Benchmark measurement for legitimate duplication validation

• US 8,826,456 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2011
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Lipscomb, Carter
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Nirav B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Waliullah, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US13/212,019
• Publication Number:
  US 20130047267A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 726/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/00 Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level

Abstract

A system and method for detecting piracy of a software product that is distributed on a particular media type is described. Embodiments of the invention track a title load time of a software product that is distributed on a particular media type, and compare it against a benchmark load time for that media type. This comparison is used to detect if the title may have been illegally transferred or pirated to another, unauthorized media type.

Claims

1. A method for validating legitimate media products associated with a legitimate media type, the method comprising:

loading a first media product having a first media type on a computing device;

measuring load times at periodic checkpoints for the first media product on the computing device;

establishing a threshold range of acceptable load times at the periodic checkpoints using load times at the periodic checkpoints associated with the legitimate media type; and

determining whether the measured load times are within the threshold range,

wherein at least one of the checkpoints is total load time of the first media product.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the first media product on the computing device if the measured load times are within the threshold range; and

deactivating the first media product on the computing device if the measured load times are outside of the threshold range.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the periodic checkpoints span total load.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the measured load times correspond to a plurality of first segments, and the load times at the periodic checkpoints associated with the legitimate media type correspond to a plurality of second segments.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

comparing one or more of the first segments to one or more corresponding second segments.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

comparing one or more first load actions associated with the first segments to one or more second load actions associated with the corresponding second segments.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying a first sequence of the first load actions;

identifying a second sequence of the second load actions; and

comparing the first sequence to the second sequence.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting user identification information; and

comparing the user identification information with legitimate media product information associated with one or more of the legitimate media products.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

executing the first media product on the computing device if the user identification information is consistent with the legitimate media product information; and

deactivating the first media product on the computing device if the user identification information is inconsistent with the legitimate media product information.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the user identification information comprises a reported media type of the first media product, and wherein the legitimate media product information comprises an identification of the legitimate media type.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the user identification information comprises a first serial number of the first media product, and wherein the legitimate media product information comprises an identification of one or more legitimate serial numbers.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

establishing a user reputation rating corresponding to a number of invalid requests associated with the user identification information; and

establishing an acceptable threshold user reputation rating.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

executing the first media product on the computing device if the user reputation rating is below the acceptable threshold user reputation rating; and

deactivating the first media product on the computing device if the user reputation rating is at or above the acceptable threshold user reputation rating.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a failure count corresponding to a number of failed validation tests associated with the first media product; and

establishing an acceptable threshold failure count.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

executing the first media product on the computing device if the failure count is below the acceptable threshold failure count; and

deactivating the first media product on the computing device if the failure count is at or above the acceptable threshold failure count.

16. A system for validating legitimate media products associated with a legitimate media type, the system comprising:

a computing device that loads a first media product having a first media type and that measures a load time for the first media product at periodic checkpoints;

a processor that calculates load times at the periodic checkpoints for the legitimate media type, establishes a threshold range of acceptable load times at the periodic checkpoints, and determines whether the measured load times are within the threshold range; and

a memory coupled to the processor,

wherein at least one of the checkpoints is total load time of the first media product.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor further:

executes the first media product if the measured load times are within the threshold range; and

pushes a deactivation key on the computing device if the measured load times are outside of the threshold range.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor further:

requests user identification information from the computing device if the measured load times are outside of the threshold range; and

compares the user identification information with legitimate media product information associated with one or more of the legitimate media products.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor further:

executes the first media product if the user identification information is consistent with the legitimate media product information.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor pushes a deactivation key on the computing device if the user identification information is inconsistent with the legitimate media product information.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the user identification information comprises a reported media type of the first media product, and wherein the legitimate media product information comprises an identification of the legitimate media type.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the user identification information comprises a first serial number of the first media product, and wherein the legitimate media product information comprises an identification of one or more legitimate serial numbers.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor further:

establishes a user reputation rating corresponding to a number of invalid requests associated with the user identification information; and

establishes an acceptable threshold user reputation rating.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the processor further:

executes the media product if the user reputation rating is below the acceptable threshold user reputation rating; and

pushes a deactivation key on the computing device if the user reputation rating is at or above the acceptable threshold user reputation rating.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor further:

establishes a failure count corresponding to a number of failed validation tests associated with the first media product; and

establishes an acceptable threshold failure count.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the processor further:

executes the media product if the failure count is below the acceptable threshold failure count; and

pushes a deactivation key on the computing device if the failure count is at or above the acceptable threshold failure count.

27. The system of claim 16, wherein the periodic checkpoints span total load time.

28. The system of claim 16, wherein the measured load times correspond to a plurality of first segments, and the load times at the periodic checkpoints associated with the legitimate media type correspond to a plurality of second segments.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the processor further compares one or more of the first segments to one or more corresponding second segments.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the processor further compares one or more first load actions associated with the first segments to one or more second load actions associated with the corresponding second segments.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the processor further:

identifies a first sequence of the first load actions;

identifies a second sequence of the second load actions; and

compares the first sequence to the second sequence.

32. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

a display coupled to the computing device that displays the executed first media product.