BENCHMARK MEASUREMENT FOR LEGITIMATE DUPLICATION VALIDATION

• US 20130047267A1
• Filed: 08/17/2011
• Published: 02/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment America (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Lipscomb, Carter
• Granted Patent: US 8,826,456 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/00 Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level

Abstract

A system and method for detecting piracy of a software product that is distributed on a particular media type is described. Embodiments of the invention track a title load time of a software product that is distributed on a particular media type, and compare it against a benchmark load time for that media type. This comparison is used to detect if the title may have been illegally transferred or pirated to another, unauthorized media type.

Claims

1. A method for validating legitimate media products associated with a legitimate media type, the method comprising:

loading a first media product having a first media type on a computing device;

measuring a first load time for the first media product on the computing device;

establishing a threshold range of acceptable first load times using a second load time associated with the legitimate media type; and

determining whether the first load time is within the threshold range.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the first media product on the computing device if the first load time is within the threshold range; and

deactivating the first media product on the computing device if the first load time is outside of the threshold range.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second load time is a benchmark load time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first load time and the second load time are total load times.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first load time comprises a plurality of first segments, and the second load time comprises a plurality of second segments.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

comparing one or more of the first segments to one or more corresponding second segments.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

comparing one or more first load actions associated with the first segments to one or more second load actions associated with the corresponding second segments.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

identifying a first sequence of the first load actions;

identifying a second sequence of the second load actions; and

comparing the first sequence to the second sequence.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting user identification information; and

comparing the user identification information with legitimate media product information associated with one or more of the legitimate media products.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

executing the first media product on the computing device if the user identification information is consistent with the legitimate media product information; and

deactivating the first media product on the computing device if the user identification information is inconsistent with the legitimate media product information.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the user identification information comprises a reported media type of the first media product, and wherein the legitimate media product information comprises an identification of the legitimate media type.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the user identification information comprises a first serial number of the first media product, and wherein the legitimate media product information comprises an identification of one or more legitimate serial numbers.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

establishing a user reputation rating corresponding to a number of invalid requests associated with the user identification information; and

establishing an acceptable threshold user reputation rating.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

executing the first media product on the computing device if the user reputation rating is below the acceptable threshold user reputation rating; and

deactivating the first media product on the computing device if the user reputation rating is at or above the acceptable threshold user reputation rating.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a failure count corresponding to a number of failed validation tests associated with the first media product; and

establishing an acceptable threshold failure count.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

executing the first media product on the computing device if the failure count is below the acceptable threshold failure count; and

deactivating the first media product on the computing device if the failure count is at or above the acceptable threshold failure count.

17. A system for validating legitimate media products associated with a legitimate media type, the system comprising:

a computing device that loads a first media product having a first media type and that measures a first load time for the first media product;

a processor that calculates a second load time for the legitimate media type, establishes a threshold range of acceptable first load times using the second load time, and determines whether the first load time is within the threshold range; and

a memory coupled to the processor.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor further:

executes the first media product if the first load time is within the threshold range; and

pushes a deactivation key on the computing device if the first load time is outside of the threshold range.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor further:

requests user identification information from the computing device if the first load time is outside of the threshold range; and

compares the user identification information with legitimate media product information associated with one or more of the legitimate media products.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor further:

executes the first media product if the user identification information is consistent with the legitimate media product information.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the processor pushes a deactivation key on the computing device if the user identification information is inconsistent with the legitimate media product information.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the user identification information comprises a reported media type of the first media product, and wherein the legitimate media product information comprises an identification of the legitimate media type.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the user identification information comprises a first serial number of the first media product, and wherein the legitimate media product information comprises an identification of one or more legitimate serial numbers.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor further:

establishes a user reputation rating corresponding to a number of invalid requests associated with the user identification information; and

establishes an acceptable threshold user reputation rating.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the processor further:

executes the media product if the user reputation rating is below the acceptable threshold user reputation rating; and

pushes a deactivation key on the computing device if the user reputation rating is at or above the acceptable threshold user reputation rating.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor further:

establishes a failure count corresponding to a number of failed validation tests associated with the first media product; and

establishes an acceptable threshold failure count.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the processor further:

executes the media product if the failure count is below the acceptable threshold failure count; and

pushes a deactivation key on the computing device if the failure count is at or above the acceptable threshold failure count.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein the first load time and the second load time are total load times.

29. The system of claim 17, wherein the first load time comprises a plurality of first segments, and the second load times comprises a plurality of second segments.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the processor further compares one or more of the first segments to one or more corresponding second segments.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the processor further compares one or more first load actions associated with the first segments to one or more second load actions associated with the corresponding second segments.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the processor further:

identifies a first sequence of the first load actions;

identifies a second sequence of the second load actions; and

compares the first sequence to the second sequence.

33. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

a display coupled to the computing device that displays the executed first media product.