Flexible licensing architecture for licensing digital application

• US 7,890,428 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2005
• Issued: 02/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gunyakti, Caglar, Haugen, Todd, Girotto, Jay Robert, Brooks, Cecil Ray
• Primary Examiner(s): Hewitt, II; Calvin L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nigh; James D
• Application Number:
  US11/051,162
• Publication Number:
  US 20060179002A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,202 Days
• Field of Search: 705/59
• US Class Current: 705/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]

Abstract

An application includes a plurality of features. A transaction is engaged with a retailer to obtain a product license corresponding to the application. The product license defines at least one feature of the application that may be employed. A base copy of the application is obtained from a distributor and is actuated. A use license corresponding to the product license is acquired from a licensor by way of the actuated application sending the product license to the licensor along with an identification of at least one of a user, the computing device, and a trusted component operating on the computing device, where the use license includes feature policy granting rights to employ each feature defined in the product license.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of obtaining a use license for using an application of a publisher on a computing device, the application including a plurality of features, the computing device storing the use license on a storage device, the method comprising:

the computing device obtaining a product license from a retailer by engaging in a transaction with the retailer, the product license corresponding to the application of a publisher, the product license defining at least one feature of the application that has been requested by a user, a distributor from which to obtain a base copy of the application, and a licensor from which to obtain a use license;

the computing device obtaining a base copy of the application from the distributor via a network transaction, wherein the base copy of the application includes the plurality of features of the application and wherein at least a portion of the base copy of the application is encrypted with an encryption key of the publisher;

the computing device installing the application;

the computing device actuating the application

the computing device acquiring a use license corresponding to the product license obtained from the retailer by way of the actuated application sending the product license to the licensor via a network transaction along with an identification of at least one of a user, the computing device, a public key of the computing device, and a trusted component operating on the computing device, the use license including a decryption key of the publisher for decrypting the portion of the base copy of the application that is encrypted with said encryption key, the decryption key being encrypted with the public key of the computing device, and the use license including a set of publisher specified rules and requirements that establish the user'"'"'s right to actuate the application and use each requested feature as defined by the product license;

the computing device receiving a request by the user to use a feature of the plurality of features;

the computing device validating the use license using a license evaluator;

based on the validation, the computing device determining that the validated use license permits the use of the requested feature based on the publisher specified rules and requirements included in the acquired use license; and

based on the determination that the use of the requested feature is permitted, decrypting the decryption key received in the acquired use license using a private key of the computing device and decrypting at least a portion of the base copy of the application including the requested feature using the decryption key.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising the computing device engaging in a transaction with a retailer to obtain a product license defining at least one feature of the application as offered by the retailer and representing an available edition of the application.

3. The method of claim 1 comprising the computing device engaging in a transaction with a retailer to obtain a product license defining at least one feature of the application as selected by an obtainer of such product license.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising the computing device engaging in a transaction with a retailer to obtain a product license packaged with referral information including a particular distributor from which the base copy of the application is obtained.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the computing device includes a hardware ID (HWID) corresponding to the computing device, the method comprising the computing device acquiring a use license including the HWID, whereby the trusted component may retrieve such HWID and employ same to determine that the license is intended to be employed on the computing device having such HWID.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of each feature of the application is encrypted and decryptable according to a key (KD), the method comprising the computing device acquiring a use license including a cryptographic key from the identification encrypting the key (KD), the method further comprising:

the computing device receiving a request to use a particular feature of the application;

the computing device locating the acquired use license;

the computing device determining that the feature policy in the located use license permits the requested use of the particular feature;

the computing device retrieving the encrypted key (KD) from the located use license;

the computing device decrypting the encrypted key (KD) and employing same to decrypt the at least a portion of the particular feature of the application; and

the computing using the particular feature of the application.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the computing device validating the located use license.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising after having acquired the use license the computing device returning same to reverse the transaction by which the product license was obtained, returning such use license including:

the computing device sending a return request to the retailer including the corresponding product license as provided thereby;

the computing device receiving from the retailer one of an executable and a command which deletes the use license from the computing device in a trusted manner; and

the computing device executing the executable/command to delete the use license and send a message to the retailer that the deletion of the use license was successful, whereby the retailer informs the licensor that the product license is invalid and the licensor notes same in a database thereof such that any future request for a use license based on the product license is not honored.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the acquired use license is tied to the computing device, the method further comprising after having acquired the use license the computing device returning same to acquire another use license tied to another computing device, returning such use license including:

the computing device sending a transfer request to the licensor including the corresponding product license as provided by the retailer;

the computing device receiving from the licensor one of an executable and a command which deletes the use license from the computing device in a trusted manner; and

the computing device executing the executable command to delete the use license and send a message to the licensor that the deletion of the use license was successful, whereby the product license remains valid and the licensor notes that the product license can again be employed to obtain the another use license tied to the another computing device.

