METHOD, COMPUTER AND PROGRAM FOR DETERMINING AUTHORITY

Abstract

An authorship determination method according to the present invention is an authorship determination method for determining the authorship of a work of art using a computer, in order to enable the certification of the authorship of a work of art. The computer calculates a first hash value of data not yet integrated, which is data not yet integrated into the work of art, and generates a first creation certificate containing the first hash value.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a method, computer and program for determining authorship. STATE OF THE ART

[0002] Traditionally, it is common to use a certificate of authenticity as a method for certifying the authorship of a work of art. Patent Document 1 discloses a specific method for certifying that works of art and the like are genuine using certificates of authenticity. PREVIOUSLY KNOWN DOCUMENTS Patent document

[0003] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. JP 6894033 B SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONTECHNICAL PROBLEM

[0004] However, if a work of art to be certified is digitally created through pen input or the like (hereinafter referred to as a "work of art"), any number of copies can be made, and thus its authorship cannot be adequately certified by a conventional certificate of authenticity. On the other hand, it has recently been proposed to convert the certificate of authenticity into an NFT (non-fungible token). However, there are cases where a malicious person can also create an NFT in a similar way.

[0005] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method, computer and program for determining authorship that can certify the authorship of a work of art. MEANS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

[0006] An authorship determination method according to the present invention is an authorship determination method for determining authorship of a work of art using a computer. The computer calculates a first hash value, which is a hash value of data of the work of art that has not yet been integrated, and generates a first creation certificate containing the first hash value.

[0007] A computer according to the present invention is a computer for determining the authorship of a work of art, the computer comprising a processor configured to calculate a hash value of not yet integrated data of the work of art and to generate a creation certificate containing the hash value.

[0008] A program according to the present invention is a program that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform processing for certifying the authorship of a work of art, the program causing the computer to perform a step of calculating a hash value of not-yet-integrated data of the work of art and a step of generating a creation certificate including the hash value. BENEFICIAL EFFECTS

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to certify the authorship of a work of art. SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE CHARACTERS Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an authorship certification system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a creation certification system 3, user terminals 4a and 4b, a work posting platform 5, and a license management platform 6. Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a start screen of a drawing application displayed on the user terminal 4a. Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating a login screen displayed immediately after a creation certification mode is started. Fig. Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating a project creation completion screen that appears when the creation of a new project is completed. Fig. Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating a state of a Canvas 15 at a stage where the artist has not yet completed the creation of a work of art. Fig. Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating a download screen displayed by the drawing application after a creation certification request is made in response to pressing “Request Creation Certification” in Fig. 6 was transferred. Fig. Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating a creation certificate screen displayed by the drawing application upon completion of downloading watermarked raster data on the download screen of Fig. 7 is displayed. Fig. Figure 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a creation certificate generated by a creation certification processing section 7. Fig. Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating a state of Canvas 15 at a stage where the artist has continued to create the artwork. Fig. 11 is a diagram illustrating a download screen displayed by the drawing application after a creation certification request is made in response to pressing “Request Creation Certification” in Fig. 10 was transferred. Fig. 12 is a diagram illustrating a screen displayed by the drawing application after the download of watermarked raster data is completed on the download screen of Fig. 11 is displayed. Fig. Figure 13 is a diagram illustrating a state of Canvas 15 at a stage where the artist has continued to create the artwork. Fig. Figure 14 is a diagram illustrating a download screen displayed by the drawing application after a creation certification request is received in response to pressing “Complete Creation” in Fig. 13 was transferred. Fig. 15 is a diagram illustrating a screen displayed by the drawing application after completion of downloading watermarked raster data on the download screen of Fig. 14 is displayed. Fig. Figure 16 illustrates a bibliographic information input screen displayed by the drawing application after completion of downloading a creation certificate on the creation certificate screen of Fig. 15 is displayed. Fig. Figure 17 is a flowchart illustrating the processing from starting the creation certification mode to creating a new project. Fig. Figure 18 is a flowchart illustrating the processing from the start (or continuation) of creation to the issuance of a creation certificate. Fig. Figure 19 is a flowchart illustrating the processing from the start (or continuation) of creation to the issuance of the creation certificate. Fig. Figure 20 is a flowchart illustrating the processing from the completion of creation to the recording of bibliographic information. Fig. Figure 21 is a flowchart illustrating processing performed to post the artwork by the artist on a publishing site. Fig. Figure 22 is a flowchart illustrating the processing performed to post the artwork by the artist on the publishing page. Fig. Figure 23 is a flowchart illustrating additional processing in a case where authorship certification is performed, also using the watermarked raster data and the creation certificate associated with the artwork, which are one generation older than the completed version of the artwork. Fig. Figure 24 is a flowchart illustrating the additional processing in the case where authorship certification is performed, also using the watermarked raster data and the creation certificate associated with the artwork, which are one generation older than the completed version of the artwork. Fig. Figure 25 is a flowchart illustrating processing related to licensing the artwork. Fig. Figure 26 is a diagram illustrating an example of a license certificate generated by the Creation Certification Processing Section 7. Fig. Figure 27 illustrates a project creation completion screen that appears after the creation of a new project is completed. Fig. Figure 28 is a diagram illustrating the state of the screen after a user has Fig. 27 has pressed the “Import” menu item. Fig. Figure 29 is a diagram illustrating a confirmation screen displayed by the drawing application when confirming that the user has a license. Fig. 30 is a flowchart illustrating processing for confirming whether the user of the artwork has a license to use the desired artwork. Fig. Figure 31 is a flowchart illustrating the processing to confirm whether the user of the artwork has the license to use the desired artwork. Fig. Figure 32 is a diagram illustrating an example of a list of components of data that has not yet been integrated. Fig. 33 is a flowchart showing processing from start, continuation, and completion of creation to issuance of a creation certificate, the processing being performed by an authorship certification system 1 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 34 is a flowchart showing processing performed by an authorship certification system 1 according to a third embodiment of the present invention when the user of the artwork creates raster data without a watermark on a Fig. 28 selects the file selection screen 30. Fig. 35 is a diagram illustrating an example of a creation certificate generated by the creation certificate processing section 7 according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 36 is a flowchart showing processing performed by the authorship certification system 1 according to the third embodiment of the present invention to realize the posting of the artwork by the artist on the publishing site. Fig. 37 is a flowchart showing processing from start, continuation, and completion of creation to issuance of a creation certificate, the processing being performed by an authorship certification system 1 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 38 is a flowchart showing processing performed by the authorship certification system 1 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention to realize the posting of the artwork by the artist on the publishing site. Fig. 39 is a flowchart showing processing from start, continuation, and completion of creation to issuance of a creation certificate, the processing being performed by an authorship certification system 1 according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 40 is a flowchart showing processing performed by the authorship certification system 1 according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention to realize the posting of the artwork by the artist on the publishing site. EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying figures.

[0011] Fig. Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an authorship certification system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in the figure, the authorship certification system 1 has a configuration in which a creation certification system 3, user terminals 4a and 4b, a work posting platform 5, and a license management platform 6 are connected via a network 2.

[0012] Fig. Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the creation certification system 3, the user terminals 4a and 4b, the work posting platform 5, and the license management platform 6. The creation certification system 3, the user terminals 4a and 4b, the work posting platform 5, and the license management platform 6 may each be constituted by a computer 1000 having the illustrated configuration. However, the creation certification system 3, the work posting platform 5, and the license management platform 6 may each be constituted by a combination of multiple computers 1000.

[0013] As in Fig. 2, the computer 1000 has a configuration in which a CPU (central processing unit) 1001, a storage device 1002, an input device 1003, an output device 1004, and a communication device 1005 are connected to each other via a bus 1006.

[0014] The CPU 1001 is a device (processor) that controls various parts of the computer 1000 and reads and executes various types of programs stored in the storage device 1002. Various processes described with reference to the Fig. 3 to 32 are implemented by executing programs stored in the storage device 1002 by the respective CPU 1001 of the creation certification system 3, the user terminals 4a and 4b, the work posting platform 5, and the license management platform 6.

[0015] The storage device 1002 includes a main storage device such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk. The storage device 1002 is used to store an operating system of the computer 1000, various types of programs for executing various applications, and to store data used by these programs. A database 8 for storing metadata, which will be described later, is implemented with the storage device 1002 of the creation certification system 3.

[0016] The input device 1003 is a device that receives a user input operation and provides the input operation to the CPU 1001. The input device 1003 includes, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, and a touch sensing device. Here, the touch sensing device is a device that includes a touch sensor and a touch controller and is used to detect a pen input or a touch input. Pens P, as shown in Fig. 1 are electronic pens used for pen input to the touch sensing devices of the user terminals 4a and 4b. The pen input of the pens P is implemented, for example, by an active capacitive system or an electromagnetic induction system.

[0017] The output device 1004 is a device that outputs a processing result of the CPU 1001 to the user. The output device 1004 includes, for example, a display and a speaker. The communication device 1005 is a device for communicating with an external device. The communication device 1005 performs data transmission and reception according to instructions from the CPU 1001. The creation certification system 3, the user terminals 4a and 4b, the work posting platform 5, and the license management platform 6 each communicate with other devices, systems, networks, or the like using the communication device 1005.

[0018] Let us now return to Fig. 1. User terminals 4a and 4b are computers used by artists. User terminals 4a and 4b are used to create a work of art, request a creation certification for the work of art, post the work of art on a publishing site, apply for a license for the work of art, and the like. Fig. Figure 1 illustrates only two user terminals 4a and 4b. In practice, however, a large number of user terminals may be connected to the network 2. Any computers, such as personal computers, tablet terminals, and smartphones, may be used as the specific hardware of the user terminals 4a and 4b.

[0019] The user terminals 4a and 4b are configured to execute a drawing application (drawing app) for creating a work of art using a pen P. However, the work of art may also be created by another drawing application.

[0020] The drawing application is generally configured to generate image data as a final artwork by rasterizing all the partial data into a single artwork after inputting artwork for each layer (such artworks are hereinafter also referred to as "partial artworks"). Hereinafter, data containing a set of multiple partial artworks before integration is referred to as "unintegrated data" (unsynthesized data), and the image data obtained by rasterization is referred to as "raster data." There is no particular restriction on the format of the unintegrated data and raster data. BMP, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and the like can be used as the raster data format.

[0021] The Creation Certification System 3 is a computer that issues a Creation Certificate (creation evidence data) to certify the authorship of the artwork upon request from the artist. As described in Fig. As shown in Figure 1, the creation certification system 3 includes a section 7 for processing creation certifications and a database 8 for storing metadata. Artists can register in advance as users with the creation certification system 3 and then use the creation certification system 3 via the user terminals 4a and 4b.

[0022] Creation Certification Processing Section 7 is a functional section that performs, among other things, processing for issuing a creation certificate for a work of art upon receiving a request for creation certification of the work of art from the user terminal 4a; processing for certifying the authorship of a poster (poster) upon receiving a request for authorship certification of the posted work of art from the work posting platform 5; processing for issuing a license certificate (data proving a license to a work of art) of the work of art upon receiving an application for a license for the work of art from the license management platform 6; and processing for certifying the license for the work of art upon receiving a request for license certification of the work of art from the user terminal 4b.Section 7, on processing creation certifications, also performs processing to create a project related to the creation of the artwork and to embed a watermark specifying a project identifier (ID) to identify the project in the raster data. The artworks posted by the artist on Platform 5 for posting works and the artworks used by the licensed user are raster data in which such watermarks are embedded.

[0023] Metadata storage database 8 is a database for storing various types of data (metadata) related to a project as described above. Examples of metadata include bibliographic information (title, artist name, and the like) about the artwork, various types of timestamps, the creation certificate, the license certificate, and the like.

[0024] Work posting platform 5 is a computer with a function for receiving posts of artworks from artists and uploading posted artworks to a publishing site. Work posting platform 5 is configured to receive the posts after confirming, in cooperation with Creation Certification System 3, that the poster of the artworks is also the creator of the artworks (i.e., has authorship). Posts will not be accepted if this cannot be confirmed. This prevents posting by persons other than the artist.

[0025] The license management platform 6 is a computer with a function of receiving applications for licenses for artworks from users who wish to use the artworks and issuing license certificates in cooperation with the creation certification system 3. The issuance of license certificates is carried out after also receiving confirmation from the artist.

[0026] Fig. 3 to Fig. 8 and Fig. 10 to Fig. 15 are diagrams illustrating screens of the drawing application displayed on the user terminal 4a. The following describes the processing from the beginning of the creation of a work of art to the issuance of a creation certificate with reference to the figures.

[0027] The drawing application contains, as in Fig. 3, which represents a basic configuration of a screen displayed by the drawing application, a menu bar 10, a toolbar 11, a palette area 12, and a canvas window 13. The menu bar 10 is an area that contains a list of menu items such as "File" and "Edit," etc. When a menu item is pressed (i.e., clicked or tapped), a menu window 14 is displayed, as illustrated in the figure. Fig. The menu window 14 illustrated in Figure 3 and the following figures is the menu window 14 that appears when the "File" menu button is pressed. Within the menu window 14, a menu for launching various functions of the drawing application is arranged. When the user presses a menu item, a corresponding function is launched.

[0028] The toolbar 11 is an area in which icons for starting the various functions of the drawing application are arranged. When the user presses an icon, a corresponding function is started. The palette area 12 is an area in which a palette for making various settings of the drawing application is arranged. The palette area 12 is designed to be able to arrange several palettes therein. Examples of setting contents of the palette(s) are the stroke width or stroke color of a stroke drawn by the pen P, a display magnification (zoom) within the canvas window 13, and the like. The canvas window 13 is an area in which a canvas 15 (see Fig. 6) for the user to draw a picture with the pen P or the like. This canvas window 13 is an area that forms various types of user interface screens, such as in Fig. 4 shown.

[0029] Fig. Figure 3 illustrates a startup screen displayed immediately after launching the drawing application. As illustrated in the figure, the menu window 14 displayed when the "File" menu button is pressed on the initial screen of the drawing application contains a "Start Creation Certification Mode" menu item for starting the creation certification mode. When the artist presses this menu item, the drawing application starts the creation certification mode. The creation certification mode is a mode in which a creation certificate is issued to certify that an image drawn by the artist on the canvas 15 in this mode was actually created by that artist.

[0030] Fig. 4 illustrates a login screen displayed immediately after the creation certification mode starts. This login screen is a screen where the artist can log in to the creation certification system 3. As illustrated in the figure, the login screen includes text fields 20 and 21, a login button 22, and a registration button 23. The text field 20 is an object for entering a user ID of the artist into the creation certification system 3. The text field 21 is an object for entering a password corresponding to the user ID. When the user presses the login button 22 after entering the user ID and password in the text fields 20 and 21, predetermined login processing is performed between the drawing application and the creation certification processing section 7 of the creation certification system 3.If the registration is successful, the drawing application enters the creation certification mode. If the registration fails, the drawing application returns to the state before the creation certification mode was started (normal mode). The registration button 23 is a button for starting the user registration process with the creation certification system 3 if the artist is not yet registered as a user with the creation certification system 3.

[0031] As in Fig. As illustrated in Figure 4, the menu window 14 displayed when the "File" menu button is pressed on the login screen includes a "Create New Project" menu item for creating a new project. When an artist who has successfully logged in presses this menu item, an instruction to create a new project is transmitted from the drawing application to the creation certification processing section 7. Upon receiving this instruction, the creation certification processing section 7 generates a DID document (where DID stands for "Decentralized Identifier") of the new project and registers the DID document in a distributed file system, records a DID including a hash value of the DID document (where the hash value is an address within the distributed file system) in a blockchain, and thus creates the new project.Such a project is created for each work of art and used to manage various types of information (the creation certificate, the license certificate, the bibliographic information about the artwork, and the like) related to that work of art. The DID recorded in the blockchain is used as the project ID to subsequently identify the project.

[0032] Here, the DID is a decentralized ID used in a self-sovereign identity and is permanently recorded in a blockchain network 7. Self-sovereign identity is a mechanism that solves various problems caused by centralized ID management by allowing an individual to maintain and control their own identity (hereinafter, identity is also referred to as "ID") without the intervention of a management authority. A self-sovereign identity is generally referred to as SSI (Self-Sovereign Identity). The creation certificate and license certificate used in the present embodiment can be verifiable certificate VCs (Verifiable Credentials) as certificates used in SSI.

[0033] Fig. Figure 5 illustrates a project creation completion screen displayed when the creation of a new project is completed. The project creation date and time, as well as the artist name shown in the figure, are data stored by the creation certification processing section 7 as part of the project metadata in the metadata storage database 8. The project creation date and time are timestamps indicating the date and time at which the project creation was completed. The artist name can be entered for the artist on this screen.

[0034] When the creation of the project is completed, a menu item “Start Creation” to start the creation will be displayed within the menu window 14, as shown in Fig. 5. When the artist presses this menu item, the drawing application displays a Canvas 15 (see Fig. 6) within the canvas window 13. The artist creates a work of art by drawing an image on the canvas 15 with a pen P or the like.

[0035] Fig. Figure 6 illustrates a state of the canvas 15 in a phase where the artist is in the middle of creating the artwork. When the canvas 15 is displayed in creation certification mode, the drawing application displays a "Request Creation Certification" menu item within the menu window 14 for requesting creation certification and a "Complete Creation" menu item for indicating that creation is complete. When the artist presses "Request Creation Certification," a creation certification request is transferred from the drawing application to the creation certification processing section 7. This creation certification request contains unintegrated data and raster data at this phase.

[0036] Fig. Figure 7 illustrates a download screen displayed by the drawing application after the creation certification request has been received in response to pressing “Request Creation Certification” in Fig. 6. For example, as shown in the figure, the download screen displays the project ID, a download button 25, an indication of a "Project File A", an indication of the file name "Artwork A.png" of a file that can be downloaded by pressing the download button 25, a descriptive sentence for the user, and a thumbnail of the raster data transmitted by the creation certification request.

[0037] Here, the project file is a file generated by the Creation Certification Processing Section 7 for each creation certificate. It is used to collectively manage the generated creation certificate and various types of data related to the creation certificate. The symbol "A" at the end of the project file refers to the order in which this file is generated in the project. For example, the symbol increases to "B" and "C" as the number of project files increases. The "A" in the file name "Artwork A.png" serves the same purpose.

[0038] As indicated by the descriptive sentence on the screen, the Creation Certification Processing Section 7, which has received the Creation Certification Request, embeds an invisible watermark linked to the authorship certification into the raster data in the Creation Certification Request. Specifically, the project ID is converted into a watermark that is embedded in the raster data. There are no specific restrictions on the exact design of the watermark or the method for embedding the watermark in the raster data.However, as set forth in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. JP 2022-002130 A, for example, it is possible to use a method that uses a two-dimensional code indicating the project ID as the watermark and embeds the watermark into one of the three color channels constituting the raster data using singular value decomposition.

[0039] If the artist clicks the Download button 25 on the download screen of Fig. 7, the file "Artwork A.png" is downloaded as watermarked raster data to the user terminal 4a. The artist saves the thus downloaded watermarked raster data and uses the watermarked raster data when posting the artwork to the work posting platform 5. It is also possible that the download screen of Fig. 7 is displayed without the download button 25 on the download screen of Fig. 7, and the watermarked raster data is automatically downloaded to the user terminal 4a in the background.

[0040] Fig. Figure 8 illustrates a creation certificate screen displayed by the drawing application upon completion of downloading the watermarked raster data on the download screen of Fig. 7 is displayed. Section 7 for processing creation certificates is set up to generate a creation certificate after the watermarked raster data has been generated. The creation certificate screen of Fig. Figure 8 illustrates the content of the creation certificate generated in this way.

[0041] Fig. Figure 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the creation certificate generated by the creation certification processing section 7. As illustrated in the figure, the creation certificate contains issuer information (information about the issuer) and creation certification information (information for proving creation). The issuer information is information that specifies the issuer of this creation certificate. The issuer information includes the issuer name and the issuer DID. The issuer name is typically the name of the company that operates the creation certification system 3. The issuer DID is the issuer's DID. A DID document corresponding to this DID contains the issuer's public key.

[0042] The creation certification information includes the project ID, the artist DID, information for identifying the project file, the hash value of the data not yet integrated, the date and time of raster data output, and the application used. The artist DID is the artist's DID. The creation certification system 3 is configured to obtain the artist DID from the artist in advance at the time of user registration and store the artist DID linked to the artist's user ID. A DID document corresponding to the artist DID contains the artist's public key. The information for identifying the project file, which identifies the "project file" described above.

[0043] The hash value of the unintegrated data is a hash value obtained by applying a predetermined hash function to the unintegrated data in the creation certification request. The date and time of raster data output is a timestamp indicating the date and time at which the watermarked raster data was generated. The "used application" indicates the drawing application that submitted the creation certification request (i.e., the drawing application used by the artist to create the artwork).

[0044] Section 7, for processing creation certificates, encrypts the creation certification information with the issuer's private key (i.e., it signs the creation certification information with the issuer's digital signature) and incorporates the encrypted creation certification information into the creation certificate. Thus, a person who subsequently receives the creation certificate can confirm that the issuer is the origin of the creation certificate by decrypting the creation certificate with the issuer's public key.

[0045] Let us now return to Fig. 8 back. The Fig. The creation certificate screen illustrated in Figure 8 shows, in addition to the content of the creation certificate shown with reference to Fig. 9, the creation certificate displays the project ID, information indicating a history of the project, and a download button 26. The information indicating the history of the project includes the date and time of the project creation as well as information indicating an overview of the project files included in the project ( Fig. 8 only shows information about the project file A).

[0046] If the artist clicks the Download button 26 on the Creation Certificate screen of Fig. 8, the creation certificate is downloaded to the user terminal 4a. The artist can save the creation certificate downloaded in this way and use the creation certificate to transmit the creation certificate in accordance with a request to transmit the creation certificate of the artwork when requested by the creation certification system 3.

[0047] While displaying the creation certificate screen, the drawing application displays a menu item “Continue Creation” within the menu window 14, as shown in Fig. 8. When the artist presses this "Continue Creation" button, the drawing application displays the canvas 15 again within the canvas window 13.

[0048] Fig. Figure 10 illustrates a state of the canvas 15 in a phase in which the artist has continued the creation of the artwork. If the artist again presses "Request Creation Certification" within the menu window 14 on the screen, a creation certification request containing the data not yet integrated and the raster data in this phase is transferred from the drawing application to the creation certification processing section 7, as in the case of Fig. 6.

[0049] Fig. 11 illustrates a download screen displayed by the drawing application after the creation certification request has been received in response to pressing “Request Creation Certification” in Fig. 10. The content of the Fig. 11 corresponds to that of Fig. 7, except that "Project File A" and "Artwork A.png" are changed to "Project File B" and "Artwork B.png" respectively. In this case, the watermarked raster data is also processed similarly to that described with reference to Fig. 7 and downloaded to the user terminal 4a.

[0050] Fig. Figure 12 illustrates a screen displayed by the drawing application after completion of downloading the watermarked raster data in the download screen of Fig. 11 is displayed. The content of the Fig. 12 corresponds to that of Fig. 8, except that the content of the Fig. 12 is different in that the creation certification information is information about Project File B and that the information about Project File B has been added to the information indicating the progress of the project. In this case too, a creation certificate is generated by processing similar to that described with reference to Fig. 8 and downloaded to the user terminal 4a. The Fig. The screen illustrated in Figure 12 corresponds to that of Fig. 8 also in that the menu item "Continue Creation" is displayed within the menu window 14. When the artist presses this "Continue Creation" button, the drawing application displays the canvas 15 again within the canvas window 13.

[0051] Fig. Figure 13 illustrates a state of the canvas 15 in a phase in which the artist has continued the creation of the artwork. In the present embodiment, the artist presses the menu item "Complete Creation" within the menu window 14 when they decide that the artwork in this state is a final, completed version of the artwork. Then, as in the case where the artist selects "Request Creation Certification" in Fig. 6 or Fig. 10, a creation certification request containing the data not yet integrated and the raster data in this phase is transferred from the drawing application to Section 7 for processing creation certifications.

[0052] Fig. Figure 14 illustrates a download screen displayed by the drawing application after the creation certification request has been completed in response to pressing “Complete Creation” in Fig. 13. The content of the Fig. 14 corresponds to that of Fig. 7, except that "Project File A" and "Artwork A.png" are changed to "Project File C" and "Artwork C.png" respectively. In this case, too, the watermarked raster data is generated by processing similar to that described with reference to Fig. 7 and downloaded to the user terminal 4a.

[0053] Fig. Figure 15 illustrates a screen displayed by the drawing application after the download of the watermarked raster data is completed on the download screen of Fig. 14 is displayed. The content of the Fig. 15 corresponds to that of Fig. 12, except that the content of the Fig. 15 is different in that the creation certification information is information about the project file C and that the information about the project file C has been further added to the information indicating the progress of the project. In this case too, a creation certificate is generated by processing similar to that described with reference to Fig. 8 and downloaded to the user terminal 4a. Furthermore, the data in Fig. 8 and Fig. 12 illustrated menu item “Continue Creation” is not in the Fig. 15 illustrated menu window 14 is displayed.

[0054] Fig. Figure 16 illustrates a bibliographic information input screen displayed by the drawing application after completion of the creation certificate download on the creation certificate screen of Fig. 15 is displayed. The artist enters bibliographic data about the artwork created on this bibliographic information input screen. Specific examples of the bibliographic data about the artwork entered here include the title, description, hardware used, license settings, and the like. When the artist enters various information on the bibliographic information input screen and then presses a save button 27, the creation certification processing section 7 saves the entered bibliographic information as part of the project's metadata in the metadata storage database 8.

[0055] Fig. 17 to Fig. 20 is a flowchart showing the process described with reference to Fig. 3 to Fig. 16 (processing by the user terminal 4a and the creation certification system 3). The processing associated with the generation of watermarked raster data and a creation certificate will be described in detail below with reference to these figures.

[0056] Fig. Figure 17 illustrates the processing from the start of the creation certification mode to the creation of a new project. This processing is initiated by the user by starting the creation certification mode in the drawing application running on the user terminal 4a (step S1; see Fig. 3). When the creation certification mode is started, the drawing application connects to the creation certification system 3 and lets the artist log in to the creation certification system 3 (step S2; see Fig. 4). If the registration is successful, the sign application enters the creation certification mode (step S3).

[0057] Next, when the user gives an instruction to the drawing application to create a new project (step S4; see Fig. 4), the drawing application transmits an instruction to create a new project to the Creation Certification Processing Section 7 (step S5). Upon receipt of this creation instruction, the Creation Certification Processing Section 7 creates a new project ID and stores the new project ID linked to the user ID of the logged-in user (i.e., the artist) (step S6). The Creation Certification Processing Section 7 then notifies the metadata storage database 8 that the new project has been created, along with current date and time information (step S7). Upon receipt of this notification, the metadata storage database 8 stores the notified current date and time information as part of the project metadata linked to the project ID (step S8). The Creation Certification Processing Section 7 also transmits the Fig. 5 to complete the project creation to the drawing application (step S9). Although this is Fig. 17 is not shown, in a case where the user enters the artist name in Fig. 5, the entered artist name is transferred via the section 7 for processing creation certifications to the database 8 for storing metadata and stored as part of the metadata of the project.

[0058] Fig. 18 and Fig. 19 illustrate the process from the start (or continuation) of creation to the issuance of a creation certificate. Referring first to Fig. 18, this processing is started by the user by issuing an instruction to start the creation (see Fig. 5) or continuing creation (see Fig. 8 or Fig. 12) in the drawing application running on the user terminal 4a (step S10). If the user who creates the artwork subsequently requests a creation certification (step S11; see Fig. 6 and Fig. 10), the drawing application exports unintegrated data and raster data in this phase (step S12) and transmits a creation certification request containing the exported data to section 7 for processing creation certifications (step S13).

[0059] Upon receiving the creation certification request, the creation certification processing section 7 generates a new project file corresponding to the project ID (step S14) and transmits a record instruction containing the generated project file and current date and time information to the metadata storage database 8 (step S15). Upon receiving this record instruction, the metadata storage database 8 stores the received project file and the received current date and time information linked to the project ID as part of the project metadata (step S16).

[0060] Creation Certification Processing Section 7 also performs processing to convert the project ID into a watermark and embed the watermark in the received raster data (step S17). Details of this processing are as described above. Next, Creation Certification Processing Section 7 transmits a download screen to the drawing application for downloading the watermarked raster data (step S18; see Fig. 7 and Fig. 11). When the user viewing this download screen presses the download button 25, a download instruction is transmitted from the drawing application to the creation certification processing section 7 (step S19). Next, the watermarked raster data is transmitted from the creation certification processing section 7 to the user terminal 4a (step S20). The user terminal 4a stores the thus downloaded watermarked raster data in the storage device 1002 (see Fig. 2) or a storage in the cloud together with the not yet integrated data of the current phase (step S21).

