Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The pre~ent invention relates to a procedure for
configuration of a computer workstation or a process
control workstation. It al~o relates to a system for it~
implementation.
The illicit duplication and use of software
packages, in particular of program packets for scientific
and industrial application on computer workstations, con-
stitute a ma~or problem for the authors, designers and
distributors of these software packages. These fraudulent
operations, which consist in usurping the rights of use
on one or more software packages, generally constitute a
serious financial danger for businesse which have often
invested heavily in the development and the perfection of
these software packages. Moreover, the considerable
development in the number of compatible microcomputers
contributes to aggravating this situation with the
current availability of numerous software tool~ which
facilitate illicit operations on protected software
packages.
In order to counter this pre~udicial situation,
the authors and distribu~ors of software packages have
appealed to numerous current procedures for control of
the use of a software package with respect to rights of
use associated with it. Thus, procedures are already
known, which are aimed at preventing the duplication and
the illicit use of ~oftware package~ by means of physical
and/or logical counting locks. Procedures for controlling
use of a software package are al80 known which make use
of an electronic key which is connected to an input/
output port of the microcomputer on which the software
package is loaded. These procedures consist in regularly
testing the presence of this key by means of specific
instructions added to the software package. French Patent
2,579,790 thus discloses an electronic device for the
protection of access to a software package and a key for
such a device. Similarly, French Patent 2,600,18~ dis-
closes a procedure for protection of a computer ~oftware
package and an electronic key for the implementation of
this procedure. Other procedures which make use of a
.
,:
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phyRical key exist at the present time, such a~ the
logimeter which constantly exchanges information with the
original software package and also allows counting of
uses.
However, current procedure~ associate a key with
each protected software package, whereas it is currently
common that a number of software package~ are loaded on
the same computer workstation. There is then the problem
of the connection of the different keys associated with
the software packages used, the number of input/output
ports of a work~tation, and in particular of a micro-
computer, being necessarily limited. The same applies
when the workstation is e~uipped with a key support
comprising a limited number of locations, for example
two, capable of receiving keys. It i8 then necessary to
carry out tedious keying operations according to the
software package actually executed. These operations can
moreover give rise to blocking and losses of time and
efficiency in the industrial milieu.
A workstation, on which there are loaded a number
of different software packages, of which the respective
rights of use are contained in original key modules,
becomes difficult to use for a user who has to try to
manage as well as possible the insertion of the different
key modules into the locations which are available to him
according to the software package(s) required.
A procedure for configuration of a computer
workstation is already known, which makes use on the one
hand, for each workstation, a master key module and, on
the other hand, optional key modules which each contain
the rights of u~e of an associated software package which
is intended to be loaded on the workstation. This pro-
cedure makes it possible in particular to transfer rights
of use which are initially contained in one or more
optional key modules into the master key module. However,
this procedure has the disadvantage of having to have
available two type~ of key modules - key modules of the
master type on the one hand and key modules of the
optional type on the other hand - which results in the
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managem~nt of this method of software protection being
complicated and the ri~k of keying error and of blocking
of use of the computer workstation.
The aim of the present invention is to overcome
S these disadvantages by proposing a procedure for con-
figuration of a computer workstation, on which a number
of software packages are loaded, with each of which
reflpective rights of use are associated, which are
contained in a separate original key module intended to
interact with said workstation in order to authorize
continuity of operation of ~aid software package.
According to the invention, the procedure com-
prises a succession of transfer stages, each transfer
stage bringing about the union of rights contained
initially in two key modules and their transfer into one
of said key modules, the other key module being rendered
empty of any right 80 that, at the end of this succession
of transfer stages, a single original key module is
available, which contain~ all the rights of use asso-
ciated with the software packages loaded on the work-
station, all the other key modules being rendered empty
of any right.
