Software license verification process and apparatus

• US 6,029,145 A
• Filed: 01/06/1997
• Issued: 02/22/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Isogon Corp. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Kasson, Peter, Barritz, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Cosimano, Edward R.
• Application Number:
  US08/779,140
• Time in Patent Office: 1,142 Days
• Field of Search: 377/13, 377/15, 377/16, 380/4, 395/184.01, 702/186, 705/1, 705/30, 705/34, 705/400, 714/14
• US Class Current: 705/34
• 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 21/1078 Logging; Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2117 User registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A method and apparatus for collating, correlating and redistributing information about the use of proprietary products including copyrighted works and licensed software products, at various computer sites. The system consolidates information (originally captured by other systems) by time period, such as day, week or month, about which proprietary products are installed at each computer site, as well as to what particulars of use are relevant. This may include the number of invocations of various software products, the number of logons, the number of concurrent users, as well as other usage metrics. The information is sorted by vendor or copyright owner, so that the information about all of the proprietary products licensed from a particular vendor can be periodically sent to that vendor, automatically, or in response to prompting by vendors or from within the central computer system.

Claims

1. Apparatus for proprietary product usage verification and reporting at plural, discrete computer sites, the apparatus comprising:

a central computer for communicating with the plural discrete computer sites which are remote to the central computer;

each computer site including;

a. a memory and at least one proprietary product stored in the memory;

b. a monitoring program that monitors usage of the at least one proprietary product at the discrete computer sites; and

c. a reporting program that transmits, to said central computer, a local report which quantifies the usage of the at least one proprietary product at the discrete computer site;

said central computer including;

a correlating program which receives the local reports from the plural discrete computer sites and collates and orders information in the local reports into data packets formed on the basis of vendors of the at least one proprietary product; and

a central reporting program for communicating with vendors and reporting to vendors usage of proprietary products at the plural discrete computer sites which are licensed by the vendors.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the central computer includes a software facility for prompting the local reports to issue from the discrete computer sites, in response to prompting commands from the central computer to the discrete computer sites.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the central computer includes an authorization facility for transmitting vendor originated authorization codes to the discrete computer sites.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the central computer includes an authorization facility which receives authorization related data from the plural discrete computer sites.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the central computer includes a software facility for preparing and transmitting to the discrete computer sites software usage billings.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the central computer includes a software facility for controlling and monitoring collection of monies due for use of the proprietary products at the discrete computer sites.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the central computer includes a software facility for calculating amounts of royalties owed for the use of the proprietary products at the discrete computer sites.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the central computer includes a software facility for controlling disbursements to the vendors of monies received on account of the discrete computer sites.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the central computer comprises a software facility for posting notices at the various computer sites.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 in which each computer site also includes a surveying program that surveys the memory and stores a list of software products in the memory.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the at least one proprietary product comprises at least one software product stored in the memory.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the at least one proprietary product comprises at least one copyrighted work.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, including a software facility for monitoring compliance with license terms at the discrete computer sites.

14. The apparatus of the previous claim 13, in which the software facility includes means for carrying out random checks of the memory at the discrete computer sites to verify license compliance.

15. Method for proprietary product usage verification and reporting at plural, discrete computer sites, the method comprising:

providing a central computer for communicating with the plural discrete computer sites which are remote to the central computer;

providing at each computer site;

a. a memory and at least one proprietary product stored in the memory;

b. a monitoring program that monitors invocations of the at least one proprietary product at the discrete computer sites; and

c. a reporting program that transmits, to said central computer, a local report which quantifies the usage of the at least one proprietary product at the discrete computer site;

correlating, at the central computer, the local reports received from the plural discrete computer sites and collating and ordering information contained in the local reports into data packets formed on the basis of vendors of the at least one proprietary product; and

forming, at the central computer, a central report which communicates to the vendors and reports usage of proprietary products at the plural discrete computer site which are licensed by the vendors.

16. The method of claim 15, including prompting the local reports to issue from the discrete computer sites, in response to prompting commands from the central computer to the discrete computer sites.