[0061] With reference to Fig. 19, Section 7 for processing creation certificates next calculates the hash value of the received, not yet integrated, data and stores the hash value linked to the project ID (step S22). Then, a creation certificate containing the stored hash value is generated (step S23), and a creation certificate screen for downloading the creation certificate is transmitted to the sign application (step S24; see Fig. 8 and Fig. 12). The contents of the Creation Certification and the Creation Certificate screen are as described with reference to Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 described.

[0062] When the user viewing the Creation Certificate screen presses the Download button 26 (see Fig. 8 and Fig. 12), a download instruction is transmitted from the drawing application to the creation certificate processing section 7 (step S25). Next, the creation certificate is transmitted from the creation certificate processing section 7 to the user terminal 4a (step S26). The user terminal 4a stores the creation certificate downloaded in this way in the storage device 1002 (see Fig. 2) or a storage in the cloud (step S27).

[0063] After generating the creation certificate in step S23, the creation certificate processing section 7 also performs processing to transmit a recording instruction containing the creation certificate to the metadata storage database 8 (step S28). Upon receiving this recording instruction, the metadata storage database 8 stores the received creation certificate in the corresponding project file (step S29).

[0064] Fig. Figure 20 illustrates processing from the completion of creation to the recording of bibliographic information. When the user gives an instruction to complete creation (step S30; see Fig. 13), the drawing application exports the data not yet integrated as well as the raster data of this phase (i.e., the completed version of the raster data) (step S31) and transmits a creation completion instruction containing the exported data to the creation certification processing section 7 (step S32). After that, processing corresponding to the processing described with reference to Fig. 18 and Fig. 19, between the user terminal 4a, the creation certification processing section 7 and the metadata storage database 8, and the watermarked artwork and a creation certificate are created and issued, respectively.

[0065] After completion of step S26, a bibliographic information input screen for entering bibliographic information about the artwork is transferred from the creation certification processing section 7 to the drawing application (step S33; see Fig. 16). When the user viewing this bibliographic information input screen enters the bibliographic information (step S34) and presses the Save button 27 (see Fig. 16), the drawing application transmits a save instruction containing the input bibliographic information to the creation certification processing section 7 (step S35). Upon receipt of this save instruction, the creation certification processing section 7 transmits a record instruction containing the bibliographic information included in the save instruction to the metadata storage database 8 (step S36). Upon receipt of this record instruction, the metadata storage database 8 stores the received bibliographic information linked to the project ID as part of the project's metadata (step S37).As a result of the processing so far, the artist's creation of the artwork and the generation of one or more watermarked raster data and one or more creation certificates related to the creation of the artwork are completed. The artist can then publish their artwork on the publishing page by posting the watermarked raster data corresponding to the completed version of the artwork on the work posting platform 5.

[0066] Fig. 21 and Fig. 22 is a flowchart illustrating processing performed to realize the posting of the artwork on the publishing page by the artist. Referring first to Fig. 21, this processing is initiated by the artist posting the artworks from the user terminal 4a to the work posting platform 5 (step S40). In doing so, the artist uses the watermarked raster data corresponding to the completed version of the artwork (where the raster data is shown on the download screen of Fig. 14) as data to be posted. Hereinafter, the data posted to the platform 5 for posting works is referred to as "posted data," and the artworks represented by the posted data are referred to as "posted artworks."

[0067] Upon receiving the posted data, the work posting platform 5 requests the creation certification system 3 to certify that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork (i.e., that the poster has authorship of the posted artwork) (authorship certification) (step S41). This request contains the watermarked posted raster data. The creation certification processing section 7 of the creation certification system 3, which has received the authorship certification request, attempts to read the watermark from the raster data watermarked in the authorship certification request and converts the watermark into the project ID (step S42). Then, a primary determination is made as to whether the poster is the creator of the posted artwork by determining whether the project ID is obtained as a result (step S43).In particular, it is sufficient to specify that there is a possibility that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork in a case where the project ID can be obtained, and to specify that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork in a case where the project ID cannot be obtained.

[0068] If the result of the determination in step S43 is that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 returns an error to the work posting platform 5 (step S44). Upon receiving this error, the work posting platform 5 notifies the user terminal 4a that the posting failed without uploading the posted data (step S45). This prevents the posting of artworks that were not created using the creation certification system 3, as well as artworks that do not have a watermark.

[0069] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S43 that there is a possibility that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 reads the creation certificate corresponding to the completed version of the artwork from among all creation certificates stored associated with the project ID from the metadata storage database 8 (step S46) and obtains the issuer DID and the artist DID from the creation certificate (step S47). Then, the issuer's public key and the artist's public key are obtained by accessing the distributed file system described above and viewing the corresponding DID documents (step S48). Public keys that can be obtained without viewing the creation certificate or DID documents, since such public keys are, for example,already held in the Creation Certification System 3, even if steps S46 to S48 are completely or partially omitted. The same applies to the data in . Fig. 23 shown steps S76 to S78 and those in Fig. 30, which will be described later.

[0070] Next, the creation certification processing section 7 requests the transmission of a creation certificate from the user terminal 4a via the work posting platform 5 (step S49). Upon receiving this request, the user terminal 4a obtains the creation certificate corresponding to the completed version of the artwork (displayed on the creation certificate screen of Fig. 15), encrypts the creation certificate with the poster's private key and then transmits the creation certificate to the creation certification processing section 7 via the work posting platform 5 (step S50).

[0071] After receiving the creation certificate, the creation certification processing section 7 attempts to decrypt the received creation certificate using the artist's public key previously obtained in step S48 (step S51). Then, a secondary determination is made as to whether the poster is the creator of the posted artwork by determining whether the creation certificate can be decrypted (step S52). Specifically, if the creation certificate can be decrypted, it is determined that the poster may be the creator of the posted artwork, and if the creation certificate cannot be decrypted, it is determined that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork.

[0072] If, as a result of the determination in step S52, it is determined that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 returns an error to the work posting platform 5 (step S53). Upon receiving this error, the work posting platform 5 notifies the user terminal 4a that the posting failed without uploading the posted data (step S54). This prevents posting by anyone other than the artist who created the artwork.

[0073] If it is determined in step S52 that the poster may be the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 attempts to retrieve the creation certification information (see Fig. 9) contained in the creation certificate decrypted in step S51, using the issuer’s public key previously obtained in step S48 (step S55), as in Fig. 22. Then, a tertiary determination is made as to whether or not the poster is the creator of the posted artwork by determining whether or not the creation certification information can be decrypted (step S56). Specifically, it suffices to determine that there is a possibility that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork if the creation certification information can be decrypted, and to determine that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork if the creation certification information cannot be decrypted.

[0074] If, as a result of the determination in step S56, it is determined that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certificate processing section 7 returns an error to the work posting platform 5 (step S57). Upon receiving this error, the work posting platform 5 notifies the user terminal 4a that the posting failed without uploading the posted data (step S56). This prevents posting using a forged creation certificate (i.e., a creation certificate issued by a party other than the authorized issuer).

[0075] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S56 that there is a possibility that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 obtains the hash value of the unintegrated data from the decrypted creation certification information (step S59) and requests the transmission of the unintegrated data via the work posting platform 5 from the user terminal 4a (step S60). Upon receiving this request, the user terminal 4a obtains the unintegrated data corresponding to the completed version of the artwork (which is Fig. 18 were previously stored), and transmits the unintegrated data to the creation certification processing section 7 via the work posting platform 5 (step S61). At this time, the user terminal 4a may transmit the unintegrated data encrypted with the poster's private key. In this case, the creation certification processing section 7 may decrypt the received unintegrated data with the artist's public key.

[0076] After receiving the unintegrated data, the creation certification processing section 7 calculates the hash value of the received unintegrated data and makes a final determination as to whether the poster is the creator of the posted artwork based on the calculated hash value and the hash value obtained in step S59 (step S63). Specifically, this can be done by comparing the two hash values ​​and determining that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork if these hash values ​​match, or determining that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork if these hash values ​​do not match.

[0077] If, as a result of the determination in step S63, it is determined that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 returns an error to the work posting platform 5 (step S64). Upon receiving this error, the work posting platform 5 notifies the user terminal 4a that the posting failed without uploading the posted data (step S65). This prevents posting by a person who does not have the unintegrated data (which is typically someone other than the artist).

[0078] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S63 that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 returns information indicating the success of the certification to the work posting platform 5 (step S66). After receiving this information, the work posting platform 5 uploads the posted data to the predetermined publication page (step S67). Thus, the respective artwork can be widely disclosed to the public and can become the target of transactions such as buying and selling, borrowing and lending, or the granting of a usage license. At the time of this publication, the work posting platform 5 can also read the metadata of the corresponding project from the metadata storage database 8 and publish part or all of the metadata along with the posted data.

[0079] The work posting platform 5 also transmits the name of the page where the posted data was published, as well as the date and time of posting, to the metadata storage database 8 via the creation certification processing section 7 (step S68). The metadata storage database 8 stores the information thus received as part of the project's metadata (step S69). Thus, the artist's posting of the artwork to the publishing page is completed.

[0080] Through the Fig. 21 and Fig. 22, Section 7 on the processing of creation certifications certifies that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork, using only the watermarked raster data and the creation certificate associated with the final version of the artwork (e.g., the artwork that the poster in Fig. 16). However, Section 7, on processing creation certifications, may also certify that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork using the watermarked raster data and the creation certificate(s) associated with one or more unfinished artworks (e.g., the artwork that the poster in Fig. 16 corresponds to project file A or project file B).

[0081] Fig. 23 and Fig. 24 is a flowchart illustrating additional processing used to perform an authorship certification, which also involves the watermarked raster data and the creation certificate associated with the artwork, which are one generation (or version) older than the completed version of the artwork (i.e., the artwork assigned to Project File B in the example of Fig. 16). The steps S70 to S93 illustrated in these figures are processing that occurs between the affirmative determination of step S63 and step S66 in the Fig. 22 illustrated processing sequence is inserted.

[0082] The Fig. 23 and Fig. 24 illustrated steps S70 to S95 correspond to those in Fig. 21 and Fig. 22, except that steps S70 to S95 are different in that the creation certification processing section 7, via the work posting platform 5, requests the user terminal 4a to transmit the watermarked raster data that is one generation older (step S70), and both the creation certificate that the creation certification processing section 7 receives from the metadata storage database 8 and the creation certificate and the not-yet-integrated data that the user terminal 4a is requested to transmit are one generation older (see steps S76, S79, and S90). By executing steps S70 to S93, the creation certification processing section 7 can more reliably certify that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork.

[0083] Fig. Figure 25 is a flowchart illustrating processing related to licensing the artwork. Fig. 25 illustrates an example of a case where the user of the user terminal 4b finds the artwork published by the user of the user terminal 4a on the work posting platform 5 and requests licensing. This processing is initiated by transmitting a licensing application for the desired artwork from the user terminal 4b to the license management platform 6 (step S100). Upon receiving the licensing application, the license management platform 6 transmits the received application to the creation certification processing section 7 and to the user terminal 4a (steps S101 and S103).

[0084] Here, the work posting platform 5 preferably has prestored the artist's contact information associated with the artwork posted on the posting page. This allows the license management platform 6 to read the artist's contact information corresponding to the artwork from the work posting platform 5 and, in step S103, determine the transmission destination based on the read contact information when the licensing request for the artwork is received from the user terminal 4b.

[0085] The creation certification processing section 7, which has received the licensing request from the license management platform 6, performs predetermined registration processing with the user terminal 4b (step S102). The user terminal 4a, which has received the licensing request from the license management platform 6, returns a response to this request to the license management platform 6 (step S104). In principle, the response returned here is preferably generated according to the license settings set by the artist upon completion of the creation as the project's metadata (see Fig. 16). However, the response may also contain content that differs from the license settings. If the license settings set as the project's metadata and the license settings included in the response differ, the license management platform 6 may perform processing to prompt the user of the user terminal 4b to confirm the content of the response.

[0086] After receiving the response from the user terminal 4a, the license management platform 6 determines, to the extent possible, whether use is permitted based on the response (step S105). For example, if the response mixes conditions for which the license management platform 6 can determine whether use is permitted (e.g., a restriction on a usage period or the like) and conditions for which the license management platform 6 cannot determine whether use is permitted (e.g., a prohibition on commercial use or the like), it is sufficient for the license management platform 6 to determine whether use is permitted based only on the conditions for which it can determine whether use is permitted.

[0087] If it is determined in step S105 that the use is not permitted, the license management platform 6 transmits information indicating that the use is not permitted to the user terminal 4b and the creation certification processing section 7 (step S106). In this case, the creation certification processing section 7 suspends processing related to the licensing application, so that the user of the user terminal 4b cannot use the artwork in question. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S105 that the use is permitted, the license management platform 6 transmits information indicating the license to the creation certification processing section 7 (step S107).

[0088] Upon receiving the information indicating the license from the license management platform 6, the creation certification processing section 7 performs predetermined registration processing with the user terminal 4a (step S108) and generates a license certificate indicating that the user of the user terminal 4b is permitted to use the desired artwork (step S109).

[0089] Fig. Figure 26 is a diagram illustrating an example of the license certificate generated by the Creation Certification Processing Section 7. As shown in Fig. As shown in Figure 26, the Creation Certificate contains Issuer Information (Issuer Information) and License Certification Information (License Information). The Issuer Information is information that specifies the issuer of this License Certificate. The content of the Issuer Information corresponds to the content of the Issuer Information in the document referred to in Fig. 9 described creation certificate.

[0090] The license certification information is information that specifies the content of the license. The license certification information contains the project ID, the artist DID (licensor DID), the licensee DID, and the license terms. The project ID is the DID of the project containing the licensed artwork and is used to identify the licensed artwork. The artist DID is the DID of the artist (= licensor) who created the licensed artwork. The licensee DID is the DID of the user (= licensee) who applied for the license for the artwork. The license terms are information that specify details about the licensed rights, such as "Commercial Use Allowed" and "Derivatives Allowed," as described in Fig. 26. The license conditions are set in the license certificate based on the content of the response transmitted by the artist in step S104 (or the content agreed upon with the user of the user terminal 4b through consultation based on the content of the response).

[0091] Section 7, for processing creation certifications, encrypts the license certification information using the issuer's private key (i.e., it signs the license certification information with the issuer's digital signature) and incorporates the encrypted license certification information into the license certificate. Thus, a person who subsequently receives the license certificate can confirm that the issuer is the origin of the license certificate by decrypting the license certificate using the issuer's public key.

[0092] Let us now return to Fig. 25. After generating the license certificate in step S109, the creation certification processing section 7 transmits a recording instruction containing the license certificate to the metadata storage database 8 (step S110). Upon receipt of this recording instruction, the metadata storage database 8 stores the received license certificate linked to the project ID as part of the metadata of the corresponding project (step S111).

[0093] In addition, the creation certification processing section 7 also transmits the generated license certificate to the user terminals 4a and 4b via the license management platform 6 (steps S112 and S113). The user terminals 4a and 4b each store the license certificate thus received in the storage device 1002 (see Fig. 2) or a storage in the cloud (steps S114 and S115). Furthermore, the user terminal 4a, which has received the license certificate, transmits the watermarked raster data stored by the user terminal 4a itself to the user terminal 4b (step S116). When performing this transmission, the user terminal 4a may transmit the watermarked raster data directly to the user terminal 4b or transmit the watermarked raster data to the user terminal 4b via the license management platform 6.

[0094] The user terminal 4b further stores the watermarked raster data received in step S116 in the storage device 1002 (see Fig. 2) or a storage in the cloud (step S116). This allows the user of the user terminal 4b to use the stored raster data with the watermark, e.g., to later create a new work of art.

[0095] Fig. 27 to Fig. 29 are diagrams illustrating a screen of the drawing application displayed on the user terminal 4b. Referring to these figures, the following describes the processing until the creation of a new artwork using the licensed artwork by the user of the user terminal 4b begins. Hereinafter, the user of the user terminal 4b is referred to as the "artwork user," and the artwork to be used is referred to as the "desired artwork."

[0096] Fig. Figure 27 shows a screen at the completion of the creation of a project, which is displayed after an instruction to create a new project has been given in the creation certification mode, as described with reference to Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, and the creation of the new project has been completed. In this example, a menu item "Import" is displayed in menu window 14.

[0097] Fig. 28 illustrates the state of the screen after the user of the artwork has Fig. 27 has pressed the menu item “Import”. When the drawing application detects that “Import” has been pressed, it displays a file selection screen 30 as shown in Fig. 28 to let the user of the artwork select a file. When the user of the artwork selects the watermarked raster data (in step S117 in Fig. 25 stored raster data) on this file selection screen 30, then a license certification request containing the selected raster data is transmitted from the drawing application to Section 7 for processing creation certifications.

[0098] Upon receipt of the license certification request, Section 7, on processing creation certifications, confirms whether the user of the artwork has a license for the desired artwork represented by the raster data included in the license certification request. Details of this processing are described later with reference to Fig. 30 and Fig. 31 described in detail.

[0099] Fig. Figure 29 illustrates a confirmation screen displayed by the drawing application when confirming that the artwork user has a license. This confirmation screen contains descriptive sentences for the artwork user, as well as the contents of the license certificate, a thumbnail of the imported raster data, and the like. When the artwork user presses the "Start Creation" button after the confirmation screen is displayed, the drawing application displays the following screen: Fig. 6 displays the canvas 15 within the canvas window 13. The user of the artwork can now create an artwork by drawing an image on the canvas 15 with the pen P or the like. During creation, the user of the artwork can insert the imported raster data into the canvas 15. The user of the artwork can thus create a new artwork using the imported raster data.

[0100] Fig. 30 and Fig. 31 is a flowchart illustrating processing for confirming whether the user of the artwork has a license to use the desired artwork. This processing is initiated by the user of the artwork by importing the watermarked raster data into the drawing application running on the user terminal 4b (step S120; see Fig. 27 and Fig. 28). Upon receiving the import, the drawing application transmits a license certification request containing the imported raster data to the creation certification system 3 (step S121).

[0101] The creation certification processing section 7 of the creation certification system 3, which has received the license certification request, attempts to read the watermark from the raster data imprinted with the watermark included in the license certification request and converts the watermark into the project ID (step S122). Then, a primary determination is made as to whether the user of the artwork has a license to use the desired artwork by determining whether the project ID can be obtained as a result of the processing (step S123). Specifically, it suffices to determine that the user of the artwork may have a license to use the desired artwork if the project ID can be obtained, and to determine that the user of the artwork does not have a license to use the desired artwork if the project ID cannot be obtained.

[0102] If the result of the determination in step S123 is that the user of the artwork does not have a license to use the desired artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 returns an error to the user terminal 4b (step S124). Upon receiving this error, the user terminal 4b causes the import of the raster data to fail. This prevents the use of artworks that were not created using the creation certification system 3, as well as artworks that do not have a watermark.

[0103] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S123 that the user of the artwork may have a license to use the desired artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 reads all license certificates stored associated with the project ID from the metadata storage database 8 (step S125) and obtains the issuer DID and the licensee DID from each of the obtained license certificates (step S126). Then, the issuer's public key and the licensee's public key are obtained for each obtained license certificate by accessing the distributed file system described above and viewing the corresponding DID documents (step S127).

[0104] Next, the creation certification processing section 7 requests the user terminal 4b to transmit a license certificate (step S128). Upon receipt of this request, the user terminal 4b acquires the license certificate obtained in step S114. Fig. 25, encrypts the license certificate with the private key of the user of the artwork, and then transmits the license certificate to Section 7 for processing creation certifications (step S129).

[0105] After receiving the license certificate, Creation Certification Processing Section 7 attempts to decrypt the received license certificate using each of the public keys of one or more licensees previously obtained in step S127 (step S130). Then, a secondary determination is made as to whether the user of the artwork has a license to use the desired artwork by determining whether the license certificate could be decrypted or not (step S131). More specifically, it is sufficient to determine that the user of the artwork may have a license to use the desired artwork if the license certificate can be decrypted, and to determine that the user of the artwork does not have a license to use the desired artwork if the license certificate cannot be decrypted.

[0106] If the result of the determination in step S131 is that the user of the artwork does not have a license to use the desired artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 returns an error to the user terminal 4b (step S132). Upon receiving this error, the user terminal 4b causes the import of the raster data to fail. This prevents the use of the desired artwork by anyone other than the licensee.

[0107] If it is determined in step S131 that the user of the artwork may have the license to use the desired artwork, Section 7 for processing creation certifications first specifies the issuer’s public key used for the digital signature of the received license certificate, as in Fig. 31 (step S133). Specifically, it suffices to specify, as the issuer's public key used for the digital signature of the received license certificate, the issuer's public key indicated by the issuer information in the license certificate decrypted in step S130 among the public key(s) of one or more issuers obtained in step S127.

[0108] Next, Section 7, on processing creation certifications, attempts to process the license certification information (see Fig. 26) contained in the license certificate decrypted in step S130 using the identified issuer's public key (step S134). Then, a tertiary determination is made as to whether the user of the artwork has a license to use the desired artwork by determining whether the license certification information can be decrypted or not (step S135). More specifically, it is sufficient to determine that the user of the artwork may have a license to use the desired artwork if the license certification information can be decrypted, and to determine that the user of the artwork does not have a license to use the desired artwork if the license certification information cannot be decrypted.

[0109] If the result of the determination in step S135 is that the user of the artwork does not have a license to use the desired artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 returns an error to the user terminal 4b (step S136). Upon receiving this error, the user terminal 4b causes the import of the raster data to fail. This prevents the use of the desired artwork using a forged license certificate (a license certificate issued by a party other than the authorized issuer).

[0110] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S135 that the user of the artwork may have the license to use the desired artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 refers to the decrypted license certification information and makes a final determination as to whether the user of the artwork has the license to use the desired artwork by determining whether or not the user of the artwork has a legitimate right with respect to the use of the desired artwork (step S137).More specifically, this involves determining that the user of the artwork has a license to use the desired artwork if the decrypted license certification information indicates that the user of the artwork has a legitimate right to use the desired artwork, and determining that the user of the artwork does not have a license to use the desired artwork if the decrypted license certification information indicates that the user of the artwork does not have a legitimate right to use the desired artwork.

[0111] If the result of the determination in step S137 is that the user of the artwork does not have a license to use the desired artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 returns an error to the user terminal 4b (step S138). Upon receipt of this error, the user terminal 4b causes the import of the raster data to fail. This prevents use by licensees with a correct license certificate that deviates from the license conditions described in this license certificate.

[0112] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S137 that the user of the artwork has a license to use the desired artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 transmits a recording instruction containing the project ID of the desired artwork to the metadata storage database 8 (step S139). Upon receipt of this recording instruction, the metadata storage database 8 stores the received project ID as part of the metadata of the project created by the user of the user terminal 4b (which is shown in Fig. 27), linked to the project ID of the project (step S140). This makes it possible to identify the other artwork used to create the artwork by viewing the project's metadata.

[0113] Section 7, for processing creation certifications, also permits the user terminal 4b to perform the import (step S141). The drawing application of the user terminal 4b, which has received this permission, completes the import (step S142). The user of the artwork can then use the imported raster data for their own creations.

[0114] As described above, with the authorship certification system 1 according to the present invention, the authorship of artworks can be certified using unintegrated artwork data, which can be assumed to be held only by the artist himself. Thus, it is possible to certify the authorship of the artwork. Furthermore, certification can be set as a requirement for posting the artwork. Thus, it is possible to prevent a person who does not have the unintegrated data (which is usually someone other than the artist) from posting a artwork.

[0115] Furthermore, the watermarked raster data, which indicates the project ID, is used as the data to be published. This makes it possible to distinguish the creation certificate and the license certificate of the published artwork, certifying the authorship and license of the artwork. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent the posting or use of the artwork by persons who do not have the watermarked raster data.

[0116] Furthermore, when the creation certificate and license certificate are transferred, they are encrypted with the senders' private keys. This makes it possible to prevent posting by anyone other than the artist who created the artwork, as well as the use of the artwork by anyone other than the licensee.

[0117] Furthermore, the creation certification information in the creation certificate and the license certification information in the license certificate are encrypted with the issuer's private key. This makes it possible to prevent the use of a forged creation certificate or forged license certificate.

[0118] The unintegrated data generally represents a large volume of data. Thus, storing the unintegrated data across multiple generations or versions can be a significant burden for the artist. Accordingly, raster data can be used instead of the unintegrated data, which contains a reduced image of individual components (layers, textures, or the like) contained in the unintegrated data (list of components of the unintegrated data).

[0119] Fig. Figure 32 is a diagram illustrating an example of a list of components of unintegrated data. The list of components of unintegrated data 40 according to this example corresponds to the Fig. 13, and the raster data 41 and the raster data 42 to 44 of the respective layers together form a set of raster data. If the section 7 is configured to process creation certifications, the hash value of the list of components of not-yet-integrated data 40 is used instead of the hash value of the not-yet-integrated data in step S63, which is Fig. 22, the artist can store this list of components of not-yet-integrated data 40 instead of the not-yet-integrated data. It is thus possible to reduce the burden on the artist.

[0120] The watermark indicating the project ID may also be embedded in the individual raster data constituting the unintegrated data component list. Furthermore, a creation certification containing the project ID, the numbers of each component, the name of the application used to create the artwork, a timestamp indicating the date and time the unintegrated data component list was created, and the like may be encrypted with the private key of an issuer of the unintegrated data component list (i.e., digitally signed by the issuer of the unintegrated data component list) and then embedded in the unintegrated data component list.This allows a person intending to verify ownership of the artwork to intuitively recognize the connection between the published raster data and the individual components of the artist's creation, even if the Creation Certification System 3 cannot be used.

[0121] Next, an authorship certification system 1 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment differs from the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment in that the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment checks online whether there is an identical or similar image when the watermarked raster data is generated in response to a user request. The authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment is otherwise the same as the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment. The following describes in detail the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment based on differences from the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment.

[0122] Fig. Fig. 33 is a flowchart showing the processing from the start, continuation, and completion of creation to the issuance of a creation certificate, which processing is performed by the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment. This processing differs from the processing regarding the start or continuation of creation shown in Fig. 18 and Fig. 19, and of the processing in relation to the completion of creation, as in Fig. 20 and Fig. 21, in that after step S15, steps S150 to S152 are carried out.

[0123] The creation certification processing section 7 according to the present embodiment transmits the recording instruction containing the project file and the current date and time information to the metadata storage database 8 in step S15, and then searches online for images identical to or similar to the image created by the creation certification processing section 7 in step S13 (refer to Fig. 18) or step S32 (see Fig. 20) received raster data (step S150). More specifically, the raster data received in step S13 or step S32 may be input into any online image search engine, a degree of similarity of the retrieved images to the input raster data may be derived, and any image whose derived degree of similarity is equal to or greater than a predetermined value may be determined as an "identical or similar image."

[0124] After completing this verification, the creation certification processing section 7 transmits a recording instruction containing the verification result and current date and time information to the metadata storage database 8 (step S151). Upon receiving this recording instruction, the metadata storage database 8 stores the received verification result and the received current date and time information linked to the project ID as part of the project's metadata (step S152). The verification result contained in the recording instruction preferably includes the presence or absence of an image determined as an "identical or similar image" and information specifying the image determined as an "identical or similar image" (image data, the URL of the image, or the like).

[0125] As described above, the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment checks online whether there is an identical or similar image when the watermarked raster data is generated in response to a user request, and records a check result as part of the project's metadata. Thus, the fact that there was an identical or similar image online at the time of a user request for creation certification, or that there was no identical or similar image online, can be subsequently verified based on the project's metadata.

[0126] In the present embodiment, an example of checking for an image that is identical or similar to the raster data exported in step S12 or step S31 (i.e., the raster data formed by integrating the layers) has been described. However, checking for an identical or similar image can also be performed in a similar manner for the individual sets of raster data that contain the Fig. 32, which form the list of components of data not yet integrated (i.e. the raster data of the individual layers), and the result of this check can be recorded as part of the project's metadata.

[0127] Next, an authorship certification system 1 according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. The authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment differs from the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment in that, in the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment, the drawing application is configured to also import raster data without a watermark. The authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment is otherwise the same as the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment. The following describes the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment in detail based on the differences from the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment.

[0128] Fig. 34 is a flowchart showing processing performed by the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment when the user of the artwork creates raster data without a watermark on the Fig. 28. If the user of the artwork imports raster data without a watermark (step S160), then, as shown in Fig. 34, a request to search for existing images containing the imported raster data is transmitted from the drawing application receiving the import to the creation certification system 3 (step S161).

