Method and apparatus for protection of voice over Internet protocol software

• US 20080056237A1
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: Bresemann, David P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,984,516 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for executing an application to perform voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephony, requesting a hardware key from a line interface device, comparing the hardware key to a software key associated with the application, and enabling the VoIP telephony if the keys match.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

executing an application to perform voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephony;

requesting a hardware key from a line interface device;

comparing the hardware key to a software key associated with the application; and

enabling the VoIP telephony if the hardware key and the software key match.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising preventing the VoIP telephony if the hardware key and the software key do not match.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the application comprises executing a soft VoIP program on a computer system.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising requesting the hardware key from the line interface device, wherein the line interface device is integrated within the computer system.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising requesting the hardware key via a hub interface of the computer system coupled to the line interface device, wherein the line interface device is affixed to a motherboard of the computer system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling degraded VoIP telephony if the hardware key and the software key do not match.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating a second hardware key of the line interface device with upgrade software; and

enabling upgraded VoIP telephony if the second hardware key and the upgrade software are associated.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing data transmission via modem circuitry of the line interface device if the VoIP telephony is enabled.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising executing an audio application on the computer system via codec circuitry of the modem circuitry.

10. A subscriber line interface circuit (SLIC) comprising:

a codec to code and decode voice data for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephony;

a line interface to interface the SLIC to a connection for the VoIP telephony; and

a storage to store at least one hardware identifier for the SLIC and to provide the at least one hardware identifier upon a request from a system.

11. The SLIC of claim 10, further comprising a modem and a data access arrangement (DAA) for data communication, wherein the modem, the codec and the line interface are integrated on a single substrate.

12. The SLIC of claim 11, wherein the codec is to further code and decode audio data of an audio channel.

13. The SLIC of claim 10, wherein the SLIC is adapted within the system, the system comprising a computer system.

14. The SLIC of claim 13, wherein the storage is to provide the at least one hardware identifier upon request of a VoIP application program.

15. The SLIC of claim 14, wherein a first hardware identifier is associated with the VoIP application program and wherein a second hardware identifier is unallocated after initial system configuration.

16. The SLIC of claim 15, wherein the second hardware identifier is associated with upgrade software loaded into the computer system.

17. A system comprising:

a processor;

an interface coupled to the processor to interface with at least one peripheral component;

a first integrated circuit (IC) coupled to the interface, the first IC including a modem to perform data communication between the system and a data line, and a first storage to store a first hardware identifier for the first IC and to provide the first hardware identifier upon a request from the system; and

a second IC coupled to the interface, the second IC including a codec to code and decode voice data for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephony, the codec to further code and decode audio data, and a second storage to store a second hardware identifier for the second IC and to provide the second hardware identifier upon a request from the system.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a storage medium in the system to store an application program to perform the VoIP telephony, wherein the application program is to perform the VoIP telephony using subscriber line interface circuitry of the first IC and the codec of the second IC.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein an application program is to prevent operation of the VoIP telephony if the first hardware identifier and the second hardware identifier do not match a software identifier associated with the application program.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising a third IC coupled to the second IC, wherein the third IC comprises subscriber line interface circuitry, the third IC including a third storage to store a third hardware identifier for the third IC.

21. An article comprising a machine-accessible medium including instructions that when executed cause a system to:

request a first hardware identifier from a first component, the first component including subscriber line interface circuitry (SLIC), the first hardware identifier stored in a non-volatile memory of the first component;

compare the first hardware identifier to a first soft identifier associated with a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) application program; and

provide a first level of VoIP telephony if the first hardware identifier and the first soft identifier correspond and a second level of the VoIP telephony if the first hardware identifier and the first soft identifier do not correspond.

22. The article of claim 21, wherein the first level of VoIP telephony comprises an upgraded level and the second level of VoIP telephony comprises a degraded level.

23. The article of claim 21, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to send a message to a remote entity if the first hardware identifier and the first soft identifier do not correspond.

24. The article of claim 21, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to request a second hardware identifier from a second component, the second component including codec circuitry, the second hardware identifier stored in a non-volatile memory of the second component.

25. The article of claim 24, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to perform the VoIP telephony using the SLIC of the first component and the codec circuitry of the second component if the first and second hardware identifiers correspond to the first soft identifier and a second soft identifier, respectively.

26. The article of claim 21, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to associate a second soft identifier for an upgrade program with a second hardware identifier stored in the non-volatile memory of the first component, wherein the second hardware identifier was previously unallocated.