17. The method of claim 15, including transmitting vendor originated authorization codes to the discrete computer sites.

18. The method of claim 15, including receiving authorization data from the plural discrete computer sites.

19. The method of claim 15, including preparing and transmitting to the discrete computer sites software usage billings.

20. The method of claim 15, including controlling and monitoring collection of monies due for use of the proprietary products at the discrete computer sites.

21. The method of claim 15, including calculating amounts of royalties owed for use of the proprietary products at the discrete computer sites.

22. The method of claim 15, including controlling, at the central computer, disbursements to the vendors of monies received on account of the discrete computer sites.

23. The method of claim 15, including posting notices at the various, discrete computer sites, via the central computer.

24. The method of claim 15, including a surveying program that surveys the memory and stores a list of software products in the memory.

25. The method of claim 15, including providing a debit card facility at the plural computer sites which contain the predetermined credit balance against which license fees can be charged.

26. The method of claim 15, in which the usage includes an event comprising the installation of at least one proprietary product.

27. The method of claim 15, in which the at least one proprietary product comprises at least one software product stored in the memory.

28. The method of claim 15, in which the at least one proprietary product comprises at least one copyrighted work.

29. The method of claim 15, including monitoring compliance with license terms at the discrete computer site, via the central computer.

30. The method of claim 29, in which monitoring compliance with license terms includes carrying out random checks of the memory at the discrete computer sites to verify license compliance.

31. Apparatus for software license verification at plural, discrete computer sites, the apparatus comprising:

a central computer for communicating with the plural, discrete computer sites which are remote to the central computer;

each computer site including at least one storage device and further including;

a. memory means having both a list of program module names of program modules and for each of said program module names a product name associated therewith stored therein;

b. surveying means that surveys the storage devices and stores in said memory means module names of modules stored on said at least one storage device;

c. associating means that stores in said memory means an association between the product names stored in said memory means and each of said module names stored in said memory means;

d. monitoring means that monitors invocations of said modules on said computer and stores in said memory means invocation data relating to said invocations of said modules;

e. correlating means that correlates said invocation data stored in said memory means and said association between the product names and each of said module names stored in said memory means; and

f. reporting means that transmits, to said central computer, the data correlated by said correlating means;

said central computer including;

a correlating program which receives local reports from the plural discrete computer sites and collates and orders information in the local reports into data packets formed on the basis of vendors of the at least one software product; and

a central reporting program for communicating with vendors and reporting to vendors usage of software products at the plural discrete computer sites which are licensed by the vendors.

32. Apparatus for software license verification at plural, discrete computer sites, the apparatus comprising:

a central computer for communicating with the plural, discrete computer sites which are remote to the central computer;

each computer site including;

means for reporting events on a computer system relating to a product, the product being associated with at least one module, said means comprising;

a. memory means;

b. means for detecting an event relating to a module, said detecting means detecting said event other than by indication from said module;

c. means for obtaining event information relating to said event;

d. means for recording said event information in said memory means;

e. means for correlating said event information stored in said memory means and the product associated with said event;

f. means for transmitting, to said central computer, said correlated data;

said central computer including;

a correlating program which receives local reports from the plural discrete computer sites and collates and orders information in the local reports into data packets formed on the basis of vendors of the at least one software product; and

a central reporting program for communicating with vendors and reporting to vendors usage of software products at the plural discrete computer sites which are licensed by the vendors.

33. Apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein said detecting means detects every event relating to said module.

34. Apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein said event being detected is an invocation of said module.

35. Apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein said event being detected is one of a plurality of events including an invocation of said module.

36. Apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein said event being detected is a termination of said module.

37. Apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein said event being detected is one of a plurality of events including at least one of an invocation and a termination of said module.

38. Apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein said event being detected is a service request.

39. Apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein said event being detected is one of a plurality of events including a service request.

40. Apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein said detecting means detects said event using a set of additional instructions inserted into an existing program other than said at least one module or into an operating system.

41. Apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein said detecting means detects said event using hooked vectors.

42. Apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein said event information includes the name of at least one of:

a name associated with said module,

a volume associated with said module,

a computer system associated with said event,

a user associated with said event,

a job associated with said event,

a library from which said module was obtained, and

an area of main storage from which said module was obtained.

43. Method for software license verification at plural, discrete computer sites, the method comprising:

providing a central computer for communicating with the plural discrete computer sites which are remote to the central computer;

each computer site having at least one storage device and performing the steps of;

a. storing a list of program module names of program modules and for each of said program module names storing a product name associated therewith;

b. surveying said at least one storage device and storing module names of modules stored on said at least one storage device;

c. storing an association between said stored product names and each of said stored module names;

d. monitoring invocations of said modules on said computer and storing invocation data relating to said invocations of said modules;

e. correlating said invocation data and said association between the stored product names and each of said stored module names; and

f. transmitting, to said central computer, the correlation of said invocation data and said association between said stored product names and each of said stored module names;

correlating, at the central computer, local reports received from the plural discrete computer sites and collating and ordering information contained in the local reports into data packets formed on the basis of vendors of the at least one software product; and

forming, at the central computer, a central report which communicates to the vendors and reports usage of software products at the plural discrete computer site which are licensed by the vendors.

44. Method for software license verification at plural, discrete computer sites, the method comprising:

providing a central computer for communicating with the plural discrete computer sites which are remote to the central computer;

each computer site being related to a product, the product being associated with at least one module, the computer site performing the steps of;

a. detecting an event relating to a module, said step of detecting being carried out other than by indication from said module;

b. obtaining event information relating to said event;

c. recording said event information in a memory means;

d. correlating said event information stored in said memory means and the product associated with said event; and

e. transmitting, to said central computer, said correlated data; and

correlating, at the central computer, the local reports received from the plural discrete computer sites and collating and ordering information contained in the local reports into data packets formed on the basis of vendors of the at least one software product; and

forming, at the central computer, a central report which communicates to the vendors and reports usage of software products at the plural discrete computer site which are licensed by the vendors.

45. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said detecting step detects every event relating to said module.

46. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said event being detected is an invocation of said module.

47. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said event being detected is one of a plurality of events including an invocation of said module.

48. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said event being detected is a termination of said module.

49. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said event being detected is one of a plurality of events including at least one of an invocation and a termination of said module.

50. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said event being detected is a service request.

51. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said event being detected is one of a plurality of events including a service request.

52. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said detecting step detects every event relating to said module.

53. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said detecting step detects said event using a set of additional instructions inserted into an existing program other than said at least one module or into an operating system.

54. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said detecting step detects said event using hooked vectors.

55. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said event information includes the name of at least one of:

a name associated with said module,

a volume associated with said module,

a computer system associated with said event,

a user associated with said event,

a job associated with said event,

a library from which said module was obtained, and

an area of main storage from which said module was obtained.

56. Method as claimed in claim 44, wherein said event information includes at least one of:

a time associated with the initiation of the event,

a date associated with the initiation of the event.

57. Apparatus for software license verification at plural, discrete computer sites, the apparatus comprising:

a central computer for communicating with the plural discrete computer sites which are remote to the central computer;

each computer site including;

a. a memory and at least one software product stored in the memory;

b. a monitoring program that monitors invocations of the software products at the discrete computer sites; and

c. a reporting program that transmits, to said central computer, a local report which quantifies the usage of the at least one software product at the discrete computer site;

said central computer including;

a correlating program which receives the local reports from the plural discrete computer sites and collates and orders information in the local reports into data packets formed on the basis of vendors of the at least one software product; and

a central reporting program for communicating with vendors and reporting to vendors usage of software products at the plural discrete computer sites which are licensed by the vendors.

58. Method for software license verification at plural, discrete computer sites, the method comprising:

providing a central computer for communicating with the plural discrete computer sites which are remote to the central computer;

providing at each computer site;

a. a memory and at least one software product stored in the memory;

b. a monitoring program that monitors invocations of the software products at the discrete computer sites; and

c. a reporting program that transmits, to said central computer, a local report which quantifies the usage of the at least one software product at the discrete computer site;

correlating, at the central computer, the local reports received from the plural discrete computer sites and collating and ordering information contained in the local reports into data packets formed on the basis of vendors of the at least one software product; and

forming, at the central computer, a central report which communicates to the vendors and reports usage of software products at the plural discrete computer site which are licensed by the vendors.