Software license control system and software license control equipment

• US 6,023,766 A
• Filed: 07/14/1997
• Issued: 02/08/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Socionext Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Yamamura, Kazuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): REVAK, CHRISTOPHER A
• Application Number:
  US08/892,277
• Time in Patent Office: 939 Days
• Field of Search: 395/187.01, 395/186, 395/200.55, 395/188.01, 395/200.59, 380/2, 380/4, 380/23, 380/25, 379/9, 379/364, 713/201, 713/200, 713/202, 709/225, 709/229
• US Class Current: 726/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level

Abstract

The invention provides a software license control system and a software license control equipment that control a license for a software (application program) used in a computer, that realizes to make the license control of the software efficient, to enhance reliability of the license, and to simplify control operations by users.

In order to achieve the object, the system according to the invention is provided with a software execution equipment that executes the software on which a license control software is added and a software license control equipment that controls the license for the software. The system is so designed as to interchange information relating to the license for the software between the software execution equipment and the software license control equipment by means of an electronic mail.

Claims

1. A software license management system, comprising:

software execution equipment for executing software installed therein, including

means for requesting issuance of a license for a software when the software is installed in said software execution equipment, and

means for requesting confirmation of the license for the software when the software is used; and

software license management equipment for managing a license for the software by exchanging information relating to the license for the software with said software execution equipment via electronic mail, including

an electronic mail receiving device for receiving a message from said software execution equipment via electronic mail,

an electronic mail sending device for sending a message to said software execution equipment via electronic mail,

a license issue device for, when said electronic mail receiving device has received a message that contains a request to issue a license for a software, issuing a license for the software based on the license issuing request and also transmitting a message that contains information about the issued license using said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment via electronic mail,

a log management device for storing the information about the license issued by said license issue device as license information, and

a license confirmation device for, when said electronic mail receiving device has received a message containing a request to confirm the license for the software, confirming the license based on both the license confirming request and the license information stored in said log management device and, further transmitting a message that contains a confirmation result of the license through said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment via electronic mail.

2. A software license management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein when said electronic mail receiving device has received a message that contains a request to modify a license, said license issue device is operable to modify the license based on of the license modifying request and also to transmit a message that contains information about the license as modified, using said electronic mail sending device, to said software execution equipment via electronic mail.

3. A software license management system as claimed in claim 2,

wherein said software license management equipment further includes a license updating device to automatically perform a periodical update of the license before an expiration date of the license issued by said license issue device and to transmit a message that contains update information using said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment via electronic mail, and

wherein said log management device is operable

to record items of information, including at least one of:

information about a request to issue or modify a license received by said electronic mail receiving device, information about the license issued by said license issue device, information about a license confirmation result by said license confirmation device, and information about update by said license update device; and

to store the items of information as log data.

4. A software license management system as claimed in claim 3, wherein when said license issue device modifies a license, said license issue device is operable to refer to the log data stored in said log management device and to judge whether modification is proper or improper based on the log data.

5. A software license management system as claimed in claim 4, wherein when said license issue device has judged that the modification is improper, said license issue device is operable to transmit warning information using said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment via electronic mail.

6. A software license management system as claimed in claim 3, wherein when said license confirmation device confirms a license, said license confirmation device is operable to refer to the log data stored in said log management device and to confirm the license based on the log data.

7. A software license management system as claimed in claim 6, wherein when a confirmation result is improper, said license confirmation device is operable to transmit warning information using said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment via electronic mail.

8. A software license management system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the software executed in said software execution equipment has:

a check function of checking a license environment in said software execution equipment based on the license information file of the software and, when having judged that the license environment is proper, turning into a temporary start state, and

a standby function of waiting for a confirmation result from said software license management equipment and, if the confirmation result is proper, turning from the temporary start state into a normal start state and, on the other hand, if the confirmation result is improper, terminating.

9. A software license management system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the software executed in said software execution equipment has:

a check function of checking a license environment in said software execution equipment based on the license information file of the software and, when having judged that the license environment is proper, turning into a temporary start state, and

a standby function of waiting for a confirmation result from said software license management equipment and, if the confirmation result is proper, turning from the temporary start state into a normal start state and, on the other hand, if the confirmation result is improper, terminating.

10. A software license management system as claimed in claim 3, wherein when said license update device executes a periodical update of a license, said license update device is operable to refer to the log data stored in said log management device and to decide whether to permit the update of the license based on the log data.

11. A software license management system as claimed in claim 10, wherein when said license update device has decided to reject the update, said license update device is operable to abort the periodical update of the license and to transmit warning information using said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment via electronic mail.

12. A software license management system as claimed in claim 3,

wherein the software executed in said software execution equipment has a log data transmission function of transmitting, on starting the software, log data of the software to said software license management equipment via electronic mail, and

wherein in said software license management equipment, when said electronic mail receiving device has received a message containing the log data of the software, said log management device is operable to record and store the log data of the software.

13. A software license management system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said log management device is operable to transmit the data stored in said log management device to a developer or a seller of the software periodically or occasionally.

14. A software license management system as claimed in claim 3, wherein said log management device is operable to transmit the data stored in said log management device to a developer or a seller of the software periodically or occasionally.

15. A software license management system as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the software executed in said software execution equipment has a license confirmation function to transmit, on starting the software, a license confirmation request for the software, including a license information file of the software, to said software license management equipment via electronic mail, and

wherein when said electronic mail receiving device has received a message containing the license confirmation request, said license confirmation device is operable to confirm a license based on the license information file included in the license confirmation request, and to transmit a message containing a confirmation result by said license confirmation device via said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment via electronic mail.

