Method and apparatus for establishing the legitimacy of use of a block of digitally represented information

• US 5,893,910 A
• Filed: 01/04/1996
• Issued: 04/13/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: SoftGuard Enterprises, Inc. (Institute of BioMedical Research Corp.)
• Original Assignee: SoftGuard Enterprises, Inc. (Institute of BioMedical Research Corp.)
• Inventors: Spackman, Stephen P., Martineau, Pierre G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kulik, Paul V.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROBINSON, GRETA LEE
• Application Number:
  US08/582,736
• Time in Patent Office: 1,195 Days
• Field of Search: 395/601, 395/616, 395/609, 395/619, 395/186, 395/712, 326/8, 380/3, 380/4, 707/1, 707/9, 707/200, 707/203, 707/10, 707/104
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/007 Encryption, En-/decode, En-/decipher, En-/decypher, Scramble, (De-)compress
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

Method and apparatus for establishing the legitimacy of use of a block of digitally represented information residing in a computer of a user. The block of digitally represented information may be a text file, a sound recording, a graphical file or a software file. The computer includes a program that processes the selected file to generate a substantially unique identification code. The code is transmitted to a server that contains a listing of files correlated to status data, indicative of whether the file is proprietary material and the conditions associated with its use. If the server locates an entry in its database it retrieves the status data and transmits it to the user'"'"'s computer. In the event the identification code issued by the user'"'"'s computer is not sufficiently discriminative, i.e., it does not allow the server to uniquely identify the file, the server transmits an algorithm identifier to the user'"'"'s computer allowing the file to be re-processed with a new algorithm to generate a more distinctive identification code.

Claims

1. A server system for supplying status data relative to a block of digitally represented information stored on a client computer, said system comprising:

data processing means, including;

a) memory means;

b) means for receiving an identification code generated by the computer, the identification code being representative of the contents of the block of digitally represented information relative to other blocks of digital data also residing on the client computer;

c) said memory means containing a table establishing a correlation between possible identification codes that said data processing means is susceptible to receive and status data associated with each identification code;

d) means for generating;

i) status data in the event of a match between the identification code generated by the client computer and an identification code stored in said table;

ii) data in the event of an inexact match for allowing the client computer to produce a new identification code for the block of digitally represented information;

iii) data indicative of a no match condition in the event of no match between the identification code generated by the client computer and an identification code stored in said table.

2. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said status data indicates that the block of digitally represented information is proprietary.

3. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said data allowing the client computer to produce a new identification code for the block of digitally represented information is indicative of a predetermined algorithm to process the block of digitally represented information.

4. A system as defined in claim 1, comprising a list of algorithm identifiers stored in said memory, the algorithms pointed to by said list of identifiers being capable of processing the block of digitally represented information to produce an identification code.

5. A system as defined in claim 4, further comprising means for selecting a particular algorithm identifier in said list and transmitting the selected list identifier to the client computer.

6. A system as defined in claim 1, further comprising means for transmitting with said status data, promotional data relative to the block of digitally represented information.

7. A client system for auditing a block of digitally represented information to determine the legitimate usage of the digitally represented information, said client system comprising:

data processing means;

memory means operatively connected to said data processing means, said memory means storing the block of digitally represented information;

display means operatively connected to said data processing means;

said data processing means providing means for;

a) processing the block of digitally represented information to generate an identification code representative of the contents of the block of digitally represented information relative to other blocks of digital data also residing in said memory means;

b) transmitting said identification code to a remote server computer that is capable of generating either one of status data and algorithm data;

c) said processing means being capable of processing status data received from the remote server computer to generate information on said display means relative to a legitimacy of usage of the block of digitally represented information;

d) in response to algorithm data said data processing means processing the block of digitally represented information according to an algorithm correlated to said algorithm data to generate a new identification code for transmission to the remote server computer.

8. A system as defined in claim 7, comprising user input means in operative relationship with said data processing means for transmitting data to said data processing means indicative of a legitimacy of usage of a certain block of digitally represented information.

9. A system as defined in claim 8, wherein said memory means includes a table establishing a correlation between blocks of digitally represented information residing in said memory means and data indicative of legitimacy of usage of each said block of digitally represented information.

10. A system as defined in claim 9, wherein said data processing means being capable of searching said table in response to status data received from the remote server computer for an entry corresponding to the identification code transmitted to the remote server computer prior to issuance of the status data, if an entry is located that matches the identification code said data processing means retrieving and displaying on said display means the data indicative of the legitimacy of usage of the block of digitally represented information.

11. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein said data processing means being capable of searching said table in response to status data received from the remote server computer for an entry corresponding to the identification code transmitted to the remote server computer prior to issuance of the status data, if no entry is located that matches the identification code said data processing means displaying legitimacy of usage embedded in the status data.

12. A method for implementation on a client computer for establishing a legitimacy of usage of a block of digitally stored information residing in a memory, said method comprising the steps of:

processing the block of digitally stored information to generate an identification code representative of the contents of the block of digitally represented information relative to other blocks of digital data also residing in said memory;

transmitting said identification code to a remote server computer containing a table establishing a correlation between a plurality of identification codes and status data being indicative of a legitimacy of usage of the block of digitally represented data represented by the associated identification code;

searching said table and generating;

i) status data in the event of a match between the identification code generated by the client and an identification code stored in said table;

ii) algorithm data in the event of an inexact match between the identification code generated by the client and an identification code stored in said table for allowing the client computer to produce a new identification code for the block of digitally represneted information;

iii) data indicative of a no match condition in the event of no match between the identification code generated by the client computer and an identification code stored in said table.

13. A method for auditing a block of digitally represented information to determine legitimate usage of the digitally represented information stored in a memory, said method comprising the steps of:

a) processing the block of digitally represented information to generate an identification code representative of the contents of the block of digitally represented information relative to other blocks of digital data also residing in said memory means;

b) transmitting said identification code to a remote computer that is capable of generating either one of status data and algorithm data;

c) processing status data received from the remote computer to generate information on said display means relative to a legitimacy of usage of the block of digitally represented information;

d) in response to algorithm data processing the block of digitally represented information according to an algorithm correlated to said algorithm data to generate a new identification code for transmission to the remote computer.

14. A machine readable storage medium for directing a client computer to perform an operation for establishing a legitimacy of usage of a block of digitally stored information residing in a memory associated with said client computer, said storage medium comprising;

means for directing said client computer to process the block of digitally stored information to generate an identification code representative of the contents of the block of digitally represented information relative to other blocks of digital data also residing in said memory;

means for directing said client computer to transmit said identification code to a remote server computer containing a table establishing a correlation between a plurality of identification codes and status data associated with each identification code, said status data being indicative of a legitimacy of usage of the block of digitally represented data represented by the associated identification code;

means for directing the server computer for searching said table for generating;

i) status data in the event of a match between the identification code generated by the client computer and an identification code stored in said table;

ii) algorithm data in the event of an inexact match between the identification code generated by the client computer and an identification code stored in said table for allowing the client computer to produce a new identification code for the block of digitally represented information;

iii) data indicative of a no match condition in the event of no match between the identification code generated by the client computer and an identification code stored in said table.

15. A machine readable storage medium for directing a client computer to audit a block of digitally represented information stored in a memory associated with said client computer to determine the legitimate usage of the digitally represented information, said machine readable medium comprising;

a) means for directing said client computer to generate an identification code representative of the contents of the block of digitally represented information relative to other blocks of digital data also residing in said memory means;

b) means for directing said client computer to transmit said identification code to a remote server computer that is capable of generating either one of status data and algorithm data;

c) means for directing said client computer to process status data received from the remote server computer to generate information on said display means relative to a legitimacy of usage of the block of digitally represented information;

d) means for directing said client computer to process the block of digitally represented information, in response to algorithm data received from the remote server computer, according to an algorithm correlated to said algorithm data to generate a new identification code for transmission to the remote server computer.