JPH05197542A - Use term control method for program - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To evade system interruption due to the expiration of the use term of the program by displaying a message regarding the remaining period up to the expiration before the use term of the program expires. CONSTITUTION:A check routine 31 which checks whether or not the user is a proper user, whether or not the machine is proper, and whether or not the contract term expires and respective routines of error processes I32-III34 and a warning process 35 to be branched from the check routine 31 according to the check result are incorporated in a system monitor program 3. When the program is started, the current date is compared with the predetermined use term of the program and the program is inhibited from being used after the use term expires, but before the use term expires, the message regarding the remaining period is displayed to expedite the user's renewal of the contract before the term expires. Therefore, the interruption of the system due to the expiration of the use term can be evaded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of managing the expiration date of a program so as to prohibit the illegal use of the paid program after the expiration of the contract period.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A program maker suffers a large loss due to illegal use in which a program provided for a user for a fee is copied to another medium and is used by a computer of the same type. As a conventional method for avoiding this unauthorized use, for example, the program is provided to the user by encrypting the program with the machine number individually assigned to the user's computer, and the user uses the machine number of the user's own computer to execute the encrypted program. A method for decrypting and obtaining a usable program is disclosed (JP-A-57-101921). According to this method, since the machine number unique to each computer cannot be arbitrarily set by the user, the computer cannot be properly decrypted in another computer having a different machine number, and the unauthorized use of the program is prevented.

However, in the above method, although the computer to be used can be limited, a program that contracts the expiration date of the program and recovers the original when the contract expires is copied to another magnetic disk or magnetic tape. It is impossible to prohibit the unauthorized use of the copy program after the original is collected.

As a method of eliminating such inconvenience,
When the program including the original copy is started, a file that encrypts the contract expiration date of the program is installed together with the program, and when the program is started, the contract expiration date and the start date are first compared and the program after the contract expiration date has expired. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-87631 discloses a method of prohibiting unauthorized use of the.

[0005]

Generally, the contract period for using a program is often a long term of several years, and it is necessary for the manufacturer and the user to manage the contract period respectively, but there are various programs. And the contract period management work becomes complicated.

However, if the user neglects to manage and the program suddenly becomes unusable due to the expiration of the contract, unless the means for notifying the cause of unusability is provided, the system stops until the cause is clarified. There is a problem that it ends up.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and displays a message regarding the remaining period until the expiration date of the program and notifies the expiration date in advance to use the program. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for managing the expiration date of a program that enables appropriate measures before the system is stopped due to expiration.

[0008]

A method for managing the expiration date of a program according to the present invention is a method for managing the expiration date of a program, in which the use of the program is prohibited after the expiration of a predetermined expiration date for the program. The present invention is characterized in that the deadline and the current date are compared with each other, and as a result of the comparison, if the current date is before the expiration of the expiration date, a message regarding the remaining period until expiration of the expiration date is displayed.

[0009]

The method for managing the expiration date of a program according to the present invention is to compare the expiration date of a predetermined program with the current date at the time of starting the program, and if the current date is after the expiration date of the program, System is prohibited, and if it is before the expiration date, a message about the remaining period until the expiration date is displayed to prompt the user to take appropriate measures such as contract renewal before the expiration date, and the system accompanying the expiration date It is possible to avoid interruption.

[0010]

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings showing the embodiments thereof. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a customer introduction program that realizes a program expiration date management method according to the present invention (hereinafter referred to as the present invention method). The customer introduction program refers to the license table 2 that stores contract data including the expiration dates of the application programs 11 to 1n and the application programs 11 to 1n and the license table 2 to refer to the application program 11
It consists of a system monitoring program 3 incorporating various routines for managing the expiration date of 1n.

The license table 2 includes a customer name, an order number, and a site ID which is the machine number of the contracted computer.
-The distribution date of the program, the expiration date, and the encryption code set by combining multiple data are stored.

For the encryption code, the order number and the site ID are masked according to a predetermined mask rule, and the XO
It is obtained by taking R and encrypting the result with the data obtained by performing the mask processing according to the same mask rule as the key on the distribution date and the deadline date, and the mask rule is stored by the manufacturer.

The system monitoring program 3 includes a check routine 31 for checking whether the user is a legitimate user, a legitimate machine, and whether the contract has expired, and a check routine 31 according to the result of the check.
Error processing branched from (I), (II), (III) 32, 33,
Each routine of 34 and warning processing 35 is incorporated.

Next, a program management procedure according to the method of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. When the customer installation program is started, the license table is read at startup and it is determined whether or not it is a specific code, for example, "KANEBO" (S1), and "KANEBO".
If the user name is other than ', the order number and site ID stored in the license table 2 are masked according to the mask rule supplied at the time of contract (S2, S3), and the result of S2, S3 XOR of (S4). next,
Similarly, the masking process is performed respectively on the distribution date and the expiration date stored in the license table 2 (S5 and S6), and the encryption key having the result of S5 as the higher rank and the result of S6 as the lower rank is generated (S7).

The result of the XOR in S4 is encrypted using this encryption key (S8), and the mask processing according to the above-mentioned mask rule is performed (S9), and the result is stored in the license table 2. The encryption code is compared (S10). As a result of the comparison, if it does not match the encryption code stored in the license table 2, error processing (I)
Branch to (S11) and display the "Cryptographic check error" message.

If the encryption codes match, the system site ID is acquired (S12), and this is compared with the site ID stored in the license table 2 (S13). If they do not match as a result of the comparison, the process branches to the error processing (II) (S14
), "Site ID check error" message is displayed.

If the site IDs match, the system date is acquired (S15), and this date is compared with the distribution date and the expiration date stored in the license table (S16). As a result of comparison, the system date is before the distribution date. Or, if it is after the deadline, branch to the error processing (III) (S17) and display the "out-of-contract error" message.

As a result of the comparison in S16, if it is within the contract period, two months are added to the system date and compared with the expiration date stored in the license table (S18). If the expiration date matches, a warning is issued. Processing branches (S19) and the message "Contract period is two months left" is displayed.

As a result of the comparison in S18, if two months later do not match the deadline date, one month is added to the system date and compared with the deadline date (S20). If the deadline date matches, the warning process is executed. Branch off (S21), "The contract period is one month left.
Please make a continuous contract. Message is displayed.

As a result of the comparison in S20, if one month later does not match the deadline date, two weeks are added to the system date and compared with the deadline date (S22). If the deadline date matches, the process branches to the warning process. (S23), "The contract period is two weeks.
After that, this system will stop. Warning message is displayed.

As a result of the comparison in S22, if two weeks later do not match the deadline date, one week is added to the system date and compared with the deadline date (S24). If the deadline date matches, the process branches to a warning process. (S25) "The contract period is one week left.
After that, this system will stop. Warning message is displayed.

As a result of the comparison in S24, if one week later does not match the deadline, one day is added to the system date and compared with the deadline (S26), and if it matches the deadline, the process branches to the warning process. (S27), the warning message "This system will stop within 48 hours." Is displayed.

Furthermore, as a result of the comparison in S26, if one day later does not match the deadline, the system date is compared with the deadline (S28), and if the deadline matches, the process branches to a warning process (S29). This system will stop within 24 hours. "Is displayed.

As a result of the above steps, error processing
If you branch to (I) (II) (III), the program will not start,
When branching to the warning process, the corresponding message is displayed and the program is started.

In this embodiment, the license table 2
Although the check timing based on the above is set to the program start-up, the check timing is not limited to the system start-up, and may be checked, for example, every day. In that case, if it is found that the user is not a legitimate user or if the program is running at the time when it is found to be out of the contract period, the running program is stopped.

[0026]

As described above, according to the method of the present invention, a message regarding the remaining period until the expiration of the program is displayed before the expiration of the expiration date of the program. Therefore, the user needs to manage the expiration date of the program separately. In addition, since the expiration of the expiration date can be known in advance, appropriate measures can be taken before the program is stopped, and the system interruption due to the expiration of the expiration date of the program can be avoided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a customer introduction program that realizes the method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 License table 3 System monitoring program 11 to 1n Application program 31 Check routine 32 to 34 Error processing I to III 35 Warning processing

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for managing an expiration date of a program that prohibits the use of the program after the expiration of a predetermined expiration date of the program, compares the expiration date of the program with the current date, and as a result of the comparison, A method for managing the expiration date of a program, which displays a message regarding the remaining period until the expiration date before the expiration date.