Program execution system having authentication function

• US 20050028007A1
• Filed: 06/18/2004
• Published: 02/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Hashiguchi, Kazuya
• Granted Patent: US 7,478,433 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication

Abstract

When having received an instruction that a program should be activated, the program execution system judges whether or not the program to be activated has been updated. When the activation of the program has resulted from an update of the program, an authentication process is performed with the use of the authentication information inputted during the immediately preceding activation process.

Claims

1. A program execution system having an authentication function, comprising:

a storing unit operable to store therein one or more pieces of authentication information;

an instruction obtaining unit operable to obtain an activation instruction to activate a program;

an updating unit operable to update the program partially or entirely;

a judging unit operable to judge whether or not the obtained activation instruction has resulted from an update of the program performed by the updating unit;

an authenticating unit operable to, when the judging unit has judged in the affirmative, check whether or not a corresponding one of the pieces of authentication information is authentic; and

an executing unit operable to execute the program in a case where the checked piece of authentication information has been confirmed to be authentic.

2. The program execution system of claim 1, further comprising

an authentication information obtaining unit operable to obtain a piece of authentication information from outside of the program execution system, wherein

when the judging unit has judged in the negative, the authentication information obtaining unit obtains a piece of authentication information from the outside, and the authenticating unit checks whether or not the obtained piece of authentication information is authentic.

3. The program execution system of claim 2, wherein

the authentication information obtaining unit stores the piece of authentication information obtained from the outside into the storing unit, and

the judging unit judges in the affirmative when at least one of the pieces of authentication information stored in the storing unit corresponds to the program which is instructed to be activated, and judges in the negative when none of the pieces of authentication information stored in the storing unit corresponds to the program which is instructed to be activated.

4. The program execution system of claim 3, wherein

each of the pieces of authentication information stored in the storing unit includes time information which specifies a predetermined point of time, and

the judging unit judges in the affirmative when both of the following are satisfied:

(i) at least one of the pieces of authentication information stored in the storing unit corresponds to the program which is instructed to be activated and (ii) the activation instruction to activate the program is obtained within a predetermined period of time from the predetermined point of time specified in the time information included in the corresponding piece of authentication information.

7. The program execution system of claim 1, further comprising

an update information storing unit that stores therein update information indicating whether or not the updating unit has performed an update, wherein

every time the updating unit has performed an update, the update information is set so as to indicate that the updating unit has performed an update,

the judging unit judges whether or not the obtained activation instruction has resulted from an update of the program performed by the updating unit, by referring to the update information.

5. A program execution system having an authentication function, comprising:

a storing unit operable to store therein one or more pieces of authentication information;

an instruction obtaining unit operable to obtain an activation instruction to activate a program;

an updating unit operable to update the program partially or entirely;

a judging unit operable to judge whether or not the obtained activation instruction has resulted from an update of the program performed by the updating unit; and

an authentication and execution unit operable to, (i) when the judging unit has judged in the affirmative, execute the program and (ii) when the judging unit has judged in the negative, obtain a piece of authentication information from outside of the program execution system and further execute the program in a case where the obtained piece of authentication information has been confirmed to be authentic.

6. The program execution system of claim 5, further comprising

an update information storing unit that stores therein update information indicating whether or not the updating unit has performed an update, wherein

every time the updating unit has performed an update, the update information is set so as to indicate that the updating unit has performed an update,

the judging unit judges whether or not the obtained activation instruction has resulted from an update of the program performed by the updating unit, by referring to the update information.

8. A program execution method comprising:

a storing step of storing one or more pieces of authentication information into a memory;

an instruction obtaining step of obtaining an activation instruction to activate a program;

an updating step of updating the program partially or entirely;

a judging step of judging whether or not the obtained activation instruction has resulted from an update of the program performed in the updating step;

an authenticating step of, when the judging step has judged in the affirmative, checking whether or not a corresponding one of the pieces of authentication information is authentic; and

an executing step of executing the program in a case where the checked piece of authentication information has been confirmed to be authentic.

9. A computer program to have a computer perform program execution, comprising:

a storing step of storing one or more pieces of authentication information into a memory;

an instruction obtaining step of obtaining an activation instruction to activate a program;

an updating step of updating the program partially or entirely;

a judging step of judging whether or not the obtained activation instruction has resulted from an update of the program performed in the updating step;

an authenticating step of, when the judging step has judged in the affirmative, checking whether or not a corresponding one of the pieces of authentication information is authentic; and

an executing step of executing the program in a case where the checked piece of authentication information has been confirmed to be authentic.