Billing system for computer software

Claim 2

A billing system for billing users on a usage basis for an application software for a digital computer comprising a removable billing module including a memory portion carrying an external code therein and a memory portion dedicated for billing information; and a storage medium carrying programs for the computer thereon, the medium carrying both an unenciphered security program and an enciphered application program, the security program including functional means both for causing the computer to read the external code and use that external code to generate a decipher key to drive an algorithm to decipher the application program for use if the decipher key is proper, and also for entering billing information into the billing module.

Claim 3

A billing system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein there is a security module attached to the computer and receiving the billing module therein to interface the billing module to the computer.

Claim 4

A billing system as claimed in Claim 2 wherein the security program will not decipher the application program if the memory portion of the billing module dedicated for billing information indicates that the user does not have authorization for additional usage.

Claim 5

A billing system as claimed in Claim 3 wherein a pre-established billing authorization amount is written into the billing module before delivery to the user and the security program enters billing information by decrementing the authorization amount during usage of the application program.

Claim 6

A billing system as claimed in Claim 3 wherein a pre-established authorization limit on the size of the memory portion of the billing module dedicated for billing information is fixed and wherein the security program writes billing information about application program usage into said memory portion until the authorized memory is entirely occupied.

Claim 7

A billing system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the billing module is EEPROM.

Claim 8

A billing system as claimed in Claim 6 wherein the EEPROM has a latch preventing reading or writing in the EEPROM until a specified latch code is presented to the EEPROM.

Claim 9

A billing system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the security program first writes billing information onto the storage medium on which it resides and then periodically transfers a summary of cumulative billing information into the billing module.

Claim 10

A billing system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the storage medium is a magnetic disk.

Claim 11

A billing system as claimed in Claim 9 wherein the magnetic disk has specific disk identifying information not apparent to the user imbelled in it unique to each disk so that unauthorized copies of the disk can be traced to the original disk from which the unauthorized copies were made.

Claim 12

A billing system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the enciphering of the application program includes encoding at least some characters of code in the program in a manner determined by the algorithm and the decipher key.

Claim 13

A billing system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the enciphering of the application program includes a relocating of instructions or data in the program in a manner determined by the algorithm and the decipher key.

Claim 14

A billing system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the security program also reads a validation number from the billing module and tests the value of that number against a pre-determined expected value to determine if application program execution should be permitted.

Claim 15

A billing system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the security program also reads update check information from the billing module to determine if the security program and the application program have been properly updated.

Claim 16

A billing system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein data transfer between the billing module and the computer is itself encoded to prevent unauthorized insertions or interception.

Claim 17

A billing system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein there is attached to the computer a security module including both resident read-only memory and a microprocessor, the security module connecting to the billing module and controlling interactions and communications between the computer and the storage medium and the billing module.

Claim 18

A billing system as claimed in Claim 16 wherein the system is configured for plural computers connected in an inter-communicating network and there is a single billing module which communicates with the security modules in each of the computers in the network.

Claim 19

A billing system for billing users on a usage basis for an application software program for a personal computer comprising: a hardware security module attached to the personal computer, the security module carrying therein a fixed computer-readable numeric internal code and also carrying a billing module interface; a removable, portable billing module physically installed on the security module and electrically connecting to the billing module interface therein, the billing module having fixed and alterable memory therein with a fixed computer-readable numeric external code in the fixed memory and billing information stored in the alterable memory, and a storage medium for the personal computer carrying a security program and an enciphered application program thereon, the security program causing the personal computer to read the internal code and the external code to generate a decipher key which is used in a predetermined algorithm to decipher the application program for use by the user, the security program further writing usage billing information in the alterable memory in the billing module.

Claim 20

A billing system for billing users on a usage basis for an application software program for a personal computer comprising: a hardware security module attached to the personal computer, the security module carrying therein a fixed computer-readable numeric internal code and also carrying a billing module interface; a removable, portable billing module physically installed on the security module and electrically connecting to the billing module interface therein, the billing module having fixed and alterable memory therein with a fixed computer-readable numeric external code in the fixed memory and billing information stored in the alterable memory, and a storage medium for the personal computer carrying a security program and an enciphered application program thereon, the security program causing the personal computer to read the internal code and the external code to generate a decipher key which is used in a predetermined algorithm to decipher the application program for use by the user, the security program further writing usage billing information in the alterable memory in the billing module.

Claim 21

A billing system as claimed in Claim 18 wherein the security program reads billing authorization information from the billing module before deciphering the application program and wherein the security program will not decipher the application program if the billing authorization is insufficient.

Claim 22

A billing system as claimed in Claim 19 wherein a pre-established billing authorization amount is stored in the billing module and the security writes usage billing information in the billing module by decrementing the authorization amount based on usage.

Claim 23

A billing system as claimed in Claim 19 wherein a pre-established authorization limit on the amount of memory of the billing memory set aside for billing information is established and wherein the security program writes billing information in that memory until the authorization limit is reached.

Claim 24

A billing system as claimed in Claim 19 wherein the billing module is an EEPROM.

Claim 25

A billing system as claimed in Claim 22 wherein the EEPROM has an intended latch which prevents access to the EEPROM unless a latch code is presented to it and wherein the security program generates the latch code from the internal code to gain access to the EEPROM contents.

Claim 26

A billing system as claimed in Claim 18 wherein the security program writes billing information frequently onto the storage medium and then periodically transfers a summary of the billing information into the billing module.

Claim 27

A billing system as claimed in Claim 18 wherein the storage medium is a magnetic diskette.

Claim 28

A billing system as claimed in Claim 25 wherein there is also a disk code carried on the diskette which must be combined with the internal and external codes by the security program to generate the decipher key.

Claim 29

A billing system as claimed in Claim 25 wherein the magnetic disk has specific disk identifying information not apparent to the user imbelled in it unique to each disk so that unauthorized copies of the disk can be traced to the original disk from which the unauthorized copies were made.

Claim 30

A billing system as claimed in Claim 18 wherein the enciphering of the application program includes encoding at least some characters of code in the program in a manner determined by the algorithm and the decipher key.

Claim 31

A billing system as claimed in Claim 18 wherein the enciphering of the application program includes a relocating of instructions or data in the program in a manner determined by the algorithm and the decipher key.

Claim 32

A billing system as claimed in Claim 18 wherein the security program also reads a validation number from the billing module and tests the value of that number against a pre-determined expected value to determine if application program execution should be permitted.

Claim 33

A billing system as claimed in Claim 18 wherein the security program also reads update check information from the billing module to determine if the security program and the application program have been properly updated.

Claim 34

A billing system as claimed in Claim 18 wherein data transfer between the billing module and the computer is itself encoded to prevent unauthorized insertions or interception.

Claim 35

A billing system as claimed in Claim 18 wherein there is attached to the computer a security module including both resident read-only memory and a microprocessor, the security module connecting to the billing module and controlling interactions and communications between the computer and the storage medium and the billing module.

Claim 36

A billing system as claimed in Claim 33 wherein the system is configured for plural computers connected in an inter-communicating network and there is a single billing module which communicates with the security modules in each of the computers in the network.