INTERACTION MODEL TO MIGRATE STATES AND DATA

• US 20100293103A1
• Filed: 05/12/2009
• Published: 11/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Vadlamani, Viswanath, Nikitin, Egor, Kochis, Alexander
• Application Number:
  US12/464,396
• Publication Number:
  US 20100293103A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1011 to devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

A party associated with a digital license is identified from a digital license bound to a user'"'"'s user ID. This digital license identifies a set of rights for a software product. A determination is made as to when an additional sale associated with the software license is made, and an indication that the party is recognized in association with this sale is generated. Additionally, a license management service can determine, independent of whether the user is currently logged in to an online service with the user ID, when the digital license is to be renewed. The digital license is automatically renewed and automatically billed for (if authorized by the user), resulting in a new expiration date for the digital license. The digital license with the new expiration date is stored and subsequently sent to a device via which the user logs in to the online service with the user ID.

Claims

1. A method implemented by one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

identifying, from a digital license bound to a user ID of a user, a party associated with the digital license, the digital license identifying a set of rights for a software product;

determining when an additional sale associated with the digital license is made; and

generating an indication that the party is recognized in association with the additional sale.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

communicating, to the user, an offer to purchase an additional product or service; and

wherein the determining comprises determining that the additional sale associated with the digital license is made when the user accepts the offer.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the communicating comprises communicating the offer to the user in response to a request from a device used by the user for the digital license.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the party associated with the digital license comprises a reseller of the software product.

5. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein the digital license includes both the user ID and an identifier of the reseller of the software product.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the party associated with the digital license comprises an original equipment manufacturer that distributes a device along with the software product.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the digital license includes both the user ID and an identifier of the original equipment manufacturer.

8. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the digital license includes both the user ID and a product key that was used by a device to activate the software product.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the additional sale is a sale of a peripheral device that can be used by a device running the software product.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the additional sale is a sale of an additional software product associated with the software product.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the digital license is bound to the user ID by having the user ID included in the digital license, wherein the digital license further includes an identifier of a manufacturer of the software product, and wherein the party comprises the manufacturer of the software product.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising automatically renewing the digital license on behalf of the user independent of whether the user is logged in to an online service with the user ID at the time of the renewing.

13. A license management system implemented by one or more devices, the license management system comprising:

an add license module configured to receive a first user request from a first device to add, to a license store maintained by at least one of the one or more devices, a digital license bound to a user ID of the user;

a restore license module configured to receive a second user request from the first device to recover, from the license store, one or more digital licenses bound to the user ID of the user; and

a display license module configured to display license detail information regarding each of the one or more digital licenses bound to the user ID of the user.

14. A license management system as recited in claim 13, wherein the display license module is further configured to:

receive a user request to delete a binding of at least one of the one or more digital licenses bound to the user ID of the user; and

remove, from the license store, the at least one digital license.

15. A license management system as recited in claim 13, wherein the display license module is further configured to:

receive a user request to uninstall, from the first device, at least one of the one or more digital licenses bound to the user ID of the user; and

send, to the first device, an indication to remove the at least one digital license from a local store of the first device.

16. A license management system as recited in claim 13, further comprising a time-based license management module configured to:

determine, independent of whether the user is currently logged in to an online service with the user ID, when at least one of the one or more digital licenses bound to the user ID of the user is to be renewed;

automatically renew the at least one digital license, resulting in a new expiration date for the at least one digital license;

store the at least one digital license with the new expiration date; and

subsequently send the at least one digital license with the new expiration date to a device via which the user logs in to the online service with the user ID.

17. A license management system as recited in claim 16, wherein the at least one digital license includes both the user ID and a product key that was used by a device to activate the software product.

18. A license management system as recited in claim 17, wherein the at least one digital license further includes an identifier of one or more of a manufacturer of the software product, a reseller of the software product, and an original equipment manufacturer that distributes the software product with the device.

19. A license management system as recited in claim 16, wherein to subsequently send the at least one digital license is to send the at least one digital license with the new expiration date to the device when the user logs in via the device to the online service with the user ID.

20. One or more computer storage media having stored thereon multiple instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

identify, from a digital license bound to a user ID of a user, a party associated with the digital license, the digital license identifying a set of rights for a software product;

determine when an additional sale associated with the digital license is made;

generate an indication that the party is recognized in association with the additional sale;

determine, independent of whether a user is currently logged in to an online service with the user ID, whether the digital license is to be renewed;

automatically renew the license resulting in a new expiration date for the license;

store the digital license with the new expiration date; and

subsequently send the digital license with the new expiration date to a device via which the user logs in to the online service with the user ID.