Method and system for restricting execution of virtual applications to a managed process environment

A computer-implemented method for use with a launching application and a separate runtime engine, the launching application and the runtime engine being configured to access a shared memory location, the method comprising:

• at the launching application, receiving a first instruction to execute an application file and a ticket, the ticket comprising a digital signature and an expiration date;
• at the launching application, storing the ticket in the shared memory location and sending a second instruction to the runtime engine instructing the runtime engine to execute the application file;
• and
• in response to the second instruction received from the launching application, at the runtime engine, reading the ticket from the shared memory block, determining whether the digital signature is valid, determining whether the ticket has expired, and executing the application file only when the runtime engine determines the ticket is valid and has not yet expired, whether the ticket is valid being determined based on the digital signature, and whether the ticket has expired being determined based on the expiration date.

A computer-implemented method for use with an application file, and a shared memory location storing a ticket comprising a digital signature and an expiration date, the application file comprising a digital rights management indicator, the method comprising:

• receiving an instruction to execute the application file;
• in response to the instruction, reading the ticket from the shared memory location and reading the digital rights management indicator from the application file;
• if the digital rights management indicator indicates the ticket is to be validated, determining whether the digital signature is valid, determining whether the ticket has expired, and executing the application file only when the ticket is determined to be valid and not yet expired, whether the ticket is valid being determined based on the digital signature, and whether the ticket has expired being determined based on the expiration date;
• and
• if the digital rights management indicator indicates the ticket is not to be validated, executing the application file.

A computer-implemented method for use with a remote computing device implementing a launching application and a separate runtime engine, the method comprising:

• instructing the remote computing device to display a plurality of selectable options, each option corresponding to an application file;
• receiving a selection of one of the plurality of selectable options from the remote computing device;
• creating a ticket comprising a digital signature and an expiration date;
• instructing the launching application on the remote computing device to launch the application file corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of selectable options;
• and
• transmitting the ticket to the launching application, the launching application being operable to communicate the ticket to the runtime engine, the runtime engine being operable to execute the application file corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of selectable options in response to an instruction to do so only when the digital signature of the ticket is valid and a current date is not later than the expiration date.