Secure user assigned device from manufacturer
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorsAnni Dong, Yanan Zhang, Brian Stuard Perlman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This document relates to securing ownership of devices to particular users when the devices are shipped directly from an original equipment manufacturer in order to prevent malicious use of devices that are lost or stolen. A purchaser may purchase a device from an original equipment manufacturer, and as part of the purchasing process, may provide ownership information for the device, which may include a user identifier and an identity provider. The ownership data can be written to firmware, and upon powering on of the device, the device can request a user identifier, which is then validated by the identity provider before allowing operating systems operations to continue on the device.
Claims21
1-20. (canceled)
A system comprising:
- a hardware processing unit;
- and
- a storage resource storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the hardware processing unit, cause the system to:
- obtain ownership data relating to an owner of a device;
- and
- cause an ownership marker to be written to storage on the device, the ownership marker being based on the ownership data relating to the owner of the device,
- wherein the device is configured to, upon initial powering on of the device:
- determine that the ownership marker is present on the storage of the device, and
- lock the device from performing a particular operating system operation until validation is received that an obtained input matches another user identifier associated with the ownership marker.
A method comprising:
- obtaining ownership data relating to an owner of a device;
- and
- causing an ownership marker to be written to a storage resource of the device, the ownership marker being based on the ownership data relating to the owner of the device,
- wherein the device is configured to, upon initial powering on of the device:
- determine that the ownership marker is present;
- and
- lock the device from performing a particular operating system operation until validation is received that an obtained input matches another user identifier associated with the ownership marker.
A computer-readable storage resource storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a hardware processing unit, cause the hardware processing unit to perform acts comprising:
- obtaining ownership data relating to an owner of a device;
- causing an ownership marker to be written to storage of the device, the ownership marker being based on the ownership data relating to the owner of the device;
- and
- causing the device to be configured to, upon initial powering on of the device:
- determine that the ownership marker is present;
- and
- lock the device from performing a particular operating system operation until validation is received that an obtained input matches another user identifier associated with the ownership marker.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.