Patent US 6,131,088

Methods for accessing product information data and detecting pirated copies of a serialized software program include transmitting a data request query related to a selected product from a remote computer to a main computer, identifying a subset of product data related to the selected product stored in the memory of the main computer based on the data request query, transmitting textual data from the subset of product data from the main computer to the remote computer, transmitting only updated graphics data from the main computer to the remote computer, and combining the textual data received from the main computer with graphics data stored in the memory of the remote computer to provide complete product information data related to the selected product. The methods also include storing a program serial number, the remote revision level corresponding to the program serial number, and a validation code for a remote program corresponding to the serial number. The methods detect whether the program stored in the remote memory is valid or invalid based upon the validation code corresponding to the program serial number.