Application rights enabling

• US 20030159035A1
• Filed: 02/21/2002
• Published: 08/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Orthlieb, Carl W., Rosenbaum, Sarah, Pravetz, James P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,213,269 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/121 Restricting unauthorised execution of programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/629 to features or functions of an application

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for controlling capabilities of a user software application. A user software application is provided, the user software application including a set of disabled operations. Content capable of being operated on by one or more of the disabled operations in the set of disabled operations is received. Application rights information operable to enable an operation in the set of disabled operations to operate on content within a context specified in the application rights information are received and the operation in the set of disabled operations is enabled to operate on the received content. Methods and apparatus for providing content to be operated on by a user software application and methods and apparatus for providing a configurable, context-dependent user software application are also described.

Claims

1. A method for controlling capabilities of a user software application, comprising:

providing a user software application, the user software application including a set of disabled operations;

receiving content capable of being operated on by one or more of the disabled operations in the set of disabled operations;

receiving application rights information operable to enable an operation in the set of disabled operations to operate on content within a context specified in the application rights information; and

enabling the operation in the set of disabled operations to operate on the received content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the application rights information is received with the content on which the operation is to be performed.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the content is content of an electronic document and the application rights information is embedded in the document.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the application rights information and the content on which the operation is to be performed are received separately.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is content of an electronic document and the operations in the set of disabled operations include one or more of:

adding content to the document, adding comments to the document, applying a digital signature to the document, saving the document, performing spell-check of the document, importing form data, exporting form data, submitting document data to the Internet outside a browser environment, and inserting new pages from a template.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the document is a PDF document.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is content of an electronic document and the application rights information is embedded in the document.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising unpacking the application rights information from the document.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the context specified in the application rights information includes one or more of:

a particular document, a particular type of document, a particular data set, a particular type of data set, a particular computer, a particular set of computers, a particular user, a particular set of users, a particular session, a particular number of sessions, a particular time period, a particular content provider, and a particular document in a particular state.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the particular state of the particular document in a particular state is defined by a user.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the application rights information associated with the received content is different for different contexts.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising saving the application rights information on a computer hosting the computer software application.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving application rights information comprises

querying a database for application rights information;

and

receiving application rights information from the database in response to the query.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the content has one or more associated permissions restricting what operations can be performed on the content.

15. A method for providing content to be operated on by a user software application, comprising:

generating content in a format compatible with a user software application, the user software application including a set of disabled operations;

generating application rights information for the content, the application rights information being operable to enable an operation in the set of disabled operations to operate on the content within a context specified in the application rights information; and

distributing the content and the application rights information to one or more users.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising associating the generated application rights information with the generated content.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising monitoring one or more of:

to how many users the application rights information is distributed, the operations enabled for each user, the context in which the operations are enabled for each user, and the number of enabled operations performed by users to whom the content and application rights have been distributed.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing an accounting to a user software application provider based on one or more of:

the number of users to which the application rights information has been distributed, the operations enabled for each user, the context in which the operations are enabled for each user, and the number of enabled operations performed by users to whom the content and application rights have been distributed.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing an accounting to a user software application provider based on the context specified in the application rights information distributed to the users.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the content is content of an electronic document and wherein the step of associating comprises embedding the application rights information in the document.

21. A method for providing a configurable, context-dependent user software application, comprising:

(a) providing a user software application, the user software application including a set of disabled operations, the user software application being operable to enable an operation in the set of disabled operations to operate on received content based on application rights information;

(b) providing a content generation tool, the content generation tool being operable to;

generate content in a format compatible with the user software application; and

generate application rights information for the content, the application rights information identifying one or more operations in the set of disabled operations and being operable to cause the user software application to enable the identified operations;

(c) distributing the user software application to one or more users; and

(d) distributing the content generation tool to one or more content providers for use in generating content and application rights information to be distributed to one or more of the users.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the content generation tool further is operable to associate the application rights information with the content.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the application rights information is operable to cause the user software application to enable the identified operations within a context specified in the application rights information.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving information from a content provider about one or more of:

the number of users to which the application rights information has been distributed, the operations enabled for each user, the context in which the operations are enabled for each user, and the number of enabled operations performed by users to whom the content and application rights have been distributed.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving an accounting from a content provider based on one or more of:

the number of users to which the application rights information has been distributed, the operations enabled for each user, the context in which the operations are enabled for each user, and the number of enabled operations performed by users to whom the content and application rights have been distributed.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein providing a user software application further comprises:

providing an application rights management module in the user software application, the application rights management module being operable to;

detect whether a context exists in which one or more disabled operations have been made available; and

instruct the user software application to enable the operation within the context; and

wherein distributing the user software application further comprises;

distributing the application rights management module to one or more of the users.

27. A user software application, tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, the user software application including a set of disabled operations and comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

receive content capable of being operated on by one or more of the disabled operations in the set of disabled operations;

receive application rights information operable to enable an operation in the set of disabled operations to operate on content within a context specified in the application rights information; and

enable the operation in the set of disabled operations to operate on the received content.

28. The user software application of claim 27, wherein the application rights information is received with the content on which the operation is to be performed.

