TOKEN LICENSING MAPPING COSTS TO ENABLED SOFTWARE TOOL FEATURES

• US 20120166258A1
• Filed: 03/05/2012
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Clemm, Geoffrey M., Col, Catherine G., Goddin, William, Zetie, Carl P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,589,265 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A request to activate a software tool can be received, where activation requires a quantity of tokens of a token license model. An entity, project, user-set, user, or combination thereof corresponding to the request can be ascertained. A feature-set to be enabled can be determined by querying preexisting indexed records. The preexisting indexed records can associate different feature-sets to different entities, projects, user-sets, users, or combinations thereof. A token cost can be computed for activating the software tool with the feature-set enabled for the request. Token costs for utilizing the software tool can vary depending upon the enabled feature-set. The computed token cost can be the quantity of tokens required to activate the software tool responsive to the request.

Claims

1. A method for incurring varying token costs for activating software tools depending upon enabled feature-sets comprising:

receiving a request to activate a software tool, where activation requires a quantity of tokens of a token license model;

ascertaining an entity, project, user-set, user, or combination thereof corresponding to the request;

determining by querying preexisting indexed records, a feature-set to enable for the software tool for the request, wherein said preexisting indexed records associate different feature-sets to different entities, projects, user-sets, users, or combinations thereof; and

computing a token cost for activating the software tool with the feature-set enabled for the request, wherein token costs for utilizing the software tool varies depending upon the enabled feature-set, wherein said computed token cost is the quantity of tokens required to activate the software tool responsive to the request.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

examining an available quantity of tokens in a previously established token pool; and

when the available quantity of tokens in the token pool exceeds or is equal to the computed token cost,

removing the computed cost of tokens from the token pool;

conveying the removed tokens to a computing device executing the software tool of the request; and

activating the software tool utilizing the conveyed tokens.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

examining an available quantity of tokens in a previously established token pool; and

when the available quantity of tokens in the token pool is less than the computed token cost, firing an message or error event that indicates the request is unable to be satisfied due to an insufficient quantity of available tokens being present in the token pool.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the parameters of the request is for a persistent data object, said method further comprising:

querying a data store of records to determine a project indexed against the persistent data object;

querying the preexisting indexed records by the determined project to determine a project specific feature-set, wherein said pre-existing indexed records associated a plurality of different feature-sets for the software tool, wherein the different feature-sets are indexed against different projects; and

computing the token cost for activating the software tool with the project specific feature-set.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining from the request, a user identity of a user who submitted the request;

querying the preexisting indexed records by the determined user identity to determine a user specific feature-set, wherein said pre-existing indexed records associated a plurality of different feature-sets for the software tool, wherein the different feature-sets are indexed against different projects; and

computing the token cost for activating the software tool with the user specific feature set.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said software tool comprises a plurality of sub-tools, wherein activation of each sub-tool requires a quantity of tokens of a token license model, said method further comprising:

determining that one of said plurality of sub-tools has already been activated by a requisite quantity of tokens computed for said one sub-tool; and

discounting the token costs for activating the software tool with the feature-set enabled for the request by the cost of said one sub-tool.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a configuration change from an authorized administrator, wherein said configuration change alters a feature-set to enable for the software tool;

responsive to the configuration change, adjusting the preexisting indexed records for the altered feature-set;

after the configuration change is processed to adjust the preexisting indexed records, receiving a subsequent request to activate the software tool from a requester from whom the received request was received, wherein the received request was received before the configuration change was received;

determining by querying preexisting indexed records, an adjusted feature-set to enable for the software tool for the subsequent request; and

computing a subsequent token cost for activating the software tool with the adjusted feature-set enabled for the subsequent request, wherein said computed subsequent token cost is the quantity of tokens required to activate the software tool responsive to the subsequent request, said subsequent token cost being a different token cost than the token cost computed for the received request that was received before the configuration change was received.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

purchasing a quantity of tokens for a token pool, wherein at a time of the purchasing, the indexed records are not configured for a purchaser or for any users having access to the token pool; and

a significant time, which is greater than one day, after purchasing the quantity of tokens, changing content of the indexed records so that the changed indexed records comprise the data of the preexisting indexed records;

after changing content of the indexed records, receiving the request;

examining an available quantity of tokens in a previously established token pool;

when the available quantity of tokens in the token pool exceeds or is equal to the computed token cost,

removing the computed cost of tokens from the token pool;

conveying the removed tokens to a computing device executing the software tool of the request; and

activating the software tool utilizing the conveyed tokens.