CN100392624C - Method for limiting software to be used only by owner of right of use - Google Patents

Abstract

The central program includes an EI subprogram for providing an identity of a user of the right to use in order to access a network central computer to obtain services or software products or the like, which involves a secure operation on the user's account to pay the required amount; and an AS subprogram, which uses "the EI subprogram exists on a computer" as a prerequisite to authorize the obtained software product to be used on the computer. The central program is used to manage the use of individual subprograms hidden therein, so that the AS subprograms can be prevented from being copied individually.

Description

A method for restricting the use of software only by the owner of the right to use it

technical field

The present invention relates to the protection of commercial software, and in particular to the protection of such commercial software from unauthorized use or copying.

Background technique

In the past, software protection methods used to protect commercial software products such as programs and multimedia software distributed by a communication network such as a telephone system would require a piece of hardware including a decryption key and a decryption system to be installed in a user's computer, To be authenticated by a software program running on the computer. Hardware is used, not software, since software copying facilities are ubiquitous in personal computers. However, this method is extremely cumbersome and a burden to users and software providers.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a piece of software to replace the above-mentioned hardware, and by a kind of psychological barrier, the owner of the right to use the software is afraid to copy the software to others.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method that makes a right holder afraid to copy his software to others.

Brief description of the invention

According to a first embodiment of the invention, it provides a central program comprising 1) a subroutine for providing an encrypted identity (hereinafter referred to as the EI subroutine), and 2) a subroutine for authorizing a software product (hereinafter referred to as the AS subroutine), 3) a subroutine is used to verify the identity of the user's computer (hereinafter referred to as the AC subroutine).

The central program is used to manage the use of individual subroutines hidden in it, so that the AS subroutine is protected from being directly accessed by the outside world, thereby preventing it from being individually copied. The EI subroutine is used to provide the identity information (an encrypted identity) of the owner of the right to access a network central computer to obtain services or software products or similar, which involves performing transactions on the account of the owner of the right to use A safe operation to make the required payment. The AC subroutine is used to verify that the computer it is running on is a predetermined computer, by detecting the hardware and software characteristics of the computer through software, and then comparing it with the required one. The AS subroutine is used to use the verification results of the AC subroutine and to authorize the software product obtained in the aforementioned manner to be used on the computer with the "existence of the EI subroutine" as a prerequisite, and the user does not need to re-apply for the previously obtained Purchased software products are repaid. And the EI subroutine is to have no protection against unauthorized use and can be used by any user on a computer.

It should be noted that, within the central program, only the AS subroutine needs to be protected in all matters concerning the protection of those software products from being improperly copied to others by the owner of the right to use it. And according to the present invention, the AS subroutine can be protected from being copied to other people without authorization by its owner of the use right, based on the fact that a use right owner will not copy a piece of software, that is Central software to others. Because there is an EI subroutine in it, it can be used by an unauthorized user to provide the information of the identity of the right owner to use the account of the right owner to obtain, such as network services or software products. As can be seen from the use of tape cards in ATMs, although they are easy to copy, they have proven to be very secure.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, the central program only contains the EI subroutine, while the AS subroutine becomes an independent program for authorizing the software product to be used, but only when the EI subroutine exists in the same computer it runs When the computer, and this point is judged by receiving an encrypted identity from the EI subroutine place.

According to the third embodiment, the EI and AS subroutines are basically equal, so that a use right holder copies the AS subroutine to other people is equal to copying the EI subroutine to other people, thereby preventing the AS subroutine from being unused. Reproduced or used with permission.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the central program.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a portion "B" of a program encrypted and stored in random access memory (RAM).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention is primarily concerned with protecting software products sold via a communication network from unauthorized copying or use. For simplicity, the following description is directed to the protection of these software products stored on a user's IBM personal computer. . Also, the present invention will be explained one by one according to the following headings:

1) Central program

2) A subroutine is used to provide an encrypted identity (EI subroutine)

3) A subroutine is used to authorize the use of a software product (AS subroutine)

4) A subroutine is used to verify the identity of the user's computer (AC subroutine)

5) Other implementations

1) Central program

According to a first embodiment, it comprises a central program, which is an executable program and can be caused to be executed a) when the user enters its file name in the DOS environment, b) by a running program lead to. Figure 1 is a block diagram of the central program, which is detailed as follows:

a) When a user wants to access a network central computer through a communication connection, he needs to first cause the central program to be executed. The central program will ask the user to enter a password in order for it to function, and if the password matches what is requested, it will respond to the user's command by sending a message belonging to its user, which should also be the user , the encrypted identity given to the central computer.

