Method and system for administering a concurrent user licensing agreement on a manufacturing/process control information portal server

• US 7,647,407 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2001
• Issued: 01/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric Software, LLC (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Invensys Systems Incorporated (Invensys PLC)
• Inventors: Forney, Paul W., Omshehe, Barry, West, Janie
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr.; William C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shingles; Kristie D
• Application Number:
  US09/954,509
• Publication Number:
  US 20020069172A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,042 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229, 709/225, 709/203, 709/219, 709/227
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Disclosed is a server that provides session-persistent concurrent licenses for resources accessed by clients. In one embodiment, rather than requiring a license when the server is initially accessed, a license is not requested until a client seeks access to a licensed resource. In one implementation, scripts for Web pages associated with licensed resources include requests for licenses from a license management facility. Certain resources conditionally request a license based upon the origin of the access request: the license request may be bypassed for access requests from “pre-licensed” applications. Session-based licensing allows equitable assessment of compensation to a service provider for use of the services. The server includes many resources, some of which require a license for access while others do not. The services of premium value are the only ones for which customers are expected to obtain/claim a license.

Claims

1. A method for administering a session-based concurrent user licensing agreement on a manufacturing/process control information portal such that a single logon during a session persists across multiple distinct resources to which access is provided via a plant information portal server, the method comprising the steps:

receiving, by the plant information portal server, an access request for a resource for which a license is required;

invoking, based upon a code within a sequence of commands associated with the requested resource, a license manager associated with restricted resources associated with the plant information portal server, the license manager performing, for the purpose of granting, if needed, one of potentially multiple available session-based concurrent licenses, a set further steps including;

first confirming that an identified source associated with the request needs a concurrent license;

second confirming that a concurrent license is available to assign to the identified source; and

adding the identified source to a list of session-based concurrent license users to which a session-based concurrent license is assigned.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the second confirming step is based upon a maximum number of allowed concurrently licensed sessions under an established concurrent license agreement maintained by the license manager.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the invoking step is performed in response to an attempt by a particular identified user-session to access portal resources via a web page provided by the portal server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first confirming step comprises determining that the identified source does not currently possess one of the session-based concurrent licenses.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the first confirming step is carried out by comparing the identified source of the request with the list of session-based concurrent license users.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

allocating a session-based concurrent license to the identified source; and

adjusting a concurrent license counter value in accordance with the assigning step.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein an allocated session-based concurrent license grant, as a result of the adding step, persists across requests from the identified source spanning multiple distinct resources accessed via the plant information portal server.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the license manager returning an indication of whether a session-based concurrent license has been granted to the identified source of the request.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

receiving, by an entity that initiated a License request call to the license manager during the invoking step, the indication; and

determining, based upon the received indication, whether to grant the access request.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the sequence of commands include a conditional test for invoking the license manager.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the conditional test relates to an origin of the access request.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising, maintaining access via the portal server to a set of resources, wherein the invoking step is implemented with regard to the set of resources on an individual resource basis.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising persisting a previous session-based concurrent license grant when a requestor exits a resource associated with an initial grant of the session-based concurrent license.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the code within a sequence of commands associated with the requested resource comprises a function call for invoking a service with which the license manager is associated.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising maintaining a historical record of concurrent license usage information.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising displaying the concurrent license usage information via a query results interface.

17. Computer-readable media including computer executable instructions for facilitating administering a session-based concurrent user licensing agreement on a manufacturing/process control information portal such that a single logon during a session persists across multiple distinct resources to which access is provided via a plant information portal server, the computer executable instructions facilitating performing the steps of:

receiving, byte plant information portal server, an access request for a resource for which a license is required;

invoking, based upon a code within a sequence of commands associated with the requested resource, a license manager associated with restricted resources associated with the plant information portal server, the license manager performing, for the purpose of granting, if needed, one of potentially multiple available session-based concurrent licenses, a set of further steps including;

first confirming that an identified source associated with the request needs a concurrent license;

second confirming that a concurrent license is available to assign to the identified source; and

adding the identified source to a list of session-based concurrent license users to which a session-based concurrent license is assigned.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the first confirming step comprises determining that the identified source does not currently possess one of the session-based concurrent licenses.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 further comprising computer-executable instructions facilitating the license manager returning an indication of whether a session-based concurrent license has been granted to the identified source of the request.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 further comprising computer-executable instructions facilitating maintaining a historical record of concurrent license usage information.