Computer architecture for managing courseware in a shared use operating environment

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of treating the critical portion, thereby enabling enhanced intellectual property right protection of the content by technical means.

Claim 4

The method of claim 2 , wherein the treating step comprises inserting disabling code into an executable portion of courseware content.

Claim 5

The method of claim 2 , wherein the treating step comprises encapsulating the critical portion in a database table.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of monitoring the client-server network communications link.

Claim 7

The method of claim 5 , further comprising the step of disabling use of at least a portion of the content after an expected security handshake is not received.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of presenting the registered user with an invoice for usage of the content.

Claim 9

The method of claim 7 , further comprising the step of allowing a local administrator to adjust the invoice presented to the user in response to a request by the user for an adjustment.

Claim 10

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of downloading at least one non-critical portion of the content to the client workstation at least two hours before serving the critical portion.

Claim 11

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of disabling caching and other disk writes to prevent a copy of the critical portion of the content from being created on nonvolatile storage at the client workstation.

Claim 12

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of obtaining a credit card payment authorization to permit payment by credit card for usage of the content.

Claim 13

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of reserving a particular piece of courseware content for a particular registered user.

Claim 14

A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause at least a portion of a multi-level computer system to perform method steps for managing courseware in a shared use operating environment, the shared use operating environment including a server and a client connectable by a network communications link to the server, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at the server a request by a registered user for access to courseware which contains at least one previously treated critical portion; serving at least the critical portion over the network communications link for presentation to the registered user at the client; and monitoring the network communications link to prevent unauthorized use of the courseware.

Claim 15

A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause at least a portion of a multi-level computer system to perform method steps for managing courseware in a shared use operating environment, the shared use operating environment including a server and a client connectable by a network communications link to the server, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at the server a request by a registered user for access to courseware which contains at least one previously treated critical portion; serving at least the critical portion over the network communications link for presentation to the registered user at the client; and monitoring the network communications link to prevent unauthorized use of the courseware.

Claim 16

The configured storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises the step of treating the critical portion, thereby enabling enhanced intellectual property right protection of the courseware.

Claim 17

The configured storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the treating step comprises inserting disabling code into an executable portion of the courseware.

Claim 18

The configured storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the treating step comprises encapsulating the critical portion in a database table.

Claim 19

The configured storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises the step of presenting an invoice for usage of the courseware.

Claim 20

The configured storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises the step of allowing a local administrator to adjust the invoice presented.

Claim 21

The configured storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises the step of downloading at least one non-critical portion of the courseware to the client at least one hour before serving the critical portion.

Claim 22

The configured storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises the steps of metering usage of the courseware and charging for metered usage.

Claim 23

The configured storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises the step of disabling disk writes to reduce the risk that a copy of the critical portion of the courseware will be created on nonvolatile storage at the client.

Claim 24

The configured storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises the step of reserving with a guarantee a particular piece of courseware for a particular user.

Claim 25

A multi-level computer architecture for managing content in a shared use operating environment, the content containing at least one previously treated critical portion, the architecture including: a registration server level including at least one registration server, each registration server comprising a remote registration manager and a registration database for new user registration, and each registration server being further characterized in that it is free of content managed by the architecture; a content server level including at least one content server, each content server linked for network communications with a registration server, each content server containing content managed by the architecture, the content containing at least one previously treated critical portion, and each content server being further characterized in that it serves such content critical portions only for presentation to registered users, namely, users who have previously been registered with a registration server; and a client level including at least one client workstation, each client workstation connectable to a content server by a client-server network communications link, and each client workstation being further characterized in that it presents to at least one registered user a content critical portion which is served over the client-server network communications link by the content server.

Claim 26

A multi-level computer architecture for managing content in a shared use operating environment, the content containing at least one previously treated critical portion, the architecture including: a registration server level including at least one registration server, each registration server comprising a remote registration manager and a registration database for new user registration, and each registration server being further characterized in that it is free of content managed by the architecture; a content server level including at least one content server, each content server linked for network communications with a registration server, each content server containing content managed by the architecture, the content containing at least one previously treated critical portion, and each content server being further characterized in that it serves such content critical portions only for presentation to registered users, namely, users who have previously been registered with a registration server; and a client level including at least one client workstation, each client workstation connectable to a content server by a client-server network communications link, and each client workstation being further characterized in that it presents to at least one registered user a content critical portion which is served over the client-server network communications link by the content server.

Claim 27

The computer architecture of claim 23 , further comprising a security manager for preventing unauthorized use of the content.

Claim 28

The computer architecture of claim 24 , wherein a portion of the security manager resides on each client workstation and a portion resides on each content server.

Claim 29

The computer architecture of claim 24 , wherein critical portions of the content reside in database tables managed by the security manager.

Claim 30

The computer architecture of claim 24 , wherein the security manager is further characterized in that it sends at least part of a critical portion of content only to a volatile client workstation memory rather than sending it to a nonvolatile client workstation memory.

Claim 31

The computer architecture of claim 23 , wherein the registration server further includes a reservation manager and a reservation database which permits registered users to reserve content.

Claim 32

The computer architecture of claim 28 , further comprising a funds flow manager for managing payment information, wherein the reservation manager, the reservation database, or both, operate with the funds flow manager to provide registered users with guaranteed content reservations.

Claim 33

The computer architecture of claim 23 , further comprising a funds flow manager for managing content usage payment information.

Claim 34

The computer architecture of claim 30 , wherein a portion of the funds flow manager resides on each client workstation, a portion resides on each content server, and a portion resides on each registration server.

Claim 35

The computer architecture of claim 23 , further comprising a meter manager for metering content usage.

Claim 36

The computer architecture of claim 32 , wherein a portion of the meter manager resides on each client workstation and a portion resides on each content server.

Claim 37

The computer architecture of claim 23 , wherein the content comprises courseware.

Claim 38

The computer architecture of claim 23 , wherein each content server further comprises a launch manager for launching presentations of courseware content.

Claim 39

The computer architecture of claim 23 , wherein each client workstation comprises a web browser through which content is presented.

Claim 40

The computer architecture of claim 23 , further comprising a backup registration server containing data mirrored from the registration server.