Abstract:
A method, computer program product, and firmware device for directly downloading data from a server in a network to a firmware device, bypassing any unencrypted transmission through computer system with which the firmware device may be associated, so that copies of the data are not as readily made is disclosed. A computer sends a request to a server to download the particular data to a particular firmware device. The server contacts the firmware device directly through the network to initiate the transfer. The server and firmware device communicate over an encrypted data channel so as to prevent any third party, including the aforementioned computer, from intercepting and storing the transmitted data.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Technical Field  
           [0002]    The present invention is directed toward the downloading of data from a network for updating firmware. More specifically, the present invention is directed toward a firmware device, data processing system, method, and computer program product for downloading data from a network while preventing piracy of copyrighted material once downloaded.  
           [0003]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0004]    Internet, also referred to as an “internetwork”, in communications is a set of computer networks, possibly dissimilar, joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from the sending network to the protocols used by the receiving network (with packets if necessary). When capitalized, the term “Internet” refers to the collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols.  
           [0005]    The Internet has become a cultural fixture as a source of both information and entertainment. Many businesses are creating Internet sites as an integral part of their marketing efforts, informing consumers of the products or services offered by the business or providing other information seeking to engender brand loyalty. Many federal, state, and local government agencies are also employing Internet sites for informational purposes, particularly agencies that must interact with virtually all segments of society such as the Internal Revenue Service and secretaries of state. Operating costs may be reduced by providing informational guides and/or searchable databases of public records online.  
           [0006]    Currently, the most commonly employed method of transferring data over the Internet is to employ the World Wide Web environment, also called simply “the web”. Other Internet resources exist for transferring information, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Gopher, but have not achieved the popularity of the web. In the web environment, servers and clients effect data transaction using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a known protocol for handling the transfer of various data files (e.g., text, still graphic images, audio, motion video, etc.). Information is formatted for presentation to a user by a standard page description language, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In addition to basic presentation formatting, HTML allows developers to specify “links” to other web resources identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL is a special syntax identifier defining a communications path to specific information. Each logical block of information accessible to a client, called a “page” or a “web page”, is identified by a URL. The URL provides a universal, consistent method for finding and accessing this information by the web “browser”. A browser is a program capable of submitting a request for information identified by a URL at the client machine. Retrieval of information on the web is generally accomplished with an HTML-compatible browser, such as, for example, Netscape Communicator, which is available from Netscape Communications Corporation.  
           [0007]    When a user desires to retrieve a document, such as a web page, a request is submitted to a server connected to a client computer at which the user is located and may be handled by a series of servers to effect retrieval of the requested information. The selection of a document is typically performed by the user&#39;s selecting a hypertext link. The hypertext link is typically displayed by the browser on a client as a highlighted word or phrase within the document being viewed with the browser. The browser then issues a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request for the requested documents to the server identified by the requested document&#39;s URL. The server then returns the requested document to the client browser using the HTTP. The information in the document is provided to the client formatted according to HTML. Typically, browsers on personal computers (PCs) along with workstations are typically used to access the Internet. The standard HTML syntax of Web pages and the standard communication protocol (HTTP) supported by the World Wide Web guarantee that any browser can communicate with any web server.  
           [0008]    Among the files that may be downloaded through the Internet are updates to firmware. Firmware comprises code and data stored in that defines the fundamental functionality of a piece of hardware. For instance, firmware for a printer may include instructions about how to control a print head or laser, while firmware for a central processing unit contains information about how to initialize a computer system. Thus, what is needed is a method of directly downloading firmware updates to a tangible format without creating an exchangeable copy on a downloading computer.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    Accordingly, the present invention is directed towards a method, computer program product, and firmware device for downloading data from a server in a network to a firmware device, bypassing any unencrypted transmission through computer system with which the firmware device may be associated, so that copies of the data are not as readily made. A computer sends a request to a server to download the particular data to a particular firmware device. The server contacts the firmware device directly through the network to initiate the transfer. The server and firmware device communicate over an encrypted data channel so as to prevent any third party, including the aforementioned computer, from intercepting and storing the transmitted data.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is a diagram of a distributed data processing system in which the processes of the present invention may be implemented;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a computer in which processes of the present invention may be implemented;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a firmware device in which processes of the present invention may be implemented;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting the negotiation of a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4 is a flowchart representation of a process of sending a data file from a server to a firmware device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 is a flowchart representation of a process of receiving a data file by a network firmware device from a server in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0017]    [0017]FIG. 1 depicts a distributed data processing system  100  in which the processes of the present invention may be implemented. Computer  102  connects to Internet  104 , through which computer  102  communicates with server  106  and firmware device  108 , which is located within computer  102  (although it could be located within a different computer, in an alternative embodiment). In an embodiment of the present invention, computer  102  requests from server  106  that an update to computer  102 &#39;s firmware be downloaded from server  106  to firmware device  108 . Firmware device  108 , stores code and data that defines the fundamental functionality of a hardware device, for use by computer  102  or one or more peripheral devices in association with computer  102 . Firmware device  108  may be, for instance, a monolithic integrated circuit, but it may comprise any combination of hardware components, including discrete logic circuitry, multiple integrated circuits, optical storage, and any other suitable storage medium. In fulfillment of the request, server  106  contacts firmware device  108  via relay through computer  102  and sends the data over an encrypted communications channel to the firmware device  108 , where the data is decrypted. No decryption of the data takes place outside of firmware device  108 . Thus, no unauthorized copies of the data can be made, since only firmware device  108  can decrypt the encrypted transmission. In a preferred embodiment, the encrypted communications channel is established by means of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, described in more detail in FIG. 3, although any one of a number of different encryption schemes and protocols could be used.  
         [0018]    With reference now to FIG. 2A, a block diagram of a data processing system is shown in which a portion of the present invention may be implemented. Data processing system  200 A is an example of a computer in which code or instructions implementing processes of the present invention may be located. Data processing system  200 A employs a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) local bus architecture. Although the depicted example employs a PCI bus, other bus architectures such as Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) may be used. Processor  202 A and main memory  204 A are connected to PCI local bus  206 A through PCI bridge  208 A. PCI bridge  208 A also may include an integrated memory controller and cache memory for processor  202 A. Additional connections to PCI local bus  206 A may be made through direct component interconnection or through add-in boards. In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter  210 A, small computer system interface SCSI host bus adapter  212 A, and expansion bus interface  214 A are connected to PCI local bus  206 A by direct component connection. In contrast, audio adapter  216 A, graphics adapter  218 A, and audio/video adapter  219 A are connected to PCI local bus  206 A by add-in boards inserted into expansion slots. Expansion bus interface  214 A provides a connection for a keyboard and mouse adapter  220 A, modem  222 A, and additional memory  224 A. SCSI host bus adapter  212 A provides a connection for hard disk drive  226 A, tape drive  228 A, and CD-ROM drive  230 A. Typical PCI local bus implementations will support three or four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors.  
         [0019]    An operating system runs on processor  202 A and is used to coordinate and provide control of various components within data processing system  200 A in FIG. 2A. The operating system may be a commercially available operating system such as Windows 2000, which is available from Microsoft Corporation. An object oriented programming system such as Java may run in conjunction with the operating system and provides calls to the operating system from Java programs or applications executing on data processing system  200 A. “Java” is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented programming system, and applications or programs are located on storage devices, such as hard disk drive  226 A, and may be loaded into main memory  204 A for execution by processor  202 A.  
         [0020]    Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in FIG. 2A may vary depending on the implementation. Other internal hardware or peripheral devices, such as flash ROM (or equivalent nonvolatile memory) or optical disk drives and the like, may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in FIG. 2A. Also, the processes of the present invention may be applied to a multiprocessor data processing system.  
         [0021]    For example, data processing system  200 A, if optionally configured as a network computer, may not include SCSI host bus adapter  212 A, hard disk drive  226 A, tape drive  228 A, and CD-ROM  230 A, as noted by dotted line  232 A in FIG. 2A denoting optional inclusion. In that case, the computer, to be properly called a client computer, must include some type of network communication interface, such as LAN adapter  210 A, modem  222 A, or the like. As another example, data processing system  200 A may be a stand-alone system configured to be bootable without relying on some type of network communication interface, whether or not data processing system  200 A comprises some type of network communication interface. As a further example, data processing system  200 A may be a personal digital assistant (PDA), which is configured with ROM and/or flash ROM to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating system files and/or user-generated data.  
