Method and system for protecting software
OwnerMarc A. Bricenoinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Secure environments can be used to protect software application programs from piracy and to enforce licensing and operating conditions. To achieve these protections, a component should be selected and executed inside the secure environment. For maximum protection, the selected component should be one which performs a required or desirable part of the functionality of the application and not be easily emulated by patches as may be employed by software pirates.
Claims9
A method for protecting a software application comprising:
- choosing a component;
- executing said component inside a secure environment;
- choosing one or more local metrics;
- verifying the one or more metrics and determining a result;
- and
- operating not at all, operating in reduced functionality mode, or reporting the result to a reportee, based on the verification result.
A method for protecting a software application comprising:
- choosing a component;
- executing said component inside a secure environment;
- checking if a required software component is missing, damaged, or has otherwise been altered;
- and
- operating not at all, operating in reduced functionality mode, or reporting the state of said altered component.
A method for protecting a software application comprising:
- choosing a component;
- executing said component inside a secure environment;
- checking for a prohibited software component;
- and
- operating not at all, operating in reduced functionality mode, or reporting the existence of said prohibited component.
A system for protecting software against piracy comprising:
- a processing unit;
- a system memory coupled to the processing unit though a system bus;
- a computer-readable medium coupled to the processing unit through a system bus;
- an operating system executed from the computer-readable medium;
- a secure environment;
- a software application;
- and
- a component which will execute in the secure environment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.