This requirement for a user to enter a password is necessary to prevent others from accessing the central computer and using the user's account without consent.

The central program will cause the EI subroutine to be executed to provide a user's encrypted identity to the central computer, details will be explained later. And if the encrypted identity is correct, the central computer will grant the user's access request. The details will be explained in item 2 below.

b) When an operating program wants to cause the AS subroutine to be executed to authorize it to continue running, it will first prepare an input parameter to indicate the central program's request and store the input parameter in random access memory (RAM ), which then causes the central program to be executed by using a PC DOS service call for said purpose. If the central program has been activated by the previously mentioned password, it will fetch the input parameter from a predetermined storage location, so that the central program can know that there is a running program that requires an authorization command from the AS subroutine, and will cause the AS subroutine to be executed. Otherwise, the central program will not cause the AS subroutine to authorize the running program to continue running. Since the password is used to activate the AS subroutine, it is also used to activate the EI subroutine, the owner of the right to use will not dare to provide the password to others so that others can use his AS subroutine.

In the case where the central process is caused to be executed by the user, there will not be a valid input parameter or no input parameter and the central process will therefore be aware of it.

2) A subroutine is used to provide an encrypted identity (EI subroutine)

This subroutine uses a method for identity verification for IC credit cards, where an encrypted identity is generated.

When starting to operate, the EI subroutine sends an access request to the central computer, and as a response, the central computer sends back a random number. The EI subroutine will encrypt the random number with a predetermined algorithm A1, and send the result to the central computer, which will allow access if the result is the same as that obtained by executing the same encryption algorithm on the random number. It should be noted that for each user, there is a corresponding individual encryption algorithm A1 for its identity verification. In addition, the central computer can use the encryption result obtained from the EI subroutine, if it is correct, as the use User's authorization to make payments from a user's account for network services or software products or similar purposes.

3) A subroutine is used to authorize the use of a software product (AS subroutine)

According to the present invention, there are 2 approaches for authorizing the use of a software product:

i) Authorize the running software program to continue running on a computer by sending encrypted commands to it, in the same way as described in item 2 above for identity verification. Specifically, the running software program adds a random number it generates to the input parameters described in item 1b above, which then causes the central program to be executed. The AS subroutine, as described in item 1b above, when executed by the central program, will operate a predetermined encryption algorithm A2 on the random number and send the result to the running software program. And the running software program will accept the encrypted command and continue to run if the result is the same as the result of operating the random number with the same encryption algorithm A2.

It should be noted that continuous use of the software program requires that it continuously receive encrypted commands.

It should also be noted that for each user, each software product used on its computer uses the same encryption algorithm A2 that belongs to the user individually and the encryption algorithm A2 is to be used in the central computer to convert each of these The software products are included in each of these software products when they are delivered to users' computers.

ii) By decrypting an encrypted portion of a software product or a fully encrypted software product.

It should be noted that if the software product is a program, only partially encrypting it is sufficient to prevent unauthorized use or copying. However, if the software product is an audio-visual multimedia data file, it is more desirable to encrypt the entire software product.

The decryption process of part or the entire software product is carried out on a temporary copy of it stored in random access memory (RAM), and this temporary copy should not continue to exist after the user has finished using the software product to prevent unauthorized access. legal copying. An example is provided below. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a part "B" of a program encrypted and stored in a random access memory (RAM). As can be seen in the figure, after AS subroutine decrypts "Part B", the volume of the obtained result will be different from the encrypted version, and it will be stored in "Decrypted Part B".

The AS subroutine then writes a new command "jump to the decrypted part B" in the first storage unit of the "encrypted part B" and adds instructions at the end of the "decrypted part B" "Skip to Part C". In this way, the encrypted part of the software will not be executed but the decrypted part will be executed.