         [0022]    The depicted example in FIG. 2A and above-described examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations. For example, data processing system  200 A also may be a notebook computer or hand held computer in addition to taking the form of a PDA. Data processing system  200 A also may be a kiosk or a Web appliance. The processes of the present invention are performed by processor  202 A using computer implemented instructions, which may be located in a memory such as, for example, main memory  204 A, memory  224 A, or in one or more peripheral devices  226 A- 230 A.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 2B is a block diagram depicting the structure of firmware device  108 . An embedded processor  200 B is embedded into firmware device  108  and functions as the control center for firmware device  108 . Embedded processor  200 B communicates through internal bus  202 B with cryptographic program memory  204 B, from which it loads instructions for it to execute. Also connected to device bus  202 B is an external bus interface  206 B, which allows embedded processor  200 B to send and receive data through external bus  208 B, which is associated with the computer or peripheral for which firmware device  108  supplies the firmware.  
         [0024]    Firmware memory  210 B is connected to internal bus  202 B and provides storage for the actual firmware (i.e., the code and data to be used by the computer or peripheral. Firmware memory  210 B is preferably some kind of writeable non-volatile memory, such as flash ROM (read-only memory), an EEPROM (electrically-erasable read-only-memory), or non-volatile RAM (random-access memory).  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting the operation of a secure sockets layer (SSL) interface between a firmware device  108  and a server  106 . SSL allows data to be exchanged between firmware device  300  and server  302  over a conventional TCP/IP or other streaming network connection in an encrypted form without either of firmware device  300  and server  302  having any advance knowledge of cryptographic keys.  
         [0026]    Creating and maintaining an SSL connection between firmware device  300  and server  302  requires two basic operations to be performed between the two machines. One is a handshake procedure, which must be performed at the beginning of the SSL connection, and periodically thereafter so as to increase security by periodically changing keys. The handshake procedure establishes the cryptographic keys that will be used to encrypt and decrypt information exchanged between firmware device  300  and server  302 . The second procedure is the encrypted data transfer itself. The machine sending the data encrypts the data with a cryptographic key and transmits the encrypted data to the other machine, which decrypts the data with a cryptographic key (either the same one, or a different one, depending on the type of cryptography used).  
         [0027]    SSL relies on public key cryptography to exchange cryptographic keys between machines. In a public key cryptosystem, such as the RSA cryptosystem described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,829, each party to the communication has two keys, a public key and a private key. The public key is used to encrypt messages. The encrypted messages can only be decrypted using the corresponding private key. In a public key cryptosystem, the parties exchange public keys, but keep the private keys secret. In this way, each of the parties can encrypt messages to send to the other party, and only the intended recipient will be able to decrypt the message. Note that public keys need not be exchanged in any secure way, since a public key by itself is not enough to recover an encrypted message.  
         [0028]    As an example, suppose that two parties wish to use public-key cryptography to communicate through electronic mail. First, the parties each generate a public-private key pair. Next, the parties send each other their public keys through electronic mail (which may be intercepted by a third party), but keep their private keys secret.  
         [0029]    Then, if one of the parties wishes to send an encrypted message to the other, the sending party uses the recipient party&#39;s public key to encrypt the message before transmission. The recipient party can then use its private key to recover the original message.  
         [0030]    In contrast to public key cryptography, conventional block ciphers, such as DES (data encryption standard), described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,539, use a single key for encryption and decryption. For a conventional cipher such as DES to be effective, both parties must be in possession of the same key. It follows that such key must be communicated between the parties in some secure fashion.  
         [0031]    SSL may make use of either public-key or conventional cryptography when securely transmitting data. In either case, however, the keys are established between the parties by using a public-key cryptosystem. The public-key cryptosystem establishes a secure communications channel for exchanging a conventional cryptographic key, which can then be used to perform the bulk of the data encryption and decryption thereafter. This scheme, in which a public-key cryptosystem is used to establish a conventional cryptographic key, is advantageous in that the secure key exchange ability of public-key cryptography is coupled with the speed and enhanced security of a conventional cryptosystem. (The RSA algorithm, for instance, has the unfortunate property of periodically failing to produce an encrypted result-in other words, if the original message is “foo,” there is a probability that the RSA-encrypted version will also read “foo.” See Blakley and Borosh, Rivest-Shamir-Adleman  Public Key Cryptosystems Do Not Always Conceal Messages,  Comp. &amp; Maths. With Appls., Vol. 5, pp. 169-178 (1979).)  
         [0032]    Turning now to FIG. 3, firmware device  300  initiates ( 304 ) the handshake procedure with server  302  in response to server  302 &#39;s initial contact with firmware device  300  for the purpose of establishing a download connection. In reply, server  302  returns a certificate ( 306 ) to firmware device  300 . The certificate contains information about the identity of the server and also contains a public key of the server. Firmware device  300  can then verify the identity of server  302  by inspecting the certificate. Firmware device  300  generates a “master secret,” which is a piece of information (usually some kind of random or pseudo-random number) that can be used to derive cryptographic keys. Firmware device  300  uses server  302 &#39;s public key to encrypt the master secret and sends ( 308 ) the secret to server  302 . Server  302  uses its private key to decrypt the master secret. At this point, both firmware device  300  and server  302  are in possession of the same master secret.  
         [0033]    Master secret can then be used as a “seed” for firmware device  300  and server  302  to use to generate cryptographic keys. Many cryptosystems make use of random numbers as an input to key-generation algorithms; thus, the master secret may be used as a random number in such algorithms. How many keys are generated and how those keys are generated is dependent on what type of encryption will be used for data transmission.  
         [0034]    Although SSL must rely on some form of public-key cryptography in its handshake procedure, SSL may use any of a number of cryptosystems (called “cipher suites” in SSL parlance) for data transmission. Cipher suites supported by SSL include DES (data encryption standard), 3DES (triple DES), DSA (digital signature algorithm), KEA (key exchange algorithm), MD 5  (message digest algorithm  5 ), RC 2  (Rivest cipher  2 ), RC 4  (Rivest cipher  4 ), RSA (Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman) public-key algorithm, RSA key exchange, SHA- 1  (secure hash algorithm), and SKIPJACK. Note that some of these cipher suites are suitable for handshaking, while others are suitable for data transmission. RSA is commonly used for handshaking, and RC 4  is commonly used for data transmission, for example.  
         [0035]    Once keys have been established between firmware device  300  and server  302 , the keys may be used to encrypt and decrypt information transmitted ( 310 ) between firmware device  300  and server  302 . Periodically, the handshake procedure will be repeated so as to establish a new set of cryptographic keys. Periodically changing keys enhances security, because it lowers the amount of information transmitted using any one key. A cipher becomes easier to break, the more encrypted information a cryptanalyst has access to. Periodically changing keys ensures that only a small amount of information is encrypted with any one cipher.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 4 is a flowchart representation of a process of sending a data file from a server to a firmware device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. First, a request for downloading of a file is received by the server from a client computer (step  400 ). Next, the server contacts the firmware device via relay through the computer system to which it is attached and negotiates an encrypted communications channel using SSL or a similar encryption system (step  402 ). The negotiated cryptographic scheme is used to encrypt the file (step  404 ). Finally, the file is sent, via the network, to the firmware device (step  406 ).  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 5 is a flowchart representation of a process of receiving a data file by a firmware device from a server in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. First, the encrypted file is received by the firmware device (step  500 ). The file is decrypted by the firmware device (step  502 ). Finally, the firmware device stores the file (step  504 ).  
         [0038]    It is important to note that while the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functioning data processing system, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the processes of the present invention are capable of being distributed in the form of a computer readable medium of instructions and a variety of forms and that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry out the distribution. Examples of computer readable media include recordable-type media, such as disk (e.g. disk or disc), tape, solid state, probe, volumetric (e.g. holographic), and transmission-type media, such as digital and/or analog communications links, wired and/or wireless communications links using transmission forms, such as, for example, radio frequency, infrared, and light wave transmissions. The computer readable media may take the form of coded formats that are decoded for actual use, execution, or consumption in a particular data processing or data presentation system.  
         [0039]    The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.