Software licensing for spare processors

• US 20040044630A1
• Filed: 08/30/2002
• Published: 03/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Serkowski, Robert J., Chavez, David L., Walker, William T., Chalmeta, Robin L., Whelan, Phillip A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,966,520 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A system is provided for controlling a right to use a computational component, comprising (a) a backup computational component 102 associated with a primary computational component 150, wherein when the primary computational component is in an operational mode the backup computational component is in a standby mode; (b) an activation agent 154 operable to determine when the primary computational component is no longer in the operational mode; (c) a timer 126 associated with the backup computational component; and (d) a mode setting agent 124 operable to permit the backup computational component to change to the operational mode when the value of the license error timer is not zero and to not permit the backup computational component to change to the operational mode when the value of the license error timer is zero.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a right to use a computational component, comprising:

(a) providing a primary computational component and at least one backup computational component, wherein when the primary computational component is in an operational mode the backup computational component is in a standby mode;

(b) receiving a notification that the primary computational component is no longer in the operational mode;

(c) reading a timer associated with the backup computational component,

(i) when the value of the timer is not at least a first value, permitting the backup computational component to change to the operational mode and

(ii) when the value of the timer is the at least a first value, not permitting the backup computational component to change to the operational mode.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(d) retrieving at least one unique identifier associated with the backup computational component;

(e) reading a license file associated with the backup computational component to obtain a second identifier;

(f) comparing the first and second identifiers;

(i) when the first and second identifiers match, allowing the permitting step to be performed; and

(ii) when the first and second identifiers do not match, not allowing the permitting step to be performed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary computational component is in a first license mode when the primary computational component is in the operational mode and wherein the backup computational component is in a second different license mode after the permitting step is performed.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the backup computational component is in the first license mode while the primary computational component is in the operational mode.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the backup computational component is in a third different license mode after the not allowing step is performed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the reading step comprises:

reading a flag to determine whether or not the backup computational component is the primary computational component.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising when the timer value is not the first value:

(d) repeating the reading step at least until the timer value is the first value.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the license file comprises a unique identifier associated with the backup computational component, a backup flag, a platform type, and a platform identifier.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the license file comprises a plurality of application definitions, each application definition corresponding to one of a plurality of applications.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the application definitions comprises release information, license expiration information, and one or more types feature keyword information.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the allowing step comprises the steps of:

setting the backup computational component to the license error mode; and

after a predetermined time, if the license error mode is not changed to the license-normal mode setting the backup computational component to the no-license mode.

12. A computer readable medium storing instructions for performing the steps of claim 1.

13. A logic circuit configured to perform the steps of claim 1.

14. A system for controlling a right to use a computational component, comprising:

(a) a backup computational component associated with a primary computational component, wherein when the primary computational component is in an operational mode the backup computational component is in a standby mode;

(b) an activation agent operable to determine when the primary computational component is no longer in the operational mode;

(c) a timer associated with the backup computational component; and

(d) a mode setting agent operable to permit the backup computational component to change to the operational mode when the value of the timer is not at least a first value and not to permit the backup computational component to change to the operational mode when the value of the timer is the at least a first value.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

(e) a license manager operable to retrieve at least one unique identifier associated with the backup computational component, read a license file associated with the backup computational component to obtain a second identifier, compare the first and second identifiers, and allow the permitting step to be performed when the first and second identifiers match and not allow the permitting step to be performed when the first and second identifiers do not match.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the primary computational component is in a first license mode when the primary computational component is in the operational mode and wherein the backup computational component is in a second different license mode after the permitting step is performed.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the backup computational component is in the first license mode while the primary computational component is in the operational mode.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the backup computational component is in a third different license mode after the not allowing step is performed.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the license manager is operable to read a flag to determine whether or not the backup computational component is the primary computational component.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the mode setting agent operable to change disable the backup computational component when the timer value reaches the first value.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the license file comprises a unique identifier associated with the backup computational component, a backup flag, a platform type, and a platform identifier.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the license file comprises a plurality of application definitions, each application definition corresponding to one of a plurality of applications.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein each of the application definitions comprises release information, license expiration information, and one or more types feature keyword information.

24. The system of claim 14, wherein the mode setting agent is operable to set the backup computational component to the license error mode when the timer value is not the first value and set the backup computational component to the no-license mode, when the timer value is the first value.

25. A license file for use in controlling activation of a computational component, comprising:

at least one unique identifier corresponding to at least a first computational component and

a backup flag indicating whether or not a computational system associated with the first computational component is a primary or backup system.

26. The license file of claim 25, further comprising at least a second unique identifier corresponding to at least a second computational component.

27. The license file of claim 25, further comprising at least one application definition comprising expiration information relating to expiration of a license associated with the license file, release information, and feature keyword information.

28. The license file of claim 25, further comprising platform-type information and a platform identifier.

29. The license file of claim 25, wherein the backup flag comprises at least first and second flags, each of which is indicative of a different type of backup system.

30. The license file of claim 25, wherein the backup flag comprises a first flag indicating whether or not the first computational component is a survivable remote spare processor, a second flag indicating whether or not the first computational component is a local area network spare processor, and a third flag indicating whether or not the first computational component is a wide area network spare processor.