Patent ID: 8001596

Claim:
A computer-implemented method to apply a protection mechanism to a binary object, the method comprising: using an operating system loading mechanism to check a storage medium for the presence of a manifest, the storage medium containing the binary object, the manifest, and a digital signature over the binary object and the manifest; authenticating the binary object and the manifest using the digital signature; reading the manifest for a protection type; selecting, by the operating system, one of a plurality of available protection mechanisms corresponding to the protection type of the manifest; loading the binary object from the storage medium into computer memory while injecting code corresponding to the selected protection mechanism to form a binary image of the combination of binary object and injected code corresponding to the selected protection mechanism in computer memory; executing the binary image, wherein proper functionality of the binary object is controlled by the injected code corresponding to the selected protection mechanism; displaying results of execution of the selected protection mechanism and granting full functionality to the binary object if permitted by the selected protection mechanism.