The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Nov. 05, 2013

Filed:

Jun. 26, 2008
Applicants:

John Cook, Seattle, WA (US);

Martin Otten, Seattle, WA (US);

Inventors:

John Cook, Seattle, WA (US);

Martin Otten, Seattle, WA (US);

Assignee:

Valve Corporation, Bellevue, WA (US);

Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 7/04 (2006.01); G06F 17/30 (2006.01); H04N 7/16 (2011.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract

Embodiments are directed towards employing hidden secrets on a client device to detect and deter piracy of a computer application. The computer application is partitioned into components, where a subset of the components is initially provided to the client device. In one embodiment, the computer application is unable to execute properly within the removed or other set of components. The removed components not provided to the client device may then be modified based on hidden secrets information and a verification component and provided over a network to the client device. If the verification component is unable to locate an armed secret, or detects that an armed secret is modified, the computer application may be inhibited from installation and/or execution. In one embodiment, a secret might be unarmed, such that its presence, absence, and/or modification might be ignored.


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