Patent · US Expired

Initiating execution of a computer program from an encrypted version of a computer program

US7346781B2 · kind B2 · utility

77Cited by
5References
27Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 6, 2001
Grant dateMar 18, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 16, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2221/2107
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

When a user commands execution of a computer program to commence, a loader program 2 is first started. This loader program 2 reads an encrypted version of the computer program 6 and decrypts it using a public key. This generates an executable version of the computer program 9 which is written directly to the computer memory 8. When the loader program 2 has decrypted the whole of the computer program 9 it starts execution of the computer program 9 it has written into the computer memory 8 and terminates itself or is terminated by the computer program it started. The computer program 9 written into the computer memory 8 will be written into its own memory space and will have its own execution thread. The encryption used may be public key/private key encryption.

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