10. A computing device that processes an application in accordance with a use license for using the application of a publisher, the use license authorized by a publisher and associated with a corresponding publishing license that includes the set of publisher-specified license rules and additional rules applicable to a licensor regarding issuance of the use license by the licensor, the application having a plurality of features, the computing device storing the use license on a storage device, said computing device comprising:

a processor that; and

a computer storage storing executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform the steps of;

obtaining a product license from a retailer, the product license corresponding to the application of a publisher, the product license defining at least one feature of the application that has been requested by a user, a distributor from which to obtain a base copy of the application, and a licensor from which to obtain a use license;

obtaining a base copy of the application from the distributor via a network transaction, wherein the base copy of the application includes all of the plurality of features of the application and wherein at least a portion of the base copy of the application is encrypted with an encryption key of the publisher;

acquiring the use license corresponding to the product license obtained from the retailer by way of the actuated application sending the product license to the licensor via a network transaction along with an identification of at least one of a user, the computing device, a public key of the computing device, and a trusted component operating on the computing device, the use license including a decryption key of the publisher for decrypting the portion of the base copy of the application that is encrypted with said encryption key, the decryption key being encrypted with the public key of the computing device, and the use license including a set of publisher specified rules and requirements that establish the user'"'"'s right to actuate the application and use each requested feature as defined by the product license;

installing the application;

receiving a request by the user to use a feature of the plurality of features; and

a trusted component; and

computer storage storing executable instructions that when executed by the trusted component, cause the trusted component to perform the steps of;

actuating the application;

validating the use license using a license evaluator;

based on the validation, determining that the validated use license permits the use of the requested feature based on the publisher specified rules and requirements included in the acquired use license; and

based on the determination that the use of the requested feature is permitted, decrypting the decryption key received in the acquired use license using a private key of the computing device and decrypting at least a portion of the base copy of the application including the requested feature using the decryption key.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device further includes a hardware ID (HWID) identifying the computing device and the use license includes the HWID, whereby the trusted component may retrieve the HWID from the computing device and employ same to determine that the use license is intended to be employed on the computing device having such HWID.

12. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the product license defines at least one feature of the application as offered by a retailer and represents an available edition of the application.

13. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the product license defines at least one feature of the application as selected by a purchaser of such product license.

14. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the product license is packaged with referral information including a particular distributor from which a base copy of the application, including all of the plurality of features of the application, is obtained.

15. The computing device of claim 10 wherein at least a portion of each feature of the application is encrypted and decryptable according to the key (KD), wherein the processor is programmed to acquire a use license including a cryptographic key from an identification encrypting the key (KD), the processor programmed to perform the steps of:

receiving a request to use a particular feature of the application;

locating the acquired use license;

determining that the feature policy in the located use license permits the requested use of the particular feature;

retrieving the encrypted key (KD) from the located use license;

decrypting the encrypted key (KD) and employing same to decrypt the at least a portion of the particular feature of the application; and

using the particular feature of the application.

16. The computing device of claim 15 wherein the processor is further programmed to validate the located use license.

17. The computing device of claim 12 wherein after having acquired the use license the processor is further programmed to return the use license to reverse the transaction by which the product license was obtained, the processor returning such use license by performing the steps of:

sending a return request to the retailer including the corresponding product license as provided thereby;

receiving from the retailer an executable or a command that deletes the use license from the computing device in a trusted manner; and

executing the executable/command to delete the use license and sending a message to the retailer that the deletion of the use license was successful,

whereby the retailer may inform the licensor that the product license is invalid and the licensor may note same in a database thereof such that any future request for a use license based on the product license is not honored.

18. The computing device of claim 12 wherein the acquired use license is tied to the computing device and wherein after having acquired the use license the processor is further programmed to return same to acquire another use license tied to another computing device by performing the steps of:

sending a transfer request to the licensor including the corresponding product license as provided by the retailer;

receiving from the licensor an executable or a command that deletes the use license from the computing device in a trusted manner; and

executing the executable/command to delete the use license and sending a message to the licensor that the deletion of the use license was successful,

whereby the product license may remain valid and the licensor may note that the product license can again be employed to obtain the another use license tied to the another computing device.

19. A computer readable storage medium containing computer executable instructions that when executed by a processor of a computing device cause the processor to perform the steps of:

obtaining a product license from a retailer by engaging in a transaction with the retailer, the product license corresponding to the application of a publisher, the product license defining at least one feature of the application that has been requested by a user, a distributor from which to obtain a base copy of the application, and a licensor from which to obtain a use license;

obtaining a base copy of the application from the distributor via a network transaction, wherein the base copy of the application includes the plurality of features of the application and wherein at least a portion of the base copy of the application is encrypted with an encryption key of the publisher;

acquiring the use license corresponding to the product license obtained from the retailer by way of the actuated application sending the product license to the licensor via a network transaction along with an identification of at least one of a user, the computing device, a public key of the computing device, and a trusted component operating on the computing device, the use license including a decryption key of the publisher for decrypting the portion of the base copy of the application that is encrypted with said encryption key, the decryption key being encrypted with the public key of the computing device, and the use license including a set of publisher specified rules and requirements that establish the user'"'"'s right to actuate the application and use each requested feature as defined by the product license;

installing the application;

receiving a request by the user to use a feature of the plurality of features; and

computer executable instructions that when executed by a trusted component cause the trusted component to perform the steps of;

actuating the application

validating the use license using a license evaluator;

based on the validation, determining that the validated use license permits the use of the requested feature based on the publisher specified rules and requirements included in the acquired use license; and

based on the determination that the use of the requested feature is permitted, decrypting the decryption key received in the acquired use license using a private key of the computing device and decrypting at least a portion of the base copy of the application including the requested feature using the decryption key.

20. The medium of claim 19, wherein the computing device includes a hardware ID (HWID) identifying the computing device and the use license includes the HWID, further including instructions for causing the trusted component to retrieve the HWID from the computing device and to employ same to determine that the use license is intended to be employed on the computing device having such HWID.

21. The medium of claim 19 wherein at least a portion of each feature of the application is encrypted and decryptable according to the key (KD), wherein the instructions cause the processor to acquire a use license including a cryptographic key from an identification encrypting the key (KD) by causing the processor to perform the steps of:

receiving a request to use a particular feature of the application;

locating the acquired use license;

determining that the feature policy in the located use license permits the requested use of the particular feature;

retrieving the encrypted key (KD) from the located use license;

decrypting the encrypted key (KD) and employing same to decrypt the at least a portion of the particular feature of the application; and

using the particular feature of the application.

22. The medium of claim 21 wherein the instructions further cause the processor to validate the located use license.

23. The medium of claim 19 wherein after having acquired the use license the instructions further cause the processor to return the use license to reverse the transaction by which the product license was obtained, the processor returning such use license by performing the steps of:

sending a return request to the retailer including the corresponding product license as provided thereby;

receiving from the retailer an executable or a command that deletes the use license from the computing device in a trusted manner; and

executing the executable/command to delete the use license and sending a message to the retailer that the deletion of the use license was successful,

whereby the retailer may inform the licensor that the product license is invalid and the licensor may note same in a database thereof such that any future request for a use license based on the product license is not honored.

24. The medium of claim 19 wherein the acquired use license is tied to the computing device and wherein after having acquired the use license the instructions further cause the processor to return same to acquire another use license tied to another computing device by performing the steps of:

sending a transfer request to the licensor including the corresponding product license as provided by the retailer;

receiving from the licensor an executable or a command that deletes the use license from the computing device in a trusted manner; and

executing the executable/command to delete the use license and sending a message to the licensor that the deletion of the use license was successful,

whereby the product license may remain valid and the licensor may note that the product license can again be employed to obtain the another use license tied to the another computing device.