Method of and apparatus for protecting and upgrading software
Contents
1. Aladdin Hardlock Home Page 2 pp Jul 1997 Primary Examiner Robert W Beausoliel Jr Assistant Examiner Brian H Shaw Attorney Agent or Firm Marshall O Toole Gerstein Murray amp Borun 57 ABSTRACT A software protection method and apparatus uses a remov able hardlock to prevent the unauthorized installation and or use of a licensed software program The removable hardlock when supplied to a user stores an access variable indicating the number of licenses available for the software program During installation of the software program on a computer the removable hardlock is inserted into an exter nal port of the computer and the access variable is read to determine if any licenses for the software program are still available If so the software program is installed on the computer in a manner that allows the software program to be run on the computer when the removable hardlock is removed from the external port of the computer The access variable on the removable hardlock is then decremented to indicate that one of the previously available licenses has now been used However when the access variable on the removable hardlock indicates that no further licenses are available the software program is installed on the computer in a manner that prevents the software program from being implemented on the computer when the removable hardlock is removed from the external port of the computer 21 Claims 3 Drawing Shee2. and TAGCNT variables on the hardlock 16a respectively to identify the new program stored on the computer 62 However the installer associated with the computer 62 leaves the run flag of the installed upgrade program set to NEED HL because the base software program 20 originally installed on the computer 62 had a run flag set equal to NEED HL indicating that a hardlock must be inserted into the computer 62 to run the base software program 20 Thus the upgrade program installed on computer 62 will still require the hardlock 16a to be inserted into an external port thereof to run the upgrade program and essentially can still only operate as a backup copy of the upgrade program Furthermore the original hardlock 16 FIG 3 will no longer work to allow the use of a backup copy of the program now installed on the computer 62 because the ID FEAT and TAGCNT variables of the installed upgrade program do not match those of the original hardlock 16 Instead the hardlock 16a must be inserted into the external port of the computer 62 to run the backup copy of the upgrade program now installed on the computer 62 Because the run flag of the upgrade program on the computer 62 is set equal to NEED HL the installer associated with the computer 62 does not decrement the UPGCNT variable on the hardlock 16 during installation block 72 6 023 763 9 Next when the hardlock 16a block 72 is inserted into the external port of the
3. Asoftware protection system adapted to enable imple mentation of a software program on a computer having an external port the software protection system comprising a removable hardlock adapted to be inserted into the external port of the computer said removable hardlock including an access variable set to one of a plurality of values and an installer that installs the software program on the computer when the removable hardlock is inserted into the external port of the computer including means for reading the access variable and means for conditioning the software program to prevent the software program from being implemented on the computer when the access variable is set to a first value and the removable hardlock is removed from the external port and to allow the software program to be implemented on the computer when the access variable is set to a second value and the removable hardlock is removed from the external port 2 The software protection system of claim 1 further including a hardlock interface including means for detecting when the removable hardlock is inserted into the external port and means for enabling the software program to be implemented by the computer when the detecting means detects that the removable hardlock is inserted into the external port 3 The software protection system of claim 1 wherein the installer includes means for changing the value of the access variable on the removable hardlock when t
4. be installed on a second number of different computers greater than the first number 12 The software protection system of claim 1 wherein the installer includes means for associating implementation of the software program to a unique identifier related to the computer so that the software program will only run on a computer having the unique identifier 13 A software protection system for installing a software program on a computer having an external port comprising a removable hardlock adapted to be inserted into the external port said removable hardlock including a variable stored in a memory and an installation program that installs the software program on the computer when the removable hardlock is inserted into the external port the installation program including means for setting a value of a mn flag associated with the software program based on a value of the variable wherein the run flag enables the soft ware program to be implemented on the computer when the hardlock is removed from the external port and the run flag is set to a first state and wherein the run flag prevents the software program from being imple mented on the computer when the hardlock is removed from the external port and the run flag is set to a second state 14 The software protection system of claim 13 further including means for enabling the software program to be implemented on the computer when the removable hardlock is installed in the external
5. computer 60 The installer may request the user to enter the company and site associ ated with the computer 16 and may then store this informa tion in both the computer 60 and the hardlock 16 block 66 as the company and site variables The installer also copies the FEAT and TAGCNT variables from the hardlock 16 and stores the values of these variables in a memory of the computer 60 to indicate the features of the base software program 20 actually installed on the computer 60 After a successful installation the installer of the com puter 60 decrements the FULLCNT variable on the hardlock 16 by one block 66 to indicate that one of the previously available licenses has been used The hardlock 16 can then be removed and used to install the base software program 20 in other computers until the FULLCNT variable of the hardlock 16 reaches one as illustrated at the block 66 When the FULLCNT variable on the hardlock 16 is equal to one indicating that no further unused software licenses are available block 66 and the hardlock 16 is inserted into for example the computer 62 an installer of the computer 62 will still install the base software program 20 on and will copy the company site FEAT and TAGCNT variables to the computer 62 but will set the run flag to a second state illustrated in FIG 3 as NEED HL indicating that the base software program will only run on the computer 62 when the hardlock 16 is physically inserted into the
6. computer 60 the installer on the computer 60 compares the FEAT and TAGCNT variables of the base software program 20 installed thereon with the OLDFEAT and OLDTAGCNT variables on the hardlock 16a If the installer finds that these variables match the installer installs the upgrade program on the computer 60 Of course if these sets of variables do not match the installer of the computer 60 recognizes that it is not proper to install the upgrade program associated with the hardlock 16 with the base program currently installed on the computer 60 and prevents such installation When as is the case with the computer 60 of FIG 4 the run flag of the base software program 20 stored on the computer 60 is set to NO HL indicating that the base software program 20 can be run without the hardlock 16 installed in an external port of the computer 60 and the UPGCNT variable on the hardlock 16 is greater than zero indicating that a license for the upgrade program is still available the installer of the computer 60 sets the run flag of the newly installed upgrade program to NO HL and decrements the UPGCNT variable on the hardlock 16a block 74 to indicate that one of the licenses thereon has been used Thereafter the hardlock 16a may be removed from the external port of the computer 60 and the upgrade program can be run thereby Also the hardlock 16a may be used to install the upgrade program on other computers until the UPGCNT variable
7. on a computer having the unique identifier 19 A method of preventing unauthorized implementation of a software program comprising the steps of providing an identification of the number of authorized implementations of the software program on a remov able hardlock that is capable of being inserted into a port of a computer using the removable hardlock to install the software program on the computer when the removable hardlock is installed in the port of the computer and at the time of installation on the computer storing an indication of whether the software program can be implemented on the computer when the removable hardlock is removed from the port of the computer based on the identification of the number of authorized implementations stored on the removable hardlock 20 The method of preventing unauthorized implementa tion of a software program of claim 19 further including the step of reducing the identification of the number of autho rized implementations of the software program the removable hardlock when the step of storing stores an indication that the software can be implemented on the computer with the removable hardlock removed from the port of the computer 21 The method of preventing unauthorized implementa tion of a software program of claim 19 wherein the software program is an upgrade program and further including the steps of storing on the hardlock an identification of a base program that must be i
8. port of the computer 15 The software protection system of claim 13 wherein the installation program includes means for changing the variable when the installation program sets the run flag to the first state 16 The software protection system of claim 13 wherein the software program is an upgrade program 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 50 55 60 12 wherein the computer includes an installed program installed thereon wherein the memory stores a second variable indicating a base program with which the upgrade program can be installed and wherein the installation program includes means for com paring an installed program variable indicating the installed program with the second variable and means for preventing the installation of the upgrade program when the installed program variable does not match the second variable 17 The software protection system of claim 16 wherein the memory stores a third variable relating to the upgrade program and wherein the installation program includes means for reading the third variable and means for storing the third variable in the computer as associated with the upgrade program when the upgrade program is installed on the computer 18 The software protection system of claim 13 wherein the installation programs includes means for associating implementation of the software program to a unique iden tifier related to the computer so that the software program will only run
9. program with which the upgrade program can be installed and 6 023 763 11 wherein the installer includes means for comparing a second set of parameters identifying the installed pro gram with the first set of parameters to determine if the first and second sets of parameters match and means for preventing installation of the upgrade program on the computer when the first and second set of parameters do not match 9 The software protection system of claim 8 wherein the removable hardlock includes another variable relating to the upgrade program and wherein the installer includes means for storing values associated with the another variable in the computer when the upgrade program is installed on the computer 10 The software protection system of claim 1 wherein the removable hardlock includes a set of further variables relating to the identification of the computer and the installer includes means for obtaining values relating to the identi fication of the computer and means for storing the obtained values in the removable hardlock as the set of further variables 11 The software protection system of claim 1 wherein the access variable indicates a first number of different computers on which the software program can be installed and further including a de installer that de installs the soft ware program from the computer the de installer including means for changing the access variable to indicate that the software program can
10. proper external port thereof Because the installation of the base software program 20 on the computer 62 does not use any of the licenses purchased for that software but instead operates only to install a backup copy of that software on the computer 62 to be run when the hardlock 16 is installed in the external port of the computer 62 the installer of the computer 62 does not change the FULLCNT variable or any other variable of the hardlock 16 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 If desired during installation of the base software pro gram 20 on any computer or machine other than the first computer an installer may check to see if the company site and or other information provided by a user match the values of those variables stored within the hardlock 16 and in the event that a match does not occur may prevent installation of the software program 20 This operation prevents the hardlock 16 from being transported to comput ers at other companies or sites for which software licenses have not been obtained even when the hardlock 16 indicates that unused licenses are still available for the initial com pany and or site Likewise as indicated above during any installation of the software program 20 on any computer the software program 20 is tied to a unique identifier associated with that computer to assure that the software program 20 can only be run on that computer FIG 4 illustrates the st
11. reaches zero e g block 74 at which time the FULLCNT variable may be set equal to one block 74 to allow the hardlock 16a to be used to run a backup copy of the upgrade program As indicated above a de installer may operate to remove a software program and or an upgrade program from any computer when a hardlock having the same for example ID FEAT and or TAGCNT variables as the installed soft ware program is inserted into an external port of the com puter During this process the de installer may increment the FULLCNT or UPGCNT variable within the hardlock 16 or 16a when the de installed program has a run flag set to the state indicating that the program can be run without the hardlock inserted into an external port of the computer to thereby indicate that the hardlock 16 or 16 now has one additional unused license associated therewith While the system and method for using a removable hardlock described herein includes a FULLCNT and or an UPGCNT variable that indicates the number of unused licenses available with a hardlock other variables and values for these variables could be used or stored as the access variable and still fall within the scope of this invention as long as the access variable can be changed from one state to another state to indicate that there are no more unused licenses available with the hardlock Moreover other mechanisms besides a run flag could be used to prevent or enable implementation of the softwar
12. serial number and installs the software program on the computer Thereafter the softlock only allows the access coded software program to be run on the computer having the hard drive with the previously determined hard drive serial number Using a softlock protection method a user cannot initially install a licensed software program without contacting the software vendor and furthermore cannot de install a licensed software program from one computer and install that program on a different computer without contacting the software vendor However contacting the software vendor to obtain access codes and to re install licensed software programs on different computers is inconvenient time consuming and tedious for the licensee SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The software protection method and apparatus of the present invention uses a removable hardlock to prevent the 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 unauthorized installation and use of a licensed software program The removable hardlock may have an access variable stored thereon indicating the number of licenses available with the hardlock During installation of the soft ware program on a particular computer the removable hardlock is inserted into an external port of the computer and the software is provided to the computer in any convenient manner An installer associated with the software or the computer then reads the access variable on the hardlo
