1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to a video content recording apparatus which records copyright-protected video content transferred from a source apparatus, and a video content transfer method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Content currently available via digital terrestrial and digital DBS broadcasting is copyright-protected and may not be duplicated. In order to use the content on an apparatus different from the one on which it was recorded, the content must be moved in advance.
When moving copyright-protected content between apparatuses through a network or the like, a content moving method defined by various standards is typically used so that unauthorized copies cannot be made.
Initially, the destination apparatus issues a transfer request for the content to the source apparatus. In response, the source apparatus transfers the content to the destination apparatus. Here, the destination apparatus records the content but not in a usable state (referred to as the inactive state, the usable state in the source apparatus, on the other hand, being referred to as the active state). The processing so far will be referred to as transfer processing.
After the entire content has been transferred, the destination apparatus issues a deactivation request for the content to the source apparatus. In response, the source apparatus deletes the content and reports the deletion to the destination apparatus. The destination apparatus makes the content usable. The processing so far from the end of the transfer processing will be referred to as move confirmation processing.
This method eliminates the period where usable content coexists in both apparatuses, and can thus move the content while preventing the creation of unauthorized copies. The content moving method described above will be referred to as a transaction-based move.
Since it takes time to move content, it is inconvenient, entailing a long wait, to move content from scratch after a need arises to use the content.
Suppose, for example, that one wishes to move content from a DVD recorder or the like to a cellular phone when going out and to view the content with the cellular phone away from home. He/she then needs to wait for the transfer time if the content moving operation is performed from scratch before going out. For example, when an hour's content recorded at 25 Mbps is transmitted through a 100Base network with an effective rate of 50 Mbps, the transfer time to wait up to the end of the transfer is as much as approximately 30 minutes.
With copiable content, it is possible to copy all the content to the destination apparatus anyway instead of moving. The content then can be selected anytime to keep the needed for use and delete the unneeded. The content deleted from the destination apparatus will not be completely lost since the same content is still in the source apparatus.
Content that can only be moved, on the other hand, will be lost permanently from both the apparatuses if it is moved in advance and then deleted during selection, being determined not to be used this time. To avoid this, if the content is kept undeleted in the destination apparatus, the storage capacity will be wasted. Moving the content back to the original apparatus for this reason eventually takes time.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-185473 discloses a technique for reducing the waiting time of move processing in a digital content recording and reproducing apparatus, by moving content under reproduction while maintaining a move condition even during reproduction.
The technique disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-185473 is not a fundamental solution, however, since the time from the occurrence of a need to the completion of a move is unchanged.