RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND CORRESPONDING METHOD

• US 20120331559A1
• Filed: 06/04/2012
• Published: 12/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Inventors: de Jong, Hans
• Granted Patent: US 8,752,189 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1073 Conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1075 Editing

Abstract

The invention provides a secure and efficient resource management system and a corresponding method for managing resources of a product that is put on the market by a licensor via a distribution chain. In particular, the number of keys needed for managing said resources can be reduced. At the time that the product is released to the market the exact licensing conditions of the product need not be known yet. The licensing conditions and the associated configuration of resources of the product are managed via a second key which is provided to a licensee. The licensee, however, has no knowledge of the first key and the derivation function which generates said second key based on the first key. Therefore, it is ensured that the licensee cannot claim more resources of the product than the licensor allows.

Claims

1. A resource management system for managing configurable resources of a product, the resource management system comprising a licensor, a licensee and the product, wherein:

the licensor is arranged to store a first key in the product and to transmit a license to the licensee;

the licensor is further arranged to generate a second key by applying a derivation function to the license using the first key;

the licensor is further arranged to transmit the second key to the licensee;

the licensee is arranged to generate a configuration request comprising the license and license usage instructions;

the licensee is further arranged to apply a protection function to at least a part of the configuration request using the second key;

the licensee is further arranged to transmit the configuration request to the product;

the product is arranged to generate a validation key by applying said derivation function to the license using the first key;

the product is further arranged to validate the received configuration request by applying said protection function to the at least a part of the configuration request using the validation key and by comparing the result thereof with the result of the protection function applied by the licensee.

2. A resource management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the product is further arranged to configure its resources in accordance with the license usage instructions only if the compared results are the same.

3. A resource management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the license and the license usage instructions comprise a bytestring.

4. A resource management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the configuration request comprises optional other information.

5. A resource management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protection function applied by the licensee and the product comprises the generation of a Message Authentication Code computed over the license and the license usage instructions using the second key and the validation key, respectively.

6. A resource management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protection function applied by the licensee comprises a symmetric encryption algorithm applied to the license and license usage instruction using the second key, and the protection function applied by the product comprises a corresponding decryption algorithm using the validation key.

7. A resource management system as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the licensee is further arranged to transmit the configuration request to the product via a service operator;

wherein the service operator is arranged to append a keyset to the configuration request;

wherein the product is further arranged to grant access to its resources only if the configuration request comprises said keyset.

8. A resource management system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the product is further arranged to generate said keyset and to transmit said keyset to the service operator.

9. A resource management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the product is a secure element.

10. A resource management system as claimed in claim 9,

further comprising a handset manufacturer for embedding the secure element in a mobile device;

further comprising a mobile network operator for putting the mobile device on the market.

11. A method for managing configurable resources of a product in a resource management system, the resource management system comprising a licensor, a licensee and the product, wherein:

the licensor stores a first key in the product and transmits a license to the licensee;

the licensor further generates a second key by applying a derivation function to the license using the first key;

the licensor further transmits the second key to the licensee;

the licensee generates a configuration request comprising the license and license usage instructions;

the licensee applies a protection function to at least a part of the configuration request using the second key;

the licensee further transmits the configuration request to the product;

the product generates a validation key by applying said derivation function to the license using the first key;

the product further validates the received configuration request by applying said protection function to the at least a part of the configuration request using the validation key and by comparing the result thereof with the result of the protection function applied by the licensee.