Abstract:
A method for the administration of resources, in which classes or instances, respectively, are assigned to the resources and a program receives a rule assigned to the class or instance, respectively, and applies it to the resource. It is made sure that only rules assigned to the class or instance, respectively, are applied on the resource. In alternative methods, only rules are applied on the resource, which were accepted by a verification rule assigned to the resource.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    Not applicable 
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH Not applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention is related to a method for the administration of resources 
         [0003]    Value accounts are stored on trustable computers or apparatuses. These computers or apparatuses are mostly specially provided for the storage of accounts of one special type The software for changing the accounts is mostly installed or updated, respectively, by the owner of the computer 
         [0004]    When the owner of a resource, a value account for instance, is also the user of the computer and the resource is permitted to be used only according to externally defined rules however, for security reasons only computers for the administration of one kind of resource are used, and mostly all the rules for resource changing are fixed during the handoff of the computer to the user 
         [0005]    The present invention is based on the objective to provide methods for the administration of resources which follow dynamic, externally predetermined bodies of rules in the use or change, respectively, of the resources 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    One class or one instance at a time is assigned to least two resources, After the assignment, a program applies only rules on the resource which are assigned to the same class or instance, respectively The program makes sure that only rules assigned to the class or instance, respectively, are applied on the resources 
         [0007]    In alternative solution, one verification rule at a time is assigned to at least two resources. A program receives a rule and examines the rule with respect to applicability on the resource with the aid of the verification rule In the case that the examination yields the result that the rule can be applied, it is applied. The program makes sure that only rules accepted by the verification rule are applied on the resource 
         [0008]    In one realisation of the present invention, the program changes the verification rule with the aid of a received and accepted rule 
         [0009]    In an alternative solution, one verification rule at a time is assigned to at least one resource. The program receives a rule and examines the applicability of the rule on the resource with the aid of the verification rule In the case of a positive result, the program applies it on the resource. The program receives a further rule, which it examines with respect to acceptance with the aid of the verification rule. At proven acceptance the program changes or replaces the verification rule with the aid of the rule. 
         [0010]    In one realisation of the present invention, the program stores or marks rules, respectively, which were decided to be applicable on the resource with the aid of the verification rule After change or replacement of the verification rule, the stored or marked rules are examined again with respect to the applicability on the resource with the aid of the new verification rule The not applicable rules are removed from the memory or are marked as not applicable, or applicable rules only are marked as such. By doing so, an application of old rules can be prevented for instance, when the rules contain version information 
         [0011]    In a realisation of the present invention, the program is an operating system. The computer on which the operating system is installed receives the rules 
         [0012]    In a further realisation of the present invention, the resource is a memory or a part of a memory. 
         [0013]    In a further realisation of the present invention, the memory or the part of the memory, respectively, contains licensing data, These may be remaining usage times for licensed software or contents. 
         [0014]    In a further realisation of the present invention, a rule for use or change of the resource, respectively, is described through a program 
         [0015]    In a further realisation of the present invention, the rule is cryptologically certified and the certificate is cryptologically examined with regard to correctness before the application. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]      FIGS. 1 and 2  represent a coloured Petri net. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Examples 
       [0017]      FIG. 1  or  2 , respectively, represent a coloured Petri net The difference between  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  is that in  FIG. 2  the rule-application ( 3 ) can also act upon the verification rule ( 6 ), and that in  FIG. 2  a verification rule ( 6 ) or ( 8 ), respectively, replaces the verification data ( 6 ) or ( 8 ), respectively, in  FIG. 1   
         [0018]    In the first example according to  FIG. 1 , a resource, here an account ( 2 ) for a software licence of a software firm is to be installed and used on a user&#39;s PC ( 1 ) The account is to receive an initial value at the installation, and the value of the account is to be decremented upon every invocation of the licensed software 
         [0019]    The software firm ( 11 ) creates verification data ( 8 ) and a certification secret ( 12 ) The verification data ( 8 ) are transmitted ( 5 ) to the user&#39;s computer system ( 1 ) 
         [0020]    Further, the software firm generates ( 14 ) a software with a first rule ( 15 ) for opening an account for a software licence on the user&#39;s PC ( 1 ) and it certifies ( 13 ) the first rule with the certification secret ( 12 ). 
         [0021]    The certified rule ( 9 ) and the certificate ( 10 ) are transmitted ( 7 ) to the user&#39;s computer system ( 1 ) and verified ( 7 ) with the aid of the verification data ( 6 ). After successful verification ( 7 ), the rule is applied ( 3 ) and an account ( 2 ) is opened in the memory of the user&#39;s PC ( 1 ) and assigned to the verification data ( 6 ) The rule initialises the account ( 2 ) to the initial value. Each further rule ( 15 ) can be applied to the account ( 2 ) after certification ( 13 ), transmission and verification ( 7 ) only when it has been certified ( 13 ) with the same certification secret ( 12 ). Accounts ( 2 ) of other software firms can be opened on the user&#39;s PC ( 1 ) in the same manner. All the actions on the user&#39;s PC ( 1 ) are monitored by its operating system Each software firm can define own rules ( 4 ), which are always only applicable to accounts of the respective assigned software firm The rule creation ( 14 ) and the certification ( 11 ) can be performed by different instances 
         [0022]    In the second example according to  FIG. 2 , a resource, here an account ( 2 ) for a software licence of a software firm is to be opened and used on a user&#39;s PC ( 1 ). The account is to receive an initial value upon its opening, and the account value is to be decremented upon every invocation of the licensed software. At a later point of time, the control of the rules with respect to the account is to be transferred to a sales firm 
         [0023]    The software firm ( 11 ) creates a verification rule ( 8 ) and a certification secret ( 12 ) The verification rule ( 8 ) is transmitted ( 5 ) to the user&#39;s computer system ( 1 ). 
         [0024]    Further, the software firm creates ( 14 ) a software with a first rule ( 15 ) for opening an account for a software licence on a user&#39;s PC ( 1 ) and it certifies ( 13 ) the first rule with the certification secret ( 12 ). 
         [0025]    The certified rule ( 9 ) and the certificate ( 10 ) are transmitted ( 7 ) to the user&#39;s computer system ( 1 ) and verified ( 7 ) with the aid of the verification rule ( 6 ). After successful verification, the rule is applied and an account ( 2 ) is opened in the memory of the user&#39;s PC ( 1 ) and assigned to the verification rule ( 6 ). The rule initialises the account ( 2 ) to the initial value and permits the verification rule ( 6 ) to be unchanged Each further rule ( 15 ) can be applied to the account ( 2 ) and/or the verification rule ( 6 ) after certification ( 13 ), transmission and verification ( 7 ) only when it has been certified ( 13 ) with the same certification secret ( 12 ). For the handing-over of the control with respect to the rules to the sales firm, the software firm creates ( 14 ) a rule ( 15 ), which after certification ( 13 ), transmission and verification ( 7 ) replaces the verification rule ( 6 ) against a verification rule created by the sales firm at the application ( 3 ) of the rule All the old rules ( 4 ) are cancelled at the rule application ( 3 ) In order to be applied on the account ( 2 ), all the further rules ( 4 ) must be certified with the certification secret ( 12 ) of the sales firm ( 13 ). Accounts or resources ( 2 ) of other instances, like software firms or banks for instance, can be opened on the user&#39;s PC ( 1 ) in the same manner All the actions on the user&#39;s PC ( 1 ) are monitored by its operating system Each instance can define own rules ( 4 ), which are always only applicable to resources of the respective assigned instance. The rule creation ( 14 ) and the certification ( 13 ) can be performed by different instances 
         [0026]    This completes the description of the preferred and alternate embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiment described herein which equivalents are intended to be encompassed by the claims attached hereto.