Remote-auditing of computer generated outcomes, authenticated billing and access control, and software metering system using cryptographic and other protocols

• US 5,970,143 A
• Filed: 08/08/1996
• Issued: 10/19/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Inventor Holdings LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Walker Asset Management LLC
• Inventors: Jorasch, James, Walker, Jay S., Schneier, Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): Barron, Jr., Gilberto
• Application Number:
  US08/677,544
• Time in Patent Office: 1,167 Days
• Field of Search: 380/23, 463/29
• US Class Current: 713/181
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/493 Resuming a game, e.g. after pausing, malfunction or power failure
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/71 using secure communication between game devices and game servers, e.g. by encrypting game data or authenticating players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/75 Enforcing rules, e.g. detecting foul play or generating lists of cheating players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/792 for payment purposes, e.g. monthly subscriptions
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/798 for assessing skills or for ranking players, e.g. for generating a hall of fame computing the game score A63F13/46
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/803 Driving vehicles or craft, e.g. cars, airplanes, ships, robots or tanks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/401 Secure communication, e.g. using encryption or authentication
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/513 server hierarchy, e.g. local, regional, national or dedicated for different tasks, e.g. authenticating, billing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/532 using secure communication, e.g. by encryption, authentication
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/535 for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5513 involving billing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5546 using player registration data, e.g. identification, account, preferences, game history
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/558 by assessing the players' skills or ranking
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8064 Quiz
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3218 wherein at least part of the system is portable

Abstract

A computer device and method for encoding a message corresponding to an outcome of a computer game, and a computer device and method for decoding the message to detect a fraudulent outcome. The computer device used to generate the encoded message includes (1) a memory device containing encoding control code and (2) a processor configured to process the encoding control code in conjunction with a computer game outcome to generate an encoded message containing the computer game outcome and to transmit the encoded message to a human-readable output device, such as a display device. The computer device includes various tamper resistant or tamper evidence features. A secure module containing the processor and memory is used to plug into an existing personal computer or dedicated game device. The device also includes a system for metering use of a computer game. The method for encoding the message includes the steps of executing a computer game program to generate a computer game outcome, encoding the computer game outcome to generate an encoded message, and providing the encoded message to a user, who may then transmit the encoded message to a device configured for decoding the encoded message to reveal the computer game outcome. A second central or host computer device is used to decode the encoded message. The second computer device has (a) a memory device containing decoding control code and an encoded message corresponding to a computer game outcome and (b) a processor configured to process the code to decode the encoded message to reveal the computer game outcome.

Claims

1. A method, comprising the steps of:

executing a computer game program by a first processor to generate a computer game outcome;

encoding the computer game outcome by a second processor to generate an encoded message;

providing said encoded message to a user; and

providing by said user said encoded message to a device configured for decoding said encoded message.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said encoded message contains information selected from the group consisting of (a) a random number generated by a central computer, (b) a number corresponding to a time at which said outcome was generated, (c) a number which is incremented upon each successive outcome of said computer game and (d) an end parameter received from a central computer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of said encoding step occurs in a device selected from the group consisting of (a) a secure processor, (b) a dongle, (c) a separate cryptographic processor and (d) a plug-in module.

4. A method, comprising the steps of:

receiving from a user an encoded message corresponding to an outcome of a computer game;

decoding said encoded message to retrieve said outcome;

storing for further use said decoded message; and

metering time use of said computer game.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said decoding step comprises the step of decrypting said encoded message using an algorithm selected from the group consisting of (a) a symmetric key algorithm, (b) a public key algorithm and (c) a hashing algorithm.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein said encoded message includes information selected from the group consisting of (a) tamper evident information, (b) unique digital signature information and (c) end parameter information.

7. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of transmitting an end parameter to said computer game for inclusion in said encoded message.

8. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of transmitting an input parameter to said computer game and receiving an output parameter, corresponding to said input parameter, from said computer game.

9. A computer device comprising:

means for executing a computer game program to generate a computer game outcome;

means for metering an amount of time of use of said computer game program;

means for encoding the computer game outcome to generate an encoded message; and

means for providing said encoded message to a user.

10. The computer device of claim 9 wherein said means for encoding generates said encoded message by using information selected from the group consisting of (a) tamper-evidence information, (b) user identity information, (c) unique digital signature information, (d) global positioning information regarding a global position of said computer device, (e) a random number generated by a central computer, (t) a number corresponding to a time at which said outcome was generated, (g) a number which is incremented upon each successive outcome ot said computer game program, (h) an end parameter received from a central computer, (i) symmetric key information, (j) public key information, and (k) hashing algorithm information.

11. A computer device, comprising:

means for receiving from a user an encoded message corresponding to an outcome of a computer game;

means for decoding said encoded message to retrieve said outcome;

means for storing the decoded message; and

means for metering an amount of time of use of said computer game.

12. The computer device of claim 11 wherein said means for decoding performs an additional function of decrypting said encoded message using information selected from the group consisting of (a) a symmetric key algorithm, (b) a public key algorithm, (c) a hashing algorithm and (d) a cryptographic protocol.

13. The computer device of claim 11 wherein said means for decoding performs an additional function of decoding said encoded message to retrieve information selected from the group consisting of (a) tamper evidence information, (b) unique digital signature information and (c) end parameter information.

14. A computer device comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein, said computer readable program code means comprising encoding means for causing said computer device to generate an encoded message representing an outcome of a computer game, code means for causing said computer device to provide said encoded message to a user and metering means for metering an amount of time of use of said computer game.

