Systems and methods for locking interactive objects

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: support – System access control based on user identification by...

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C713S155000, C713S168000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06275935

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to systems and methods for creating objects for use on a computer system, and, more particularly, to object creation systems that produce objects for display and manipulation by an end user of the computer system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Computer systems have long executed software programs that are presented to an end user to provide input or otherwise manipulate the program. Some programs are represented by icons on a display screen that an end user can select or otherwise invoke to produce a result or behavior, such as producing a sound, displaying a graphic image, or displaying a software application menu. For example, an end user can select an icon of a spreadsheet file to activate a software spreadsheet application. Typically, such behaviors are programmed into the software program using the computer language of the program. A programmer is usually the creator of the icon and associated behavior for the end user.
An icon can also be modified after it has been created. This is often done by a technical support person, such as a system administrator, rather than by the end user of the computer system. The system administrator can make a limited or specific change in the behavior associated with a displayed icon by using menus and data entry fields, such as changing the icon that is associated with a given program, but the procedures for doing this are typically cumbersome. When these changes are made, the technical support person is focused on a specific issue, such as changing the icon displayed for a program, rather than viewing the icon and its related program as a whole object.
More recently, object systems such as HTML, CGI scripts, Java programs, and Java Beans (objects) provide displayed text or objects that have behaviors programmed into them. The software programmer is, in effect, an object designer who creates and modifies the objects seen by the end user. The end users select different objects, such as ones with different HTML links, to get different behaviors, such as moving to a different object or text display based on the HTML link. Typically, an object designer must be a software engineer in order to create and change complicated objects. One problem is that changes may be made by programmers without authorization from the originators and/or owners of the displayed text or object.
Therefore, an objective of the invention is to provide a locking mechanism to prevent unauthorized individuals from changing locked aspects of an object.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention achieves the above objective by providing systems and methods for locking interactive objects and preventing unauthorized users from modifying them.
In one embodiment of the invention, the invention is understood as an apparatus for locking an aspect of an object. The apparatus includes a processor, a lock controller, and a memory in communication with the processor. The memory includes an aspect data structure associated with the aspect of an object, a lock data structure associated with the object, and an object data structure. The object data structure includes an aspect pointer linking the aspect data structure to the object data structure and a lock pointer linking the lock data structure to the object data structure. The lock controller prevents active access to the aspect data structure once the lock data structure is created.
In another embodiment, the memory further includes an identification data structure including lock owner data related to the lock data structure, which includes an identification pointer from the lock data structure to the identification data structure. In a further embodiment, the identification data structure includes an encryption owner password, and the lock controller allows active access to the aspect data structure in response to a comparison of the encryption owner password with a password from the user. In a further embodiment, the identification data structure is stored in an identification registration file. In an additional embodiment, the lock data structure includes a place of play datum. The processor determines a location of display of the object, and the lock controller prevents active access to the aspect data structure if the location of display and the play of play datum are not substantially identical. In one embodiment, the aspect data structure includes aspect lock data specifying a locking level for each aspect.
In one embodiment, the invention can be understood as a method for locking an aspect of an object. The method includes creating an object data structure associated with the aspect of the object and having an aspect pointer and a lock pointer, creating a lock data structure associated with the object, and preventing active access to the aspect data structure in response to the creation of the lock data structure. The aspect pointer links the aspect data structure to the object data structure, and the lock pointer links the lock data structure to the object data structure.
In another embodiment, the method includes creating an identification data structure including lock owner data related to the lock data structure, which includes an identification pointer to the identification data structure.
In a further embodiment, the identification data structure includes an encryption owner password. The method further includes requesting a password from a user, comparing the user password to the encryption owner password, and permitting active access to the aspect data structure if the user password corresponds to the encryption owner password.
In an additional embodiment, the method further comprises determining a location of display of the object, and preventing active access to the aspect data structure if the location of display is not substantially identical to the place of play datum in the lock data structure.


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