System and method for independently enforcing time based policies in a digital device
OwnerNoam Camielinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system for enforcing time based usage policies for resources within a digital device without requiring a continuous power source and without requiring a connection to a secure server following an initial connection. Several embodiments of time measuring apparatus are presented.
Claims23
An autonomous digital device comprising:
- a physical non-volatile data storage;
- an independent time measuring unit for measuring time duration without a continuous supply of power;
- an access limiting unit capable of limiting access to at least part of said non-volatile storage;
- a connection unit capable of receiving data from an external source;
- whereby a time reading is received from an external source through said connection unit and stored in said non-volatile storage, and said independent time measuring unit measures time duration between said received time reading and current time to allow said access limiting unit to enforce time based usage policies without further connection to an external source and without a continuous power source.
A method of enforcing time dependent usage policies on data resources within a digital device without having a continuous power source, the method comprising:
- a. receiving initial time from a source external to said digital device,
- b. storing said initial time in non-volatile memory,
- c. resetting a time measuring unit capable of operating without a continuous supply of power,
- d. adding measurement of said time measuring unit to stored said initial time to get an independent current time measurement,
- e. restricting access to data relating to said data resources according to said independent current time measurement and said time dependent usage policies.
A method of enforcing time dependent usage policies for downloadable content in a digital device without having a continuous power source, the method comprising:
- a. downloading content having time dependent usage policies from a server,
- b. receiving initial time from said server,
- d. storing said initial time in said digital device non-volatile memory,
- d. resetting a time measuring unit capable of operating without a continuous supply of power,
- e. adding measurement of said time measuring unit to stored said initial time to get an independent current time measurement,
- f. restricting access to data relating to said content according to said independent current time measurement and said content time dependent usage policies.
A time measuring apparatus, capable of measuring time duration without continuous supply of power comprising:
- a time dependent unit that undergoes physical change with time regardless of the presence of a power source;
- a measuring unit capable of measuring said physical change in said time dependent unit;
- Whereby said measuring unit measures said time dependent unit in a plurality of instances to determine the time passing between said measurement instances regardless of presence of a power source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.