System for authorizing functionality in adaptable hardware devices

• US RE42,743 E1
• Filed: 05/15/2008
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cornami, Inc.
• Original Assignee: QST Holdings LLC
• Inventors: Master, Paul L., Watson, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Rose, Kerri M
• Application Number:
  US12/152,620
• Time in Patent Office: 1,230 Days
• Field of Search: 370/241, 370/252, 370/419, 370464-469, 717168-178
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A system for authorizing new or ongoing functional use of an adaptable device. The device generates usage information including the times that the device is used, types of functionality provided, indication of amount and type of resources used, and other information. The usage information is transmitted back to a controlling entity, such as an original manufacturer of the adaptable device. The controlling entity can act to enable or prevent use of the provided functionality, as desired. Part of the requirement for using functionality can be monetary, by predetermined agreement, or by other criteria.

Claims

1. A method for authorizing the use of a configurable device, the method comprising:

detecting that the configurable device is configured to perform a first type of operation at a first point in time;

detecting that the configurable device is configured to perform a second type of operation at a second point in time;

using the detected configurations to determine whether to authorize the continued use of the device, wherein the detecting steps include the substep of

receiving usage information from the device;

wherein the usage information includes information about resources that the device has used, and wherein a resource includes instruction type.

2. A method for authorizing the use of a configurable device, the method comprising:

detecting that the configurable device is configured to perform a first type of operation at a first point in time;

detecting that the configurable device is configured to perform a second type of operation at a second point in time;

using the detected configurations to determine whether to authorize the continued use of the device, wherein the detecting steps include the substep of

receiving usage information from the device;

wherein the usage information includes information about resources that the device has used, and wherein a resource includes instruction execution frequency.

3. A method for authorizing the use of a configurable device, the method comprising:

detecting that the configurable device is configured to perform a first type of operation at a first point in time;

detecting that the configurable device is configured to perform a second type of operation at a second point in time;

using the detected configurations to determine whether to authorize the continued use of the device, wherein the detecting steps include the substep of receiving usage information from the device;

wherein the usage information includes information about resources that the device has used, and

wherein a resource includes instruction type.

4. A method for authorizing the use of a configurable device, the method comprising:

detecting that the configurable device is configured to perform a first type of operation at a first point in time;

detecting that the configurable device is configured to perform a second type of operation at a second point in time;

using the detected configurations to determine whether to authorize the continued use of the device, wherein the detecting steps include the substep of receiving usage information from the device;

wherein the usage information includes information about resources that the device has used, and wherein a resource includes instruction execution frequency.

5. A system for authorizing the use of configurable devices, the system comprising:

an authorization system; and

a communications link to transfer adaptation information from the authorization system to a configurable device including a plurality of heterogeneous computational elements coupled to a configurable interconnection network, the configurable interconnection network being configured in response to the adaptation information to provide corresponding interconnections between the plurality of heterogeneous computational elements to configure the device to perform a function,

wherein the configurable device transmits usage information regarding the use of the function,

wherein the usage information comprises a device identification that is transmitted to the authorization system over the communications link, and wherein the authorization system transmits an authorization code over the communications link to the configurable device,

wherein the authorization code provides limitations on resources of the configurable device used by the function.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the authorization system determines whether the configurable device is authorized to perform the function based on the usage information;

and prevents the configurable device from performing the function if it is determined that the configurable device is not authorized to perform the function.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of computational elements are hardware computational elements and the interconnections are physical interconnections.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein:

the function is a new function and the configurable device was previously configured to perform a previous function; and

the configuring of the configurable device comprises reconfiguring the configurable device to perform the new function instead of the previous function in response to the adaptation information.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the previous and new functions comprise different communication or data processing functions.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the previous and new functions comprise different communication functions using different communication protocols.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the different communication functions comprise CDMA and TDMA functions.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the previous and new functions comprise different data processing functions using different data formats.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the previous and new functions comprise media playback functions for different media formats.

14. The system of claim 5, wherein the configurable device is a handheld device.

15. The system of claim 5, wherein the adaptation information is encrypted and wherein the authorization code is used by the configurable device to decrypt the adaptation information.

16. The system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of heterogeneous computational elements coupled to the configurable interconnection network are a node, and wherein the configurable device comprises a plurality of nodes coupled to a node interconnection network.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the node interconnection network is further configured in response to the adaptation information to provide corresponding interconnections between the plurality of nodes to configure the device to perform the function.

18. A configurable device comprising:

a plurality of computational units, the plurality of computational units including at least a first computational unit configured to perform a linear operation, a second computational unit configured to perform a non-linear operation, a third computational unit configured to perform memory management, and a fourth computational unit configured to perform bit-level manipulation; and

a communication network interface configured to transmit an identification tag to an external entity and receive an authorization code allowing use of at least a portion of the configurable device for a period of time,

wherein the communication network interface is further configured to receive adaptation information that enables the configurable device to perform a function, and wherein the fourth computational element is configured to decrypt the adaptation information based on the authorization code,

wherein the authorization code provides limitations on resources of the configurable device used by the function.

19. The configurable device of claim 18, wherein the first computational element is configured to perform an operation selected from the group consisting of multiplication, addition and finite impulse response filtering.

20. The configurable device of claim 18, wherein the second computational element is configured to perform an operation selected from the group consisting of discrete cosine transformation, trigonometric calculations and complex multiplication.

21. The configurable device of claim 18, wherein the fourth computational element is configured to perform an operation selected from the group consisting of encryption, decryption, channel coding, Viterbi decoding and packet and protocol processing.

22. The configurable device of claim 18, wherein the communication network interface is further configured to transmit usage information, wherein the usage information comprises a device identification and wherein the authorization code is associated with the device identification.

23. The configurable device of claim 18, wherein the first computational element is configured to perform an operation selected from the group consisting of multiplication, addition and finite impulse response filtering, the second computational element is configured to perform an operation selected from the group consisting of discrete cosine transformation, trigonometric calculations and complex multiplication, and the fourth computational element is configured to perform an operation selected from the group consisting of encryption, decryption, channel coding, Viterbi decoding and packet and protocol processing.