JPH0830451A - Software control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent software from being illicitly copied and to charge a user corresponding to the use of the software. CONSTITUTION:Master media 1 which supply an application program 2 has a main timer variable 5 corresponding to the use time of the program, takes a variable value corresponding to a time and minute of use out of the main timer variable 5 when the program is installed in a system 6, and generates a division timer variable 9 in the system 6 on the basis of the variable value; and a count-down process is performed corresponding to the use of the application program 2 on the system 6 and when the division timer variable 9 decreases below a certain value, an alarm is generated. The use of software is limited to a predetermined time to perform copy management charging management quantitatively, and the copyright of the software and the profit of the maker are sufficiently protected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control system for preventing unauthorized use of software, and more particularly to a software control system for managing software according to the time it is actually used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional software can be freely copied, so that a user can copy and use the purchased software. In this way, copying and using the software without purchasing it may cause great damage to the manufacturer.

Therefore, the manufacturer takes the following measures, for example, to prevent such illegal copying.

(1) It is necessary to input a serial number for each product when installing from the provided media into the system to be used.

(2) The provided media can be installed only a specific number of times in the system to be used.

(3) There is a system for requesting the master's media to be provided after a fixed period of time after installing from the media provided to the system to be used.

However, in the above method (1), if the serial number is known, the same product can be copied any number of times. In addition, in the above method (2), the software may become unusable if the data on the medium is damaged after the installation. Also,
The above method (3) has a problem in that it is inconvenient because the master medium needs to be read at regular intervals.

As a known technique related to the above fraud prevention method, there is JP-A-62-212736.

[0009]

As described above, in the conventional software management method, although various means are used, none of them can sufficiently protect the software or the usability of the user is deteriorated. , There was a problem.

Further, in general, when a software maker distributes software to the market, one product is shipped as a single package product which can be used only by one user or one system.
A user who uses a large amount of the same software in a large number of systems needs to purchase a large amount of the same product, and there is a problem that both the selling side and the purchasing side are uselessly costly and labor-intensive.

In order to solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to protect the profit of a software maker and to simplify the form of providing software.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a master variable storing a program stores a timer variable that defines a usage time of the program and installs the program in a system. In doing so, the necessary amount of time is divided from the timer variable and moved to the non-volatile storage device of the installation destination device. This is accomplished by checking the timer variable every time the program is used at the installation destination and counting down the value of the timer variable according to the usage time.

[0013]

When the instruction to execute the program is issued, the value of the timer variable is checked. If the timer variable is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the program can be used, the program is started, and the value of the timer variable is changed. Count down according to the usage time of the program. If the value of the timer variable is smaller than a predetermined value in the check, the user of the program is warned, or the start of the program is stopped to restrict the use of the program.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the installation work of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a master medium and 2 is a master medium.
Is software, 3 is an application program, 4 is an installer program, 5 is a main timer variable, 6 is a system, 7 is a storage device of the system, 8 is an application program after installation, and 9 is a divided timer. Shows.

The master medium 1 represents a means for providing the software 2. Normally, a magnetic storage medium such as a floppy disk or a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory card is used for this, and in a computer network. There is a virtual recording medium, for example, a case where it is supplied from a host station by download communication.

The software 2 converts an application program 3 actually used as a product and the application program 3 into a storage area (for example, a magnetic disk or a semiconductor memory) usable by the system in an operable form. Then, an installer program 4 for performing an installation work such as storing, and a main timer variable 5 for storing the usable time of the application program 3 are included.

Although the application program 3 is a program that normally performs various operations according to execution instructions, it remains in the state of being stored in the master medium 1 and cannot be used even if execution instructions are given. Is stored.

This is to prevent the master medium 1 from being copied to the hard disk of the system or the like by a basic copy command provided by the OS and being started by being instructed to execute. For example, the executable attribute of the application program 3 may be removed in advance, the file format defined by the OS specifications that are prerequisites for operation may be stored in a different format, or the application program 3 may be divided into several parts. In addition to the method of storing in, or compressing, encrypting, and storing, a combination of some of these methods may be used.

The master medium 1 is set in a reading device of the system 6 (for example, a floppy disk drive, a magneto-optical disk drive, etc.), or the communication connection with the network is completed. When there is an installation instruction from the installer, the installer program 4 is read out, and an executable attribute is added to the application program 3 stored in the master medium 1 in an inoperable state, or the application program 3 is configured. It is said that the files are connected to each other, converted into an operable form, and stored in the storage device 7 (for example, a magnetic storage medium of a hard disk or a nonvolatile memory such as a battery-backed semiconductor memory) in the system 6. Installation behavior Do.

