APPLICATION LICENSING AUTHENTICATION

• US 20130144755A1
• Filed: 12/01/2011
• Published: 06/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mowatt, David, Ahs, David, Farrell, Terry, LeBlanc, David, Guadarrama, Humberto Lezama, Cobanoglu, Onur, Kasselman, Pieter, Gene, Goksel
• Application Number:
  US13/308,829
• Publication Number:
  US 20130144755A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.41
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/16 Obfuscation or hiding, e.g. involving white box
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/102 applying security measure for e-commerce data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/068 using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

Methods and systems for application licensing authentication are disclosed herein. The method includes processing a request for a license for an application from a purchaser at a marketplace service. The method also includes sending a token from the marketplace service to a client platform, wherein the client platform is configured to allow the purchaser to assign a seat to a user and to send the token to a third party service when the user attempts to access the application. The method further includes accepting the token from the third party service at the marketplace service, verifying the validity of the token within the marketplace service, and returning a message verifying the validity of the token to the third party service. Moreover, the third party service may be configured to allow the user to access specific levels of service within the application through the client platform.

Claims

1. A method for application licensing authentication, comprising:

processing a request for a license for an application from a purchaser at a marketplace service;

sending a token from the marketplace service to a client platform, wherein the client platform is configured to allow the purchaser to assign a seat to a user and to send the token to a third party service when the user attempts to access the application;

accepting the token from the third party service at the marketplace service;

verifying a validity of the token within the marketplace service; and

returning a message verifying the validity of the token to the third party service, wherein the third party service is configured to allow the user to access specific levels of service within the application through the client platform.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising sending the token from the marketplace service to the client platform via a callback URL.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising updating the token at specified time intervals to replace an expired token with a new token.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the request for the license for the application comprises processing a sign-in of the purchaser at the marketplace service, wherein the purchaser previously signed-in to the client platform.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the request for the license for the application comprises accepting a deployment identifier and a callback URL from the purchaser through the client platform.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising revoking the validity of the token if the purchaser signs in to the marketplace service through the client platform.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising returning an invalid message to the third party service if the validity of the token cannot be verified, wherein the third party service is configured to deny the user access to the specific levels of service within the application.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising allowing the user to access a reduced-functionality mode of the application if the validity of the token cannot be verified.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the token from the marketplace service to the client platform comprises sending a key identification, a date of a last sign-in to the marketplace service, an expiry date of the token, or a signature, or any combinations thereof.

10. A system for application licensing authentication within a marketplace environment, wherein the system comprises a marketplace service configured to:

accept a request for a license for an application within a client platform from a purchaser;

send a token from the marketplace service to the client platform, wherein the client platform is configured to allow the purchaser to assign a seat to a user and to send the token to a third party service when the user attempts to access the application;

accept the token from the third party service;

verify a validity of the token; and

return a message verifying the validity of the token to the third party service, wherein the third party service is configured to allow the user to access services within the application through the client platform.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the client platform is configured to allow the purchaser to assign a seat to each of a plurality of users.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the token comprises an entitlement token that is stored in an entitlement store within the marketplace service.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the token comprises a key identification, a date of a last sign-in to the marketplace service, an expiry date of the token, or a signature, or any combinations thereof.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the license for the application comprises a paid license or a trial license.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein verifying the validity of the token comprises using a token checker.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the third party service is configured to deny the user access to the application if the validity of the token cannot be verified by the marketplace service.

17. One or more non-volatile computer-readable storage media for storing computer readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions providing an application licensing authentication system when executed by one or more processing devices, the computer-readable instructions comprising code configured to:

process a request for a license for an application from a purchaser at a marketplace service;

send a token from the marketplace service to a client platform, wherein the client platform is configured to allow the purchaser to assign a seat to a user and to send the token to a third party service when the user attempts to access the application;

accept the token from the third party service;

verify a validity of the token; and

send a message verifying the validity of the token to the third party service, wherein the third party service is configured to allow the user to access different levels of service within the application.

18. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the user accesses the different levels of service within the application via a user device.

19. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the third party service comprises an application center.

20. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 17, the computer-readable instructions comprising code configured to revoke the validity of the token if the purchaser signs in directly to the marketplace service through the client platform.