[0129] The creation certification processing section 7 of the creation certification system 3, which has received the existing image search request, searches online for images identical to or similar to the image represented by the raster data included in the existing image search request (step S162). The precise search method may be the same as that described in step S150 in Fig. 33. After completing this check, the creation certification processing section 7 transmits a recording instruction containing the check result and current date and time information to the metadata storage database 8 (step S163). Upon receipt of this recording instruction, the metadata storage database 8 stores the received check result and the received current date and time information linked to the current project ID as part of the project's metadata (step S164). The content of the check result contained in the recording instruction may correspond to the content of the check result stored in the metadata storage database 8 in step S151. Fig. 33 transferred recording instruction.

[0130] Subsequently, the creation certification processing section 7 permits the user terminal 4b to import the image (step S165). The drawing application of the user terminal 4b, having received this permission, then completes the import (step S166). The user of the artwork can then use the imported raster data for their own creations.

[0131] Fig. 35 is a diagram illustrating an example of a creation certificate generated by the creation certificate processing section 7 according to the present embodiment. As shown in Fig. As shown in Fig. 35, the creation certificate generated by the creation certification processing section 7 according to the present embodiment includes information indicating the result of the online image search. This information indicates the result of the check in step S162 described above. If the creation certification processing section 7 generates the creation certificate of a work of art generated after importing the raster data imported online in step S162 for which it was confirmed that there is an "identical or similar image," the creation certification processing section 7 adds information indicating that the imported image matches an existing image (character string "The imported image matches the following image:") and information indicating the address of the matching image (http: / / ...).And if Section 7, Processing Creation Certifications, generates the creation certificate of a work of art created without such an import, then Section 7, Processing Creation Certifications, does not insert anything into this information (in other words, sets this information to zero). By searching for the creation certificate, it is thus possible to determine whether the corresponding work of art is one created using existing image data, and if so, to determine the address of the existing image data used to create the corresponding work of art.

[0132] Fig. Fig. 36 is a flowchart showing processing performed by the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment to enable the artist to post the artwork on the publication page. In this processing, steps S66 and S67 of the Fig. 21 and Fig. 22 is replaced by steps S170 to S175.

[0133] If a match is determined in step S63 (i.e., if it is determined that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork), then the creation certification processing section 7 obtains the metadata corresponding to the project ID obtained in step S42 from the metadata storage database 8 (step S170). Then, it is determined whether the posted artwork is one created using existing image data by referring to the obtained metadata (step S171). More specifically, it is sufficient for the creation certification processing section 7 to determine that the posted artwork was created using existing image data if information that an image exists that was obtained in step S162 in Fig. 34 as an "identical or similar image" is included in the metadata, and determines that the posted artwork was not created using the existing image data if such information is not included in the metadata. Incidentally, the creation certification processing section 7 may also determine whether the posted artwork was created using existing image data by referring to the creation certification information decoded in step S56.

[0134] As in step S66 in Fig. 22, after the determination in step S171 is completed, the creation certification processing section 7 returns information indicating the success of the certification to the work posting platform 5 (steps S172 and S173). If the creation certification processing section 7 determines in step S171 that the posted work of art was created using existing image data, the creation certification processing section 7 receives the URL of the image that was created in step S162 in Fig. 34 as an ‘identical or similar image’ from the metadata and transmits this URL together with the information indicating the success of the certification (step S173).

[0135] After receiving the information indicating the success of the certification from the creation certification processing section 7, the work posting platform 5 determines whether the image URL was received along with the information (step S174). If it is determined that the image URL was not received, the work posting platform 5 uploads the posted data to the predetermined publishing page by performing processing similar to step S67 in Fig. 22 (step S175). If it is determined that the URL of the image has been received, the work posting platform 5 uploads the received URL along with the posted data to the predetermined posting page (step S176). Thus, a user of the posting page can check whether the posted work of art was created using existing image data, and can further check the URL of the image that is identical or similar to the existing image data if the posted work of art was created using existing image data. After steps S68 and S69, which are also described in Fig. 22 have been carried out, the artist has completed posting the artwork on the publication page.

[0136] As described above, with the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment, the user of the artwork can also create their own artwork using raster data without a watermark. Furthermore, a user of the posting page can recognize on the posting page whether the posted artwork was created using raster data without a watermark, and can also see the URL of the image that is identical to or similar to the raster data used when the posted artwork was created using raster data without a watermark. This makes it possible to prevent the issuance of forged creation certificates or copyright infringements such as malicious or unlawful secondary creation after importing existing image data without a watermark into the drawing application.

[0137] Next, an authorship certification system 1 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment differs from the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment in that when the project ID cannot be obtained from the watermarked posted raster data, the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment attempts to obtain the project ID by another method. The authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment is otherwise the same as the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment. The following describes the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment in detail based on differences from the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment.

[0138] Fig. Fig. 37 is a flowchart showing the processing from the start, continuation, and completion of creation to the issuance of a creation certificate, which processing is performed by the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment. This processing differs from the processing regarding the start or continuation of creation shown in Fig. 18 and Fig. 19, and of the processing in relation to the completion of creation, as in Fig. 20 and Fig. 21, in that step S180 is carried out after step S17.

[0139] The creation certification processing section 7 according to the present embodiment generates watermarked raster data in step S17 and then stores the generated watermarked raster data (step S180). Thus, watermarked raster data is accumulated within the creation certification system 3.

[0140] Fig. Fig. 38 is a flowchart showing processing performed by the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment to realize the posting of the artwork on the publishing page by the artist. This processing is different from that shown in Fig. 21 and Fig. 22 by performing steps S190 to S197 after the negative determination in step S43. Furthermore, in Fig. 38 the description of the processing from step S46 is omitted.

[0141] As in Fig. 38, if it is determined in step S43 that the project ID cannot be obtained, the creation certification processing section 7 searches the stored raster data (stored in step S180 in Fig. 37) for raster data that matches the posted raster data (step S190). Matching in this case does not mean a perfect match at the binary level, but it suffices that the match is a match in external appearance to such an extent that the match is deemed to exist when viewed by the human eye. That is, conceivable cases of failure in reading the watermark in step S42 include, for example, a case where the resolution of the raster data is changed, a case where the format of the raster data is changed from BMP to JPEG, and the like. Therefore, if a perfect match at the binary level is required in step S190, even raster data that actually corresponds to the posted raster data will not be counted as a hit.If Section 7 is configured to process creation certifications, as described above, to search for a match in external appearance to the extent that a match is detected when viewed by the human eye, then raster data that corresponds to the posted raster data can also be reliably identified as a match.

[0142] After performing step S190, the creation certification processing section 7 determines whether raster data matching the posted raster data is a match (step S191). If it determines that there is no match, the creation certification processing section 7 returns an error to the work posting platform 5 (step S192). Upon receiving this error, the work posting platform 5 notifies the user terminal 4a that the posting failed without uploading the posted data (step S193).

[0143] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S191 that there is a match, the creation certification processing section 7 attempts processing to read the watermark from the corresponding raster data and convert the watermark into the project ID (step S194). The creation certification processing section 7 then determines whether the project ID can be obtained as a result of the attempt (step S195). If it is determined that the project ID can be obtained, the creation certification processing section 7 jumps to step S46. On the other hand, if it is determined that the project ID cannot be obtained, the creation certification processing section 7 returns an error to the work posting platform 5 (step S196).Upon receiving this error, the work posting platform 5 notifies the user terminal 4a that the posting has failed without uploading the posted data (step S197).

[0144] As described above, with the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment, even if the project ID cannot be obtained from the watermarked raster data posted due to a change in resolution or format, the project ID can be obtained by another method. Thus, the user can be prevented from feeling frustrated when a posting error occurs even though they have posted watermarked raster data.

[0145] Next, an authorship certification system 1 according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment differs from the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment in that the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment inserts the project ID into a block in the raster data instead of embedding the watermark indicating the project ID in the raster data. The authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment is otherwise the same as the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment. The following describes the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment in detail based on differences from the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment.

[0146] Fig. Fig. 39 is a flowchart showing the processing from the start, continuation, and completion of creation to the issuance of a creation certificate, which processing is performed by the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment. This processing differs from the processing regarding the start or continuation of creation shown in Fig. 18 and Fig. 19, and of the processing in relation to the completion of creation, as in Fig. 20 and Fig. 21, in that steps S200 to S203 are carried out instead of steps S17 to S20.

[0147] The creation certification processing section 7 according to the present embodiment adds a block to the received raster data and writes the project ID into this block (step S200) after the project file is created in step S14. Next, the creation certification processing section 7 transmits a download screen for downloading the raster data containing the project ID to the drawing application (step S201). When the user viewing this download screen presses a download button located within the screen, a download instruction is transmitted from the drawing application to the creation certification processing section 7 (step S202). Next, the raster data containing the project ID is transmitted from the creation certification processing section 7 to the user terminal 4a (step S20).The user terminal 4a stores the raster data containing the project ID downloaded in this way in the storage device 1002 (see . Fig. 2) or a storage in the cloud together with the data not yet integrated (step S21; see Fig. 18).

[0148] Fig. Fig. 40 is a flowchart showing processing performed by the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment to realize the posting of the artwork on the publication page by the artist. This processing is obtained by replacing steps S40 to S45 with steps S210 to S215 and further replacing steps S70 to S75 with steps S220 to S225 in the processing that takes place when the Fig. 23 and Fig. 24 shown processing to the processing of Fig. 21 and Fig. 22 is added (processing in a case where the certification of authorship is carried out, also using the watermarked raster data and the creation certificate linked to the artwork, which are one generation older than the completed version of the artwork).

