METHOD AND DEVICE FOR SECURELY DISPLAYING DIGITAL CONTENT ON A COMPUTING DEVICE

• US 20110161145A1
• Filed: 12/26/2009
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ajay Sharma, Ayeshwarya B. Mahajan, Gyan Prakash, Hormuzd Khosravi, K. P. Sameer, Munier Shah, Neel H. Bhatia, Rajesh Poornachandran, Saurabh Dadu
• Original Assignee: Ajay Sharma, Ayeshwarya B. Mahajan, Gyan Prakash, Hormuzd Khosravi, K. P. Sameer, Munier Shah, Neel H. Bhatia, Rajesh Poornachandran, Saurabh Dadu
• Inventors: Bhatia, Neel H., Sharma, Ajay, Mahajan, Ayeshwarya B., Sameer, K. P., Shah, Munier, Prakash, Gyan, Dadu, Saurabh, Poornachandran, Rajesh, Khosravi, Hormuzd
• Application Number:
  US12/647,448
• Publication Number:
  US 20110161145A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements

Abstract

A method and device for securely displaying digital content, such as an advertisement, on a computing device includes establishing an advertisement enforcement module in a secured environment on the computing device. The computing device receives advertisements from a remote advertisement server, which are validated by the advertisement enforcement module. The advertisement enforcement module ensures that the advertisement is displayed on the computing device in a secure manner and monitors for tampering of the advertisement and advertisement service by the user of the device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing an advertisement display module and an advertisement enforcement module on a computing device;

allocating an advertisement reserved display space on a display of the computing device;

establishing a trust relationship between a computing device and a trusted advertisement provider server;

receiving an advertisement from the trusted advertisement provider server with the advertisement enforcement module;

validating the advertisement with the advertisement enforcement module;

displaying the advertisement in the advertisement reserved display space using the advertisement display module in response to the advertisement being validated; and

verifying that the advertisement is being displayed on the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the advertisement enforcement module comprises establishing the advertisement enforcement module in a secured boot environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the advertisement enforcement module comprises executing the advertisement enforcement module on an out-of-band processor of the computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the advertisement from the advertisement provider server comprises receiving an advertisement including a digital watermark, the digital watermark being generated by the advertisement provider server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the advertisement from the advertisement provider server comprises receiving an encrypted advertisement, the encrypted advertisement being encrypted by the advertisement provider server.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein validating the advertisement comprises decrypting the encrypted advertisement using the advertisement enforcement module.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

displaying the advertisement in the advertisement reserved display space comprises moving advertisement reserved display space from a first position to a second position, and

verifying the advertisement comprises verifying that the advertisement reserved display space is visible in the second position.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the advertisement comprises re-sizing the advertisement based on a size of the advertisement reserved display space.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying that the advertisement is being displayed comprises:

periodically transmitting a communication from the advertisement display module to the advertisement enforcement module; and

determining an occurrence of an advertisement security event if the communication is not received by the advertisement enforcement module within a predetermined time period.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying that the advertisement is being displayed comprises:

generating a screen capture of a display of the computing device; and

transmitting to the advertisement provider server at least one of (i) the screen capture and (ii) a pattern signature generated from the screen capture.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting the screen capture comprises encrypting the at least one of (i) the screen capture and (ii) the pattern signature using the advertisement enforcement module.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying that the advertisement is being displayed comprises:

generating data indicative of a user'"'"'s activity on the computing device;

encrypting the data using the advertisement enforcement module; and

transmitting the encrypted data to the advertisement provider server.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying that the advertisement is being displayed comprises:

monitoring, on the computing device, a user'"'"'s interaction with the advertisement; and

transmitting data indicative of the user'"'"'s interaction with the advertisement to the advertisement provider server.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying that the advertisement is being displayed comprises:

receiving, on the computing device, notification from the advertisement provider server of an advertisement security event; and

responding to the advertisement security event with the advertisement enforcement module.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying that the advertisement is being displayed comprises:

determining an occurrence of an advertisement security event; and

responding to the advertisement security event with the advertisement enforcement module, wherein responding to the advertisement security event comprises performing at least one of the following actions;

rebooting the computing device, notifying a user of the computing device, interrupting network communications of the computing device, and reducing a user'"'"'s control of the computing device.

16. A tangible, machine readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed, result in a computing device:

establishing a reserved display space on a display of the computing device;

receiving digital content from a digital content provider server;

displaying the digital content on the computing device in the reserved display space;

generating data indicative of a user'"'"'s interaction with the reserved display space; and

transmitting the data indicative of the user'"'"'s interaction to the digital content provider server.

17. The tangible, machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein generating data indicative of a user'"'"'s interaction with the reserved display space comprises monitoring the user'"'"'s selection of the digital content displayed in the advertisement reserved display space.

18. The tangible, machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein the plurality of instructions further result in the computing device encrypting data indicative of the user'"'"'s interaction with the reserved display space.

19. A computing device comprising:

a display having a display space

a digital content enforcement module;

a processor; and

a memory device having stored therein a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the digital content enforcement module to;

receive digital content from a remote computing device;

validate the digital content to cause the digital content to be displayed on the display in a pre-allocated display space less than the entirety of the display space; and

verify that the digital content is being displayed on the computing device within the pre-allocated display area.

20. The computing device of claim 19, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the digital content enforcement module to record a user'"'"'s interaction with the digital content displayed in the pre-allocate display space.