US 20040128551A1
(19) United States
(12) Patent Application Publication (io) Pub. No.: US 2004/0128551 Al
Walker et al. (43) Pub. Date: Jul. 1,2004
(54) REMOTE FEATURE ACTIVATION (52) U.S. CI 713/201; 713/164
AUTHENTICATION FILE SYSTEM
(76) Inventors: William T. Walker, Evergreen, CO
(US); Robert J. Serkowski, (57) ABSTRACT
Broomfield, CO (US)
Correspondence Address:
Douglas W. Swartz
SHERIDAN ROSS P.C.
Suite 1200
1560 Broadway
Denver, CO 80202-5141 (US)
(21) Appl. No.: 10/348,107
(22) Filed: Jan. 20, 2003
Related U.S. Application Data
(60) Provisional application No. 60/436,874, filed on Dec. 26, 2002.
Publication Classification (51) Int. CI.7 11041. 9/32
A system for providing a user with authorization to perform one or more lunctions using or otherwise involving a computational component is provided. The system includes an authentication file system 100 operable to (a) receive a request from a user for a second set of authentication information permitting a second set of operations to be performed on a computational component, wherein the computational component is operable to be installed by the user on the computational system, wherein the computational component contains a first set of authentication information permitting a first set of operations to be performed on the computational component; and wherein the first and second sets of operations are different; (b) generate an authentication file containing the second set of authentication information; and (c) transmit the authentication file to the computational system.
