US5907617A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Try before you buy software distribution and marketing system
Assignee: Digital River Inc
•
Filing: 1997-07-14
•
Granted: 1999-05-25
•
Expires: 2017-07-14
Abstract
Abstract A computer-based system is provided for demonstrating software programs to a potential purchaser and for gathering marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs. The system enables the software programs for execution upon selection by a user, and allows the user to subsequently operate or sample the selected software program. The system maintains the selected software program in a locked state to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and selectively disables the sampling, such as when the user completes the sampling or if the system detects that the user is attempting to copy the sampled application. A code is generated that identifies one or more particular software programs and contains information relating to sampling of the particular software programs by the user, such as which applications were sampled and how many times they were sampled.
Inventors
- 👤 Joel A. Ronning
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 06:24
CPC Classifications
G; G07; G07F; G07F17/00; G07F17/16; G06; G06F; G06F21/00; G06F21/10; G06F21/12; G06F21/121; G06Q; G06Q20/00; G06Q20/08; G06Q20/085; G06Q30/00; G06Q30/02; G07F17/0014; G06F2211/00; G06F2211/007; G06F2221/00; G06F2221/21; G06F2221/2137
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 32
Claim 1
Independent Claim
227 words
A system for demonstrating software programs to a potential purchaser of the programs and for gathering marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs, comprising: receive means for receiving a plurality of software programs to be demonstrated; protection means for maintaining each of the software programs in a locked state in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the software programs, the protection means including: an image file having an internal configuration of a specially formatted disk, at least one of the software programs being stored in the image file; and an image drive configured to prevent unauthorized access to the software program in the image file; sample means for enabling any of the software programs for execution upon selection by a user, for allowing the user to subsequently sample the selected software program, for maintaining the selected software program in the locked state during the sampling of the selected software program in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and for selectively disabling the sampling of the selected software program, the sample means using the image driver to control authorized access to the selected software program in the image file; and monitoring means for generating a code that identifies a particular software program in the plurality of software programs and contains information relating to sampling of the particular software program by the user.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
227 words
A system for demonstrating software programs to a potential purchaser of the programs and for gathering marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs, comprising: receive means for receiving a plurality of software programs to be demonstrated; protection means for maintaining each of the software programs in a locked state in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the software programs, the protection means including: an image file having an internal configuration of a specially formatted disk, at least one of the software programs being stored in the image file; and an image drive configured to prevent unauthorized access to the software program in the image file; sample means for enabling any of the software programs for execution upon selection by a user, for allowing the user to subsequently sample the selected software program, for maintaining the selected software program in the locked state during the sampling of the selected software program in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and for selectively disabling the sampling of the selected software program, the sample means using the image driver to control authorized access to the selected software program in the image file; and monitoring means for generating a code that identifies a particular software program in the plurality of software programs and contains information relating to sampling of the particular software program by the user.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the monitoring means comprises means for including in the code information identifying which of the software programs the user sampled.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
29 words
The system of claim 2 wherein the monitoring means comprises means for including in the code information identifying how many times the user sampled each of the software programs.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the monitoring means comprises means for including in the code information identifying a category of the software program most frequently sampled by the user.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
34 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the sample means further comprises means for preventing the enabling of the software program when the user has already sampled the software program a predetermined number of times.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
39 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the sample means further comprises means for detecting if the software program is being copied during the sampling of the software program and for disabling the software program in response to the detecting.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
33 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the sample means comprises means for limiting how many times the software program can be sampled and for displaying an indication of a number of samples remaining.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the disable means comprises means for disabling the software program if the user has sampled the software program for a predetermined amount of time.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
32 words
The system of claim 1 wherein: the receive means comprises means for receiving the software program in an encrypted state; and the sample means comprises means for decrypting the encrypted software program.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
20 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the sample means comprises means for displaying an icon which identifies the software program.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
21 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the receive means comprises means for receiving the software program from a non-volatile storage medium.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
23 words
The system of claim 1, further comprising means for unlocking the software program in response to a request to purchase the software program.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
279 words