13. to be installed on the computer If the sets of features or indication s match and the access variable of the hardlock 16 indicates that one or more unused licenses are available for the upgrade program the installer 22 installs the upgrade pro gram on the computer 10 However if the two sets of features or indication s do not match which occurs when for example the installed program only has features asso ciated with version A and or version B then the installer 22 recognizes that the user is trying to install the upgrade version D without having purchased a license for or properly installed upgrade version C and prevents installation of the upgrade version D on the computer 10 In such a case the installer 22 may inform the user that installation is not allowed because upgrade version C has not been installed on the computer 10 Of course the list of features or other indication s may be stored in any desired format including as text or preferably as a bit field wherein each bit within the bit field identifies a different feature of the licensed software pro gram or the upgrade program If desired the installer 22 may also display the features or other information stored in the hardlock 16 on a display screen and or may update the display screen to indicate the specific operation being per formed during the installation process A de installer 28 which also may be implemented by software stored on the computer 10 and or prov
14. 1 FEAT MUX VSIG 74 TAGCNT 400 UPGCNT 0 OLDFEAT MUX OLDTAGCNT 200 Sheet 3 of 3 6 023 763 ID 12346 COMPANY ACME SITE MTOWN 62 FEAT MUX VSIG TAGCNT 400 RUN FLAG NEED HL 10 12346 COMPANY ACME SITE MTOWN FEAT MUX VSIG 60 TAGCNT 400 RUN FLAG NO HL FIG 4 6 023 763 1 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PROTECTING AND UPGRADING SOFTWARE USING A REMOVABLE HARDLOCK TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates generally to software pro tection methods and devices and more particularly to a method of and an apparatus for preventing the unauthorized use of licensed software using a removable hardlock BACKGROUND ART It is known to prevent the unauthorized copying or use of software programs supplied by a software licensor to a licensee using either a hardlock or a softlock protection method A hardlock protection method requires that a hard lock be inserted into and remain in an external port of a computer or a processor for the licensed software program to run on that computer The hardlock which is a physical device typically having a microprocessor and or a memory unit therein may store for example an access code required by the licensed software to run a on the computer Thus although the licensed software program may be loaded onto any computer the software program will only run on a computer that has the hardlock supplied with that software program inserted into an external port t
15. United States Patent 19 Grumstrup et al US006023763A 6 023 763 Feb 8 2000 Patent Number Date of Patent 11 45 54 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PROTECTING AND UPGRADING SOFTWARE USING A REMOVABLE HARDLOCK Inventors Bruce F Grumstrup Patrick O Ryan both of Marshalltown Iowa Assignee Fisher Controls International Inc Clayton Mich Appl No 08 842 050 Filed Apr 23 1997 GO06F 12 14 US esse E 713 200 380 4 Field of Search 713 200 380 3 380 4 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 008 814 4 1991 Mathur 364 200 5 018 096 5 1991 Aoyama 364 900 5 138 712 8 1992 Corbin 395 700 5 144 664 9 1992 Esserman et al 380 20 5 155 847 10 1992 Kirouac et al 395 600 5 359 730 10 1994 Marron 395 650 5 375 206 12 1994 Hunter et al 395 200 5 473 692 12 1995 Davis 22 2 380 25 5 533 125 7 1996 Bensimon et al 380 4 5 553 143 9 1996 Ross et al 380 25 5 564 038 10 1996 Grantz et al 395 491 5 564 108 10 1996 Hunsaker et al 395 800 5 577 244 11 1996 Killebrew et al 395 703 5 579 479 11 1996 Plum 395 188 01 5 826 011 10 1998 Chou etal 395 186 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Crypkey Home Page 2 pp Jul 1997 Crypkey Software Licensing System User Manual pp II 55 62 Sep 1995
16. am 20 can be implemented or run by the computer 10 after the hardlock 16 is removed from the external port 14 If however the access variable on the hardlock 16 indicates that no further software licenses are available the software conditioner of the installer 22 sets the run flag 24 to a second state indicating that the software program 20 cannot be implemented or run on the computer 10 without the hardlock 16 physically inserted into the external port 14 thereof When the installer 22 sets the run flag 24 to the first state the communication program of the installer 22 changes the access variable stored within the memory of the hardlock 16 to another value indicating that one of the unused software licenses associated therewith has now been used If before installation the access variable stored within the memory of the hardlock 16 indicates that only one unused license remains then the installer 22 changes the access variable to a value or a state which indicates that no further licenses are available Preferably the installer 22 installs the software program on the computer 10 in a manner that ties the software program to some unique identifier associated with the com puter 10 such as the hard drive serial number of the computer 10 This function which may be implemented using a standard softlock routine with the exception that the access code is provided by the hardlock 16 instead of a software provider prevents copying and use of t
17. am having an expanded set of features designed to upgrade a base program having a subset of the expanded set of features a comparator within the installer 22 determines if the set of features associated with a program already installed on the computer 10 stored in the computer memory has all of the features of the base program for which the upgrade program is designed stored in the hardlock memory In this manner the installer 22 verifies that the upgrade program is being installed on a computer that has the licensed base program for which the upgrade program was designed already installed thereon For example in a system capable of running any one version of a software program having a base version A and a set of upgrade versions B C and D the hardlock associ ated with the upgrade version D may store a list of the features or other identifying indication s associated with the previous version i e the features required to be associ ated with the program actually installed on the computer before the upgrade version D can be installed on that computer During installation of the upgrade program the communication program of installer 22 reads the set of features associated with the software program actually installed on the computer The comparator of the installer 22 then compares these read features or other indication s with the list of features or indication s stored in the hardlock 16 as being necessary for the upgrade program