As for the audio-visual multimedia data software, it will be divided into multiple small parts and then decrypted one by one, and each small part will be decrypted when it is about to be used by an audio-visual program to produce audio-visual effects. That is, the audiovisual program causes the AS subroutine to be executed in the manner described in the preceding item 1b, each time it needs a small part to be decrypted. Preferably, a just-decrypted small portion is written over a previously decrypted portion so that a complete decrypted piece of software does not exist in random access memory (RAM).

4) A subroutine is used to verify the identity of the user's computer (AC subroutine)

The AC subroutine is used to verify that the computer it is running on is a predetermined computer, and if the computer is not, to prevent the protected software from being used, and the operation of the AC subroutine is controlled by the central program.

Specifically, when the central program is installed on a user's computer's hard disk and executed, it checks an encrypted state message stored therein so that it knows that this is the first time it has been executed and will result in An initialization procedure is launched. In the initialization procedure, the central program will send an encrypted identity of its use right owner to the central computer as described in item 2 above, and then the AC subroutine requests an encrypted command from the central computer. The central computer will provide encrypted commands, as described in item 3i above, if the access holder has a valid account and is not terminated.

After verifying the command, the AC subroutine will detect the hardware and software characteristics of the user's computer, including, for example, the identity of the peripheral equipment such as mouse, printer, joystick, hard disk and floppy disk drive, etc., and the detection of running speed, etc. It is a function of the frequency of the central processing unit, the storage capacity of the cache memory, etc.; another example is the head (head), track (cylinder), number of sectors (sector) and the position of the bad sector of the hard disk; another example is the version of the operating system software And a certain software product includes the central program at the physical location on the hard disk; also as the computer's hardware ID or similar; by using techniques generally familiar to those skilled in the art. For example, the speed of the computer can be measured by causing the computer to execute a test program and activating a hardware counter to measure the time it takes the computer to finish executing the program. As another example, the version of the operating system can be detected by using a specific DOS service call.

The detected result and a state information indicating that the central program has been initialized will be stored in a predetermined part of the central program in the hard disk in the form of encrypted data by the AC subroutine. After that, each time when the central program is executed, it will first check the status information, and after judging that it has been initialized, it will perform a required job, as described in the aforementioned item 1, and in addition, It will also automatically cause the AC subroutine to be executed to perform a test, each time it will test at least some of the aforementioned computer hardware and software characteristics of the computer it is running on, and the AC subroutine will An indicative message is encrypted and stored in another predetermined part of the central program to render the AS subroutine inoperable if any detected part characteristic is different from its previously encrypted and stored counterpart .

In addition, the AC subroutine will also clear the encrypted state information so that another initialization program is automatically launched when the user causes the central program to be executed, and this another initialization program needs to get another encrypted command from the central computer to authorized. The encrypted commands should be available free of charge, or only for a service fee that is less than the value of the protected software.

This prevents the user from intentionally placing the central program on someone else's computer after closing the account.

Also, encrypted commands provided by the central computer may instead be given to the user via, for example, a telephone line, and then entered into the user's computer by the user. Specifically, when an encrypted command is requested, the AC subroutine generates a random number and communicates the random number to the user, who then sends the random number to the phone by entering the random number with the keys of the telephone and thus generating a telephone two-tone signal. The random numbers are supplied to the central computer over the telephone line. After the random number is encrypted, the central computer will pass the result to the user through the voice synthesizer through the same telephone line.

5) Other implementations

According to a second embodiment, the AS subroutine is extracted from the central program to become an independent program, which only contains the AC subroutine. The AS subroutine is linked to the EI subroutine by restricting the AS subroutine to run only when the EI subroutine exists simultaneously on the same computer. Indeed, when the AS subroutine is running, it can cause the EI subroutine to be executed to generate an encrypted identity for its verification. The EI subroutine will know that this is the encrypted identity required by the AS subroutine, not the encrypted identity requested by the user to access the central computer, through the input parameter method as described in item 1b above.

In addition, before the EI subroutine sends the encrypted identity to the AS subroutine, it can first check its own data integrity, such as using a checksum method (Checksum Method). Alternatively, the checking work can be performed by the AS subroutine. If the result of the check is that data in the EI subroutine has been changed, then in the former case, the AS subroutine will be rendered inoperable by the EI subroutine, by not sending the encrypted identity to the AS subroutine, and as for the latter, the AS subroutine The program will render itself inoperable.

According to a third embodiment, the encryption algorithms A1 and A2 used individually by the EI and AS subroutines to respectively generate an encrypted identity to the central computer and to generate encrypted commands to authorize the use of the software product are the same Encryption Algorithm. Therefore, if a use right holder copies its AS subroutine to others, it is equivalent to copying its EI subroutine to others. In this case, a slight modification of the AS subroutine can make it equivalent to the EI subroutine, and only involves adding an interface program to receive random numbers from the central computer, and send the random numbers to the AS subroutine, and then from the The AS subroutine receives the encrypted result, and then sends the encrypted result to the central computer, and these functions are common in network interface software. Alternatively, the A1 and A2 encryption algorithms can be two different encryption algorithms, but the information representing the A1 encryption algorithm is added into the AS subroutine and can be used by the user, or when the AS subroutine is executed, it can be used The AS subroutine is used to execute the corresponding encryption function and this function is available to the user.

Furthermore, according to another embodiment of the present invention, each of the software product and the AS subroutine is added with an identity of the owner of the usage right, so as to carry out legal action against piracy. In addition, when the AS subroutine is executed, it will contact each software product one by one to check the identity of the owner of the right to use it. Software products in your computer are loaded from a hard disk into random access memory (RAM). If any software product is found to have a use right owner whose identity is different from that of the AS subroutine, the AS subroutine will prohibit all software products under its control from being used on the computer, including itself. These user rights owner identities can be stored in a predetermined storage unit of the software product, and in order to prevent it from being tampered with, an encrypted identity is added in each software product in another storage unit, and in different software products Each of the "another storage unit" in the storage unit is in a different location to prevent it from being discovered and tampered with. In addition, when each software product is executed, it will automatically check whether the decrypted result of the encrypted identity is consistent with the unencrypted identity. If not, the software product will not work. The unencrypted and encrypted user rights owner identities are added to the software product when the central computer sends the software product to the user computer. Also, in order to prevent the AS subroutine from mistaking a software product stored in the user's computer but not supplied by the central computer as a software product controlled by it, the central computer can further add In the three predetermined memory locations, information is added to the AS subroutine indicating that the software product is supplied for it, and each software product will not function if the information is found to be tampered with when it is executed.

It should be noted that the above embodiments are given by way of example only, and it is obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the idea of the present invention.

Claims (12)