Thus~ with the procedure according to the inven-
tion/ the problem posed by the limited number of loca-
tions for key modules is solved since, at the end of thesuccessive transfer stages, one single key module con-
tains all the rights of use of the different software
packages loaded on the computer workstation. Moreover,
the different transfer stages are applied to key modules
which all have the same status, namely that of containing
rights of use corre~ponding to one or more software
packages according to whether or not they are the result
- of a union operation. In contrast to the prior art,
- there is thus, with the procedure according to the
invention, no distinction made between master key modules
and optional key modules, which contributes to consi-
derably simplifying the management of key mod~les with
regard to the operations of union of rights.
In an advantageous version of the invention, the
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transfer ~tages are reversible and the procedure moreover
comprises, on account of the reversibility of the trans-
fer stages, at least one operation of partition which
makes use of an original key module containing a number
of ~et~ of rights of u~e corresponding to the ~oftware
packages used on the work3tation and a blank key module,
and in the cour~e of which a portion of the rights of u~e
is transferred into the initially blank key modulel the
remaining portion being kept in the original key module.
Thus, the reversibility of the transfer stages
makes it po~sible to isolate again the right~ of u~e
associated with a given software package within a key
module when this i~ necessary. In thi~ manner, the user
retains the possibility of modifying the distribution of
lS the different rights of use by being able to carry out a
partition of software packages initially collected within
the same key module, which also thus imparts great flexi-
bility to the procedure for configuration according to
the invention.
According to another aspect of the invention, the
system of configuration of a computer workstation, on
which a number of software packages are loaded, with each
of which re~pective rights of use are associated, which
are contained in a separate original key module, making
use of the procedure described above, which comprises
support means for receiving simultaneously at least two
key modules in locations which are adapted and connected
to the computer workstation, is characterized in that
the~e support means interact with the computer work-
station in order to generate, from two original key
modules which each contain rights of use associated with
one or more software packaqes, an original key module
which then contains the union of said rights of use
and a key module emptied of any right.
Other characteristics and advantages of the
invention will appear in the description below. In the
attached drawings which are given by way of non-limiting
examples
- Figure 1 is a view in block form illustrating
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the different ~tages of the procedure according to the
invention;
- Figure 2 illustrates an arrangement of the
devices used in the present invention when a printer i8
to be connected to the microcomputer, and
- Figure 3 illustrates another arrangement of the
invention which allows the use of a secon~ Xey support.
A preferred method of implementation of the
procedure according to the invention ~ill now be de~-
cribed, a~ well a~ the device which allows this Lmple-
mentation, with reference to Figure 1.
A user of a computer workstation~ for example a
microcomputer 1 of PC-compatible type or of PS type from
the company IBM or even a specialized programming ter-
minal 10, wishes to be able to use on this workstation a
number of separate software packages, with each of which
respective right~ of use are associated. By way of
example, it is supposed that the user initially has
available (stage I) three software packages La, Lb, hc,
which are contained for e~ample in respective diskette
set~ and with each of which a respective original key
module Ca, Cb, Cc is associated, which contains the
respective rights of use of the associated software
package.
: 25 These key modules are intended to be inserted
into key supports which are either external 2, 3, 6 in
the case of a microcomputer or internal 11, 12 in the
specialized workstation 10. An autonomous key support 2
comprises two housings 3, 6 intended to accept key
modules. It is connected to the parallel port 7 of the
microcomputer 1 by a connection cable 5.
In an effective embodiment of the invention, the
key modules used comprise a microcontroller which scans
the signals present at the input/output port to which the
autonomous key support 2 is connected, a quartz oscil-
lator which delivers a clock signal for the micro-
controller, a control logic for the generation of
initialization and interruption signals, and a serial
link to interface the key module with the key support 2
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which i8 supplied in an autonomou~ manner by a cell or a
battery. It should be noted that other methods of ~upply
of a key module can be enviYaged, in particular a supply
via the input/output port.
S The microcontroller comprise~, according to
conventional construction, a permanent memory, for
example a memory of the EEPROM type which contains, in
coded form according to known coding technique~, right~
of u~e of a software package which are in ~ome way the
coded tran~lation of the license to operate the protected
~oftware package.
A~ the procedure according to the invention can
b~ applied equally to workstations of the microcomputer
type and to specialized stations such a~ programming
terminals, the description will be limited to the example
of the microcomputer, the whole of the following de~crip-
tion being capable of being transposed without difficulty
to the case of a ~pecialized workstation.
Two original key modules, for example the key
modules Ca and Cb, which correspond to ths respective
rights of use of the software packages La and Lb, are
inserted into the two housings of the key support 2. A
key management ~oftware package loaded beforehand on the
work~tation 1 carries out, during a fir~t transfer stage
II, an operation of union of the rights of use of
the software packages La and Lb within the key module Cb
which initially contained only the rights of use of the
software package Lb. At the end of the transfer stage II,
the key module Cb now contains the union of the
rights of the ~oftware packages La and Lb and is Lndi-
cated by the reference Cab. At the end of this union
operation, the key module Ca, which initially
contained the rights of use of the ~oftware package La i8
emptied of any right and becomes an empty or blank module
CaO. It i8 to be noted that the abovementioned transfer
~tage II i8 of reversible nature, the key management
software package being capable of ordering a reverse
partition operation.
The union operation which has ~ust been
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dQscribed can be reproduced a~ often as i~ necessary.
ThuY, in the example illustrated in Figure 1, after
having extracted the two abovementioned key modules at
the end of the first transfer stage II, the user then
inserts into the key ~upport 2 the original key module Cc
which contains the rights of use of the software package
Lc and the key module Cab obtained at the end of the
preceding union operation. The key management
software package then carries out during a second
transfer ~tage III a union operation, at the end of
which the three rights corresponding respectively to the
software packages La, Lb and Lc are collected on a single
key module which at the beginning of the second transfer
stage III contained the union of the rights of use
of the software packages La and Lb, and which is now
indicated in Figure 1 by the reference Cabc. At the end
of the second transfer stage III, the key module Cc,
which initially contained the rights of use of the
software package Lc, is emptied of any right of use and
is indicated in Figure 1 ~y the reference CcO.
At the end of these two transfer stages II and
III, the user then has available in IV a working key
module containing the union of ~he rights of use
associated respectively with the three software packages
La, Lb and Lc, and two key modules which are from then on
empty of any right CaO and CbO. He will then be able to
use the three software packages La, Lb and Lc within the
limit of the rights of use while occupying only one key
support location.
The procedure according to the invention moreover
makes it possible to maintain access to and use of the
input/output port, to which the key support is connected,
in order to connect a peripheral device to it, such as a
printer, a mass memory, or even a communication peri-
pheral.
Thus, with reference to Figure 2, the key support
2 is connected to tha microprocessor 1 via its parallel
port 21 which usually makes possible the connection of a
printer with Centronics-type communication. According to
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the invention, a particular arrangement is envisaged,
which makes possible simultaneous connection of the key
support 2 and of a printer 24. The key support 2,
equipped with two key housings 3, 6, is connected to the
parallel port 21 via a cable provided with a connector of
extendable type 20 which can also accept a Centronics-
type connector 22 at the end of a connection cable 25 of
the printer 24.
In another method of implementation of the
procedure according to the invention, two separate types
of key support can be connected to the microcomputer 1,
while maintaining the use of a peripheral device, in
particular of a printer 24. Thu~, it iB possible at the
same time to use a key support 2 which accepts key
modules which can be ~ub~ected to the abovementioned
union operations and another key support 30 which
accepts in slots 31 and 32 key modules which can be of
different construction and format. To this end, a con-
nector of extendable type 20 is provided, which allows
the connection of the key support 2 via the connection
cable 23 and of the second key support via the connector
33. The second key support 30 has a Centronics-type
connector which can accept a printer connector 22 con-
nected via a connection cable 25 to the printer 24.
The invention is of course not limited to the
examples described and numerous ad~ustments can be made
to these examples without departing from the scope of the
invention.
Thus, this same procedure can also be applied to
the protection of software used on programmable automatic
machines.
Noreover, the procedure according to the
invention i8 not limited to the particular case of three
software packages which has ~u~t been described and can
of course be extended to a large number of software
packages within the limit of the capacity of the host
microcomputer. Other type~ of key module~ than those
which have just been described can also be envisaged, in
particular of different geometry or technology.
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