A system for demonstrating software programs to a potential purchaser of the programs on a user-selected computer and for gathering marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs and providing the marketing information to a distribution center, comprising: receive means for receiving a plurality of software programs to be demonstrated; protection means for maintaining each of the software programs in a locked state in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the software programs; sample means for enabling any of the software programs for execution upon selection by a user on the user-selected computer, for allowing the user to subsequently sample the selected software program, for maintaining the selected software program in the locked state during the sampling of the selected software program in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and for selectively disabling the sampling of the selected software program, the sample means functioning without the need for any hardware components and circuitry in addition to the user-selected computer; monitoring means for generating a code on the user-selected computer for use in unlocking a particular software program in response to a request by the user to purchase the particular software program and for including in the code an identification of which ones of the plurality of software programs were sampled by the user and how many times each of the plurality of software programs was samples by the user; and purchase means for facilitating the purchase of the particular software program, the purchase means requiring the code to be provided to the distribution center, the distribution center using the code to generate a password for unlocking the particular software program on the user-selected computer.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
279 words
A system for demonstrating software programs to a potential purchaser of the programs on a user-selected computer and for gathering marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs and providing the marketing information to a distribution center, comprising: receive means for receiving a plurality of software programs to be demonstrated; protection means for maintaining each of the software programs in a locked state in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the software programs; sample means for enabling any of the software programs for execution upon selection by a user on the user-selected computer, for allowing the user to subsequently sample the selected software program, for maintaining the selected software program in the locked state during the sampling of the selected software program in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and for selectively disabling the sampling of the selected software program, the sample means functioning without the need for any hardware components and circuitry in addition to the user-selected computer; monitoring means for generating a code on the user-selected computer for use in unlocking a particular software program in response to a request by the user to purchase the particular software program and for including in the code an identification of which ones of the plurality of software programs were sampled by the user and how many times each of the plurality of software programs was samples by the user; and purchase means for facilitating the purchase of the particular software program, the purchase means requiring the code to be provided to the distribution center, the distribution center using the code to generate a password for unlocking the particular software program on the user-selected computer.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
224 words
A computerized method for demonstrating software programs to a potential purchaser of the programs and for gathering marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs, comprising the steps executed by a computer of: receiving a plurality of software programs to be demonstrated; maintaining each of the software programs in a locked state in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the software programs, the maintaining step using an image file having an internal configuration of a specially formatted disk with at least one of the software programs being stored in the image file, the maintaining step using an image driver configured to prevent unauthorized access to the software program in the image file; enabling any of the software programs in the image file for execution upon selection by a user, the enabling step using the image driver configured to control authorized access to the image file, allowing the user to subsequently sample the selected software program, maintaining the selected software program in the locked state during the sampling of the selected software program in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and selectively disabling the sampling of the selected software program; and generating a code that identifies a particular software program in the plurality of software programs and contains information relating to sampling of the particular software program by the user.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
224 words
A computerized method for demonstrating software programs to a potential purchaser of the programs and for gathering marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs, comprising the steps executed by a computer of: receiving a plurality of software programs to be demonstrated; maintaining each of the software programs in a locked state in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the software programs, the maintaining step using an image file having an internal configuration of a specially formatted disk with at least one of the software programs being stored in the image file, the maintaining step using an image driver configured to prevent unauthorized access to the software program in the image file; enabling any of the software programs in the image file for execution upon selection by a user, the enabling step using the image driver configured to control authorized access to the image file, allowing the user to subsequently sample the selected software program, maintaining the selected software program in the locked state during the sampling of the selected software program in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and selectively disabling the sampling of the selected software program; and generating a code that identifies a particular software program in the plurality of software programs and contains information relating to sampling of the particular software program by the user.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the monitoring step comprises the step of including in the code information identifying which of the software programs the user sampled.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 15 wherein the monitoring step comprises the step of including in the code information identifying how many times the user sampled each of the software programs.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the monitoring step comprises the step of including in the code information identifying a category of the software program most frequently sampled by the user.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the enabling step further comprises the step executed by the computer of preventing the enabling of the software program when the user has already sampled the software program a predetermined number of times.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the disabling step further comprises the steps executed by the computer of detecting if the software program is being copied during the sampling of the software program and disabling the software program in response to the detecting.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the enabling step comprises the steps of limiting how many times the software program can be sampled and displaying an indication of a number of samples remaining.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the disabling step comprises the step of disabling the software program if the user has sampled the software program for a predetermined amount of time.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 14 wherein: the receiving step comprises the step of receiving the software program in an encrypted state; and the enabling step comprises the step of decrypting the encrypted software program.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the enabling step comprises the step of displaying an icon which identifies the software program.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the receiving step comprises the step of receiving the software program from a non-volatile storage medium.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of unlocking the software program in response to a request to purchase the software program.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
331 words
A computer program product, comprising: a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing a user-selected computer to demonstrate software programs to a potential purchaser of the programs on the user-selected computer and to gather marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs and provide the marketing information to a software distribution center, the user-selected computer being a computer on which the software program may be used if the software program is purchased by the potential purchaser, the computer readable program code means in the computer program product comprising: receive means for causing the computer to receive a plurality of software programs to be demonstrated; protection means for causing the computer to maintain each of the software programs in a locked state in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the software programs; sample means for causing the user-selected computer to enable any of the software programs for execution upon selection by a user, allow the user to subsequently sample the selected software program, maintain the selected software program in the locked state during the sampling of the selected software program in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and selectively disable the sampling of the selected software program, the sample means functioning without the need for any hardware components and circuitry in addition to the user-selected computer; monitoring means for causing the user-selected computer to generate a code in response to a request to purchase a particular software program, wherein the code identifies at least one software program in the plurality of software programs and contains information relating to sampling of the software program by the user; and purchase means for causing the user-selected computer to facilitate the purchase of the particular software program, the purchase means causing the user-selected computer to require the code to be provided to the distribution center; the distribution center using the code to generate a password for unlocking the particular software program on the user-selected computer.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
331 words
A computer program product, comprising: a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing a user-selected computer to demonstrate software programs to a potential purchaser of the programs on the user-selected computer and to gather marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs and provide the marketing information to a software distribution center, the user-selected computer being a computer on which the software program may be used if the software program is purchased by the potential purchaser, the computer readable program code means in the computer program product comprising: receive means for causing the computer to receive a plurality of software programs to be demonstrated; protection means for causing the computer to maintain each of the software programs in a locked state in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the software programs; sample means for causing the user-selected computer to enable any of the software programs for execution upon selection by a user, allow the user to subsequently sample the selected software program, maintain the selected software program in the locked state during the sampling of the selected software program in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and selectively disable the sampling of the selected software program, the sample means functioning without the need for any hardware components and circuitry in addition to the user-selected computer; monitoring means for causing the user-selected computer to generate a code in response to a request to purchase a particular software program, wherein the code identifies at least one software program in the plurality of software programs and contains information relating to sampling of the software program by the user; and purchase means for causing the user-selected computer to facilitate the purchase of the particular software program, the purchase means causing the user-selected computer to require the code to be provided to the distribution center; the distribution center using the code to generate a password for unlocking the particular software program on the user-selected computer.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
246 words
A computerized method for demonstrating, on a user-selected computer, software programs to a potential purchaser of the programs and for gathering marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs and providing the marketing information to a distribution center, comprising the steps executed by a computer of: receiving a plurality of software programs to be demonstrated; maintaining each of the software programs in a locked state in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the software programs; enabling any of the software programs for execution on the user-selected computer upon selection by a user, allowing the user to subsequently sample the selected software program, maintaining the selected software program in the locked state during the sampling of the selected software program in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and selectively disabling the sampling of the selected software program, the sample means functioning without the need for any hardware components and circuitry in addition to the user-selected computer; generating a code on the user-selected computer in response to a request to purchase a particular software program, wherein the code identifies at least one software program in the plurality of software programs and contains information relating to sampling of the software program by the user; and providing the code to the distribution center upon selection of the particular software program for purchase by the user, the distribution center using the code to generate a password for unlocking the particular software program on the user-selected computer.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
246 words
A computerized method for demonstrating, on a user-selected computer, software programs to a potential purchaser of the programs and for gathering marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs and providing the marketing information to a distribution center, comprising the steps executed by a computer of: receiving a plurality of software programs to be demonstrated; maintaining each of the software programs in a locked state in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the software programs; enabling any of the software programs for execution on the user-selected computer upon selection by a user, allowing the user to subsequently sample the selected software program, maintaining the selected software program in the locked state during the sampling of the selected software program in order to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and selectively disabling the sampling of the selected software program, the sample means functioning without the need for any hardware components and circuitry in addition to the user-selected computer; generating a code on the user-selected computer in response to a request to purchase a particular software program, wherein the code identifies at least one software program in the plurality of software programs and contains information relating to sampling of the software program by the user; and providing the code to the distribution center upon selection of the particular software program for purchase by the user, the distribution center using the code to generate a password for unlocking the particular software program on the user-selected computer.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2002-05-24 | 2002-11-23 | 2003-05-25 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2006-05-24 | 2006-11-23 | 2007-05-25 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2010-05-24 | 2010-11-23 | 2011-05-25 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |