Fault tolerant electronic licensing system

• US 5,905,860 A
• Filed: 02/24/1997
• Issued: 05/18/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Bringhurst, Adam L., Olsen, James E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hua, Ly
• Application Number:
  US08/804,936
• Time in Patent Office: 813 Days
• Field of Search: 395/187.01, 395/186, 395/200.57, 380/3, 380/4
• US Class Current: 726/27
• 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 21/121 Restricting unauthorised execution of programs

Abstract

A licensing system provides enhanced flexibility for licensing applications in a network. The licensing system includes a directory services database which stores all license information. The directory services database is accessed by providing a request to a license service provider associated with a server. The license service provider generates an executable entity based on the request parameters, which searches the database and, if the appropriate units are available, assembles a license. The license and the application are then transmitted to the requesting client. All aspects of the transaction are also stored in a database organized according to a transaction'"'"'s relation to a particular license.

Claims

1. An electronic licensing system for providing access to a plurality of applications in a computer network environment, comprising:

a distributed license database configured to store authorization parameters relating to usage of the plurality of applications, wherein information stored in said distributed licensed database is replicated, each replica being stored on a separate computer;

a license service provider configured to receive requests, search said distributed license database for authorization parameters corresponding to said received request, and facilitate access to the application only if the corresponding authorization parameters are stored in said distributed license database; and

a client configured to generate a request for access to one of said plurality of applications and transmit said request to said license service provider, wherein said request includes;

a generic request structure for requesting access to any of said plurality of applications, and

at least one identification parameter embedded in said generic structure corresponding to said requested application.

2. The electronic licensing system of claim 1, wherein said client includes an API configured to generate said request.

3. The electronic licensing system of claim 1, wherein said at least one identification parameter includes a publisher indicator, a product indicator, and a version indicator.

4. The electronic licensing system of claim 1, wherein said license service provider is configured to generate a separate certificate database object for each request generated by said client, wherein each certificate database object generated is configured to search said distributed license database for said authorization parameters, and wherein each certificate database object is an executable entity.

5. The electronic licensing system of claim 1, wherein said authorization parameters are stored in said license database according to a uniform format.

6. The electronic licensing system of claim 1, further comprising a transaction database configured to store information relating to said request.

7. The electronic licensing system of claim 6, wherein said license service provider is configured to assign a unique identifier to said request and store said unique identifier in said transaction database.

8. The electronic licensing system of claim 1, further comprising a transaction database configured to store information relating to said request.

9. The electronic licensing system of claim 8, wherein said license service provider is configured to assign a unique identifier to said request and store said unique identifier in said transaction database.

10. An electronic licensing system for providing access to a plurality of applications in a computer network environment, comprising:

a client configured to generate a plurality of requests, each request corresponding to at least one of the plurality of applications;

a distributed license database configured to store authorization parameters relating to usage of the plurality of applications, wherein said authorization parameters are stored on a plurality of computers; and

a license service provider configured to receive said requests from said client and generate a separate certificate database object for each of said requests, wherein said certificate database object is an executable entity configured to search said license database for authorization parameters corresponding to the received request and facilitate access to the application only if the corresponding authorization parameters are stored in said license database.

11. The electronic licensing system of claim 10, wherein said client includes an API configured to generate said request.

12. The electronic licensing system of claim 10, wherein said request includes a product indicator, a version indicator, and a source indicator corresponding to the requested application.

13. The electronic licensing system of claim 10, wherein said authorization parameters are stored in said license database according to a uniform format.

14. The electronic licensing system of claim 10, wherein said authorization parameters are automatically stored on at least two of said computers.

15. An electronic licensing system for providing access to a plurality of applications in a computer network environment, comprising:

a client configured to generate a plurality of requests for at least one of a plurality of applications;

a distributed license database configured to store authorization parameters relating to usage of the plurality of applications, wherein said authorization parameters are copied to multiple locations in said distributed license database;

a certificate database object corresponding to each of said requests generated by said client, each certificate database object being configured to search said license database for matching authorization parameters corresponding to said client request, wherein said certificate database object is an executable entity; and

a licensed certificate object generated by said certificate database object for each client request having matching authorization parameters.

16. The electronic licensing system of claim 15, wherein said client includes an API configured to generate said request.

17. The electronic licensing system of claim 15, wherein said request includes a product indicator, a version indicator, and a source indicator.

18. The electronic licensing system of claim 15, wherein said authorization parameters are stored in said license database according to a uniform format.

19. The electronic licensing system of claim 15, wherein said authorization parameters are automatically copied to multiple locations in said distributed license database.

20. A method of providing access to software applications in a computer network environment, comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of authorization parameters relating to the applications in a license database distributed across a plurality of computers;

requesting access to at least one of said applications;

generating a certificate database object in response to the requesting step, said certificate database object being operative for searching said license database for parameters corresponding to said requested access; and

when corresponding parameters are found by the certificate database object, generating a licensed certificate object, said licensed certificate object being operative for determining whether to allow access to said application by reviewing license information associated with the requested application.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said step of storing said plurality of authorization parameters includes the steps of:

creating a local license certificate database in each of said plurality of computers;

writing authorization parameters associated with each of the applications into a buffer format; and

storing said formatted authorization parameters into said local license certificate database.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising the steps of:

assigning a license handle to said requested access;

storing said license handle in a transaction database; and

providing said license handle to the source of said requested access.