COMPUTER PLATFORMS AND THEIR METHODS OF OPERATION
First Claim
1. A computer platform having:
- a trusted module which is resistant to internal tampering and which stores a third party'"'"'s public key certificate;
means storing license-related code comprising at least one of a secure executor for checking whether the platform or a user thereof is licensed to use particular data and for providing an interface for using the date data and/or for monitoring its usage, and a secure loader for checking whether the platform or a user thereof is licensed to install particular data and/or for checking for data integrity before installation; and
means storing a hashed version of the license-related code signed with the third party'"'"'s private key; and
means for integrity checking the license-related code with reference to the signed version and the public key certificate and preventing the license-related code from being loaded if the integrity check fails.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer platform (100) uses a tamper-proof component (120), or “trusted module”, of a computer platform in conjunction with software, preferably running within the tamper-proof component, that controls the uploading and usage of data on the platform as a generic dongle for that platform. Licensing checks can occur within a trusted environment (in other words, an environment which can be trusted to behave as the user expects); this can be enforced by integrity checking of the uploading and license-checking software. Metering records can be stored in the tamper-proof device and reported back to administrators as required. There can be an associated clearinghouse mechanism to enable registration and payment for data.
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Citations
6 Claims
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1. A computer platform having:
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a trusted module which is resistant to internal tampering and which stores a third party'"'"'s public key certificate; means storing license-related code comprising at least one of a secure executor for checking whether the platform or a user thereof is licensed to use particular data and for providing an interface for using the date data and/or for monitoring its usage, and a secure loader for checking whether the platform or a user thereof is licensed to install particular data and/or for checking for data integrity before installation; and means storing a hashed version of the license-related code signed with the third party'"'"'s private key; and means for integrity checking the license-related code with reference to the signed version and the public key certificate and preventing the license-related code from being loaded if the integrity check fails. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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Specification