The installation program 4 is
At the time of the installation operation, the software 2 cuts the time when the application program 3 can be used from the main timer variable 5 which is determined by the variable value, and divides by the variable value corresponding to the time when the system 6 wants to use the application program 3, It has a function of creating a divided timer variable 9 in the storage device 7 of the system 6 based on the divided variable values.

For example, the main timer variable 5 of the software 2 is allowed to be used for 10,000 hours in advance, and if it can be used for 1000 hours when it is installed in the system, it corresponds to 10,000 hours. The variable value for 1000 hours is subtracted from the variable value, and the divided timer variable 9 for 1000 hours is added to the system.
Is made. On the other hand, the main timer variable 5 of the master media 1
Is updated from the variable value for 10,000 hours to the variable value for 9000 hours, and in the next installation, the number of hours of use of the application can be determined from the usage time of 9000 hours.

The system 6 is used as a method of instructing the usage time.
It is possible to freely input and set the usage time by using an interface that can be instructed by a user operation, such as a display device that displays operation guidance or an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse (none of which is shown) connected to the It is possible.

In this way, the value of the divided timer variable 9 can be freely set within the time of the main timer variable 5.

Further, according to a preset value,
The usable time may be automatically divided.
For example, the installation work may automatically enable the use for 1000 hours.

When it is desired to change or update the usage time after dividing the time as described above, the master medium 1 is set again in the system 6 and the installer program 4 is operated. The installer program 4 searches whether or not the application program is already registered in the system, and if the application program 3 has already been installed, refers to the divided timer variable 9 to refer to the application program 8 in the system 6. In addition to displaying the remaining available time of the above, a display for instructing to input how much time to divide from the available time of the main timer variable 5 in the master medium 1 is displayed.
According to this, the operator of the system changes and updates the use time by using the input / output device such as the mouse and the keyboard connected to the system 6. Of course change,
The values of the main timer variable 5 of the master medium 1 and the divided timer variable 9 of the system 6 are increased or decreased by the updated amount.

The above-mentioned master medium 1 needs to be a rewritable medium in order to change and update the main timer variable. For example, the medium in which the application program is stored is a CD-ROM or ROM card. If the media cannot be used for writing data, prepare a key disk and battery-backed semiconductor memory, which are indispensable for system installation, and store the main timer variables in the disk and backup memory. You may do it.

Next, the operation and variable timer of the application program 8 which is installed in the system and becomes executable will be described with reference to FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the application program after being installed in the system is activated by a start instruction. It shows the state of being loaded into the main memory of the system and executed.

In the figure, 7 is a storage device such as a magnetic storage medium of a hard disk or a non-volatile memory such as a battery-backed semiconductor memory, 8 is an application program, 9 is a division timer variable,
Reference numeral 10 is a main memory, 11 is an application program main body, 12 is an interrupt processing unit, 13 is a countdown operation of the divided timer variable 5, 14 is a reference operation of the divided timer variable 5, and 15 is a timer in the OS. Reference numeral 16 denotes a processing vector, 16 denotes a timer interrupt signal from the timer circuit, and 17 denotes a timer interrupt control operation.

The application program of the master medium 1 is converted into an executable format by the installation program and stored in the storage device 7 of the system 6.

When an application program execution instruction (for example, an instruction by an operator key input or a call execution instruction from another program, etc.) is read from the storage area 7 of FIG. 1, the main memory 18 is read.
Loaded in. The loaded application program 8 is divided into two parts: a main body part 11 that realizes the original function of the application program, and an interrupt processing part 12 that performs interrupt processing for updating and controlling the variable value in the divided timer variable 9.

When the application program 8 is loaded into the main memory 10 in accordance with the execution instruction, the interrupt timer processing vector 15 pointing to the entry of the interrupt processing of the timer inside the OS is rewritten to the inside of the interrupt processing unit 12. Be directed.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the interrupt processing unit 12 uses the interrupt signal 16 for the timer, which is regularly generated in the system 6, upon the generation of the interrupt signal in the activation of the software, and divides the interrupt signal. A process of continuously counting down the variable value of the timer variable 9 at a constant rate is performed. Then, the process is returned to the main body portion 11 of the application program 8 to start the application program.

Further, the interrupt processing unit 12 checks the variable value of the divided timer variable 9 when the application program 8 is activated.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, when the application program 8 is started, it is checked whether or not the variable value of the division timer variable 9 is below a predetermined constant value (step 401), and the division timer is further divided. Variable 9
Check whether the variable value of is 0 or less (step 4)
02). If it is 0 or less, a warning indicating that the system is stopped because the available time in the system is exhausted is output from the system display device, audio device, or the like (step 40).
3) The stop processing of the application program 8 is performed.

At this time, if the user wants to continue using the application program 8, an output may be output to instruct to separate the required usage time from the remaining time of the master medium 1.

