Yamaha Corporation

Toshihisa Sadakata

Yutaka Tohgi

Gary Gregson

Ken'ichi Yamauchi

A musical content utilizing apparatus has a data input portion B, transformation process portion Band utilization process portion Bimplemented via programmed processes. The data input portion Binputs musical content data comprising different kinds of content material data about music and content definition data defining the handling of the content material data. The transformation process portion Btransforms the content definition data in accordance with stylesheets stored in a stylesheet storage portion Bin order to enable the utilization process portion Bto utilize the content material data. The utilization process portion Bgenerates musical tones or displays images in accordance with the input content material, providing a user with musical content. As a result, a piece of musical content is able to be shared among various different types of musical content utilizing apparatuses, i.e., various platforms.

Musical content utilizing apparatus

Client apparatus (, . . . ) receives, from a server () or CD-ROM, content data and first management information that enables trial use of the content data and store the received content data and first management information in an HDD. When a user of the client apparatus desires normal use of the stored content data, the client apparatus (, . . . ) issues a normal use request to the server (). Then, the client apparatus receives, from the server, second management information that authorizes the normal use of the content data. Thus, only the client apparatus, to which an authorization for the normal use, is allowed to reproduce the content data in a normal mode with no reproduction function limitation on the basis of the second management information. In this way, the inventive arrangements permit efficient delivery of trial and purchasing content, but also can enhance security against unfair use, such as unauthorized copying, of the content.

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Hamamatsu, Japan

Toshihisa Sadakata