Method and apparatus for software licensing electronically distributed programs

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 wherein said registration identifier further contains user payment information.

Claim 4

The method of claim 2 , further comprising decrypting said registration identifier to retrieve said user payment information.

Claim 5

The method of claim 3 , further comprising verifying payment using said user payment information.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 further comprising retrieving the one-way hashed value from said registration key by the client; and comparing the client retrieved one-way hashed value to a client generated one-way hashed value.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1 , wherein said generating further comprises encrypting the one-way hashed value along with an expiration time indicator.

Claim 12

The method of claim 8 , further comprising: retrieving an expiration time indicator from said registration key; and, eliminating the provision of said software enable signal if said expiration time indicator indicates that said registration key has expired.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said registration identifier contains an one-way hashed value of a machine unique identifier for said client.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said registration identifier further contains user payment information.

Claim 17

The apparatus of claim 12 , where said memory contains further instructions configured to cause said processor to decrypt said registration identifier to retrieve said user payment information.

Claim 18

The apparatus of claim 13 where said memory contains further instructions configured to cause said processor to verify payment using said user payment information.

Claim 19

The apparatus of claim 10 , where, to generate said registration key based on said registration identifier, said memory contains further instructions configured to cause said processor to encrypt the retrieved one-way hashed value along with an expiration time indicator.

Claim 20

An article of manufacture comprising: a machine-readable medium having instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to receive an encrypted registration identifier for a client, said registration identifier contains a one-way hashed value of a machine unique identifier for said client, said registration identifier being encrypted using a public key; decrypt said registration identifier using a private key that is matched to said public key to retrieve the one-way hashed value; generate a registration key based on said registration identifier by encrypting the retrieved one-way hashed value into the registration key; and transmit said registration key to said client after verifying payment.

Claim 21

An article of manufacture comprising: a machine-readable medium having instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to receive an encrypted registration identifier for a client, said registration identifier contains a one-way hashed value of a machine unique identifier for said client, said registration identifier being encrypted using a public key; decrypt said registration identifier using a private key that is matched to said public key to retrieve the one-way hashed value; generate a registration key based on said registration identifier by encrypting the retrieved one-way hashed value into the registration key; and transmit said registration key to said client after verifying payment.

Claim 22

The article of manufacture of claim 16 wherein the machine-readable medium includes further instructions which cause the machine to process a user payment, based upon user payment information retrieved from the registration identifier, before transmitting the registration key.

Claim 23

The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the machine readable medium includes further instructions which cause the machine to include an expiration time indicator when generating the registration key.

Claim 24

An article of manufacture comprising: a machine-readable medium having instructions which, when executed by a client machine, cause the machine to (a) determine a machine unique identifier for said machine; (b) generate a one-way hashed value of said machine unique identifier; (c) encrypt said one-way hashed value to generate a registration identifier using a public key of a server; (d) transmit said registration identifier to said server; (e) receive a registration key from the server, the registration key contains an encrypted form of the one-way hashed value; (f) retrieve the one-way hashed value from the registration key; (g) determine a machine unique identifier for said machine and generate a one-way hashed value thereof; and (h) compare the retrieved one-way hashed value in (f) to the one-way hashed value in (g).

Claim 25

An article of manufacture comprising: a machine-readable medium having instructions which, when executed by a client machine, cause the machine to (a) determine a machine unique identifier for said machine; (b) generate a one-way hashed value of said machine unique identifier; (c) encrypt said one-way hashed value to generate a registration identifier using a public key of a server; (d) transmit said registration identifier to said server; (e) receive a registration key from the server, the registration key contains an encrypted form of the one-way hashed value; (f) retrieve the one-way hashed value from the registration key; (g) determine a machine unique identifier for said machine and generate a one-way hashed value thereof; and (h) compare the retrieved one-way hashed value in (f) to the one-way hashed value in (g).

Claim 26

The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the machine-readable medium includes further instructions which cause the machine to provide a software enable signal only if the comparison in (h) indicates that the one-hashed value retrieved in (f) is equal to the one generated in (g).

Claim 27

The article of manufacture of claim 20 wherein the machine-readable medium includes further instructions which cause the machine to retrieve an expiration time indicator from the registration key, and not provide the enable signal if the expiration time indicator indicates that the registration key has expired.