License Management System

• US 20150096059A1
• Filed: 09/30/2013
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infinera Corp.
• Original Assignee: Infinera Corp.
• Inventors: Naik, Dharmendra, Hoang, Lam Dinh, Dintakurthi, Kiran Kumar, Pydi, Kasi Viswanadham, Govindarajan, Kamalakannan, Venkatesan, Rajasekar
• Granted Patent: US 9,648,020 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1077 Recurrent authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/121 Restricting unauthorised execution of programs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A license management system comprises at least one processor capable of executing processor-executable code coupled with a non-transitory processor-readable medium storing a master license database and processor-executable code for causing the processor to: (a) store a master state of a network device indicative of at least one license key associated with the network device in the master license database; (b) access information indicative of a license key request for the network device subsequent to the storing of the master state, the license key request including a current state of the network device; (c) compare the master state of the network device with the current state of the network device; and (d) in response to the master state differing from the current state of the network device, generate an error message and store the error message in non-transitory processor-readable medium.

Claims

1. A license management system comprising at least one processor capable of executing processor-executable code coupled with a non-transitory processor-readable medium storing a master license database and processor-executable code for causing the at least one processor to:

store a master state of a network device indicative of at least one license key associated with the network device in the master license database;

access information indicative of a license key request for the network device subsequent to the storing of the master state, the license key request including a current state of the network device;

compare the master state of the network device with the current state of the network device; and

in response to the master state differing from the current state of the network device, generate an error message and store the error message in non-transitory processor-readable medium.

2. The license management system of claim 1, wherein the error message includes the master state of the network device.

3. The license management system of claim 1, wherein the master state of the network device includes information indicative of at least one license key associated with the network device and a network device identifier for the network device and the license key request includes a location identifier identifying a location of the network device in the network, and wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium further stores processor-executable code for causing the at least one processor to:

generate an activation code for the network device, the activation code including the at least one license key associated with the network device, the location identifier, and the network device identifier; and

transmit the activation code to the network device.

4. A license management system comprising at least one processor capable of executing processor-executable code coupled with a non-transitory processor-readable medium storing a license database and processor-executable code for causing the at least one processor to:

store a current state of a network device indicative of no license key being associated with the network device in the license database;

receive, via an input port, information indicative of a master state of the network device including at least one license key associated with the network device;

update the current state of the network device to include the at least one license key associated with the network device; and

store the updated current state in the license database.

5. The license management system of claim 4, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium further stores processor-executable code for causing the at least one processor to:

provide a license key request via an output port, the license key request indicative of no license key being associated with the network device and of a location identifier of a location of the network device in the network; and

receive, via the input port, information indicative of an activation code for the network device, the activation code including the at least one license key associated with the network device, the location identifier, and an identifier of the network device.

6. The license management system of claim 5, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium further stores processor-executable code for causing the at least one processor to transmit the activation code to the network device via the output port.

7. A method for managing a license configuration of a network device, comprising:

accessing, by at least one processor, a license key request for the network device indicative of a current state of the network device including information indicative of no license key being associated with the networking device;

accessing, by the at least one processor, a master state of the network device indicative of at least one license key associated with the network device stored in non-transitory processor-readable medium;

generating, by the at least one processor, an error message indicative of the at least one license key associated with the network device; and

outputting, by the at least one processor, the error message via an output port.