1. A method for protecting a software that can be copied by a user from unauthorized copying and use, comprising the steps of: Determining that an identity software exists in a processing device; Taking an affirmative result of the judgment as a precondition to cause the processing device to allow the user to enjoy the right to use the software to be protected; in: Said identity software is used by said processing device to generate a piece of information, said generated piece of information is used to be verified by an electronic transaction device, so that a user having the right to use said software to be protected Electronic trading operations that require liability can be carried out; and said method does not result in one of said electronic transactions being completed. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1 is used to protect a software that can be copied by a user from being copied and used without authorization, further comprising the following steps: verify the identity of said identity software; If the verification result is affirmative, it is judged that the identity software exists; otherwise, it is judged that the identity software does not exist. 3. A method as claimed in claim 1 for protecting a user-reproducible software from unauthorized copying and use, wherein said electronic transaction operation is related to The operation of making a payment from the account of the user of the right of use in order to obtain a service or commodity. 4. A method for protecting a software that can be copied by a user from unauthorized copying and use, comprising the steps of: Verifying the identity of an identity software stored in a processing device; taking a positive result of said verification as a precondition to cause said processing device to allow a user to enjoy said right to use said software to be protected; in: Said identity software is used by said processing device to generate a piece of information, said generated piece of information is used to be verified by an electronic transaction device, so that a user having the right to use said software to be protected Electronic trading operations that require liability can be carried out; Nothing in said method results in one of said electronic transactions being completed. 5. A method for verifying the identity of a user of a processing device comprising the steps of: obtaining a first piece of information from a user by said processing device to generate a second piece of information authorizing use of a payment account belonging to said user; verifying the validity of said account based on said second piece of information by an electronic transaction device; Said one processing device is verified as valid as a prerequisite for allowing the user to use at least a part of said one processing device's functions; Wherein the account mentioned in the method has not been withdrawn any fees and said at least a part of the functions have no relationship with the effective operation of said account. 6. A method for protecting a user-reproducible software from unauthorized copying and use by restricting its use by a person, comprising the steps of: a processing device transmits a piece of information about said person to an electronic transaction device; The said piece of information is used by the said electronic transaction device to verify that said person has a valid payment account and to order said electronic transaction device to allow said payment account to be used; The processing device receives the account verification result from the electronic transaction device; Taking an affirmative result of the verification as a precondition to cause the processing device to allow the user to enjoy the right to use the software to be protected; Wherein said method does not result in any electronic transaction being completed on said account. 7. A method for protecting software from unauthorized use by restricting its use by a person, comprising a sub-method comprising the steps of: (a) a processing device, referred to herein as a first processing device, transmits a piece of information about said person to an electronic transaction device; Said piece of information is used by said electronic transaction device to verify that said person has a valid account and to order said electronic transaction device to allow said payment account to be used; (b) said first processing device receives said account verification result from said electronic transaction device; (c) With the affirmative result of the verification as a prerequisite, to identify a piece of information about its hardware and/or software from the processing device for future reference in the following step (d) use; later (d) checking the identity of a processing device to prove that it is said first processing device, based at least in part on said piece of information of said hardware and/or software; (e) using the affirmative result of the check as a precondition to cause the first processing device to allow the user to enjoy the right to use the software to be protected; The account described therein is charged a fee; thereafter Said sub-method can be used at a processing facility, here referred to as a second processing facility, free of charge or charged to said account for a fee which is lower than said fee. 8. A method for protecting software from unauthorized use by restricting its use by a person, in which method a protective software is used, and in operation of said protective software The requirement is that "an identity software/system exists in a processing device" as a prerequisite to perform the following step (A) in said processing device, and said identity software/system is said processing equipment used to generate a first piece of information for verification by an electronic transaction device to enable electronic transaction operations for which said person is liable; Described method comprises the following steps: (a) by said protective software running on a processing device that meets said prerequisites, referred to herein as a first processing device, distinguishes from said first processing device about its hardware and/or software The second piece of information is for future reference in the following (B) steps; thereafter (b) checking the identity of a processing device to prove that it is said first processing device, based at least in part on said second piece of information of said hardware and/or software: (c) using the affirmative result of the check as a precondition to cause the first processing device to allow the user to enjoy the right to use the software to be protected; None of the steps in the method relate to payment by the user for use of the protected software or cause an electronic transaction to be completed. 9. A method for protecting a software that can be copied by a user from unauthorized copying and use, comprising the steps of: obtaining a first piece of information from a user of a processing device storing an identity software; The first piece of information obtained is correct and the identity software exists in the processing device as a prerequisite, so that the processing device allows the user to enjoy the software to be protected the right to use; Wherein if the identity software can obtain the correct first piece of information from its user, the identity software can be activated so that it can be used by the processing device to generate a piece of information, the generated A piece of information is used to be verified by an electronic transaction device, thereby enabling electronic transaction operations for which the user who has the right to use the software to be protected is responsible; and in said method does not result in a said electronic transaction being completed. 10. A method for protecting a software that can be copied by a user from being copied and used without authorization as claimed in claim 9, wherein said software to be protected is a software, in This is referred to as the first piece of software for the processing device to identify a piece of information about the hardware and/or software of the processing device, referred to herein as the second piece of information; It further includes software, referred to herein as second software, which, when executed, is used to check that the computer it is running on is said processing device, based on at least part of said second piece of information; And if the checking result is affirmative, the second software can be used to allow the user to enjoy a kind of software, which is referred to as the right to use the third software. 11. A method for protecting a user-reproducible software from unauthorized copying and use as recited in claim 9, wherein said electronic transaction operation is related to The operation of making payment to the account of the user who has the right to use to obtain a service or commodity, and the first piece of information is a password. 12. A method for protecting a software that can be copied by a user from unauthorized copying and use as claimed in claim 9, wherein said software to be protected is purchased software commodity.

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