Intelligent security device
First Claim
1. A software protection device for connection to a communications port of a host computer, comprising:
- a memory for storing data therein in an encoded form;
processing means for encoding data to be stored in said memory, and further for decoding data to be retrieved from said memory, and further for performing calculations on the data;
data level conversion means for connecting said processing means to the host computer such that data output from the host computer is converted into a form usable by said processing means, and further such that data output from said processing means is converted into a form usable by said host computer; and
power isolation means for interconnecting the software protection device to the host computer such that the software protection device draws operating power from the host computer, wherein;
said processing means uses a data encryption scheme stored in said memory to encode and to decode the data;
a code is required to access said data encryption schemesaid memory and said processing means being components of the software protection device provided for supplementing the computer which are housed together in a unitary integrated circuit device package such that data contained within said memory can only be retrieved in usable form by the operation of decoding the data through said processing means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An intelligent security device (10) is disclosed for protecting computer software from unauthorized use. The security device (10) is a hardware device having within a microprocessor (36) for interacting with a host computer (32) such that protected software may not be operated unless the security device (10) is in place. Physical duplication of the security device (10) will not result in a workable copy, due to the nature of the microprocessor (36), which is such that information is encoded therein and further such that encryption codes are also stored therein and cannot be discovered after the microprocessor (36) is locked by any known means. A system clock (21) within the microprocessor (36) is adaptable to the purpose of permitting use of the protected software only within limited time parameters.
82 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A software protection device for connection to a communications port of a host computer, comprising:
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a memory for storing data therein in an encoded form; processing means for encoding data to be stored in said memory, and further for decoding data to be retrieved from said memory, and further for performing calculations on the data; data level conversion means for connecting said processing means to the host computer such that data output from the host computer is converted into a form usable by said processing means, and further such that data output from said processing means is converted into a form usable by said host computer; and power isolation means for interconnecting the software protection device to the host computer such that the software protection device draws operating power from the host computer, wherein; said processing means uses a data encryption scheme stored in said memory to encode and to decode the data; a code is required to access said data encryption scheme said memory and said processing means being components of the software protection device provided for supplementing the computer which are housed together in a unitary integrated circuit device package such that data contained within said memory can only be retrieved in usable form by the operation of decoding the data through said processing means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification