License management system and method with license balancing
First Claim
1. A system for balancing a distribution of allocations for protected software over a communication network according to a license policy, the system comprising:
- at least one client computer coupled to the communication network for requesting authorizations to use the protected software; and
a pool of license servers coupled to the communication network, each license server in the pool is programmed for managing a distribution of allocations for at least one client computer coupled to the communication network to use the protected software;
the pool of license servers including a current leader server programmed for updating the distribution of allocations to add at least one additional allocation to a particular license server if that particular license server has an insufficient number of allocations, wherein each license server in the pool can directly communicate with the at least one client computer coupled to the communication network, and wherein each license server in the pool manages the distribution of allocations substantially in the same manner as the other license servers in the pool;
each license server further including a borrowing threshold and programmed for determining whether the particular license server did not have a sufficient number of allocations by dividing an allocations-in-use value for that particular license server by a total allocation value for that particular license server and determining if a quotient of the division is greater than the borrowing threshold.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for balancing a distribution of allocations for protected software over a communication network is disclosed. The system is comprised of at least one client computer and a pool of license servers coupled to the communication network. The client computers request authorizations to use the protected software, while a distribution of allocations is managed among the pool of servers for tracking and managing available allocations for using the protected software. One license server in the pool is designated as the current leader server. When a particular license server does not have a selectable minimum amount of available allocations, the current leader server re-assigns, where possible, the allocations within the pool by updating memory containing the distribution tables of license servers in the pool, to give at least one additional allocation to the particular license server.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A system for balancing a distribution of allocations for protected software over a communication network according to a license policy, the system comprising:
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at least one client computer coupled to the communication network for requesting authorizations to use the protected software; and a pool of license servers coupled to the communication network, each license server in the pool is programmed for managing a distribution of allocations for at least one client computer coupled to the communication network to use the protected software; the pool of license servers including a current leader server programmed for updating the distribution of allocations to add at least one additional allocation to a particular license server if that particular license server has an insufficient number of allocations, wherein each license server in the pool can directly communicate with the at least one client computer coupled to the communication network, and wherein each license server in the pool manages the distribution of allocations substantially in the same manner as the other license servers in the pool; each license server further including a borrowing threshold and programmed for determining whether the particular license server did not have a sufficient number of allocations by dividing an allocations-in-use value for that particular license server by a total allocation value for that particular license server and determining if a quotient of the division is greater than the borrowing threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for balancing a distribution of allocations for using protected software by at least one client computer coupled to a communication network, the method comprising the steps of:
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coupling a pool of license servers to the communication network; assigning a distribution of allocations to the pool; programming each license server to the pool to manage the distribution of allocations including processing requests for authorization to use the protected software from at least one client computer coupled to the communications network; designating a current leader server from the license servers in the pool and programming the current leader for updating the distribution of allocations to add at least one additional allocation to a particular license server if that particular license server has an insufficient number of allocations in response to a request for authorization received from a client computer, wherein each license server in the pool can communicate directly with the at least one client computer coupled to the communication network, wherein each license server in the pool manages the distribution of allocations substantially in the same manner as the other license servers in the pool, and wherein updating the distribution of allocations includes; assigning a borrowing threshold to each license server; and determining whether the particular license server did not have a sufficient number of allocations by dividing an allocations-in-use value for that particular license server by a total allocations value for that particular license server and determining if a quotient of the division is greater than the borrowing threshold. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification