Patent · US Expired

Environment manipulation for executing modified executable and dynamically-loaded library files

US5953534A · kind A · utility

53Cited by
4References
26Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 23, 1997
Grant dateSep 14, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 23, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F11/3466
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and procedure for modifying modules comprising a binary executable software program in such a way that, despite the transformations performed and the creation of new versions of the modules, the transformed program appears (to that program, including all of its components) as if it is running in the identical environment as the original program. The environment includes environment variables, the name of the program, the names of all of the dynamically loaded library (DLL) files that the program references, the directory in which the program resides, and the current directory at the time the program started execution. When the program has been transformed, e.g., for the purposes of monitoring or measurement, the environment also includes the effective addresses of data and instruction references made by the program. By employing the present invention, a modified software program will have the same behavior as the original unmodified program from which it is derived, even though it and many of its environment characteristics have been changed.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.