard disk. It is a figure explaining the use restriction | limiting of the hard disk outside the conventional authentication.

Explanation of symbols

1: PC 10: Hard disk 12: Input unit 14: Program memory 16: Mass memory 18: Display 20: CPU 22: Bus 30: Authentication discrimination program 32: Usage restriction program 40: Audio player

Claims (4)

An electronic device having a removable external recording medium,
First identification data specific to the electronic device is stored in the external recording medium, second identification data specific to the external recording medium is stored in a memory in the electronic device, and the external recording medium is attached to the electronic device. The first identification data is read from the external recording medium and the second identification data is read from the memory to determine whether the electronic device is authenticated based on the first identification data; Whether or not the external recording medium is authenticated based on the identification data, authenticates the external recording medium when both the external recording medium and the electronic device are determined, and at least one of the external recording medium and the electronic device Authentication discrimination means for not authenticating the external recording medium when the
Use restriction means for restricting the use of the external recording medium when the external recording medium is not authenticated by the authentication determination means ;
The use restriction means permits browsing of data recorded on the external recording medium, movement of data from the electronic device to the external recording medium, and deletion of data on the external recording medium, and data from the external recording medium to the electronic device. Transfer of data and copying of data between external recording media and electronic devices,
Electronic equipment. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein when a playlist for a plurality of music files is recorded on an external recording medium, the use restriction unit permits editing of the playlist. A data management method in an electronic device provided with a removable external recording medium,
Storing the first identification data specific to the electronic device in the external recording medium, and storing the second identification data specific to the external recording medium in a memory in the electronic device;
Reading the first identification data from the external recording medium and reading the second identification data from the memory when the external recording medium is attached to the electronic device;
It is determined whether or not the electronic device is authenticated based on the first identification data, whether or not the external recording medium is authenticated based on the second identification data, and both the external recording medium and the electronic device are determined. Authenticating the external recording medium when it is determined, and not authenticating the external recording medium when at least one of the external recording medium and the electronic device is not determined;
When the external recording medium is not authenticated, browsing of data recorded on the external recording medium, movement of data from the electronic device to the external recording medium, and deletion of data on the external recording medium are permitted, and the electronic device from the external recording medium is permitted. Prohibiting data transfer to and copying of data between the external recording medium and the electronic device;
A data management method. 4. The data management method according to claim 3, comprising a step of permitting editing of a playlist for a music file recorded on the external recording medium when the external recording medium is not authenticated.

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