KR20040070160A - System and method for protecting specification application program - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A system for protecting a specified application program and an operating method thereof are provided to fundamentally prevent the modification of the specified program installed in a PC by protecting the access to the specified program including an AD execution program and make the modification of the PC impossible by realizing certification on the online. CONSTITUTION: The PC(10) is equipped with a storing device programmed by a firmware storing a program list to access the specified program in order to prevent the access to the specified program including the AD execution program and processing the certification by storing/transmitting a serial code to an ISP(Internet Service Provider)(20). The PC connected to the ISP through the network(40) performs the certification for the AD view, updates a PC use time in response to the certification, and updates the program list to access the specified program.

Description

System and method for protecting specification application program

The present invention relates to a specific application protection device and method, and more particularly, to a specific application protection device for performing the protection and enforcement of the specific application in the firmware or software online on a cheap or free PC and It is about a method.

Recently, PC performance is rapidly improving, and the production and sales cycle of each hardware component is shortening. Except for the latest specifications, this also means that PCs that aren't much behind in performance can be set at a relatively low price.

It has been proposed to take advantage of these advantages to provide a PC at a low cost or free of charge, and in return for compulsory viewing of advertisements stored on the PC or transmitted to the network. However, due to the compulsion that the user who received the PC is obliged to watch the advertisement at a cheap or free price, it not only passively responds to the advertisement but also executes the advertisement, or does not actively watch the advertisement. There is also a tendency not to watch at all. In addition, related companies who are very familiar with the hardware and software configuration of PCs sometimes have the purpose of eliminating the program that executes advertisements to provide a cheap or free purpose.

In order to solve such a problem, as a prerequisite, a method should be provided to prevent a PC user from arbitrarily stopping and controlling a program for executing an advertisement or deleting an advertisement file or an advertisement execution program.

As a solution, a method of storing the advertisement data and the advertisement execution program in a ROM and mounting the same on a main board of a PC has been proposed. Specifically, the system stores the advertisement data and the advertisement execution program in a system BIOS ROM, delivers the advertisement data and the advertisement execution program stored at the time of PC booting to a hard disk, and then runs the advertisement execution program when the operating system is driven. A method for executing advertisement data loaded into a hard disk has been proposed. However, this means that the capacity to store at least the advertisement data and the advertisement execution program must be secured for a relatively expensive ROM compared to other equipments of the PC. there was.

In addition, a method of displaying advertisements by storing advertisement data and a program for executing advertisements in a graphics chipset, and looping the displayed advertisements at regular intervals using a motherboard chipset timer has been proposed. This method also has its advantages, but as described above, a minimum ROM must be secured, resulting in a cost problem. That is, in order to display various kinds of advertisements, relatively large advertisement data is essential. In order to store such advertisement data in a memory (ROM) of the graphic chipset, there is a problem of fading the meaning of a cheap or free-providing PC.

Recently, a routine has been developed to forcibly shut down the computer system in the system BIOS when the user arbitrarily stops execution during the execution of the program for advertisement execution through the CMOS RAM provided in the main board. Has been proposed. In addition, a method of controlling a PC by checking a PC usage time to execute a preset advertisement and allocating the PC usage time in response to the advertisement execution has been proposed.

However, these methods also have problems, that is, forced termination by the internal control of the PC itself, so when replacing the motherboard equipped with CMOS RAM, it becomes impossible to control the PC, which is cheap or free of charge. there was. In addition, since the PC usage time is limited simply by controlling the time, if the timer malfunctions or malfunctions (intentional failure) occur within the PC, the actual PC control becomes impossible. there was.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve an existing problem, and to store a list of various types of programs that access a specific program including an advertisement execution program in order to prevent a user's access to a specific program at the source. By performing the authentication process on the PC to prevent hardware changes of the PC, which is inexpensive or free of charge, and provides a repository for storing the PC unique code, so that not only online authentication and unique code processing but also the authentication and unique code processing of the PC itself can be performed. To provide a specific application protection device that is programmed through the firmware.

Meanwhile, another object of the present invention is to provide a repository with various types of program lists for accessing a specific program including a program for executing an advertisement, thereby preventing the user's access to the specific program inherently, and unique to the repository. Providing codes and authenticating them online prevents hardware changes to PCs at low or no cost, and through firmware for online authentication and unique code processing, as well as PC authentication and unique code processing. It provides a method of protecting a specific application program to be programmed.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a system for protecting a specific application program according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of preventing the access of a specific application to a specific application according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a control circuit block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an ISP according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an online authentication process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a firmware process flowchart for checking a CMOS ROM bit string according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

10: PC 20: ISP

201: web server 202: authentication server

203: security server 204: database server

205: file conversion server 206: system administrator

207: System operator 30: Advertising company

One aspect for achieving the above object of the present invention is a device for protecting a specific application for executing and compulsory control through a personal computer (PC) at a low or no cost from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) In order to prevent access to a specific program including a program for executing an advertisement, the program list is stored in a firmware that stores a list of programs that can be accessed to the specific program, stores a unique code, and transmits it to an ISP for authentication processing. PC having a ruler; And performing authentication in response to the advertisement viewing by being connected to the network with the computer, updating the PC available time in response to the authentication, and updating the program list capable of access to the specific program. Relate to specific application protection devices, including ISPs.

At this time, the device is stored in the data having the same bit string as the data stored in the reservoir, the firmware programmed by the firmware to perform the bit string in response to the request of the CPU in order to proceed with the PC's own authentication process It is preferred to further comprise the unit.

On the other hand, another aspect for achieving the above object of the present invention, the first time of attempting to connect to the ISP from the PC when the available time is 0 by checking the operating time of the cheap (or personally supplied PC) step; A second step of transmitting a unique code from a PC to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) when the connection is made; Performing a search and selection of an advertisement list corresponding to the unique code transmitted from the ISP, and delivering the selected advertisement to a PC; A fourth step of viewing the advertisement delivered from the PC, generating an authentication key corresponding to the advertisement viewing, and transmitting the generated authentication key to the ISP; A fifth step of generating, by the ISP, a PC usable time update code corresponding to the authentication key and transmitting the same to a PC; And a sixth step of updating the PC usable time by the usable time update code in the PC.

At this time, it is preferable that the authentication key of the fourth step includes the password whose password is the mark displayed in the advertisement.

Meanwhile, in the situation where the PC is driven in the first step, in order to prevent access to a specific program stored in the storage device, a program list for performing program modification including the deletion and modification of the specific program is stored in the storage device. When storing and accessing any program to the specific program, the approaching program is read out from the repository and searched, and when the search is present in the program list, access to the specific program is prevented. In this case, the method preferably further comprises the step of performing an update to the repository at the ISP.

On the other hand, in the situation where the PC is driven in the first step, a firmware unit programmed with firmware for storing the same data stored in the reservoir is provided, and the CPU compares the bit strings between the reservoir and the firmware unit to the reservoir. If there is a bit string change, the current process forced termination is performed.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a system for protecting a specific application program according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a system for protecting a specific application of the present invention may be a PC 10 provided at a low cost or free of charge, and a subject providing the PC 10, and receives an advertisement order from an advertiser. It is largely composed of ISP 20 to receive and send the advertisement to the PC (10). This may further include an advertiser or an advertising agency (hereinafter, referred to as an “advertiser related company”) that is a supply source of the advertisement. The PC 10, the ISP 20, and the advertisement related company 30 are connected to the Internet 40 or the network 40.

Since the PC 10, the ISP 20, and the advertisement company 30 are formed of a conventional PC 10 or a server, detailed description thereof will be omitted. However, the configuration of the PC 10 which is one of the features of the present invention will be described later. Meanwhile, the network 40 connecting the PC 10, the ISP 20, and the advertisement related company 30 is a modem or network 40 adapter configured to be connected to the Internet 40 or the network 40. Preferably, 10 Mbps Ethernet or the like is used for high speed communication. More preferably, the network 40 is more preferably a high speed network 40, such as an optical fiber base 100 Mbps or ISDN line.

The system for protecting a specific application of the present invention configured as described above, first, in response to a request of the user of the PC 10, the ISP 20 supplies the PC 10 to the user at low or no cost. Thereafter, the user of the PC 10 is reduced in using the PC 10 supplied to the PC 10 as a payment for advertisement during the corresponding time. On the other hand, the present invention provides a list of programs to the repository in order to prevent the source of the specific program, including the program for running the advertisement in order to block the impure intention of the user in advance. In this embodiment, a CMOS ROM is used as the reservoir. Of course, it is well known that other elements may be used that can be stored.

In addition, when accessing a specific program, as a way to prevent this inherent in connection with the timer operation so that it can not be accessed without the operation of a particular program (advertisement execution program) that is advertising at the time. And the advertisement transmission to the PC (10) is made in the ISP (20), the unique code owned by the PC (10) online, that is, the ISP (20) or the process of authenticating the PC (10) itself Will perform. This determines whether or not the data stored in the CMOS ROM is changed. The CMOS ROM is checked for variations in the CMOS ROM by checking elements that change with respect to a specific program and the PC 10 unique code. Finally, the process of data transmitted and received online is performed by the firmware process. That is, the CMOS ROM is programmed through firmware to perform functions for unique code, authentication thereof, and forced execution of advertisements. In addition, the unique code and the information related to the authentication may be stored in both the CPU or off-chip in the form of encryption.

Describe the process of preventing access to a particular program at its source.

Recently, the Internet 40 is recognized as an essential necessity of life, it is recognized as an indispensable indispensable for personal work and workplace work. In addition, the development of the Internet 40 has promoted the development of various fields related thereto, and in particular, the development of multimedia is under way. The development of this multimedia is powerful enough to replace the function of a normal TV. Advances in video compression technology and related hardware equipment are sufficient to replace the functionality of traditional TVs. Accordingly, a situation in which advertisements performed through the TV can also be viewed through the PC 10 is created. As such, since the function of the advertisement which occupies an important position in the TV can be substantially performed in the PC 10, such as a TV which provides the PC 10 at a low cost or free of charge and complies with the advertisement in return. Ideas for performing the function have been proposed as described above.

However, there has been a problem that the intention of providing cheap or free of charge by random deletion of a program for executing an advertisement or replacement of a hardware, etc. This is because the advertisement is performed by the advertisement execution program installed on the HDD or the download of the advertisement execution program only when a user's request is made when the advertisement is executed, so that artificial manipulation of the advertisement execution program is possible and thus exposed to impure intention. There was a downside. Nevertheless, providing the PC 10 that stores a program for executing an advertisement with a considerable capacity in a CMOS ROM at a low or no cost results in enormous cost on the ISP 20 in preparation for the advertisement effect. Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above problems by using the method as follows.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of preventing the access of a specific application to a specific application according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, in order to fundamentally prevent access to a specific program including an program for executing an advertisement, access to a unique code stored in a CMOS ROM and an program for executing an advertisement may be artificially deleted or changed. To provide a list of multiple programs.

That is, the plurality of program lists are stored in the CMOS ROM (S10). This is a simple storage of text information, so it is not only small but also text information can be linked with other programs to perform warnings.

When the PC 10 is driven (S12), a check of the driven time is made, and this check always determines whether or not the advertisement is executed based on the available time. At this time, when the determination is made that the advertisement should be performed, a general routine that executes the advertisement and updates the available time corresponding to the advertisement is executed.