16. A software license management system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the software executed in said software execution equipment has:

a check function of checking a license environment in said software execution equipment based on the license information file of the software and, when having judged that the license environment is proper, turning into a temporary start state, and

a standby function of waiting for a confirmation result from said software license management equipment and, if the confirmation result is proper, turning from the temporary start state into a normal start state and, on the other hand, if the confirmation result is improper, terminating.

17. A software license management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said software license management equipment further includes a license update device for automatically performing a periodical update of the license before an expiration date of the license issued by said license issue device and also transmitting a message containing update information using said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment via electronic mail.

18. Software license management equipment for managing a license for software executed in software execution equipment by exchanging information about the license for the software with said software execution equipment via electronic mail, said software license management equipment comprising:

an electronic mail receiving device for receiving a message from said software execution equipment via electronic mail;

an electronic mail sending device for sending a message to said software execution equipment via electronic mail;

a license issue device to issue a license for software based on a request to issue a license when said electronic mail receiving device receives a message containing the request to issue the license for the software, and to transmit to said software execution equipment using said electronic mail sending device, electronic mail containing information about the issued license;

a log management device for storing the information about the license issued by said license issue device as license information;

a license confirmation device to confirm, when said electronic mail receiving device has received a message containing a request to confirm the license for the software, the license based on both of the request to confirm the license and the license information stored in said log management device and to transmit to said software execution equipment using said electronic mail sending device, electronic mail containing a confirmation result.

19. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 18, wherein when said electronic mail receiving device has received a message that contains a request to modify a license, said license issue device is operable to modify the license and to transmit electronic mail containing information about the license as modified, using said electronic mail sending device, to said software execution equipment.

20. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 19,

further comprising a license updating device for automatically performing a periodical update of the license before an expiration date of the license issued by said license issue device, and transmitting electronic mail containing update information using said electronic mail transmitting device to said software execution equipment, and

wherein said log management device is operable to record items of information, including at least one of:

information about a request to issue or modify a license received by said electronic mail receiving device, information about the license issued by said license issue device, information about a confirmation result by said license confirmation device, and information about update by said license update device, and storing said items of information as log data.

21. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 20, wherein when modifying a license, said license issue device is operable to refer to the log data stored in said log management device and to judge whether modification is proper based on the log data.

22. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 21, wherein when said license issue device has judged that the modification is improper, said license issue device is operable to transmit warning information using said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment via electronic mail.

23. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 20, wherein when said license confirmation device confirms a license, said license confirmation device is operable to refer to the log data stored in said log management device and to confirm the license based on the log data.

24. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 23, wherein when a confirmation result is improper, said license confirmation device is operable to transmit warning information using said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment via electronic mail.

25. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 20, wherein, when said license update device performs a periodical update of a license, said license update device is operable to refer to the log data stored in said log management device and to decide whether to permit the update based on the log data.

26. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 25, wherein, when said license update device has decided to reject the update, said license update device is operable to abort the periodical update of the license and to transmit warning information using said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment via electronic mail.

27. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 20, wherein when said electronic mail receiving device has received a message containing log data of the software, said log management device is operable to record and store the log data of the software.

28. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 27, wherein said log management device is operable to transmit the data stored in said log management device to a developer or a seller of the software periodically or occasionally.

29. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 20, wherein said log management device is operable to transmit the data stored in said log management device to a developer or a seller of the software periodically or occasionally.

30. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 18, wherein, when said electronic mail receiving device has received a message containing a confirmation request of the license, said license confirmation device is operable to confirm the license based a license information file included in the confirmation request of the license, and to transmit electronic mail containing a confirmation result to said software execution equipment.

31. Software license management equipment as claimed in claim 18, further comprising a license update device for automatically performing a periodical update of the license before an expiration date of the license issued by said license issue device and transmitting electronic mail containing update information using said electronic mail sending device to said software execution equipment.

32. A method for managing a license for software in a system including software execution equipment for executing software installed therein and a license management equipment for managing the license for the software, said method comprising:

issuing a license for software when the software is installed in said software execution equipment, including

transmitting, from the software execution equipment to the license management equipment, a message containing a license issuing request for a license to use the software,

issuing, by the license management equipment, a license to use the software based on the license issuing request,

transmitting, from the license management equipment to the software execution equipment, a message containing license information about the license as issued, and

storing the license information in the license management equipment; and

confirming the license to use the software when the software is executed in the software execution equipment, including

transmitting, from the software execution equipment to the license management equipment, a message containing a license confirming request to confirm the license to use the software,

confirming, in the license management equipment, the license based on both the license confirming request and the license information stored in the license management equipment,

transmitting, from the license management equipment to the software execution equipment, a message containing a confirmation result of said confirming, and

controlling, in the software execution equipment, execution of the software based on the confirmation result.

33. Software license management equipment for managing a license for software by exchanging information related to the license for the software with software execution equipment for executing the software, said software license management equipment comprising:

a message receiving device to receive a message from the software execution equipment;

a message sending device for sending a message to the software execution equipment;

a license issue device to issue, when said message receiving device has received a message containing a request to issue a license for the software, a license for the software based on the request to issue a license and to transmit to said software execution equipment using said message sending device, a message containing license information about the license as issued,

a storage device to store the license information,

a license confirmation device to confirm, when said message receiving device has received a message containing a request to confirm the license for the software, the license based on both the request to confirm the license and the license information stored in said storage device and to transmit to said software execution equipment using said message sending device, a message containing a confirmation result of the license.