Method and manufacture for preventing unauthorized use by judging the corresponding relationship between logical and physical addresses

• US 5,661,800 A
• Filed: 06/28/1996
• Issued: 08/26/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Nakashima, Kazuo, Naito, Kazunori
• Primary Examiner(s): Swann, Tod R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SAUNDERS, KEITH
• Application Number:
  US08/672,399
• Time in Patent Office: 424 Days
• Field of Search: 380/4, 380/3, 380/5, 395/490, 395/404, 369/54, 369/58, 360/60, 364/286.6
• US Class Current: 726/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/145 the protection being virtual, e.g. for virtual blocks or segments before a translation mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/101 by binding digital rights to specific entities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/80 in storage media based on magnetic or optical technology, e.g. disks with sectors preventing unauthorised reproduction or copying of disc-type recordable media G11B20/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/007 Encryption, En-/decode, En-/decipher, En-/decypher, Scramble, (De-)compress
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00094 involving measures which result in a restriction to authorised record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00115 wherein the record carrier stores a unique medium identifier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00123 the record carrier being identified by recognising some of its unique characteristics, e.g. a unique defect pattern serving as a physical signature of the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00173 wherein the origin of the content is checked, e.g. determining whether the content has originally been retrieved from a legal disc copy or another trusted source
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0021 involving encryption or decryption of contents recorded on or reproduced from a record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00492 wherein content or user data is encrypted
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00949 said intentional errors occurring due to bad sectors, which are either physically destroyed or which are declared defective in the defect management information
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00963 wherein said defects or errors are not generated on purpose, e.g. random defect patterns occurring during the normal manufacture
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10 Digital recording or reproducing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1883 Methods for assignment of alternate areas for defective areas
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1889 with discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/20 Disc-shaped record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/007 Arrangement of the information on the record carrier, e.g. form of tracks , actual track shape, e.g. wobbled, or cross-section, e.g. v-shaped; Sequential information structures, e.g. sectoring or header formats within a track

Abstract

In case that software is written on a recording medium at physical addresses thereof in units of a prescribed size and the software is subsequently executed upon being read out of the recording medium from the physical addresses in the order of logical addresses, the corresponding relationship between the logical addresses of the software and the physical addresses conforming to the logical addresses, as well as a checking program for preventing unlawful use of the software, is added on to the main body of the software, which is then recorded on an original. Before execution of the software that has been recorded on a recording medium (the original or a copy), the corresponding relationship between the logical and physical addresses on this recording medium is obtained by the checking program. The corresponding relationship obtained and the corresponding relationship that has been added to the software are compared. If the two agree, it is deemed that the recording medium is the original and execution of the main body of the software is allowed. If the two do not agree, execution of the main body of software is not allowed.

Claims

1. A method of preventing unauthorized use in a system for reading software/data from physical addresses on a recording medium in accordance with logical addresses instructed by a controller comprising steps of:

reading relationship information between the physical addresses and the logical addresses on said recording medium for reading the software/data;

reading original relationship information between the physical addresses and the logical addresses, for reading from an original recording medium, from the recording medium;

comparing between the relationship information and the original relationship information;

identifying unauthorized use of the software/data based on a comparison between the relationship information and the original relationship information.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising steps of:

arranging the relationship information or the original relationship information so as to be able to compare with each other.

3. The method according to claim 1, said judging step comprising steps of:

allowing to read the software/data from the recording medium when the relationship information agree to the original relationship information; and

disallowing to read the software/data from the recording medium when the relationship information disagrees to the original relationship information.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of copying the software/data on an recording medium so that the relationship information for reading the software/data from the copied medium differs from the original relationship information of the original recording medium.

5. The method according to claim 1, the logical and physical addresses are correlated randomly in such a manner that the correspondence between the logical addresses and physical addresses in the original relationship will not become a simple rising or falling sequence.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relationship information between said logical addresses and physical addresses on the recording medium is obtained from file management information that has been written in a file management area of the recording medium.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said logical addresses are assigned in cluster units.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said physical addresses are assigned in sector units, a prescribed sector of the recording medium is regarded as being a defective sector and part of the software is recorded in an alternate sector that corresponds to said defective sector to complicate the relationship on the original.

9. A recording medium comprising:

software/data storing area for storing software which are read from physical addresses on an recording medium in accordance with logical addresses instructed by a controller;

relationship information storing area for storing information of relationship between said physical addresses and said logical addresses for reading the software/data from the recording medium; and

original relationship information storing area for storing original relationship information between the physical addresses and the logical addresses, for reading the software/data from an original recording medium and for identifying unauthorized use of the software/data based on a comparison between said relationship information and said original relationship information.

10. A method of preventing unauthorized use in a system wherein software is written in a recording medium at prescribed physical addresses thereof, the software is read out from these physical addresses in the order of logical addresses and the software is executed, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a table, which stores a corresponding relationship between the physical addresses and the logical addresses of the software, and a security program for preventing unauthorized use of the software;

obtaining a corresponding relationship between physical addresses on the recording medium, on which the software has been stored, and logical addresses by executing the security program before said software is executed;

comparing this corresponding relationship with the corresponding relationship in said table; and

preventing unauthorized use of the software by disallowing execution of the software in a case where result of the comparison indicates that use of the software would be unauthorized.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein when the software has been copied, it is so arranged that correspondence between logical addresses and physical addresses on the copy will differ from the corresponding relationship on the original.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the logical and physical addresses are correlated randomly in such a manner that the correspondence between the logical addresses and physical addresses in the corresponding relationship of the original will not become a simple rising or falling sequence.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the corresponding relationship between said logical addresses and physical addresses on the recording medium is obtained from file management information that has been written in a file management area of the recording medium.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein said addresses are assigned in cluster units.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein said addresses are assigned in sector units, a prescribed sector of the recording medium is regarded as being a defective sector and part of the software is recorded in an alternate sector that corresponds to said defective sector to complicate the corresponding relationship on the original.