On the other hand, when the variable value of the divided timer variable 9 is equal to or less than a certain value but not equal to or less than 0, the available time indicated by the current variable value is displayed and the remaining time at which the application program 8 can be used is displayed. A short warning
Output by a display device, a voice device, or the like (step 40
4).

When the variable value of the divided timer variable 9 is larger than a certain value, the available time is displayed, the application program 8 is started, and after the work is completed,
Performs application program termination processing. (Step 406). At this time, the application program may be started immediately without displaying the remaining usable time.

The countdown of the divided timer variable 9 is performed after the check is completed (steps 401 and 40).
2) When the application program is started (Step 4)
Go to 05) and stop the countdown after the work is completed.

When the instruction to start the application program is issued in this way, the variable value of the divided timer variable 9 is checked as described above, and the execution control of the application program 8 is performed accordingly.

In the above example, the operation when the divided timer variable 9 becomes 0 is that the application program is not started, but in addition to that, the original operation of the application program is restricted. You may do it. For example, some functions may be restricted (extended functions, printing functions, etc. may not be used).

In the above example, the division timer variable 9 is
Although it is stored in the storage device 7 (a storage device that retains its storage contents even if the main power supply of the system is turned off), the variable value is stored in the nonvolatile memory at the start of the countdown in the work area of the main memory. After that, the countdown process may be performed on the copied variable value according to the usage time, and the value of the divided timer variable 9 in the storage device 7 may be updated with the counted down variable value. . Alternatively, at the time of startup, a variable timer dedicated to countdown is created in the work area, the usage time is counted by this variable timer, and at the end of the application program, the variable value of the divided timer variable 10 in the storage device 7 is changed to It is also possible to subtract the variable value that has counted the usage time and update the variable value of the divided timer variable 9 of the storage device 7 with the remaining variable value that has been subtracted.

In this way, by adopting a system dividing system in which a timer variable corresponding to a fixed permitted time is installed, illegal copy of software is prevented and charging according to the usage time is quantitatively performed. Will be able to.

Further, in the above embodiment, in order to prevent the software stored in the master medium from being copied to the same type of medium including the main timer variable, the storage location of the main timer variable or the software This can be dealt with by putting some storage locations outside the OS support range for the media.

For example, the installer program makes the storage location of the main timer variable accessible by its own hardware processing. Taking the case of software stored on a floppy disk as an example, when the support range of the OS floppy disk access is 80 tracks, the installer has a unique function of accessing 81 tracks without using the function of the OS itself. By
If the main timer or a part of software is stored in 81 tracks and read out to perform the installation operation, copying between media of the same type, for example, floppy disk to floppy disk can be prevented.

Further, in the above embodiment, when the physical specifications of the installed medium are stored when the medium is installed in a specific system, and the value is used as the starting condition of the application program, the master medium is set. You can also disable copying from an installed system without going through. Examples of the physical specifications of such a medium include information such as the number of cylinders, the number of heads, the number of sectors of a hard disk, or the storage position inside the medium where the target software is installed.

As an example, when installing on a hard disk, the number of cylinders, heads, and sectors of the hard disk is read and installed in the software that is installing it, and that software is installed in itself at startup. It is possible to compare the written values with the values of the hard disk of the currently operating system and, if they are different, limit or stop the operation.

In the embodiment described above, the timer variable value that determines the usage time of the application program is stored in the medium in which the application program is installed. However, the usage timer variable value is stored separately from this application program. A dedicated medium for changing or updating may be used. By doing so, even if the timer variable value in the master medium becomes 0, only the dedicated medium having the timer variable value needs to be replaced, which is low in cost and economical.

[0050]

According to the present invention, the charge management is quantitatively performed according to the usage time of the software, so that the copyright of the software is protected, the profit of the software maker is protected, and the form of providing the software is simplified. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of installation work according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of starting a program according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a countdown processing operation in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a variable timer check operation in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Master Media, 2 Software 3 Application Program 4 Installer Program 5 Main Timer Variable 6 System 7 Storage Device 8 Application Program 9 Divided Timer Variable 10 Main Memory 11 Application Program Body 12 Timer Processing Unit 13 Countdown Operation of Divided Timer Variable 5 14 Reference operation of divided timer variable 5 15 Timer processing vector in OS 16 Timer interrupt signal from timer circuit 17 Timer interrupt control operation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Execution means for performing various processes in accordance with an operation instruction by a program for performing various arithmetic control processes in an information processing device, and a non-volatile memory for storing the program and a timer variable value defining a usable time of the program. And a means for measuring the usage time of the program, for checking the timer variable value when there is an instruction to start the program, and warning the operator when the timer variable value is smaller than a predetermined value. And restricting the use of the program, and when the timer variable value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the timer variable is counted down according to the usage time until there is an instruction to end the program. Software control method.