29. The user software application of claim 28, wherein the content is content of an electronic document and the application rights information is embedded in the document.

30. The user software application of claim 29, further comprising instructions to unpack the application rights information from the document.

31. The user software application of claim 27, wherein the application rights information and the content on which the operation is to be performed are received separately.

32. The user software application of claim 27, wherein the content is content of an electronic document and the operations in the set of disabled operations include one or more of:

adding content to the document, adding comments to the document, applying a digital signature to the document, saving the document, performing spell-check of the document, importing form data, exporting form data, submitting document data to the Internet outside a browser environment, and inserting new pages from template.

33. The user software application of claim 32, wherein the document is a PDF document.

34. The user software application of claim 27, wherein the context specified in the application rights information includes one or more of:

a particular document, a particular type of document, a particular data set, a particular type of data set, a particular computer, a particular set of computers, a particular user, a particular set of users, a particular session, a particular number of sessions, a particular time period, a particular content provider, and a particular document in a particular state.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the particular state of the particular document in a particular state is defined by a user.

36. The user software application of claim 27, wherein the application rights information associated with the received content is different for different contexts.

37. The user software application of claim 27, further comprising instructions to save the application rights information on a computer hosting the user software application.

38. The user software application of claim 27, wherein the instructions to receive application rights information comprises instructions to:

query a database for application rights information; and

receive application rights information from the database in response to the query.

39. The user software application of claim 27, wherein the content has one or more associated permissions restricting what operations can be performed on the content.

40. A content provider software application, tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, including a set of disabled operations and comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

generate content in a format compatible with a user software application, the user software application including a set of disabled operations; and

generate application rights information for the content, the application rights information being operable to enable an operation in the set of disabled operations to operate on the content within a context specified in the application rights information..

41. The content provider software application of claim 40, further comprising instructions operable to associate the generated application rights information with the generated content.

42. The content provider software application of claim 40, further comprising instructions operable to monitor one or more of:

to how many users the application rights information is distributed, the operations enabled for each user, the context in which the operations are enabled for each user, and the number of enabled operations performed by users to whom the content and application rights have been distributed..

43. The content provider software application of claim 40, further comprising instructions operable to provide an accounting to a user software application provider based on one or more of:

the number of users to which the application rights information has been distributed, the operations enabled for each user, and the context in which the operations are enabled for each user.

44. The content provider software application of claim 40, further comprising instructions operable to provide an accounting to a user software application provider based on the context specified in the application rights information distributed to the users.

45. The content provider software application of claim 40, wherein the content is content of an electronic document and wherein the instructions to associate comprise instructions to embed the application rights information in the document.

46. A system for providing a configurable, context-dependent user software application, comprising:

(a) means for providing a user software application, the user software application including a set of disabled operations, the user software application being operable to enable an operation in the set of disabled operations to operate on received content based on application rights information;

(b) means for providing a content generation tool, the content generation tool being operable to;

generate content in a format compatible with the user software application; and

generate application rights information for the content, the application rights information identifying one or more operations in the set of disabled operations and being operable to cause the user software application to enable the identified operations;

(c) means for distributing the user software application to one or more users; and

(d) means for distributing the content generation tool to one or more content providers for use in generating content and application rights information to be distributed to one or more of the users.

47. The system of claim 46, wherein the content generation tool further is operable to associate the application rights information with the content.

48. The system of claim 46, wherein the application rights information is operable to cause the user software application to enable the identified operations within a context specified in the application rights information.

49. The system of claim 46, further comprising means for receiving information from a content provider about one or more of:

the number of users to which the application rights information has been distributed, the operations enabled for each user, the context in which the operations are enabled for each user, and the number of enabled operations performed by users to whom the content and application rights have been distributed.

50. The system of claim 46, further comprising means for receiving an accounting from a content provider based on one or more of:

the number of users to which the application rights information has been distributed, the operations enabled for each user, the context in which the operations are enabled for each user, and the number of enabled operations performed by users to whom the content and application rights have been distributed.

51. The system of claim 46, wherein the means for providing a user software application further comprises:

means for providing an application rights management module in the user software application, the application rights management module being operable to;

detect whether a context exists in which one or more disabled operations have been made available; and

instruct the user software application to enable the operation within the context; and

wherein the means for distributing the user software application further comprises;

means for distributing the application rights management module to one or more of the users.

52. A method for providing and using configurable, context-dependent user software application, comprising:

(a) providing a user software application including a set of disabled operations;

(b) providing a content generation tool, the content generation tool being operable to generate content and application rights information for the content in a format compatible with the user software application;

(c) distributing the user software application to one or more users;

(d) distributing the content generation tool to one or more content providers;

(e) generating content in a format compatible with a user software application and capable of being operated on by one or more of the disabled operations in the set of disabled operations;

(f) generating application rights information for the content operable to enable an operation in the set of disabled operations to operate on content within a context specified in the application rights information;

(g) distributing the content and the application rights information to one or more users;

(h) receiving the generated content;

(i) receiving the application rights information;

(j) enabling the operation in the set of disabled operations to operate on the received content; and

(k) performing the enabled operation on the received content using the user software application.