Commercial online software distribution systems and methods using encryption for security
DCFirst Claim
1. A method of distributing software updates via an on-line computer system that, in use, is connectable to a customer computer system located remotely to said on-line computer system, said method comprising:
- (a) storing a first version of software on said remote computer system;
(b) establishing a virtual disk drive;
(c) storing a second version of said software on said virtual disk drive;
(d) establishing a real time telecommunications link between said on-line computer system and said remote computer system;
(e) copying, over said link, said second software version from said virtual disk drive to said remote computer system to update said stored first software version; and
(f) charging a fee for said updating.
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Litigations
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Accused Products
Abstract
A customer computer connects to an online service provider by phone, Internet, or other telecommunications link. The link gives the customer access to additional processing and storage resources such as virtual storage, processing power and/or additional software or data through interaction between the customer computer and an online service provider computer over the link. The additional resources made available to the customer computer enhance the customers'"'"' local needs through access to virtual storage, a more powerful processor of similar type for program execution, and/or online support services such as software rental, software sales, release update services, anti-viral services, data backup and recovery services, diagnostic services and/or repair services.
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Citations
94 Claims
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1. A method of distributing software updates via an on-line computer system that, in use, is connectable to a customer computer system located remotely to said on-line computer system, said method comprising:
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(a) storing a first version of software on said remote computer system; (b) establishing a virtual disk drive; (c) storing a second version of said software on said virtual disk drive; (d) establishing a real time telecommunications link between said on-line computer system and said remote computer system; (e) copying, over said link, said second software version from said virtual disk drive to said remote computer system to update said stored first software version; and (f) charging a fee for said updating. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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2. A method of distributing software for an on-line computer system to a customer computer system located remotely to said on-line computer system, said method comprising:
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(a) establishing N virtual disk drives at the online computer system, N being an integer; (b) storing N software programs, one on each of said N virtual disk drives; (c) establishing a real time telecommunications link between said online computer system and [a] the remote computer system; (d) selecting one of said N software programs; and (e) attaching one of said N virtual disk drives to said remote computer system, including selecting said one virtual disk drive to attach based on the results of said selecting step (d).
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3. An online computer system providing commercial software distribution services to remote customer computers without requiring an external special purpose remote control security hardware module at said customer computers in order to interface with said online computer system, said system performing the following steps:
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(a) establishing a customer relationship between a customer and an online service provider providing a software rental service, said customer having a customer'"'"'s computer associated therewith; (b) establishing a telecommunications link between the customer'"'"'s computer and the online computer system; (c) validating a customer'"'"'s access to at least one software program for rental provided by the online service provider; (d) allowing the customer to select the at least one software program for rental purposes from the online service provider; (e) conditioned at least in part on validating step (c), allowing the customer to execute the software program selected in step (d) in the customer computer'"'"'s processor, including the steps of; (1) encrypting at least a part of the online service provider software rental program selected in step (d), (2) transmitting the encrypted software rental program to the customer computer, (3) decrypting the software rental program transmitted in step (2), and (4) loading the software rental program decrypted in step (3) into the customer computer processor for execution; (f) restricting said customer from making a copy of at least said decrypted software rental program; (g) conditioned at least in part on completion of software program execution in step (e), deactivating said software rental program by performing at least one of; (1) deleting said software rental program from said customer computer, and (2) disabling said software rental program from further execution, and (h) assessing a charge to the customer.
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4. An online computer system providing release update distribution services to remote customer computers without requiring an external special purpose remote control security hardware module at said customer computers in order to interface with said online computer system, said system performing the following steps:
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(a) establishing a customer relationship between a customer and an online service provider providing a release update service, said customer having a customer'"'"'s computer associated therewith; (b) establishing a telecommunications link between the customer'"'"'s computer and the online computer system; (c) validating a customer'"'"'s authority; (d) allowing a release update to be selected from the online service provider; (e) determining the customer'"'"'s eligibility to receive the release update selected in step (d); and (f) conditioned at least in part on validating step (c) and determining step (e), allowing the customer to receive the release update selected in step (d), including the steps of; (1) determining if the online service provider release update selected in step (d) is to be provided with automated processing, (2) transmitting the release update to the customer computer, and (3) conditioned at least in part on determining step (1) applying the release update transmitted in step (2).
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5. An online computer system providing commercial software distribution services to remote customer computers without requiring an external special purpose remote control security hardware module at said customer computers in order to interface with said online computer system, said system performing the following steps:
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(a) establishing a customer relationship between a customer and an online service provider providing a software distribution service, said customer having a customer'"'"'s computer associated therewith; (b) establishing a telecommunications link between the customer'"'"'s computer and the online computer system; (c) validating a customer'"'"'s authority; (d) allowing the customer to select a software program to purchase from the online service provider; (e) conditioned at least in part on validating step (c), allowing the customer to receive the software program selected in step (d), including the steps of; (1) encrypting the software program selected in step (d), (2) transmitting the encrypted software program to the customer computer, (3) decrypting the software program transmitted in step (2), (4) storing the software program decrypted in step (3) on storage accessible by the customer computer; and (f) assessing a charge.
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50. A software distribution service for distributing software to a customer via a customer computer associated with at least one computer user, said software distribution service comprising:
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a registration arrangement that establishes a customer relationship between the computer user and the software distribution service so that new customers can begin using said software distribution service; an online connection arrangement that establishes a real time online connection with said customer computer for communicating digital information and securing at least a portion of the digital information communicated during the online connection, said online connection arrangement including at least one of an encryptor and a decryptor; a validator that checks authorization of a credit card account of said customer and charges an associated license fee to the customer'"'"'s credit card account, said validator being coactive with said online connection arrangement, said validator conditioning the authority of said customer computer to receive distributed software; a transfer device operatively coupled to said online connection arrangement and to said validator, said transfer device distributing software to said customer computer, said transfer device communicating the software at least in part over said online connection established by said online connection arrangement conditioned on validation by said validator that said customer computer is eligible to receive said distributed software; and a charge calculator that assesses a charge for said customer. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94)
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Specification