Patent ID: 8856771

Claim:
A method for verifying the authorization of a firmware update image by a consumer electronic device comprising: executing by a consumer electronic device a first validated image of a firmware, software update, patch or upgrade code, which replaces a first expected authorization checksum for the currently executing image with a second expected authorization checksum in memory of the consumer electronic device, wherein the first and second expected authorization checksum values are different from each other and are specific to the consumer electronic device; responsive to receiving by the consumer electronic device a subsequently-created second image of an uninstalled firmware, software update, patch, or upgrade code, and prior to installation and execution of the second image, determining by the consumer electronic device a checksum value over the received second image, which is not contained in the second image; still prior to installation and execution of the received second image, comparing by the consumer electronic device the determined checksum to the second expected authorization checksum value previously stored in the memory of the consumer electronic device by the executing of the first image; responsive to the comparing finding a match, installing by the consumer electronic device the second received image into the consumer electronic device; and responsive to the comparison finding a mismatch, prohibiting by the consumer electronic device installing of the second received image into the consumer electronic device.