US 7,117,535 B1 · Software-generated machine identifier

Abstract

A technique for creating a tamper-resistant machine identifier is disclosed. A file is created with a set of file blocks having random locations. Each block is identified by an object identifier that represents the block's location. A machine identifier is created based on the object identifiers of the file blocks. Machine-identifier-dependent software (i.e., software that is designed to perform its function only in the presence of a particular machine identifier) is created and loaded into the file. The software has the machine identifier embedded within itself, and checks the object identifiers of the file in which it is stored against the embedded machine identifier prior to performing its functions. The software may, in one example, be rights-management software that is adapted to allow commercially valuable content to be rendered only on a particular device having a particular machine identifier.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A method of generating a machine identifier comprising:

generating a database of records comprising object identifiers, each record having an associated memory block location;
randomly deleting records in the database, the memory locations of the deleted records becoming available for allocation;
allocating a file comprising memory blocks of the memory locations of the deleted records, each of the blocks having an object identifier based on the block's location in a memory;
and
creating a machine identifier based on the object identifiers of the deleted records associated with the allocated memory block locations.

2 more elements

A system for generating a machine identification for a computing device comprising a file system that allocates storage blocks, each of the blocks having a block identifier that represents the location of a block in a memory of the computing device, the file system maintaining a list of unused locations in the memory that may be allocated for storage of information, the computing device having a database module that allocates memory in which to store database records, that de-allocates records upon request, and that places de-allocated records on the list whereby the de-allocated records may be reallocated for storage of information, the system comprising:

a database creation module that uses said database to allocate a number of dummy records;
a random number generator that selects dummy records to be deleted, wherein the selected records are deleted, and the locations of the deleted records added to the list of unused locations;
and
a machine identification generator that allocates a file comprising a plurality of blocks allocated from the list of unused locations in the memory and generates a machine identification based on the block identifiers for the blocks of which the file is comprised.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Software-generated machine identifier

Life of this patent

Software-generated machine identifier

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims13