JPH0744378A - Starting method for program - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inhibit the use of an illegal program by surely checking the legality of a program stored in a machine. CONSTITUTION:Data for check based on the regular program are previously stored, when starting a program, the data for check are extracted from the program mounted at that time point, the legality of the program mounted at that time point is checked based on the previously stored data for check and these extracted data for check and only when the legality of the program is judged, that program is started.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for starting a program, for example, a method for starting an application program such as a computer game.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When executing a normal application program, it is sufficient that the program can be executed.
In most cases, the legitimacy of the application program itself does not matter.

However, when a special application program, such as an application program for a computer game, which needs to meet the examination standards stipulated by national laws and regulations, is mounted on a machine and started, The legitimacy of the application program installed in the machine becomes a problem.

[0004]

However, in the prior art, for example, when a third party exchanges a program with an unauthorized one, it is possible to reliably check the legitimacy of the program installed in the machine. There wasn't. An object of the present invention is to reliably check the legitimacy of a program installed in a machine and prohibit the use of an unauthorized program.

[0005]

The means of the present invention are as follows. First, check data based on a regular program, for example, checksum data is stored in advance. Next, when the program is started, for example, the power is turned on.
At N hours, the check data is extracted from the program installed at that time. Then, based on the previously stored check data and the extracted check data, the legitimacy of the program installed at that time, for example, checksum match / mismatch, is checked, and the legitimate program is checked. If it is determined that, the program is started.

[0006]

The operation of the means of the present invention is as follows. First,
The check data based on the regular program is stored in advance, and then the check data is extracted from the program installed at that time when the program is started up. Based on the extracted check data and
The legitimacy of the program installed at that time is checked, and if it is judged to be a legitimate program, that program is started.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a program processing device to which the program starting method according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied. In the figure, when a user performs a predetermined operation, for example, a power-on operation via the input unit 14, the CPU 10 causes a computer stored in the application ROM 12 according to a program to be described later stored in the OS (operating system) ROM 11. Start an application program such as a game. Then, in accordance with this application program, various display keys are appropriately displayed on the display unit 15 via the display controller 16 in response to various keys configured on the input unit 14 and mouse operations.

The RAM 13 is used as a work area and is provided with areas A, B, C and D, and checksum data for checking the correctness of the application program is stored in these areas as will be described later. It Further, the warning lamp 17 is for warning the user of the fact that the application program is found to be invalid.

Next, the operation of the program processing device having such a configuration will be described with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b). First, after the above program processing device is shipped from the factory and installed in a predetermined place,
When the power is turned on, the OS stored in the OSROM 11
The program is started, and step S1 and subsequent steps in FIG. 1A are executed. At this point, the installed application ROM 12 is considered to have not been tampered with, and the process proceeds to step S5, where an instruction to start the application program stored in the application ROM 12 is issued and the process ends. After that, the CPU 10 operates according to the application program.

Next, checksum data based on an application program (hereinafter referred to as a regular application program) that meets the national examination standards is stored in advance. That is, when the power is turned off, the CPU1
0 is interrupted, and the steps shown in the flowchart of FIG. 1B are executed according to the OS program in the OSROM 11. That is, first, an instruction to stop the running application program is given (step ST1). Next, a checksum is calculated based on the regular application program data stored in the application ROM 12, and the calculated checksum data is stored in the A of the RAM 13.
It is stored in the area (steps ST2 and ST3). After that, the power supply stopping process is performed and the process ends (step ST
4).

As described above, the checksum data of the legitimate application program is stored when the power is turned off. Normally, a person who intends to make an illegal action turns off the power source, takes out the application ROM, writes the illegal data, and writes it in the ROM. The reason is that if the checksum of the regular program is held after the power is turned off, the checksum of the regular program can be used for an illegal check at the next power on.

After that, when the user turns on the power of the program processing device to start the desired computer game, the steps shown in the flowchart of FIG. 1A are executed again. That is, first, it is determined whether or not checksum data is stored in the area A of the RAM 13 (step S1). In this case, the above-mentioned step ST3
Since checksum data is stored in
It becomes S. Next, at that point, the application ROM 1
A checksum is calculated based on the application program data to be checked, which is stored in No. 2, and the calculated checksum data is stored in the B area of the RAM 13 (steps S2 and S3). Next, A of RAM 13
The checksum data stored in the area and the checksum data stored in the B area are compared to determine whether they match (step S4). If it is determined that they match with each other, the installed application program is considered to be valid and an instruction to start the application program stored in the application ROM 12 is issued (step S5). on the other hand,
If it is determined that they do not match, the application program is not started and the warning lamp 17 displays that the application program is not valid (step S6).

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b). Here, the configuration of the program processing device is the same as that of the first embodiment, but in the second embodiment, the checksum data calculated based on the regular application program data is stored in the area A of the RAM 13 at the time of factory shipment. To be done. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2B, a checksum is calculated based on a regular application program stored in the application ROM 12 at the time of factory shipment, and the calculated checksum data is stored in the area A of the RAM 13. Store (Step SM
1, SM2). Next, the size of the unused area of the application ROM 12 and a part of the program data stored in the application ROM 12 are stored in the C area of the RAM 13 and the process ends (step SM3).

Next, when the power source of the program processing device is turned on after the program processing device is placed at a predetermined position, FIG.
The steps shown in the flow chart of are executed. That is,
First, the checksum is calculated based on the application program data to be checked stored in the application ROM 12 at that time, and the calculated checksum data is stored in the B area of the RAM 13 (steps SH1 and SH2). Next, the checksum data stored in the A area of the RAM 13 and the checksum data stored in the B area are compared to determine whether or not they match (step SH3). If they do not match, the application program is not started and the warning lamp 17 displays that the application program is not valid (step SH7). If it is determined that they match, the size of the unused area of the application ROM 12 and a part of the application program data at that time are stored in the D area of the RAM 13 (step S
H4), data stored in area C of RAM 13 and D
The data stored in the area is compared to determine whether or not they match (step SH5). If it is determined that these data match, the installed application program is considered to be valid and an instruction to start the application program stored in the application ROM 12 is issued (step SH6). On the other hand, if they do not match, the ROM1 is read because a third party has modified the application program.
This is probably because the size of the unused area 2 has changed. Therefore, in this case, the application program is not started and the warning lamp 17 displays that the application program is not valid (step SH7).

As described above with reference to the first and second embodiments, the method for starting a program according to this embodiment uses the check data for the regular program and the check data for the program installed at that time. Are compared and the legitimacy of the program is checked based on the comparison result, so that the legitimacy of the program installed in the machine can be surely checked.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the validity is checked when the power is turned on, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, a predetermined instruction may be given after the power is turned on. Also, the validity of the application program is checked based on whether or not the two checksums match, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, data obtained by inverting one of the data matches the other data. The validity may be checked based on whether or not.

Further, the above-mentioned checking data includes not only the data obtained by calculating the checksum, but also simply extracted data such as unused data in the application ROM.

[0018]

According to the present invention, since the legitimacy of the program installed in the machine can be surely checked, it is possible to prohibit the use of the illegal program and perform the processing only by the legitimate program.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining a program starting method according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a program starting method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a program processing device to which a program starting method according to first and second embodiments of the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... CPU, 11 ... OS (operating system) ROM, 12 ... Application ROM, 13 ... R
AM, 14 ... Input unit, 15 ... Display unit, 16 ... Display controller, 17 ... Warning lamp.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The check data based on a regular program is stored in advance, and when the program is started up, the check data is extracted from the program installed at that time, and the check data stored in advance is stored. Based on the extracted check data above, the legitimacy of the program installed at that time is checked, and if it is judged to be a legitimate program, that program is activated. starting method.