License management system for software applications
DCFirst Claim
1. A method for initializing a license database including licenses for software products available to be checked out by clients wishing to use said software products, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving a license item including a license associated with a software product;
checking whether said license item is a package license item associated with a package, or a standard license item;
when said license item is a standard license item, entering said license item as a standard license record in a license database; and
when said license item is a package license item, creating a component license record in said license database for an associated component software product included in said package, said component license record being created from said package license item.
21 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An improved software license management system in accordance with the present invention is disclosed. A license server initializes a license database by receiving a package license description that includes component license descriptions for component software products in a package. Licenses for software products are also received, and license records are created in the license database for components and suite packages, where each record includes a number of licenses available to be checked out. A client computer system can request a license for a component product in a package. A license is granted to the client when the client is allowed to receive the license according to a license policy. When a component license is checked out, a linked suite license is also automatically checked out. No other client thus may use a component license linked with the suite license record unless another suite license is checked out. The license management system also provides a number of modifiers to be included in license records, including an overdraft quantity, a fail safe indicator, a minimum license quantity, and a capacity indicator. A finder and a diagnostic process can be implemented at the client computer system to find the license server over a network and provide a tool to diagnose failures in the license management system.
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Citations
70 Claims
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1. A method for initializing a license database including licenses for software products available to be checked out by clients wishing to use said software products, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a license item including a license associated with a software product; checking whether said license item is a package license item associated with a package, or a standard license item; when said license item is a standard license item, entering said license item as a standard license record in a license database; and when said license item is a package license item, creating a component license record in said license database for an associated component software product included in said package, said component license record being created from said package license item. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for providing licenses to client computer systems to allow said client computer systems to use licensed software products, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a request for a component license for a component product included in a package, said request being received from a client computer system that wishes to use said component product; granting a package license to said client computer system when said client computer system is allowed to receive said package license according to a license policy, said package license being associated with said package that includes said requested component product, said package license allowing said client computer system to use said requested component product; and denying said component license and said package license to said client computer system when said client computer system is not allowed to receive said component license or said package license according said license policy. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A software license server suitable for use in conjunction with a computer system and operative to provide licenses to said computer system to allow said computer system to use licensed software programs, the license server comprising:
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a database for storing a plurality of program licenses and suite licenses; means for receiving a request for a program license for a designated program, said request being received from a user on a client computer system that wishes to use said designated program; means for determining whether said designated program is a component program in a suite; means for providing a status message indicating to said client computer system whether said requested license has been granted or denied, said requested license being granted when a program license on said database is available for said designated program, wherein when said designated program is a component program in a suite, said requested license is granted when a suite license is available for said suite, and wherein when said requested license is granted, said client computer system is allowed to use said designated program. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for:
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sending a request to a license server, said request requesting a license for a designated product which is desired to be used on a computer system, wherein said request includes an environmental resource capacity of said computer system, said resource capacity determining how many licenses are required by said computer system to use said designated product; and receiving a status message from said license server, said status message providing information about whether said requested license has been granted or not, such that a license policy associated with said designated product may be enforced based on said information in said status message. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method for providing licenses to client computer systems to allow said client computer systems to use licensed software products, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a request for a license for a software product, said request being received from a client computer system that wishes to use said software product; determining when said client computer system is allowed to receive a license according to a license policy; providing a granted license status to said client computer system when said client computer system is allowed to receive said license according to said license policy, said granted license status allowing said client computer system to use said software product; when said client computer system is not allowed to receive said license according to said license policy, providing a granted license status to said client computer system when an overdraft license for said software product is available; and providing a denied license status to said client computer system when said client computer system is not allowed to receive said license according to said license policy and no overdraft license for said software product is available. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for:
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(a) receiving a request for a license for a software product, said request being received from a client computer system that wishes to use said software product; (b) determining when said client computer system is allowed to receive a license according to a license policy; (c) providing a granted license status to said client computer system when said client computer system is allowed to receive said license according to said license policy, said granted license status allowing said client computer system to use said software product; (d) providing a granted fail safe license status to said client computer system when said client computer system is not allowed to receive said license according to said license policy and when said license is a fail safe license; and (e) providing a denied license status to said client computer system when said client computer system is not allowed to receive said license according to said license policy and when said license is not a fail safe license. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A software license server suitable for use in conjunction with a computer system and operative to provide licenses to said computer system to allow said computer system to use licensed software programs, the license server comprising:
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a database for storing a plurality of license units available for a designated software product; means for receiving a request for a license for said designated software product, said request being received from a user on a client computer system that wishes to use said designated product; means for determining when said client computer system is allowed to receive said license according to a license policy; means for checking out a minimum number of license units for said designated product when said client computer system is allowed to receive said license according to said license policy, said minimum number being dependent on said designated product; means for providing a granted license status to said client computer system when said minimum number of license units are available to be checked out, said granted license status allowing said client computer system to use said designated product; and means for providing a denied license status to said client computer system when said minimum number of license are not available to be checked out. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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62. A method for diagnosing problems in a license management system, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving a diagnose command on a client computer system connected to a network; (b) attempting to locate a license server on said network in said license management system, said license server being operative to provide licenses to client computer systems on said network that wish to use licensed software products; (c) when said license server is located, sending a request to said located license server, said request requesting a license for a designated product which is desired to be used on a client computer system; (d) outputting a diagnosis description on an output device based on results obtained from said steps (b) and (c). - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66)
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67. A method for providing a license server location on a network implementing a license management system, said location being provided to a client computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a request from a client computer system for a license address of a license server on said network, said client computer system requiring said license address to locate said license server and thereby request a license from said license server for a designated program in use on said client computer system; looking up a license address for said license server in a table, wherein said license address is determined by client information in said request; and providing said license address to said client computer system. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70)
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Specification