Software Activation Systems

• US 20140040876A1
• Filed: 01/18/2012
• Published: 02/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RealVNC Ltd.
• Original Assignee: RealVNC Ltd.
• Inventors: Morley, Jason Barrie
• Granted Patent: US 9,110,759 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/172
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1063 Personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/125 by manipulating the program code, e.g. source code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

We describe a method of activating functionality of an item of software installed on a mobile device, the method comprising: installing said software on said mobile device, wherein said installing includes registering in an operating system of said mobile device a link between an application URI scheme and said software such that a URI having said application URI scheme will be passed to said installed software for processing; scanning a code into said mobile device, wherein said code includes a code URI comprising said application URI scheme and activation data for said item of software; interpreting said application scheme of said code URI using said registered link to pass said code URI to said installed software; and processing said code URI using said installed software to activate a function of said item of software using said activation data in said code URI.

Claims

1. A method of activating functionality of an item of software installed on a mobile device, the method comprising:

installing said software on said mobile device, wherein said installing includes registering in an operating system of said mobile device a link between an application URI scheme and said software such that a URI having said application URI scheme will be passed to said installed software for processing;

scanning a code into said mobile device, wherein said code includes a code URI comprising said application URI scheme and activation data for said item of software;

interpreting said application scheme of said code URI using said registered link to pass said code URI to said installed software; and

processing said code URI using said installed software to activate a function of said item of software using said activation data in said code URI.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said item of software is run by said operating system in response to interpretation of said scanned code to identify presence of said application URI in said code, wherein said code URI is passed to said item of software when said item of software is run, and wherein said running item of software then processes said activation data passed with said code URI to determine whether to activate said functionality of said item of software.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein said running item of software processes said activation data to validate said activation data by determining whether said activation data conforms to an allowed format.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising:

receiving from a user of said software, and forwarding to a server, a request for a said code for scanning, wherein said request for said code for scanning includes user identification data; and

providing to said user a said code for scanning, said activation data in said code for scanning being dependent on said user identification data; and

wherein said processing using said installed software processes said activation data to validate said activation data using said user identification data.

5. A method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising:

receiving from a user of said software, and forwarding to a server, a request for a said code for scanning, wherein said request for said code for scanning includes device identification data of said mobile device; and

providing to said user a said code for scanning, said activation data and said code for scanning being dependent on said device identification data; and

wherein said processing using said installed software processes said activation data to validate said activation data using said device identification data.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising retrieving a generic version of said item of software from a supplier, and wherein said generic version of said installed software validates said activation data without comparing with an internal data item unique to said retrieved generic item of software.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said scanning of said code comprises reading a 2D bar code including said code URI.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said scanning is performed by said mobile device.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said item of software comprises application software for said mobile device.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said registering comprises storing a pointer to said application software in a table indexed by said application URI scheme.

11. A method of activating functionality of an item of software installed on a mobile device, the method comprising:

installing said software on said mobile device, wherein said installing includes registering in an operating system of said mobile device a link between an application URI scheme and said software such that a URI having said application URI scheme will be passed to said installed software for processing;

receiving a code URI at said mobile device, said code URI comprising said application URI scheme and activation data for said item of software;

interpreting said application scheme of said code URI using said registered link to pass said code URI to said installed software; and

processing said code URI using said installed software to activate a function of said item of software using said activation data in said code URI.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein receiving said code URI at said mobile device comprises receiving an electronic message at said mobile device including said code URI, the method further comprising inputting a user activation of said code URI in said electronic message, and running said item of software in response to said user activation.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein said code URI is passed to said item of software when said item of software is run, and wherein said running item of software then processes said activation data passed with said code URI to determine whether to activate said functionality of said item of software.

14. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein said running item of software processes said activation data to validate said activation data by determining whether said activation data conforms to an allowed format.

15. A method as claimed in claim 12 further comprising:

receiving from a user of said software, and forwarding to a server, a request for a said electronic message, wherein said request for said code includes user identification data; and

providing to said user a said electronic message, said activation data in said electronic message being dependent on said user identification data; and

wherein said processing using said installed software processes said activation data to validate said activation data using said user identification data.

16. A method as claimed in claim 12 further comprising:

receiving from a user of said software, and forwarding to a server, a request for a said electronic message, wherein said request for said electronic message includes device identification data of said mobile device; and

providing to said user a said electronic message, said activation data and said electronic message being dependent on said device identification data; and

wherein said processing using said installed software processes said activation data to validate said activation data using said device identification data.

17. A method as claimed in claim 11 further comprising retrieving a generic version of said item of software from a supplier, and wherein said generic version of said installed software validates said activation data without comparing with an internal data item unique to said retrieved generic item of software.

18. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein said item of software comprises application software for said mobile device.

19. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein said registering comprises storing a pointer to said application software in a table indexed by said application URI scheme.

20-21. -21. (canceled)

22. A mobile device configured to selectively activate a function of an item of software installed on the mobile device, the mobile device comprising:

software to receive a code into the mobile device, wherein said code includes a code URI comprising an application URI scheme and activation data for said item of software; and

a table of an operating system of said mobile device, said table storing a link between said application URI scheme and said installed item of software;

wherein said installed item of software is configured to validate said activation data to activate a function of said installed item of software; and

wherein said mobile device is configured such that scanning a said code URI using said scanning software executes said installed item of software to process said scanned code URI to activate a said function.

23. A mobile device as claimed in claim 22 wherein said software to receive said code comprises scanning software to scan said code into said mobile device.

24-28. -28. (canceled)