At this time, as one of the features of the present invention, when there is a request for access from the PC 10 itself or externally (online) while using the PC 10 (S14), in particular, a specific program including a program for executing an advertisement or the like. If there is a request to access to the process of searching the list of the accessing program proceeds (S16). At this time, when it is determined that the list of programs accessed to the PC 10 is one of a plurality of programs that can be artificially deleted or changed (S18), access to the CMOS ROM, that is, execution of the corresponding program is performed. By stopping or down the system as a whole prevents access to the native code and the program for executing the advertisement (S20).

On the other hand, the list of a plurality of programs that can be artificially deleted, changed, etc. is updated by the ISP (20) using a RAM (RAM) as a repository periodically to respond to the newly developed program with an impure intention It may also be (S22). For this purpose, it is preferable that the ISP 20 undergoes an authentication process for accessing the storage of the PC 10. That is, it may be desirable to proceed with the authentication process in order to prevent access by the user or other ISP 20 through the online. This is achieved by an authentication process performed in the PC 10 itself by receiving the authentication key transmitted from the ISP 20. This certification process may be by a conventional certification process.

The reservoir may be a CMOS ROM that mounts the BIOS of the motherboard as described above, but may be configured as a separate chipset using an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) or a flash memory, and other than a low level format. It can also be configured in the form of a hidden partition (hidden partition) in the way. That is, any form of special hardware that cannot be removed by hacking or other means on the operating system is not limited to the form.

On the other hand, in addition to the scheme by the program list stored in the CMOS ROM, changes in the system structure itself, that is, an operating program having files and directories, such as memory allocation, files, directories and copies, deletions, or compressions, induce changes in the periphery thereof. In the case of changing other operating programs, it may be checked to perform forced control of the PC 10.

Such a process of preventing access to a specific program is not limited to a specific time as a process that is performed only if the PC 10 is driven.

This section describes the process of authenticating online.

3 is a control circuit block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an ISP according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the PC 10 supplied to the user includes a CMOS ROM programmed with firmware and a detailed description thereof will be described later. Meanwhile, the ISP 20 basically includes a web server 201 and an authentication server 202.

The web server 201 operates a website, and specifically, the management of the PC 10 user and the advertisement related company 30 is performed in terms of membership management, and the Internet 40 online from the advertisement related company 30 is online. Application for advertisement information and reception of various contents, authentication of personal information of PC 10 user and advertisement related company 30, support of advertisement file format corresponding to the specification of user PC 10, compression and automatic compression of advertisement information file It performs conversions, various billing management, and self-secure backup functions.

The authentication server 202 includes a billing authentication server. This is to perform the processing related to billing with the advertising related company 30, this billing authentication server is associated with each bank-related server. On the other hand, the authentication server 202 stores data for determining whether unique codes have been transmitted in the past, and when authentication is performed on these unique codes, the authentication keys themselves are updated or updated to generate new authentication keys. It also performs the function of transmitting to the PC (10).

It is provided in parallel with the web server 201 and the authentication server 202, the security server 203, database server 204, file conversion server that is always connected to the Internet 40 / network 40 through a router It may be desirable to further provide 205 and the like. These are managed and operated by the system manager 206 and the system operator 207 in charge of managing and operating each server.

The available time update process according to the authentication and authentication with the ISP 20 configured as described above is performed as follows.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an online authentication process according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, when the PC 10 is driven (S30), a check of the driven time is performed (S32), and this check is always made to determine whether or not to run the advertisement by comparing with the available time. do. At this time, when the determination is made that the advertisement should be performed, a general routine that executes the advertisement and updates the available time corresponding to the advertisement is executed.

In detail, it is determined whether the usable time has reached 0 (S34), and when the usable time has reached 0, the PC 10 attempts to connect to the ISP 20 (S36). When the connection to the website operated by the ISP 20 is made, the PC 10 transmits the unique code to the ISP 20 (S38). The unique code may be made of letters, numbers or symbols, and combinations thereof.

