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AssigneeMacrovision Corporation
InventorsStephen John Phillipo, Robert David Ellison, Stuart Keeler
Estimating the term…
A technique to prevent illicit copying of a copy-protected CD-ROM into a computer-readable storage drive is presented. In accordance with the present invention, when an authentic copy-protected CD-ROM is inserted into a CD drive and the content of the copy-protected CD-ROM is installed onto a hard disk drive that is linked to the CD drive, the Central Processor Unit (CPU) executes the installer instructions residing in the CD-ROM to create a license file in the hard disk drive. For security reasons, the content of the CD-ROM (e.g., the executable file of the application) is encrypted. When the content of the CD-ROM is copied into the hard disk drive, it remains encrypted. The license file essentially acts as a timer to monitor a predetermined time interval that has been programmed into the license file. If a user attempts to launch the encrypted copied application residing in the hard drive at any time prior to the expiration of the predetermined time interval, the license file readily supplies the key code to enable a filter to decode the encrypted installed application thereby allowing the application to launch. At the expiration of the predetermined time interval, the license file withholds the key code therefore not allowing the installed application to be decrypted and successfully launched. The predetermined time interval can be reset by reinserting the copy-protected CD-ROM into the CD drive to reset the time interval.
A method to discourage illicit copying from a digital record carrier to a computer-readable data storage device comprising:
A digital record carrier storing an encrypted content having at least a portion encrypted, the record carrier further storing instructions, that when executed by a central processor following insertion of the digital record carrier into a drive and a copying of the content of the digital record carrier into a computer-readable data storage device, monitoring whether a predetermined time interval has lapsed since the digital record carrier was last inserted for use, if the predetermined time interval has not lapsed, decrypting the copied content of the digital record carrier thereby allowing the copied content to launch for use with the digital record carrier not inserted in the drive, if the predetermined time interval has lapsed, preventing the copied content of the digital record carrier from being decrypted thereby not allowing the copied content to launch for use.
A method to inhibit copying from a digital record carrier to a computer-readable data storage device comprising:
A digital record carrier storing content at least a portion of which is encrypted, the record carrier further storing instructions that when executed by a processor following insertion of the digital record carrier and installation of the content of the digital record carrier into a computer-readable data storage device, monitor whether a predetermined time interval has lapsed since the digital record carrier was last inserted for use in the computer-readable data storage device, and if the predetermined time interval has not lapsed, the instructions decrypt the copied content of the digital record carrier thereby allowing the copied content to be used with the digital record carrier not inserted in the drive, and if the predetermined time interval has lapsed, the instructions prevent the copied content of the digital record carrier from being decrypted thereby not allowing the installed content to be used.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.