System and method for protecting video card output

Abstract

The various methods and systems described herein are directed to supplying a secure channel for software executing on a host computer. The methods and systems address and provide solutions for an attack model in which rogue software executing on the host computer attempts to inappropriately obtain or otherwise manipulate data. Some embodiments can provide pixel data that can be kept confidential (in that untrusted software applications cannot read the data off of the display screen). In addition, other embodiments can preserve the integrity of the pixel data by detecting whether the pixel data has been inappropriately manipulated. Various embodiments are based on a decryption engine that is located on a video card very late in the video processing chain such that programmatic access to decrypted pixel data is denied.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a method and system for processing data with a video card. Background technique [0002] Often, content residing on a computer can be compromised by individuals wishing to steal or modify its content. As an example, consider the case of a content author, such as a movie company or a user who publishes content on the web. Often, these people publish video content that restricts how users can view it. The content is typically viewed or presented on a computer, such as a personal computer. Every year, certain unscrupulous individuals and organizations spend enormous amounts of time, energy and money trying to steal or improperly obtain such video content. Also, consider the case of e-commerce software, such as it enables individuals to process banking transactions. User review and operational data displayed on the display may be compromised by rogue software applications executing on the user's computer. That is, once...

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But while video memory contains digital information,

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