The ISP 20 receiving the unique code searches for the table stored in the unique code, classifies the transmitted advertisement and the advertisement to be transmitted in the future, and then stores the advertisement data sorted at the top in the order of the list of the advertisement to be transmitted in the stored table. It will be selected (S40). The selection of the advertisement is mainly made in response to the request (advertising weight) of the advertisement related company 30. As a result, the advertising cost is paid to the ISP 20 from the advertisement-related company 30 correspondingly.

ISP 20 completes the advertisement transmission form by including a compression method and an authentication key in the selected advertisement (S42). Subsequently, the completed advertisement is transmitted from the ISP 20 to the PC 10 through the Internet 40 or the network 40 (S44).

Accordingly, the PC 10 first decompresses the transmitted advertisement and performs playback. As a result, the advertisement is executed in real time (S46). On the other hand, it is preferable that the selected advertisement is downloaded and displayed as a separate icon or the like, or displayed on the task bar at the bottom of the monitor so that the user can execute it later. In addition, when the advertisement is preferably executed, the advertisement is transmitted to the PC 10 in a compressed form instead of the real-time advertisement execution in consideration of the PC 10 user, and then the user is allowed to watch the advertisement at a convenient time. It may also provide convenience. In this case, when the advertisement is transmitted, the ISP 20 compensates the time by adding the time difference of the time zone, records it in the time stamp field of the playback control header, and then compresses the advertisement including the playback control header. Proceed with the process. That is, the available time may be updated by using the difference between the time spent in the ISP 20 and the time the user watches the advertisement.

On the other hand, the execution of the advertisement is made by the execution of the advertisement execution program provided in the PC 10, the artificial manipulation of the advertisement execution program, that is, deleting, stopping the advertisement, play of the advertisement, screen operation after transfer of the advertisement In order to prevent the back of the advertisement, once the advertisement is executed, control of the advertisement is not artificially performed. Thereafter, when the execution of the advertisement is completed, the authentication key generation process for viewing the advertisement is performed (S48).

Preferably, the authentication key generation process uses a mark related to authentication, such as a letter, a number, or a combination thereof, in the authentication key generation process, not just watching an advertisement or after the advertisement is completed. desirable. That is, the mark is to perform a function corresponding to the password associated with the authentication. As such, the program for executing an advertisement includes a function related to generating an authentication key. As described above, when generating the authentication key, the advertisement display can be confirmed by using the mark displayed in the advertisement as the password for generating the authentication key. have.

On the other hand, the generated authentication key is transferred to the ISP 20 by the user transfer (S50). In this case, the ISP 20 checks the transmitted authentication key to check whether the corresponding advertisement is viewed, and when it is determined that the advertisement has been viewed, that is, when the markers match, the available time is updated (S52). . In response to this, a code related to the usable update is generated and transmitted to the PC 10 (S54). The PC 10 receives the code to update the usable time (S56).

Here, the code related to the available time update is encrypted and transmitted, and the PC 10 compares the internal lock library with a comparison value, and if the value is TRUE, the lock is executed to execute a program that has been progressed or to be executed by the user. If the code for updating the usable time is FALSE, unlocking is not performed, and thus the process of using the PC 10 is restricted.

On the other hand, since the process of preventing access to the specific program and authenticating online is made of a software process, the PC 10 skilled person can always allow access with impure intention. have. Accordingly, the present invention will program the process by which the access to the specific program is prevented and the online authentication is performed in order to prevent such impurity in advance.

Access to the program for execution of the unique code and advertisement by using the related program by a user who has an impure intention for the data related to the program for executing the advertisement and the original code stored in the CMOS ROM (program that can artificially delete, etc.) In order to prevent this, it is desirable to provide a firmware unit that is separately programmed with firmware that prevents access to the specific program and prevents extraction and deletion of key values used in the process of authenticating online. (S60). That is, the same data values as those of the CMOS ROM are stored in the firmware unit. This is described in detail in FIG. 5.

5 is a firmware process flowchart for checking a CMOS ROM bit string according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, when the system is driven by the power supply to achieve the above object, the CPU in the PC 10 processes the self-authentication process with the CMOS ROM. That is, the CPU checks whether the bit string is changed to confirm whether the authentication key value stored in the CMOS ROM is changed (S62). The change of the bit string may be performed by examining the firmware unit register. For example, when the bit string is set to 1 (S64), this means that an arbitrary change operation is intended for the CMOS ROM (S66). Of course, if the bit string is set to 0, it means that there is no change to the CMOS ROM, and thus no checking is performed. That is, PC driving continues to be made (S68).

It is determined whether there is data substantially changed by the change operation intention (S70). As a result of the determination, if there is no substantially changed data, a warning message is outputted to the PC 10 and transmitted to the ISP 20 that the intention of the change is intended (S72). If it is determined that there is data, if the data stored in the CMOS ROM is arbitrarily changed by the user or online access, the system is forcibly terminated by terminating the subsequent process (S74).

This process improves reliability by not only booting the system but also periodically repeating it at a predetermined time. If the process does not operate due to a failure or arbitrary damage, the failure message is automatically transmitted to the ISP 20.

The present invention can be applied to a wireless terminal including a mobile phone as well as not only applied to the cheap and free PC 10. Changes to the system involved can be made using conventional, known routes, such as through a swap gateway.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it will be apparent that many modifications are possible by those skilled in the art within the technical spirit of the present invention.

As described above, the apparatus and method for protecting a specific application program according to the present invention can prevent the change of a specific program provided in the PC by preventing the access to a specific program including a program for executing an advertisement at source. In addition, since authentication is performed online, there is an effect that the change of the PC itself is impossible. In addition, by programming the firmware, the unique code, the authentication key, the advertisement execution program, etc. in the CMOS ROM, it is possible to maximize the confidentiality and stability of the online and PC process itself.

Claims (7)

In a specific application protection device that executes and enforces the control through a personal computer (PC), which is cheap or free from an Internet service provider (ISP), In order to prevent access to a specific program including a program for executing an advertisement, a repository programmed with firmware that stores a list of programs that can be accessed to the specific program, stores a unique code, and transmits it to an ISP for authentication processing. Have; A PC connected to an ISP that performs authentication in response to advertisement viewing, updates a PC available time in response to the authentication, and updates a list of programs that can access the specific program. Specific application protection device comprising a. The firmware of claim 1, wherein the device is configured to store data having the same bit string as data stored in the storage device and to provide the bit string in response to a request of the CPU in order to proceed with the PC's own authentication process. Specific application program protection device further comprises a programmed firmware unit. A first step of checking a driving time of a cheap or freely supplied personal computer (PC) and attempting to connect to the ISP from the PC when the available time reaches 0; A second step of transmitting a unique code from a PC to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) when the connection is made; Performing a search and selection of an advertisement list corresponding to the unique code transmitted from the ISP, and delivering the selected advertisement to a PC; A fourth step of viewing the advertisement delivered from the PC, generating an authentication key corresponding to the advertisement viewing, and transmitting the generated authentication key to the ISP; A fifth step of generating, by the ISP, a PC usable time update code corresponding to the authentication key and transmitting the same to a PC; A sixth step of updating the PC usable time by the usable time update code in the PC; Specific application protection method comprising a. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the authentication key of the fourth step includes the password using the mark displayed in the advertisement as a password. 5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein, in the situation where the PC is driven in the first step, in order to prevent access to a specific program stored in the repository, the repository includes deleting and changing the specific program. Stores a list of programs that perform program modifications, retrieves and searches the accessing program from the repository when accessing any program to the specific program, and prevents access to the specific program when present in the program list during the search. Specific application protection method, characterized in that. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises performing an update to a repository at an ISP. The firmware unit according to claim 3 or 4, wherein a firmware unit programmed with firmware for storing the same data stored in the storage device is provided when the PC is driven in the first step. Comparing bit strings, the current process forcibly terminates when there is a bit string change in the storage device.