Patent ID: 7406603

Claim:
A method for protecting electronic media content from unauthorized use by a user of a computer system, the method including: receiving a request from a user of the computer system to use a piece of electronic media content; identifying one or more software modules responsible for processing the piece of electronic media content and enabling use of the piece of electronic media content by the user; processing at least a portion of said piece of electronic media content using at least one of the one or more software modules; evaluating whether the at least one of the one or more software modules process the portion of the electronic media content in an authorized manner, the evaluating including at least one action selected from the group consisting of: evaluating whether the at least one of the one or more software modules make calls to certain system interfaces; evaluating whether the at least one of the one or more software modules direct data to certain channels; analyzing dynamic timing characteristics of the at least one of the one or more software modules for anomalous timing characteristics indicative of invalid or malicious activity; denying the request to use the piece of electronic media content if the evaluation indicates that the at least one of the one or more software modules fail to satisfy a set of predefined criteria.