18. ate of the variables within a removable hardlock 16a both before and after the removable hardlock 16a is used to install an upgrade program on the computers 60 and 62 each having a base software program 20 installed thereon in the manner illustrated in FIG 3 In the example illustrated in FIG 4 the UPGCNT variable of the hardlock 16a block 70 is initially set to one indicating that only one license for the upgrade program remains on the hardlock 16a However it should be understood that the UPGCNT variable can be set to any other positive number to indicate that more licenses for the upgrade program are available During installation of the upgrade program on the com puter 62 which has the base program 20 stored with a run flag set to NEED HL the installer of the computer 62 first determines if the OLDFEAT OLDTAGCNT variables of the hardlock 16 match the FEAT and TAGCNT variables associated with the base software program 20 If so the installer identifies that the base software program installed on the computer 62 is a proper base program to which the upgrade program can be applied The installer then installs the upgrade program on the computer 62 and stores the company and site variables that have been stored in the computer 62 for the base software program 20 on the hardlock 16a block 72 During installation of the upgrade program the ID FEAT and TAGCNT variables within the computer 62 are set equal to the ID FEAT
19. ates the state of certain variables within the hardlock 16 both before and after using the hardlock 16 to install the base software program 20 on computers 60 and 62 Before any installation the hardlock 16 as indicated at the block 64 stores an ID number typically provided by the software provider or the licensor a company and site variable typically left blank by the software provider and a FULLCNT full count variable that indicates the number of licenses currently associated with the hardlock 16 The FULLCNT variable may be set to a number that is one greater than the number of licenses purchased by the user for the base software program 20 The hardlock 16 also includes a FEAT features variable that indicates the features of the software program 20 associated with the hardlock 16 and a TAGCNT tag count variable that indicates the number of tags associated with the base software program 20 These tags might indicate for example the maximum number of 6 023 763 7 devices to be controlled by a licensed process control software program If desired the hardlock 16 may also store an UPGCNT upgrade count variable that indicates the number of licenses available for an upgrade program asso ciated with the hardlock 16 Typically if the FULLCNT variable is set to any number greater than zero then the UPGCNT variable is set to zero and vice versa The hard lock 16 may also store an OLDFEAT old features variable that is used whe
20. ck to determine if any licenses for the software program are available If desired the access variable may represent the number of unused licenses that have been purchased for the software program If one or more unused licenses are available the installer installs the software program on the computer and decrements the access variable to indicate that one of the previously available licenses has now been used The software may be installed on the computer in a manner that ties the software to the hard drive serial number of the computer to prevent the installed software from being cop ied to and run on a different computer After installation is complete the hardlock can be removed from the external port of the computer without effecting the operation of the software program stored on the computer The removable hardlock can then be used to install the software program on other computers until the access variable indicates that all of the purchased licenses have been used As will be understood the removable hardlock of the present invention does not require the software licensee to contact the software vendor to obtain access codes etc and does not require that a hardlock be inserted into an external port of a computer when the software program is actually being implemented or being run on the computer According to another aspect of the present invention the removable hardlock can be left in the external port of a computer and used to im
21. e program 20 when the removable hardlock 16 or 164 is removed from the external port 14 of the computers 10 60 and 62 Furthermore if desired the removable hardlocks 16 and or 16a can store other information pertaining to the software program the computers the user the software licensor etc and this additional information can be used in connection with the above described information to install or de install software in any desired manner Still further while the installer de installer and hardlock interface have been gen erally described herein as separate software programs stored in a computer and or supplied with the licensed software these programs could instead or additionally be part of the licensed software and or could be stored on the removable 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 hardlock or at any other desired location Furthermore these components could additionally or alternatively be implemented in firmware or hardware supplied with for example the licensed software or the removable hardlock While the present invention has been described with reference to specific examples which are intended to be illustrative only and not to be limiting of the invention it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that changes additions and or deletions may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention We claim 1
22. g one having the same features as the features of the installed software program 20 is physically inserted into the external port 14 of the computer 10 When a proper hardlock 16 is installed in the external port 14 the detector of the hardlock interface 30 generates a signal that informs the software program 20 of the existence of the installed hardlock 16 At that time the software program 20 is enabled to be run by the computer 10 no matter what the setting of the run flag 24 happens to be Thus even if the access variable on the hardlock 16 indicates that no unused licenses are available for the software program 20 the software program 20 can be installed and run on any computer as long as the hardlock 16 is actually physically inserted into the external port 14 of that computer In this manner the hardlock 16 operates to allow the installation and or implementation of one copy a backup copy of the software program at any time The backup copy can be moved from one computer to another by simply moving the hardlock 16 to another computer and leaving the hardlock 16 inserted in the external port thereof while running the software program 20 Of course if this backup feature is not desired the installer 22 may be designed to condition the software program 20 by prohibiting the installation of the software program 20 whenever the access variable within the hardlock 16 indicates that no further unused licenses are available FIG 3 illustr
23. g a software program such as a base software program or an upgrade software program is illus trated If desired the computer 10 may implement process control software and as such may be coupled to process control devices via standard connections The computer 10 may alternatively be used to run any other type of software and as such may be connected to any other hardware necessary for implementation of that software Likewise if the software can be implemented solely by the computer 10 the computer 10 may be a stand alone unit As is typically the case the computer 10 includes an external disk drive 11 adapted to accept a disk 12 having the licensed software program or upgrade program stored thereon Alternatively the licensed software program or upgrade program may be provided to the computer 10 in any other desired manner including for example via a com munication channel such as the internet a modem connection etc As illustrated in FIG 1 the computer 10 also includes a set of standard external ports 14 which may be for example printer ports serial ports etc Aremovable hardlock 16 provided with for example the disk 12 is configured to be inserted into one of the external ports 14 of the computer 10 The removable hardlock 16 may comprise a microprocessor and or any hardwired logic device having a memory therein for storing an indication of the number of licenses that have been purchased or that are available for the s
24. he conditioning means conditions the software program to allow the soft ware program to be implemented by the computer when the removable hardlock is removed from the external port 4 The software protection system of claim 3 wherein the changing means changes the value of the access variable from the second value to the first value 5 The software protection system of claim 3 wherein the changing means decrements the access variable value 6 The software protection system of claim 1 wherein at any particular time the value of the access variable indicates the number of further computers on which the software program can be installed and then implemented without the removable hardlock inserted into an external port of the further computers 7 The software protection system of claim 1 wherein the software program is an upgrade program and wherein the value of the access variable indicates the number of further computers on which the upgrade program can be installed and then implemented without the hardlock inserted into an external port of the further computers 8 The software protection system of claim 1 wherein the removable hardlock is adapted to be inserted into the exter nal port of the computer when the computer has an installed program installed thereon wherein the software program is an upgrade program wherein the removable hardlock includes a further vari able that stores a first set of parameters identifying a base
25. he installed software on a different computer or machine Also during the installation process the communication program of the installer 22 can accept information from a user relating to for example identification of the computer 10 or the location of the computer 10 and may store such information within the memory of the hardlock 16 If such information has already been stored on the hardlock 16 in a previous installation process the communication program of the installer 22 may read such information from the hardlock 16 and store it in a memory associated with the program 20 6 023 763 5 which thereafter can be used to prevent the program 20 from being copied and implemented on a different computer at a different location Further if desired the hardlock 16 may store an ID number and or a set of variables that indicate the features or identity of the software program 20 being installed on the computer 10 During installation the communication pro gram of the installer 22 can read the values of these variables from the hardlock 16 and store indications of the values of these variables in a memory associated with the licensed software program 20 Such an ID number or list of features may be used to assure that an inserted hardlock is the proper hardlock for the software program being installed and or to control the features purchased by the software user During installation of an upgrade program i e a software progr
