System for licensing to use software products
First Claim
1. A system for licensing to use software products which are encrypted by a software vendor, the system comprising:
- a first supplier unit for supplying a product-medium which contains a plurality of encrypted software products and a sales-medium, said first supplier comprisinginformation storage means for storing key information andsales-medium creating means for creating the sales-medium which contains the key information stored in said information storage means; and
a second supplier unit, being provided with the sales-medium from said first supplier unit, for supplying a key to decrypt one of the encrypted software products, said second supplier unit comprisingkey generating means for generating the key based on the key information which is supplied in the sales-medium.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for licensing to use software products which are encrypted and packed in a single storage medium, whereby the encrypted software products can be sold on a piece-by-piece basis and it is possible to perform accounting operations and collection of sales records with accuracy in a stepwise manner for each shop related thereto. A plurality of software products are encrypted and stored in a product-medium and delivered to an end-user. At the same time, sales-medium creating means creates a sales-medium which contains product information and shop information and distributes it to wholesalers and then to retailers. Upon reception of an order and its payment from the end-user, key generating means extracts keys from the sales-medium and provides the end-user with the keys or complex keys derived therefrom, thereby allowing the end-user to decrypt the software products and make them executable. Accounting means updates the sales records by each sales transaction, and calculates the sales track records at every month-end based on the sales-media in the retailers and wholesalers in a stepwise manner.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A system for licensing to use software products which are encrypted by a software vendor, the system comprising:
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a first supplier unit for supplying a product-medium which contains a plurality of encrypted software products and a sales-medium, said first supplier comprising information storage means for storing key information and sales-medium creating means for creating the sales-medium which contains the key information stored in said information storage means; and a second supplier unit, being provided with the sales-medium from said first supplier unit, for supplying a key to decrypt one of the encrypted software products, said second supplier unit comprising key generating means for generating the key based on the key information which is supplied in the sales-medium. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A system for licensing to use software products which are encrypted by a software vendor, the system comprising:
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a software vendor unit for supplying a product-medium which contains a plurality of encrypted software products and for supplying a wholesaler'"'"'s sales-medium, said software vendor unit comprising vendor information storage means for storing product information and wholesaler'"'"'s name and wholesaler'"'"'s sales-medium creating means for creating the wholesaler'"'"'s sales-medium based on the product information and the wholesaler'"'"'s name stored in said information storage means; a wholesaler unit for supplying a retailer'"'"'s sales-medium which contains the product information and retailer'"'"'s name, based on the wholesaler'"'"'s sales-medium provided by said software vendor unit; a retailer unit, being provided with the retailer'"'"'s sales-medium from said wholesaler unit, for supplying an end-user with a key to decrypt one of the encrypted software products, said retailer unit comprising key generating means for generating the key based on the product information stored in the retailer'"'"'s sales-medium. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of licensing to use software products which are encrypted by a software vendor and finally supplied to an end-user via a wholesaler and a retailer, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) supplying the end-user with a product-medium which contains a plurality of software products being encrypted; (b) creating a wholesaler'"'"'s sales-medium based on the product information and wholesaler'"'"'s name; (c) supplying the wholesaler'"'"'s sales-medium to the wholesaler; (d) creating a retailer'"'"'s sales-medium which contains the product information and retailer'"'"'s name, based on the wholesaler'"'"'s sales-medium; (e) supplying the retailer'"'"'s sales-medium to the retailer; and (f) generating a key for the end-user to decrypt one of the encrypted software products based on the product information stored in the retailer'"'"'s sales-medium. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification