JP2007206928A - License authentication method and license authentication device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve a license authentication method and a license authentication device for holding unique license information with low readability for each computer without using any exclusive hardware in license authentication in software execution. <P>SOLUTION: This license authentication method comprises a first step for storing a file by encrypting license information by using the MAC address of a user computer in which provided software is installed as a key; a second step for decoding the encrypted license information stored in the file by using the MAC address as a key; and a third step for executing authentication regarding the installation or execution of software based on the decoded license information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a license authentication method and a license authentication apparatus that are executed when software provided from a software development vendor or the like is installed in a user computer.

  Currently, software license authentication methods can be broadly classified into two. The first is a method of authenticating a user when installing software. In this method, when a user installs software in a computer system, specific license information is input and the information is authenticated. That is, software installation is permitted for a user having license information.

  The second method is to authenticate the license when the software is executed. In this method, the system authenticates the license information arranged on the computer when the software is executed. That is, the execution of software is permitted to the computer where the license information is arranged.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of license authentication at the time of installation. Step S1 is waiting for a license input, and the license information issued to the user by an arbitrary means is input by the vendor.

  There are various means for issuing license information, such as those using the Web and those bundled with software. Authentication for the license information input in step S1 is executed. If the determination result in determination step S3 is appropriate, installation is executed in step S4. If it is inappropriate, installation is not executed and the process ends.

  The feature of this method is that it is not necessary for the system to hold the license information, so that the cost for holding the license information can be reduced. On the other hand, the license information requires readability because the user handles the license information at the time of installation. Therefore, there is a high risk that unauthorized installation can be easily performed.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of license authentication at the time of software execution. Step S1 is acquisition of a license. The vendor arranges and holds license information in a file on the user computer or an external computer in advance by any means, and the user calls and acquires the license information when the software is executed.

  Step S2 is license authentication, which is performed based on the license information called from the file. If the determination result in determination step S3 is appropriate, the software is executed in step S4.

  The feature of this method is that the readability of the license information is not required because the computer handles the license information. For this reason, it is possible to prevent unauthorized execution of software by arranging unique and low-readable license information for each computer.

  However, it is difficult to place and maintain a unique and low-readable license for each computer. Therefore, in general, a dedicated hardware for holding license information is prepared, and a technique for holding license information issued by a vendor is often used.

  FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of an authentication system when dedicated hardware is prepared and license information is held therein. Reference numeral 1 denotes a software development vendor, and the provided software 2 is installed in the user computer 3. Reference numeral 31 denotes an installed software file.

  Prior to installation, a license issuance request is issued from the user computer side to the vendor 1. At this time, user ID information for executing the software is passed. The vendor 1 issues a license based on this request.

  A license information server 4 holds license information issued by the vendor 1 in the license information file 41 on the disk 41. Encrypt as necessary. This license information server 4 is communicably connected to the user computer 3 via a communication bus 5.

  When the user executes the installed software 31, the calling unit 32 calls the license information from the license information file 42 of the license information server 4 and passes it to the authentication unit 33. If the license information is encrypted, the license information is decrypted with a key (which may be inherent in the software 2) notified from the vendor and passed to the authentication means 33.

  The authentication means 33 performs authentication related to the execution of the license information software from the license information server 4, and if it is established, the execution is permitted, and if it is not established, the execution is not permitted, and an appropriate display means 34 causes an error. indicate.

  As described above, in the configuration in which the license information server 4 is externally provided as dedicated hardware, there is a problem of server reliability and compatibility with the computer, and furthermore, since it has its own life cycle, it extends over the lifetime of the software. Therefore, a cost for maintaining the license authentication is generated.

  License authentication is a mechanism for protecting software development vendors, and is a function that does not contribute to improving the value of the software itself. Therefore, it is not desirable to include the development / maintenance cost in the price of the provided software product.

  Patent Document 1 describes a system that performs license authentication when software is installed.

JP 2004-213436 A

The conventional license authentication method has the following problems.
(1) The license authentication at the time of installation can keep the cost required for license authentication low, but there is a risk of unauthorized copying.

(2) Software runtime authentication using dedicated hardware can prevent unauthorized execution of software, but it incurs costs for maintaining license authentication.

(3) Risks arising from problems with the reliability of dedicated hardware and compatibility with computers are unpredictable.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and it is possible to hold unique and low-readable license information for each computer without using dedicated hardware in software runtime license authentication. An object of the present invention is to realize a license authentication method and a license authentication device.

In order to achieve such a subject, the present invention has the following configuration.
(1) a first step of encrypting license information using a MAC address of a user computer to install the provided software as a key and saving the file;
A second step of decrypting the encrypted license information stored in the file using the MAC address as a key;
A third step of authenticating the installation or execution of the software based on the decrypted license information;
A license authentication method comprising:

(2) The license authentication method according to (1), wherein the second step and the third step are activated when the software is installed, and the installation is permitted when the authentication is established.

(3) The license authentication according to (1), wherein the second step and the third step are started when the installed software is executed, and the execution is permitted when the authentication is established. Method.

(4) In any one of (1) to (3), the second step includes a success / failure determination step of confirming the success or failure of the decryption based on a match of ID information included in the license information. License authentication method.

(5) The license authentication method according to any one of (1) to (4), wherein the license information is included in the provided software.

(6) The license authentication method according to any one of (1) to (5), wherein the encrypted license information is stored as a file in the user computer.

(7) encryption means for encrypting license information using the MAC address of a user computer that installs the provided software as a key, and saving the file;
Decryption means for decrypting the encrypted license information stored in the file using the MAC address as a key;
Authenticating means for authenticating installation or execution of the software based on the decrypted license information;
A license authentication apparatus comprising:

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention has the following effects.
(1) Compared to software runtime license authentication using dedicated hardware,
Computer-specific license information can be generated by encryption using the MAC address.

(2) Unauthorized copying of license information can be prevented because of decryption by MAC address.

(3) Since license information is encrypted and managed, it is difficult to be tampered with.

(4) Since dedicated hardware is not required, sales, maintenance and management costs can be greatly reduced.

(5) High quality and stable license authentication can be realized over the lifetime of the software.

(6) Since dedicated hardware is not required, there is no problem of reliability or compatibility.

(7) Since the architecture does not depend on hardware, it is stable over the lifetime of the product.

(8) Since license information can be held in a file, backup and restoration can be easily performed.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a license authentication apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The same elements as those of the conventional apparatus described with reference to FIG. Hereinafter, the characteristic part of the present invention will be described.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a user computer to which the present invention is applied. The user requests the vendor 1 to issue a license as pre-processing. At this time, the MAC address information of the user computer that executes the software is notified to the vendor 1 together with the user ID.

Based on the information notified from the user, the vendor 1 issues a license having license information encrypted with the MAC address as a key. Specifically, the license installation program 101 including the encrypted license information delivered to the user by an arbitrary means is executed by the user computer 3 and arranged in the encrypted license information file 102 on the disk of the user computer. The license installation program may be included in the provided software 2.

  Currently, widely used computers (mainly personal computers) are equipped with hardware for communicating via Ethernet (registered trademark). Identification information called a MAC (Media Access Control) address guaranteed to be unique all over the world is assigned to this hardware. Reference numeral 103 denotes MAC address information arranged in the user computer 100.

  The encrypted license information can be easily held as an encrypted information license file 102 arranged on the user computer. Therefore, no dedicated hardware for holding license information is required.

  Also, when reading the encrypted license information, a key for decryption (the MAC address used for encryption) is required, and therefore it cannot be decrypted except by a computer having an appropriate key. That is, by encrypting the license information using the MAC address, it is possible to have license information that is unique for each computer and has low readability.

  Reference numeral 104 denotes an installed software file. When the user tries to execute the software file, the authentication unit 105 and the decryption unit 106 are activated, and the license information issued by the vendor is converted into the encrypted license information file 102. Are read out and decrypted to perform authentication related to software execution.

  The decryption means 106 uses the MAC address 103 as a key, decrypts the license information that is encrypted and holds it, and passes it to the authentication means 105. Reference numeral 107 denotes a success / failure determination unit provided as necessary, and checks whether or not the decryption has been executed normally.

  As a method for determining the success or failure of the decryption process, information obtained by decrypting the ID information included in the encrypted license information can be determined by matching with preset ID information. The success / failure determination unit 107 passes the decrypted license information to the authentication unit 105 if the ID information matches, and displays an error on the display unit 108 if the ID information does not match.

  The authentication unit 105 performs authentication based on the license information passed from the success / failure determination unit 108, and permits the execution when the execution of the software to be executed is licensed, and disallows the execution and displays the display unit. An error is displayed at 107.

  FIG. 2 is a transition diagram illustrating the entire process from license issuance to placement / authentication. (A) is a license issuance step by the vendor, and the license information is encrypted using the MAC address of the user computer as a key.

To illustrate the contents of the license, execution of the programs L1 and L3 with the flag “1” is permitted, but the program L2 with the flag “0” is not permitted.
At this time, an ID for determining success or failure of decryption can be included in the license information. In this example, “Yokogawa” is the ID.

  Although the encryption algorithm is arbitrary, for example, Microsoft's Visual Studio.Net provides an implementation of DES (Data Encript Standard), which can be used.

  In this case, the MAC address is used as a DES common key, but since the Microsoft implementation is generally provided, the MAC address is transformed by some method (exclusive OR, bit shift, etc.) DES key is desirable. Similar modifications are required for decoding.

  (B) is a license arrangement step by the user, in which the encrypted license information is arranged in the file 102 on the disk of the user computer.

  (C) is a license authentication step in the user computer at the time of software execution. The license information encrypted from the file 102 on the disk of the user computer is read and decrypted using the MAC address as a key. At this time, the success or failure of the decryption is confirmed by correctly reading the ID “Yokogawa”.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for issuing a license by a vendor. Step S1 waits for input of user information. The vendor requests the user to input an ID for recognizing the user himself / herself and a MAC address arranged in the user computer that executes the software.

  The license issuing software holds license information given in advance for each user identity. In step S2, the vendor acquires user information. In step S3, the license information is encrypted using the MAC address as a key, and a license to be issued is generated in step S4.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a license authentication processing procedure by the user computer. Step S1 is reading of license information, and the executed software reads the license information stored in the encrypted license information file 102 arranged on the user computer.

  Step S2 is the reading of the MAC address, and the MAC address held by the computer on which the software is executed is read. The MAC address read function is provided by the OS.

  In step S3, the license information is decrypted, and the license information is decrypted using the MAC address as a key. Step S4 is license authentication, which is performed based on the decrypted license information. If authentication fails, software execution is not allowed.

It is a functional block diagram which shows one Embodiment of the license authentication apparatus to which this invention is applied. FIG. 10 is a transition diagram illustrating an entire process from license issuance to arrangement / authentication. It is a flowchart which shows the processing procedure of the license issue by a vendor. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the license authentication by a user computer. It is a flowchart which shows the processing procedure of the license authentication at the time of the conventional installation. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the conventional license authentication at the time of software execution. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structural example of the authentication system in the case of hold | maintaining license information in exclusive hardware.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Software development vendor 2 Software provided 100 User computer 101 License installation program 102 Encrypted license information file 103 MAC address 104 Installed software 105 Authentication means 106 Decryption means 107 Success / failure judgment means 108 Display means

Claims (7)

A first step of encrypting and storing the license information with the MAC address of the user computer on which the provided software is installed as a key;
A second step of decrypting the encrypted license information stored in the file using the MAC address as a key;
A third step of authenticating the installation or execution of the software based on the decrypted license information;
A license authentication method comprising:   The license authentication method according to claim 1, wherein the second step and the third step are started when the software is installed, and the installation is permitted when the authentication is established.   The license authentication method according to claim 1, wherein the second step and the third step are started when the installed software is executed, and the execution is permitted when the authentication is established.   The license authentication method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the second step includes a success / failure determination step of confirming whether the decryption is successful or not by matching the ID information included in the license information.   The license authentication method according to claim 1, wherein the license information is included in the provided software.   6. The license authentication method according to claim 1, wherein the encrypted license information is stored in a file in the user computer. Encryption means for encrypting license information using the MAC address of a user computer to install the provided software as a key, and storing the file;
Decryption means for decrypting the encrypted license information stored in the file using the MAC address as a key;
Authenticating means for authenticating installation or execution of the software based on the decrypted license information;
A license authentication apparatus comprising:

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