JPH10333900A - Method for preventing pc program from being copied - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it difficult to analyze and duplicate the control program for a programmable controller(PC) for controlling device and to protect the intellectual right of ownership. SOLUTION: A miniaturized microcomputer base, of which a program or data can not be read out, is prepared. Operation and data to be main points of the device are written in the base. The base is stored in a case to be connected to a serial port of a PC to prepare a protect key 1, which is fitted to the case to be connected to the serial port of the PC to prepare a protect key 1. The protect key 1 is fitted to the PC. Operation or data in the protect key are utilized for the PC program.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a programmable controller for controlling an apparatus, and to the protection of intellectual property which makes it difficult to analyze and copy a control program of a so-called PC.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, manufacturing machines are commercially available PCs and NCs.
It is controlled by the device. The greatest advantage is that anyone can easily create and change programs for PCs and NC units. Although it is convenient for machine manufacturers to use these, there is a risk that programs and data are easily copied. High-performance machines are being replicated both in Japan and abroad, and are accelerating the hollowing out of the domestic manufacturing industry. As a countermeasure, machine manufacturers worked to prevent machine duplication by the following methods. 1) Add a dummy program to the program to make analysis difficult. 2) An important part is to create a dedicated board using a microcomputer and create a black box in the device. However, the above method has the following problems. Even if you have a dummy program, you can make a copy machine by copying all the programs. In addition, the dedicated base requires considerable time and expense for adjustment, man-hours, and remodeling.
Conversely, when a program protect function is added to a commercially available PC or NC unit as a standard, the following problems can be considered. 3) Add a protect function to the hardware. 4) Add a function to protect the program itself. In the above case, even when a hardware failure occurs, the program cannot be read for replacement. Also, it is not possible to modify even a small program.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides the following: (a) When a machine is manufactured using a commercially available PC or NC unit, the machine can be easily duplicated. It is to solve the above.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

(B) Create a programmable microcomputer board incorporating a CPU, memory, serial communication circuit, power supply circuit, etc.
In this case, EEP-
A ROM or the like is used. See FIG. (B) The base of (a) has only the function of writing programs and data, not the function of reading. (C) When writing programs and data, write them via a write-only circuit using an external input device such as a personal computer. See FIG. 3 (d) In actual use, the necessary operations and data of the device are written in the memory of (a) and then attached to the PC. (E) If data is written, the function of the write-only circuit or the portion where writing is permitted is killed by a short circuit or the like so that the data cannot be changed. (F) Supply power to the base in (a). When the serial connector is connected to a PC having power supply pins, power is supplied from this connector. See Fig. 2 (g) The base of (a) is housed in a case that can be fixed to the serial communication connector of the PC. This is called a protection key. See FIG. (H) Match the communication settings such as the serial communication baud rate. (I) Conventionally, a control program is written in a PC, but by using an operation in a protect key or extracting and using data in some places, a part which cannot be seen from a normal program is created. See FIG. (I) Therefore, most of the control programs can be freely maintained and remodeled by the user as in the past, but since the essential parts cannot be analyzed, the copying of the device cannot be easily performed. (V) Even if the PC is broken, it can be easily recovered by porting the control program and the protect key.

[0005]

The following can be achieved by preparing the present invention as a standard product. (B) Machine manufacturers can freely create protection keys for the original calculation contents of each company. (B) Most PC programs can be freely read and written, that is, maintenance can be performed, but machine duplication cannot be performed on the user side.

[0006]

According to the present invention, when using a PC or NC device, machine duplication can be prevented without duplication of duplication of a dummy program or the like in the conventional case. Thus, the copyright protection of the device control program, which has been a problem for the device manufacturer, can be realized. Therefore, it is difficult to duplicate equipment that is exported overseas, which will limit the outflow of Japan's advanced technology.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of use of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a data write image diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an execution flow of a program using the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. Protect key 2. 2. Serial communication unit PC body 4. Power line 5. CPU 6. Memory 7. 7. Serial communication circuit Communication connector 9. Power supply circuit 10. Circuit dedicated to data writing 11. Personal computer 12. Data write cable

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A small-sized microcomputer board that has a built-in memory, CPUN, and serial communication circuit, and is a programmable controller disclosed in a manual or the like. It has a structure in which arithmetic programs and data can be written to the memory of the microcomputer but cannot be read, and the serial port built in the serial communication unit or CPU unit of the PC through the serial port. An intelligent protect key that communicates and exchanges data so that the user does not know what is being executed. The PC and upper-layer computer dedicated communication protocol shown here means a protocol released by each company that can read and write arbitrary memory and I / O data inside the PC from the upper-level computer unilaterally. . (B) A program copy prevention method that makes it difficult to analyze and duplicate a PC program using the intelligent protect key of (a).