26. hereof While hardlocks operate to prevent unauthorized imple mentation of a software program a separate hardlock must be provided for each licensed copy of the software program Furthermore a hardlock must be left in an external port of each computer on which the licensed software program is installed while the licensed software program is actually running This requirement can become problematic if mul tiple hardlock protected software programs are to be run on any particular computer Furthermore if the hardlock is accidentally damaged or lost the properly licensed software program cannot be implemented on the computer which is inconvenient for the licensee A softlock protection method typically uses a protection code stored in software supplied with a purchased software program to limit the use or implementation of the software program to a particular machine such as to one having a specific identification number Generally to install a licensed software program protected with a software lock i e a softlock the purchased software runs an install program that reads the serial number of the hard drive of the computer on which the licensed software program is to be loaded and generates a hard drive code therefrom A user then contacts the software licensor with the hard drive code to obtain an access code which the user enters into the computer The install program then links the access code of the software program to the hard drive
27. ided with the 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 disk 12 operates to allow a user to de install the software program 20 from the computer 10 when a proper hardlock 16 is inserted into the external port 14 Such a de installer 28 when run by the operator removes the program 20 from the memory 23 of the computer 10 and or changes the run flag 24 to the second state indicating that the software program 20 cannot be run without the hardlock 16 inserted into the external port 14 Thereafter a communication program within the de installer 28 changes the access vari able stored in the memory of the hardlock 16 to indicate that a further license is available by for example incrementing that variable After this operation the hardlock 16 can be removed from the computer 10 inserted into at least one other computer and be used to install the software program 20 on the other computer In this manner the software licenses initially provided with the hardlock 16 are fully transportable between computers It is also desirable to have the hardlock 16 operate to allow the use of a single backup copy of the licensed software program 20 i e to allow a single backup copy of the licensed software program 20 to be run on any given computer using the hardlock 16 To assure this function a hardlock interface 30 associated with the software program 20 includes a detector that detects whenever a proper hardlock 16 e
28. ll the software program on those computers In this manner a single removable hardlock device can be used to install a software program on numer ous machines or computers with the number of installations being set by the software licensor as the number of licenses purchased for the software program Referring now to FIG 2 the components within the computer 10 that install and or de install a software program 20 on the computer 10 according to the present invention are illustrated With the hardlock 16 inserted into the external port 14 of the computer 10 an installer 22 operates to install the software program 20 on the computer 10 The installer 22 which may perform any functions associated with a standard software installer routine and which may be imple mented by software stored in the computer 10 and or pro vided with the disk 12 FIG 1 first loads the software program 20 from the disk 12 into a memory 23 of the computer 10 Thereafter a communication program within the installer 22 reads the value of an access variable stored within the memory of the hardlock 16 to determine if the hardlock 16 has one or more unused software licenses associated therewith If the access variable on the hardlock 16 indicates that one or more licenses for the software program are still available a software conditioner within the installer 22 sets a run flag 24 associated with the software program 20 to a first state indicating that the software progr
29. n the software being installed is an upgrade to a software program already installed on a computer The OLDFEAT variable indicates the features or identity of the installed program for which the upgrade program is designed An OLDTAGCNT old tag count variable may be used to indicate the tag count of the software program already installed on a computer on which an upgrade pro gram is to be installed Of course the FEAT TAGCNT OLDFEAT and OLDTAGCNT variables set by the software vendor before the hardlock 16 is shipped to the software licensee If as in FIG 3 the UPGCNT variable is set to zero the OLDFEAT variable may be left blank To install the base software program 20 on the computer 60 the hardlock 16 block 64 is inserted into an external port of the computer 60 and the base software program 20 is loaded onto the hard drive thereof During installation an installer of the computer 60 checks for the insertion of a proper hardlock using for example the hardlock interface 30 FIG 2 The installer then determines if the FULLCNT variable is greater than one and if so installs the base software program 20 on the computer 60 setting the run flag 24 of the base software program 20 to a state illustrated in FIG 3 as NO HL indicating that the base software program 20 can be run without the hardlock 16 inserted in the computer 60 During the installation process the installer stores the ID number of the hardlock 16 in the
30. nstalled on the computer to install the upgrade program on the computer comparing the identifi cation of the base program with an identification of an actual program installed on the computer and preventing the instal lation of the upgrade program when the identification of the base program stored on the hardlock does not match the identification of the actual program installed on the com puter UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENTNO 6 023 763 DATED February 8 2000 INVENTOR S Grumstrup et al It is certified that error appears the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Title page item 73 Mich should be Missouri Signed and Sealed this Twenty seventh Day of February 2001 NICHOLAS GODICI Attesting Officer Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
31. oftware program stored on the disk 12 The hardlock 16 also includes connections for electrically con necting the hardlock 16 to the external port 14 of the computer 10 in any known or desired manner Generally to install the software program stored on the disk 12 on the computer 10 the disk 12 is inserted into the disk drive 11 while the removable hardlock 16 is inserted into for example the printer port 14 When an access variable stored within a memory of the hardlock 16 indicates that an unused license for the software program on the disk 12 is available an installer associated with the computer 10 and or provided with the disk 12 installs the software program on the computer 10 in a manner that allows the software program to be run by the computer 10 when the hardlock 16 is removed from the external port 14 of the computer 10 After installing the software program on the computer 10 in this manner the installer changes the access variable on the hardlock 16 to indicate that one less unused license for the software program stored on the disk 12 10 15 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 remains The hardlock 16 can then be removed from the computer 10 and the installed software can be run thereon If after this installation the access variable on the hard lock 16 indicates that one or more licenses are still available the hardlock 16 can then be inserted into one or more further computers and used to insta
32. plement a single backup or unli censed copy of the software program at any time This function is desirable when for example a licensed copy of the software program installed on a computer has been accidentally erased damaged or destroyed According to a still further aspect of the present invention the removable hardlock of the present invention may be used to install and run an upgrade program on a computer which has a base program already installed thereon In this case the removable hardlock may include one or more variables that indicate the features of or that otherwise identify the base program which must be already installed on the computer for the upgrade program to be installed thereon An installer associated with the computer determines the features of the base program installed on the computer and compares these features with the set of features stored on the hardlock If the two sets of features match the installer installs the upgrade program on the computer Otherwise the installer recog nizes that the upgrade program is not an upgrade to the base program currently installed on the computer and prevents installation of the upgrade program BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a perspective view of a computer capable of installing and running licensed software using a removable hardlock according to the present invention FIG 2 is a block diagram of the computer and the removable hardlock of FIG 1 FIG 3 i
33. s a flow chart illustrating the installation of a base program on a computer using the removable hardlock of the present invention and FIG 4 is a flow chart illustrating the installation of an upgrade program on a computer having an installed base program using the removable hardlock of the present inven tion 6 023 763 3 DETAILED DESCRIPTION The software protection method and apparatus of the present invention can be used to assure that when a software licensor or vendor sends out a software program the soft ware program can be installed and run on only the number of computers for which a license has been purchased Furthermore where any of a number of serial software upgrades of a particular software program are available the software protection method and system of the present inven tion can be used to assure that a new software upgrade is only installed and run on a system having base software already upgraded to the level immediately below the level of the new software upgrade Thus for example the software protection method and system of the present invention can be used to distribute software capable of having upgrades A to D in a manner that assures that the upgrade D is only installed on a system having upgrade C already installed thereon Referring now to FIG 1 a computer 10 which may comprise any machine processor microprocessor hard wired machine or any other type of computer capable of implementing or runnin
34. ts 10 12345 COMPANY SITE FULLCNT 2 FEAT MUX TAGCNT 200 64 UPGCNT 0 OLDFEAT OLDTAGCNT 0 ID 12345 COMPANY ACME SITE MTOWN FULLCNT 4 66 FEAT MUX TAGCNT 200 UPGCNT 0 OLDFEAT OLDTAGCNT 0 10 12345 COMPANY ACME SITE MTOWN FEAT MUX TAGCNT 200 RUN FLAG NO HL 10 12345 SITE MTOWN FEAT MUX TAGCNT 200 RUN FLAG NEED HL U S Patent Feb 8 2000 Sheet 1 of 3 6 023 763 FIG 1 FIG 2 DE INSTALLER F U S Patent Feb 8 2000 Sheet 2 of 3 6 023 763 16 ID 12345 COMPANY SITE FULLCNT 2 FEAT MUX TAGCNT 200 64 UPGCNT 0 ID 12345 OLDFEAT OLDTAGCNT 0 SITE MTOWN 9 FEAT MUX TAGCNT 200 RUN FLAG NO HL ID 12345 COMPANY ACME SITE MTOWN FULLCNT 1 66 FEAT MUX 200 UPGCNT 0 ID 12345 OLDFEAT OLDTAGCNT 0 SITE MTOWN 2 FEAT MUX TAGCNT 200 RUN FLAG NEED HL FIG 3 U S Patent Feb 8 2000 16A ID 12346 COMPANY SITE 70 FULLCNT 0 FEAT MUX VSIG TAGCNT 400 UPGCNT 1 OLDFEAT MUX OLDTAGCNT 200 16A ID 12346 COMPANY ACME SITE MTOWN FULLCNT 0 72 FEAT MUX VSIG a TAGCNT 400 UPGCNT 1 OLDFEAT MUX OLDTAGCNT 200 16A 10 12346 COMPANY ACME SITE MTOWN FULLCNT
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