PROTECTION OF SOFTWARE ON PORTABLE MEDIUM

• US 20090077671A1
• Filed: 09/13/2007
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Unal, Serdar, Karki, Mukesh, Sareen, Bhrighu, Atas, Yusuf
• Granted Patent: US 8,667,604 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1014 to tokens
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/125 by manipulating the program code, e.g. source code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code

Abstract

A portable rewritable medium and a method are provided for preventing unauthorized use of executable software stored on the portable rewritable medium. A portion of the software stored on the portable rewritable medium may include instructions for a processing device to determine whether execution of the executable software is permitted. If execution of the executable software is permitted, the processing device may execute the executable software directly from the portable rewritable medium. Characteristics of the portable rewritable medium may be checked to determine whether functionality of the executable software is to be limited.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method for preventing unauthorized use of executable software stored on a rewritable removable medium, the machine-implemented method comprising:

executing, by a processing device, a portion of software directly from the rewritable removable medium to determine whether execution of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted; and

executing, by the processing device, the executable software with unaltered behavior directly from the rewritable removable media only when the executing of the portion of the software determines that the execution of the executable software directly from the rewritable removable medium is permitted.

2. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the executing, by the processing device, of the portion of the software directly from the rewritable removable medium to determine whether the execution of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted further comprises:

determining at least one characteristic of the rewritable removable medium, and

determining whether the execution, by the processing device, of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted based, at least in part, on the at least one determined characteristic of the rewritable removable medium.

3. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the executing, by the processing device, of the portion of the software directly from the rewritable removable medium to determine whether the execution, by the processing device, of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted further comprises:

determining at least one of a type of the rewritable removable medium, a brand of the rewritable removable medium, a manufacturer of the rewritable removable medium, or an identifier of rewritable removable medium, and

determining whether the execution, by the processing device, of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted based, at least in part, on the at least one determined type of the rewritable removable medium, the brand of the rewritable removable medium, the manufacturer of the rewritable removable medium, or the identifier of the rewritable removable medium.

4. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the executing, by the processing device, of the portion of the software directly from the rewritable removable medium to determine whether the execution, by the processing device, of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted further comprises:

sending, to a server, information identifying a product including the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium,

receiving a response from the server in response to the sending of the information to the server; and

determining, based at least partly on the received response from the server, whether the execution of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted.

5. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the executing, by the processing device, of the portion of the software directly from the rewritable removable medium to determine whether the execution, by the processing device, of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted further comprises:

determining at least one characteristic of the processing device to which the rewritable removable medium is currently associated, and

determining whether the execution, by the processing device, of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted based, at least in part, on the at least one characteristic of the processing device.

6. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the executing, by the processing device, of the portion of the software directly from the rewritable removable medium to determine whether the execution, by the processing device, of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted further comprises:

extracting, from a processing device to which the rewritable removable medium is currently associated, information for identifying the processing device, and

determining whether the execution of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted based, at least in part, on the information for identifying the processing device.

7. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the executing, by the processing device, of the portion of the software directly from the rewritable removable medium to determine whether the execution of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted further comprises:

verifying an existence of a valid tamper proof identifier on the processing device to which the rewritable removable medium is currently associated, and

determining whether the execution, by the processing device, of the executable software stored on the rewritable removable medium is permitted based, at least in part, on the verifying of the existence of the valid tamper proof identifier on the processing device.

8. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining at least one characteristic of the rewritable removable medium; and

altering functionality of the executable software based, at least in part, on the at least one determined characteristic of the rewritable removable medium.

9. A portable machine-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon for at least one processor of a processing device, the instructions comprising:

instructions for determining whether executable software stored on the portable machine-readable medium is permitted to be executed by the processing device to which the portable machine-readable medium is associated; and

instructions for permitting execution of the executable software, with unaltered behavior, by the processing device only when execution of the executable software stored on the portable machine-readable medium is determined to be permitted, the executable software stored on the portable machine-readable medium being arranged to be executed, by the processing device, directly from the portable machine-readable medium.

10. The portable machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for determining whether executable software stored on the portable machine-readable medium is permitted to be executed by the processing device to which the portable machine-readable medium is associated further comprises:

instructions for determining whether a characteristic of the portable machine-readable medium has a specific value or has a value within a predetermined range, execution of the executable software with the unaltered behavior to be permitted only when the characteristic of the portable machine-readable medium has the specific value or has the value within the predetermined range.

11. The portable machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for determining whether executable software stored on the portable machine-readable medium is permitted to be executed by the processing device to which the portable machine-readable medium is associated further comprises:

instructions for sending product information to a server,

instructions for receiving a server response responsive to the sending of the product information, and

instructions for determining whether the executable software stored on the portable machine-readable medium is permitted to be executed by the processing device based, at least partly, on the received server response.

12. The portable machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for determining whether executable software stored on the portable machine-readable medium is permitted to be executed by the processing device to which the portable machine-readable medium is associated further comprises:

instructions for submitting a data object to the portable machine-readable medium for signing of the data object with a private key, and

instructions for determining whether the signed data object has a valid signature, existence of the valid signature indicating that the execution of the executable software stored on the portable machine-readable medium is permitted, with unaltered behavior, by the processing device.

13. The portable machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for determining whether executable software stored on the portable machine-readable medium is permitted to be executed by a processing device to which the portable machine-readable medium is associated further comprises:

instructions for determining whether previously-stored processing device information included on the portable machine-readable medium matches information regarding the processing device, the executable software stored on the portable machine-readable medium being determined to be permitted to be executed, with the unaltered behavior, by the processing device only when the previously-stored processing device information matches the information regarding the processing device.

14. The portable machine-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

instructions for determining at least one characteristic of the portable machine-readable medium, and

instructions for altering functionality of the executable software based on the at least one determined characteristic of the portable machine-readable medium.

15. The portable machine-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

instructions for determining at least one characteristic of the portable machine-readable medium, and

instructions for altering functionality of the executable software based on the at least one determined characteristic of the portable machine-readable medium, wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one of a medium type, a medium speed, a medium security feature, or a storage capacity.

16. A portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium having instructions recorded thereon for at least one processor of a processing device, the instructions comprising:

instructions for executing, directly from the portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium, executable software stored on the portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium;

instructions for determining at least one characteristic of the portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium; and

instructions for altering a functionality of the executable software based on the determined at least one characteristic of the portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium.

17. The portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions for altering functionality of the executable software based on the determined at least one characteristic of the portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium further comprises:

preventing execution of the executable software.

18. The portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions for altering functionality of the executable software based on the determined at least one characteristic of the portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium further comprises:

permitting execution of some functions of the executable software, and

preventing execution of other functions of the executable software.

19. The portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium of claim 16, further comprising:

instructions for verifying an existence of a valid tamper proof identifier associated with the processing device; and

instructions for preventing the executing of the executable software as a result of a failure to verify the existence of the valid tamper proof identifier.

20. The portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium of claim 16, further comprising:

instructions for determining a speed of reading and writing with respect to the portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium; and

instructions for limiting a speed of execution of instructions of the executable software based, at least in part, on the determined speed of reading and writing with respect to the portable machine-readable and machine-writable medium.