[0149] First, the artist posts the raster data containing the project ID corresponding to the completed version of the artwork from the user terminal 4a to the work posting platform 5 (step S210). Upon receiving this post, the work posting platform 5 transmits an authorship certification request containing the posted raster data containing the project ID to the creation certification system 3 (step S211).

[0150] The creation certification processing section 7 of the creation certification system 3, which has received the authorship certification request, obtains the project ID from the block of raster data containing the project ID included in the authorship certification request (step S212). Then, a primary determination is made as to whether or not the poster is the creator of the posted artwork by determining whether or not the project ID can be obtained as a result (step S213). Specifically, it suffices to determine that the poster may be the creator of the posted artwork if the project ID can be obtained, and to determine that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork if the project ID cannot be obtained.

[0151] If, as a result of the determination in step S213, it is determined that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 returns an error to the work posting platform 5 (step S214). Upon receiving this error, the work posting platform 5 notifies the user terminal 4a that the posting has failed without uploading the posted data (step S215). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S213 that the poster may be the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 executes the processing of steps S46 to S63 shown in Fig. 21 and Fig. 22 are illustrated.

[0152] If it is determined in step S63 that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 next requests, via the work posting platform 5, the user terminal 4a to transmit the raster data containing the project ID from one generation ago (step S220). If the user terminal 4a transmits the raster data containing the project ID from one generation ago in response to this request (step S221), the creation certification processing section 7 obtains the project ID from the block of received raster data containing the project ID (step S222). Then, a primary determination is again made as to whether or not the poster is the creator of the posted artwork by determining whether or not the project ID can be obtained as a result (step S223).More specifically, in a case where the project ID can be obtained, it is sufficient to determine that the poster may be the creator of the posted artwork, and in a case where the project ID cannot be obtained, it is sufficient to determine that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork.

[0153] If, as a result of the determination in step S223, it is determined that the poster is not the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 returns an error to the work posting platform 5 (step S224). Upon receiving this error, the work posting platform 5 notifies the user terminal 4a that the posting has failed without uploading the posted data (step S225). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S223 that the poster may be the creator of the posted artwork, the creation certification processing section 7 executes the processing of steps S76 to S95 shown in Fig. 23 and Fig. 24. If it is determined in step S93 that the poster is the creator of the posted artwork, the processing of steps S64 to S67 in Fig.22. Thus, posting of the artworks can be performed using the raster data containing the project ID.

[0154] As described above, with the authorship certification system 1 according to the present embodiment, like the authorship certification system 1 according to the first embodiment, the authorship of the artwork can be certified by inserting the project ID into the block of raster data instead of embedding the watermark indicating the project ID in the raster data. Furthermore, posting of an artwork using the raster data containing the project ID is enabled, and posting or use of the artwork by people who do not have the raster data containing the project ID can be prevented.

[0155] Preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments, but may be embodied in various forms without departing from the principles of the present invention. LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS 1 Authorship certification system 2 Network 3 User terminal 3 Creation Certification System 4a, 4b User terminal 5 Platform for posting works 6 License management platform 7 Section on processing creation certifications 8 Database for storing metadata 10 Menu bar 11 Toolbar 12 pallet area 13 Canvas windows 14 menu windows 15 Canvas 20, 21 Text field 22 Registration button 23 Registration button 25, 26 Download button 27 Save button 30 File selection screen 40 List of components of not yet integrated data 41 raster data in total 42 to 43 Raster data of the individual layers 1000 computers 1001 CPU 1002 storage device 1002 Recording device 1003 Input device 1004 Dispensing device 1005 Communication device 1006 Bus P pen QUOTES CONTAINED IN THE DESCRIPTION

[0000] This list of documents submitted by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the convenience of the reader. This list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions. Cited patent literature

[0000] JP 6894033 B

[0003] JP 2022 - 002130 A

[0038]

Claims

[1] Authorship determination method for determining the authorship of a work of art using a computer, wherein the computer: calculates a first hash value of first not yet integrated data, which are not yet integrated data of the artwork, and a first creation certificate is generated containing the first hash value. [2] The authorship determination method according to claim 1, wherein the computer determines the authorship of the artwork based on the first hash value obtained from the first creation certificate and a hash value calculated from the first unintegrated data after generating the first creation certificate. [3] Authorship determination method according to claim 2, wherein the computer receives the first creation certificate owned by a creator of the artwork and obtains the first hash value from the received first creation certificate, and the computer obtains the first unintegrated data that the creator possesses and calculates the hash value of the obtained first unintegrated data. [4] Authorship determination method according to claim 1, wherein the computer generates creation certification information by encrypting the first hash value using a first private key, and the first creation certificate contains the creation certification information. [5] The authorship determination method according to claim 4, wherein the computer determines the authorship of the artwork by determining whether or not the creation certification information included in the first creation certificate can be decrypted using a first public key corresponding to the first private key. [6] Authorship determination method according to claim 3, wherein the artwork is an artwork in which a predetermined watermark is embedded, and the computer determines the authorship of the artwork by determining whether or not the predetermined watermark embedded in the artwork owned by the creator can be preserved. [7] Authorship determination method according to claim 6, wherein the predetermined watermark is a watermark indicating a project identifier that identifies a project created according to an instruction of the creator and relating to the creation of the artwork, and the computer links the project identifier and the first creation certificate. [8] The authorship determination method according to claim 7, wherein the computer: receives the first creation certificate, which is encrypted by a private key of the creator, obtains a public key of the Creator based on information indicating the Creator obtained from the project identifier indicated by the predetermined watermark obtained from the artwork, and determines the authorship of the artwork by determining whether or not the first creation certificate can be decrypted using the obtained creator's public key. [9] The authorship determination method according to claim 1, wherein the computer: calculates a second hash value of second unintegrated data, which are unintegrated data of the artwork before completion of creation, and a second creation certificate is generated containing the second hash value. [10] Authorship determination method according to claim 3, wherein the artwork is an artwork in which a predetermined watermark is embedded, and the computer: saves the artwork, determines whether the predetermined watermark embedded in the artwork can be obtained from the artwork owned by the creator or not, obtains the predetermined watermark from a work of art that matches the work of art owned by the creator among one or more stored works of art, if it is determined that the predetermined watermark cannot be obtained from the work of art, and determines the authorship of the artwork by determining whether or not the predetermined watermark can be obtained from the one artwork that matches the artwork that the creator owns. [11] Authorship determination method according to claim 3, wherein the artwork contains a project identifier that identifies a project created according to an instruction of the creator and related to the creation of the artwork, and the computer: the project identifier is obtained from the artwork owned by the creator, and determines the authorship of the artwork by determining whether the project identifier can be obtained from the artwork or not. [12] Authorship determination method according to claim 1, where the computer searches for an image online using the artwork, and the first creation certificate contains information indicating the result of the search for the image. [13] The authorship determination method according to claim 9, wherein the computer: receives the second creation certificate owned by a creator of the artwork and obtains the second hash value from the received second creation certificate, obtains the second unintegrated data that the creator possesses and calculates the hash value of the obtained second unintegrated data, and the authorship of the artwork is determined based on the second hash value obtained from the second creation certificate and the hash value calculated from the second not yet integrated data. [14] Authorship determination method according to claim 1, where the computer: receives a licensing request from a user other than a creator of the artwork, and in response to receipt of the licensing application, issue a license certificate containing license certification information specifying information about a licensee, and wherein the license information in the license certification information is encrypted using a first private key. [15] The authorship determination method according to claim 14, wherein the computer: receives the license certificate that the user holds, obtains the license certification information from the received license certificate by decrypting the license certification information contained in the received license certificate using a first public key that corresponds to the first private key, and determines that the user is a licensee of the artwork if the license certification information can be decrypted using the first public key. [16] Authorship determination method according to claim 15, wherein the artwork is an artwork in which a predetermined watermark is embedded, and the computer: obtains the predetermined watermark embedded in the artwork owned by the user, and determines that the user is a licensee of the artwork if the predetermined watermark can be obtained from the artwork. [17] Authorship determination method according to claim 16, wherein the predetermined watermark is a watermark indicating a project identifier that identifies a project created according to an instruction of the creator of the artwork and relating to the creation of the artwork, and the computer links the project ID and the license certificate. [18] The authorship determination method according to claim 17, wherein the computer: receives the license certificate encrypted by the user’s private key, obtains the license certificate based on the project identifier indicated by the predetermined watermark obtained from the artwork, obtains the license certification information from the obtained license certificate and obtains a user public key specified by the license certification information, decrypts the received license certificate using the obtained user's public key, and determines that the user is a licensee of the artwork if the license certificate can be decrypted by the user's public key. [19] Authorship determination method according to claim 1, wherein the computer searches for an image online using a work of art in which no predetermined watermark is embedded, and the first creation certificate contains a result of the search for the image. [20] A computer for determining the authorship of a work of art, the computer comprising a processor configured to: to calculate a hash value of not yet integrated data of the artwork, and to generate a creation certificate containing the hash value. [21] The computer of claim 20, wherein the processor determines the authorship of the artwork based on the hash value obtained from the creation certificate and a hash value recalculated from the not-yet-integrated data after generating the creation certificate. [22] A program which, when executed on a computer, causes a computer to perform processing to certify the authorship of a work of art, the program causing the computer to perform the following steps: a step for calculating a hash value of not yet integrated data of the artwork; and a step to generate a creation certificate containing the hash value. [23] A program according to claim 22, which, when executed on the computer, further causes: a determination step for determining the authorship of the artwork based on the hash value obtained from the creation certificate and a hash value recalculated from the not yet integrated data after the creation certificate is generated.

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