METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO DIRECLTY RENDER AN IMAGE AND CORRELATE CORRESPONDING USER INPUT IN A SECUIRE MEMORY DOMAIN

• US 20100169666A1
• Filed: 12/31/2008
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Dewan, Prashant, Durham, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,364,601 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/190
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation

Abstract

Methods and systems to assign an application and a video frame buffer to a protected memory domain to render an image of a keyboard from the protected memory domain to a random position of the video frame buffer and correlate user input from a pointing device to the rendered keyboard image. The keyboard image may be randomly repositioned following a user input. The keyboard image may be rendered over a secure user image. An acknowledgment image may be rendered from the protected memory domain to a random position of the video frame buffer, and may be randomly repositioned in response to a user input that does not correlate to the acknowledgment image. User inputs that do not correlate to a randomly positioned image may be counted, and one or more processes may be aborted when the number of non-correlated user inputs exceeds a threshold.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

initiating at least a portion of an application program in an access-protected memory domain;

assigning a video frame buffer to the access-protected memory domain;

rendering a keyboard image to a random position in the video frame buffer;

correlating coordinates of a user input with a key of the rendered keyboard image;

storing an indication of the key in the access-protected memory domain;

re-rendering the keyboard image to another random position in the video frame buffer in response to the user input;

repeating the correlating and the storing with respect to an another user input; and

outputting the indications of the keys from the access-protected memory domain;

wherein the assigning, the rendering, the correlating, the storing, the re-rendering, the repeating, and the outputting are performed under control of the at least the portion of the application program in the access-protected memory domain.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

maintaining translations between physical addresses and virtual addresses associated with the video frame buffer, the keyboard image, and the application program and corresponding data in one or more protected page tables;

limiting access to the protected page tables substantially to the application program; and

identifying a translation between a physical address and a virtual address associated with a pointer to the video frame buffer as unavailable in an active page table.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiating the at least the portion of the application program includes loading, authenticating, and initiating the at least the portion of the application program in the protected memory domain under control of a trusted execution module.

4. The method of claim 1, further including:

interfacing with a remote computer system over a communication network;

detecting a prompt for user information from the remote computer system; and

invoking the at least the portion of the application program in the access-protected memory domain in response to the prompt;

wherein the outputting includes populating the prompt with the indications of the keys and returning the populated prompt to the remote computer system over the communication network.

5. The method of claim 1, further including:

incrementing an error count when the user input does not correlate to the keyboard image;

aborting at least a portion of the application when the error count exceeds a threshold; and

re-rendering the keyboard image to another random position in the video frame buffer when the user input does not correlate to the keyboard image and the error count is below the threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, further including:

loading and decrypting a user image in the access-protected memory domain;

wherein the rendering the keyboard image and the re-rendering the keyboard image each include rendering the keyboard image over at least a portion of the user image to the corresponding random position in the video frame buffer.

7. The method of claim 6, further including:

incrementing an error count when the user input does not correlate to the keyboard image;

aborting at least a portion of the application when the error count exceeds a threshold; and

re-rendering the keyboard image over at least the portion of the user image to another random position in the video frame buffer when the user input does not correlate to the keyboard image and the error count is below the threshold.

8. The method of claim 7, further including:

rendering an acknowledgment image over at least a portion of the user image to a random position in the video frame buffer when user data entry is complete;

correlating coordinates of a subsequent user input with the rendered acknowledgment image;

outputting the indication of the keys in response to a correlation between the coordinates of the subsequent user input and the acknowledgment image;

incrementing the error count when the subsequent user input does not correlate to the acknowledgment image;

re-rendering the acknowledgment image over at least a portion of the user image to another random position in the video frame buffer when the subsequent user input does not correlate to the acknowledgment image and the error count is below the threshold; and

aborting at least a portion of the application when the error count exceeds a threshold.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the assigning the video frame buffer to the access-protected memory domain includes assigning a portion of the video frame buffer to the access-protected memory domain and permitting a remaining portion of the video frame buffer to be accessed by one or more processes outside of the access-protected memory domain; and

the rendering and the re-rendering are performed with respect to the portion of the video frame buffer assigned to the access-protected memory domain.

10. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer program logic stored therein to cause a processor to perform functions in response thereto, the computer program product including:

memory protection logic to cause a processor to configure an access-protected memory domain; and

application logic to cause the processor to assign a video frame buffer to the access-protected memory domain, and to cause the processor to render a keyboard image from the access-protected memory domain to a random position in the video frame buffer, re-render the keyboard image from the access-protected memory domain to another random position of the video frame buffer in response to a user input, correlate coordinates of user inputs with keys of the keyboard image, store indications of the corresponding keys in the access-protected memory domain, and output the indications of the keys from the access-protected memory domain.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, further including trusted execution logic to load, authenticate, and initiate at least a portion of the application logic in the protected memory domain.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the application logic includes:

image decrypt logic to cause the processor to load and decrypt a user image in the protected memory domain; and

render logic to cause the processor to render and re-render the keyboard image from the access-protected memory domain to the random positions of the video frame buffer and over the decrypted user image.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the render logic includes:

logic to cause the processor to render an acknowledgment image from the access-protected memory domain to a random position of the video frame buffer over the decrypted user image, in response to entry of user data.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the application logic further includes:

abort logic to cause the processor to count user inputs that do not correlate to a rendered image and to interrupt the application, or a portion thereof, when a number non-correlated user inputs exceeds a threshold.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, further including:

prompt detect logic to cause the processor to detect a prompt for user-input from a remote computer system;

invoke logic to cause the processor to invoke the memory protection logic and to invoke the application in a corresponding access-protected memory domain in response to a detected prompt; and

logic to cause the processor to populate the prompt with the indications of the keys and output the populated prompt to the remote computer system.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the prompt detect logic includes browser plug-in logic to cause the processor to detect the prompt while executing browser logic.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the browser plug-in logic includes logic to cause the processor to detect the prompt substantially without modification of a corresponding web site of the remote computer system.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the browser plug-in logic includes logic to cause the processor to intercept one or more of a secure sockets layer channel and a transport layer security channel between the processor and the remote computer system.

19. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the memory protection logic includes:

logic to cause the processor to maintain translations between physical addresses and virtual addresses associated with the video frame buffer, the keyboard image, and the application program and corresponding data in one or more protected page tables;

logic to cause the processor to limit access to the protected page tables substantially to the application program; and

logic to cause the processor to identify a translation between a physical address and a virtual address associated with a pointer to the video frame buffer as unavailable in an active page table.

20. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a graphics processor;

memory coupled to the processor, the memory having a video frame buffer defined therein that is accessible to the graphics processor; and

a computer program product within the memory, including a computer readable medium having computer program logic stored therein to cause a processor to perform functions in response thereto, the computer program product including,

memory protection logic to cause a processor to configure an access-protected memory domain within the memory,

application logic to cause the processor to assign the video frame buffer to the access-protected memory domain, and to cause the processor to render a keyboard image from the access-protected memory domain to a random position in the video frame buffer, re-render the keyboard image from the access-protected memory domain to another random position of the video frame buffer in response to a user input, correlate coordinates of user inputs with keys of the keyboard image, store indications of the corresponding keys in the access-protected memory domain, and output the indications of the keys from the access-protected memory domain; and

trusted execution logic to cause the processor to load, authenticate, and initiate at least a portion of the user-application logic in the access-protected memory domain.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the application logic includes:

image decrypt logic to cause the processor to load and decrypt a user image in the protected memory domain; and

render logic to cause the processor to render and re-render the keyboard image from the access-protected memory domain to the random positions of the video frame buffer and over the decrypted user image.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the render logic includes:

logic to cause the processor to render an acknowledgment image from the access-protected memory domain to a random position of the video frame buffer over the decrypted user image, in response to entry of user data.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the application logic further includes:

abort logic to cause the processor to count user inputs that do not correlate to a rendered image and to interrupt the application, or a portion thereof, when a number non-correlated user inputs exceeds a threshold.