License auditing for distributed applications

• US 8,374,968 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2009
• Issued: 02/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uniloc 2017 LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Uniloc Luxembourg S.à r.l. (f/k/a Uniloc Luxembourg S.A.) (Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited)
• Inventors: Etchegoyen, