Dynamic Trace Elements

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for detecting the presence of one's copyright material in another's hardware and/or software products or, in other words, tracing the origin of the material in question. More particularly the present invention relates to a dynamic tracing technique which can be implemented in both a hardware form, a software form, or a combined hardware/software form.

Prior art techniques have been developed for inserting static tracers into software code so that it is possible to determine if a piece of software has been copied or pirated. Prior art tracers are of a static nature in that they are merely lines of code that do nothing and are ignored by the program as it runs. However, these lines of do nothing code are in the program code and if the code has been copied they will appear in the copied version of the code and will be evidence of copying This is true, because anyone who writes original code would not include the tracer in the program code. If a person writing original code decided to insert a tracer into a program, the chances of the tracer being the same code and of it being located in the same position within the real code would be extremely remote.

Those who copy software are becoming more sophisticated, and are de-compiling the software which they wish to copy so that they can read it and make subtle changes to it. The fact remains that the work is copied in the main and constitutes an infringement of copyright in many jurisdictions. However, since the sophisticated copier can read the code he is about to copy he can find the static tracer code, since it does nothing, and remove it from the program prior to copying. This is the drawback of inserting a static tracer into program code.

In a similar manner, sophisticated hardware copiers are reverse engineering micro chips or integrated circuits and using their knowledge of the reverse engineered chip are making clones of that chip without having to go through the expensive design and development stage.

The present invention is a technique for producing a type of dynamic tracer operable in both hardware, software, or in a combination thereof.

A hardware tracer manifests itself as dynamic circuitry on a portion of an integrated circuit or in discrete circuitry. This circuitry will be called in this application "tracer circuitry". It is circuitry which is connected to the rest of the circuitry of a product and which in fact may perform some function, but that function has nothing to do with the actual operation of the product. The remaining circuitry will be defined in this application as "real circuitry".

This hardware tracer is defined as being dynamic in that is does function. Not only does the tracer circuitry actually function but, it is connected to the real circuitry and can take logic signals from the real circuitry and process these signals to produce tracer output signals which can be detected. The tracer output signals are not necessary for the operation of the product. For example, if the product circuit is a video monitor driver and contains tracer circuitry, the tracer circuitry and any signals which the tracer circuitry produces are not used in the function of driving the video monitor.

Since those, who reverse engineering a product in order to copy it, do not go into the complicated and expensive process of determining how the product's circuit operates, they can not distinguish the tracer circuitry from the real circuitry and therefore will copy the tracer circuitry when they copy the product's real circuit. If the circuitry were static or passive it might become clearly obvious during the reverse engineering operation and could then be blanked out in the copy.

The tracer circuitry can produce output signals which can be detected by software. As a result, a detecting program can be written which probes for these signals and displays some kind of indication of their presence. If it is suspected that a piece of equipment contains a copied circuit, the detection program can be run and if an indication of the presence of the tracer signals ie present a good indication has been provided that the product's circuit has been copied. This technique eliminates the need to reverse engineer the suspected product circuit to determine if it is a copy.

The invention contemplates building into software a dynamic tracer which can be detected and which will provide evidence of copying.

Two embodiments of dynamic software tracers are provided by the present invention.

The first embodiment is one where one or more lines of tracer code are imbedded in lines of real code. The tracer software code interacts with the tracer circuitry described above. Once again, the tracer software code does nothing with respect to the running of the real software code, but since it reacts with actual hardware, ie the tracer circuitry, a copier who has dis-assembled the program will have considerable difficulty in determining this fact, especially if several tracer "units" are dispersed throughout the system. As a result, the copier is not likely to detect and take the tracer code out of the program prior to copying and the tracer will remain and thus provide evidence of copying.

One example of such a program is a diagnostic program used to check an integrated circuit such as a video driver integrated circuit. This program will be located in a ROM either on the mother board or the video card itself. The program tests the integrated circuit by providing input signals to the integrated circuit and by obtaining responses from the integrated circuit. The real software code will test the real circuitry and the tracer code, acting only as a dynamic tracer, will request responses from the tracer circuitry. Anyone trying to determine the operation of this program with the object in mind of copying the program would have significant difficulty in determining the tracer code. The copier would therefore be forced to leave the tracer code in the copied program, thus preserving the tracer.

The second embodiment is one in which one or more lines of tracer code interact with some lines of real code to produce results which are not related to the operation or running of the real code. Since the tracer code uses results derived from the real code and can even call up sub-routines of real code, it is very difficult to detect as being tracer code. As a result, a person even having disassembled the program will not readily be able to determine if the tracer code is necessary and will leave that code in the program, thus preserving the tracer.

One object of the present invention is to provide a dynamic hardware tracer which is comprised of tracer circuitry which interacts with real circuitry to produce tracer outputs which are present but which are not used in the operation of the real circuitry.

Another object of the present invention is to provide dynamic hardware detection software which can detect tracer signals generated by the tracer circuitry to detect the presence of tracer circuitry.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dynamic software tracer which is comprised of software tracer code imbedded in real software code which interacts with the tracer signals generated by the tracer circuitry but which does not perform any useful function with respect to the running of the real software.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a dynamic software tracer which is comprised of software tracer code imbedded in real software code which interacts with that real software code but which performs a function which does not affect the running of the real software.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a dynamic hardware tracer for use in an integrated circuit which is comprised of real circuitry which performs a real function, the tracer being comprised of functional tracer circuitry which receives at least one input signal from said real circuitry and processes said at least one input signal, wherein said functional tracer circuitry does not interact with the real circuitry to contribute to or modify the real function of the integrated circuit, said dynamic hardware tracer, by its presence in other integrated circuits, providing an indication that such other integrated circuits have been copied from said integrated circuit.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided an integrated circuit comprising:

(a) real circuitry which operates to generate at least one output signal which is output on at least one output terminal and which is used to provide a real function; and

(b) tracer circuitry, connected to said real circuitry for electrically processing at least one real signal generated by said real circuitry, said tracer circuitry acting as a dynamic hardware tracer which interacts with said real circuitry, said dynamic hardware tracer thereby providing an indication by its presence in other integrated circuits that such other integrated circuits had been copied.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a dynamic software tracer located within a piece of software, the dynamic tracer comprising at least one line of software tracer code imbedded in a block of real software code, said at least one line of software tracer code interacting with a tracer output signal output from tracer circuitry located in an integrated circuit which also includes real circuitry which produces at least one real output signal providing a real function, said block of real software code interacting with said at least one real output signal, wherein said software tracer code does not affect the operation of the real software, the real circuitry or the real function, said software tracer thereby providing an indication by its presence in other software that such other software had been copied.

In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a piece of software including a dynamic software tracer, wherein said piece of software is comprised of a block of real software code which carries out processing to provide a real function; and at least one line of software tracer code imbedded in said block of real software code, said at least one line of software tracer code interacting with said block of real software code to thereby receive instructions, said at least one line of software tracer code carrying out processing based on said instructions to produce a traceable result, said traceable result in no way affecting the operation of the block of real software or the real function, said at least one line of software tracer code thereby providing an indication by its presence in other software that such other software had been copied.

In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a piece of software for detecting the presence of a dynamic product tracer located within a product which product is comprised of real portion providing at least one real output to thereby provide a real function and a dynamic tracer portion comprised of tracer means located within said product and interacting with said real portion for providing at least one tracer output, said piece of software interacting with said product to detect the presence of said at least one tracer output, and displaying an indication of the presence of said at least one tracer output to thereby detect the presence of said product tracer to provide an indication by its presence in other products that such other products had been copied.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of tracing the origin of an electronic hardware component comprising the steps of: defining a first portion of said electronic hardware component which performs a specific useful function; obtaining at least one output signal from said first portion; defining a second portion of said electronic hardware component which is functional but which does not contribute to the operation of said first portion; connecting said first portion to said second portion so that said second portion operates on said at least one output signal to produce a tracer output signal; and detecting the existence of said tracer output signal to thereby determine the presence, within the electronic hardware component, of said second portion to thereby determine the origin of said electronic hardware component.

In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of tracing the origin of a piece of software comprising the steps of: defining a first portion of said piece of software which performs a specific useful function; obtaining at least one output from said first portion; defining a second portion of said piece of software which is functional but which does not interact to modify the operation of said first portion; using said at least one output from said first portion to control said second portion to produce from said second portion a tracer output; and detecting said tracer output to thereby detect the presence, within said piece of software, of said second portion to thereby determine the origin of said piece of software.

The present invention will be described in detail hereinbelow with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one particular embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of relevant parts of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 (appearing on the same sheet of drawings as FIG. 1) is a continuation of the schematic diagram of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a portion of a software listing showing one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a portion of a software listing showing another embodiment of the present invention, and

FIG. 7 is an example of a software listing which will detect the presence of a dynamic hardware tracer of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. An integrated circuit 10 includes a portion of real circuitry 12 and a portion of tracer circuitry 14. The real circuitry can be of any type and perform any function. The tracer circuitry is operational circuitry that functions to provide output signals at terminals 16 and receives signals from the real circuitry via input terminals 20. However, the tracer circuitry does not have anything to do with the actual functioning of the integrated circuit. For example if the integrated circuit performs the function of driving a video monitor, the real circuitry 12 performs all of the necessary functions to drive the video monitor. The tracer circuitry acts as a tracer so that if the integrated circuit 10 is reverse engineered with the intent in mind to slightly modify it and copy it, a dynamic tracer will remain in the copied integrated circuit which will be evidence of the fact that the integrated circuit was copied. When the copier reverse engineers the integrated circuit, the result will be scrutinized with the intent of modifying or removing some trivial portion in order to mask the fact that the integrated circuit has been copied. If the tracer circuitry was merely static, in that it did not interact with the real circuitry, or did not produce an output of some kind, it would be much easier to detect and remove. It is extremely difficult to distinguish the dynamic tracer circuitry of the present invention from the real circuitry and so it is not likely that a copier would be able to remove it and have confidence that the modified copied integrated circuit would function properly.

The arrangement shown in FIG. 1 can optionally interact with software which also contains a dynamic tracer. A series of software coding 22 contains portions of real software coding 24 and tracer software coding 26. The real software coding 24 interacts in a normal fashion with the real circuitry 12. Such interactions are shown schematically in FIG. 1 by links 28. The tracer software can interact via link 30 to the tracer circuitry 14. The real software can also send instructions to the tracer software by a link 32. It should be noted that the tracer software does not produce a result or interact with the real software in such a way as to produce a result that is used either by the real software or the real circuitry. As a result, a dynamic tracer is present in the software. A copier when studying the dis-assembled software in an attempt to slightly change the software for the purposes of copying, would not remove the dynamic software tracer because the tracer software appears to legitimately interact with the integrated circuit and/or the real software. The copier could not remove the tracer software for fear of making the resulting copy inoperative. The software tracer therefore becomes a tracer and provides evidence that the software has been copied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a video monitor and printer driver circuit which has been modified to include tracer circuitry according to the present invention.

The circuit shown in FIG. 2 can be considered to be a bread-board mock-up of an integrated circuit.

It is not necessary for an understanding of the invention to go into a great deal of detail concerning the circuit shown in FIG. 2.

This circuit can be connected to the main bus of a mother-board in a computer. Table 1 shows the relationship between various addresses on that bus and the functions which they represent.

It can be seen from table 1 that there are several address locations on the bus that are not used. These unused locations can be used for tracer signals and represent the terminals 16 shown in FIG. 1. As a result, it can be seen that the architecture of the bread-board and its interaction with its outside world does not have to be changed to any great degree to implement this invention. This is true in most cases because it seldom occurs that a device will use up all the available ports and their associated addresses for the actual operation of the device.

In this example, addresses 3B0, 3B1 and 3BF, which are not used in the real circuitry are utilized in the tracer circuitry to produce a Screen Column Port, a Screen Row Port, and a Screen Active Port, respectively. In other words, tracer circuitry will be developed which will take signals from the real circuitry and produce tracer signals representing the cursor position on the video monitor with respect to column and row, and a signal representative of the Screen being active or inactive.

The tracer circuitry will be located in video support logic block 34 of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are a more detailed schematic drawing of the video support logic shown in block 34.

The tracer circuitry added to block 34 produces the Bit Number/Function charts shown in tables 2, 3 and 4.

Existing decoder 31 produced a signal at output terminal 38 which is normally not used. This signal is the Screen Active Port Select signal or SAP SEL signal and is fed to decoder 40 shown in FIG. 4. This signal, in conjunction with a timing signal which is inverted by inverter 42 controls the decoder 40 to decode the data appearing on the data in lines to produce the various bit-functions on the data out lines. The decoded signals appearing on the data out lines follow the bit pattern shown in table 4.

Referring again to FIG. 3, an inverter 44 feeds an existing signal from the real circuitry to decoder 46. This signal, in conjunction with the existing signals appearing on lines 48 and 50 controls the decoder 46 so that existing signals appearing on lines 52, 54 and 56 are decoded to produce a Screen Column Port Select signal SCP SEL and a Screen Row Port Select signal SRP SEL on output terminals 58 and 60, respectively.

The SCP SEL signal is fed to decoder 62 shown in FIG. 4 and, taken in conjunction with the timing signal inverted by inverter 64, produces the bit pattern shown in table 2 on data out lines from signals appearing on data in lines for that decoder.

The SRP SEL signal is fed to decoder 66 shown in FIG. 4 and, taken in conjunction with the timing signal inverted by inverter 68, produces the bit pattern shown in table 3 on data out lines from signals appearing on data in lines for that decoder.

The tracer circuitry added to the real circuitry of the integrated circuit consists of inverters 42, 44, 64, and 68 and decoders 40, 46, 62 and 66. It must be understood that this tracer circuitry forms only a very small part of the total real circuitry of the integrated circuit. Furthermore, it should be understood that the circuitry shown is merely an example of the invention and the invention is in no way limited to the circuitry shown.

FIG. 5 is a portion of a software code listing which checks the circuitry of the video monitor and printer driver shown in FIG. 2 and the circuitry of the tracer circuitry added and shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Prior to operation, at each start-up or boot of a computer having such a video monitor and printer driver, a program stored in a ROM located on the mother-board is run which is known as a diagnostic program. It is the function of this program to check the various functions of the video monitor and printer driver integrated circuit to insure proper operation of that circuit.

FIG. 5 includes blocks of real software 70 and a block of software tracer 72 imbedded in the real software. The real software checks the real circuitry of the integrated circuit. It is critical to the operation of the computer that the diagnostic checks be correct on this portion of the circuitry. The tracer software interacts with the tracer circuitry to check that circuitry. Since the operation of the tracer circuitry has nothing whatever to do with the operation of the actual integrated circuit, the fact that there are diagnostic results of the tracer circuitry derived from the operation of the tracer software is irrelevant.

What is not irrelevant is the existence of the tracer circuitry and software in both the integrated circuit and the software program. Their existence provides the dynamic hardware tracer and dynamic software tracer of the present invention.

It is not necessary, according to the present invention that the software tracer have actual hardware with which to interact. A dynamic software tracer can exist without interaction with hardware as long as the software tracer has real software with which to interact. FIG. 6, is an example of such software. In this example, blocks of real software coding 74 interact with blocks of software tracer coding 76 to provide the dynamic tracer. It should be noted that the tracer software 76 receives and processes data from the real software 74. However, the results of the processing of this tracer data is not used in the operation of the real software. If the software tracer was used, it would not fulfil its function as a tracer because it would no longer be tracer software.

In the past, if one suspected that an integrated circuit was copied, it was necessary, from the outset, to reverse engineer the suspected circuit in order to try to find similarities with the original circuit in order to provide evidence of copying. This operation is costly.

Since, as is shown in FIG. 1, the tracer circuitry 14 produces signal outputs on output terminals 16, these signals can be detected. Software, i.e. software similar to the software tracer 26 shown in FIG. 1 can be provided for detecting and displaying an indication of the presence of the tracer signals generated by the tracer circuitry. That software can therefore detect the presence of the tracer circuitry, because if the signals exist, so must the circuitry.

Running this tracer circuitry detection software on an integrated circuit suspected of being copied is much less expensive than reverse engineering the suspected integrated circuit at the outset.

An example of this software is shown in FIG. 7 and is a piece of software which tests the diagnostics of only the tracer circuitry shown in FIG. 2. This software provides an indication of the presence of tracer signals generated by tracer circuitry and is therefore an indicator of the existence of tracer circuitry in an integrated circuit under test. This software is an example of tracer circuitry detection software. It is very similar to the block of software tracer shown in FIG. 5, but it does produce a useful output, namely an indication of the existence of the tracer signals discussed above.