15. The computer device of claim 14 wherein said encoding means performs an additional function of causing said computer device to generate said encoded message including information selected from the group consisting of (a) tamper-evidence information, (b) user identity information, (c) unique digital signature information, (d) global positioning information regarding a global position of said computer device, (e) a random number generated by a central computer, (f) a number corresponding to a time at which said outcome was generated, (g) a number which is incremented upon each successive outcome of said computer game, (h) an end parameter received from a central computer, (i) symmetric key information, (j) public key information, and (k) hashing algorithm in formation.

16. A computer device comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein, said computer readable program code means comprising decoding means for causing said computer device to decode an encoded message corresponding to an outcome of a computer game, fraud-detection code means for causing said computer device to determine whether said outcome is fraudulent, and metering means for metering an amount of time of use of said computer game.

17. The computer device of claim 16 wherein said decoding means performs the function of causing said computer device to decrypt said encoded message using information selected from the group consisting of (a) a symmetric key algorithm, (b) a public key algorithm, (c) a hashing algorithm and (d) a cryptographic protocol, (e) tamper evidence information, (f) unique digital signature information and (g) end parameter information.

18. A method, comprising the steps of:

executing a computer game program to generate a computer game outcome;

metering time use of said computer program to generate metered time information;

encoding the computer game outcome and said metered time information to generate an encoded message; and

providing said encoded message to a user.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of:

providing by said user said encoded message to a device configured for decoding said encoded message.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein said encoded message contains information selected from the group consisting of (a) a random number generated by a central computer, (b) a number corresponding to a time at which said outcome was generated, (c) a number which is incremented upon each successive outcome of said computer game and (d) an end parameter received from a central computer.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein said encoding step comprises encoding the computer game outcome by a first processor, and wherein said executing step comprises executing said computer game program on a second processor.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein at least a portion of said encoding step occurs in a device selected from the group consisting of (a) a secure processor, (b) a dongle, (c) a separate cryptographic processor and (d) a plug-in module.

23. A method, comprising the steps of:

receiving from a user an encoded message corresponding to an outcome of a computer game and metered time use information of said computer game;

decoding said encoded message to retrieve said outcome and said metered use information; and

storing for further use said decoded message.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein said decoding step comprises the step of decrypting said encoded message using an algorithm selected from the group consisting of (a) a symmetric key algorithm, (b) a public key algorithm and (e) a hashing algorithm.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein said encoded message includes information selected from the group consisting of (a) tamper evident information, (b) unique digital signature information and (c) end parameter information.

26. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of transmitting an end parameter to said computer game for inclusion in said encoded message.

27. The method of claim 23 further comprising the steps of transmitting an input parameter to said computer game and receiving an output parameter, corresponding to said input parameter, from said computer game.

28. A computer device, comprising:

means for receiving from a user an encoded message corresponding to an outcome of a computer game and metered time use information of said computer game;

means for decoding said encoded message to retrieve said outcome and said metered use information; and

means for storing the decoded message.

29. The computer device of claim 28 wherein said means for decoding performs an additional function of decrypting said encoded message using information selected from the group consisting of (a) a symmetric key algorithm, (b) a public key algorithm, (c) a hashing algorithm and (d) a cryptographic protocol.

30. The computer device of claim 28 wherein said means for decoding performs an additional function of decoding said encoded message to retrieve information selected from the group consisting of (a) tamper evidence information, (b) unique digital signature information and (c) end parameter information.

31. A computer device comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein, said computer readable program code means comprising (a) encoding means for causing said computer device to generate an encoded message representing an outcome of a computer game and metered time use of said computer game, and (b) code means for causing said computer device to provide said encoded message to a user.

32. The computer device of claim 31 wherein said encoding means performs an additional function of causing said computer device to generate said encoded message including information selected from the group consisting of (a) tamper-evidence information, (b) user identity information, (c) unique digital signature information, (d) global positioning information regarding a global position of said computer device, (e) a random number generated by a central computer, (f) a number corresponding to a time at which said outcome was generated, (g) a number which is incremented upon each successive outcome of said computer game, (h) an end parameter received from a central computer, (i) symmetric key information, (j) public key information, and (k) hashing algorithm information.

33. A computer device comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein, said computer readable program code means comprising (a) decoding means for causing said computer device to decode an encoded message corresponding to an outcome and metered time use of a computer game and (b) fraud-detection code means for causing said computer device to determine whether said outcome is fraudulent.

34. The computer device of claim 33 wherein said decoding means performs the function of causing said computer device to decrypt said encoded message using information selected from the group consisting of (a) a symmetric key algorithm, (b) a public key algorithm, (c) a hashing algorithm and (d) a cryptographic protocol, (e) tamper evidence information, (f) unique digital signature information and (g) end parameter information.

35. A computer device comprising:

a memory device configured to store a computer game program; and

a processor configured to;

execute a computer game program to generate a computer game outcome;

meter use of said computer program to generate metered time information;

encode the computer game outcome and said metered time information to generate an encoded message; and

provide said encoded message to a user.

36. A computer device, comprising:

a processor adapted to;

receive from a user an encoded message corresponding to an outcome of a computer game and metered time use information of said computer game;

decode said encoded message to retrieve said outcome and said metered time use information; and

store for further use said decoded message; and

a memory device configured to store said decoded message for further use.

37. A method, comprising the steps of:

executing a computer game program by a first processor to generate a computer game outcome;

encoding the computer game outcome by a second processor to generate an encoded message;

providing said encoded message to a user for transmission to a remote device configured for decoding said encoded message.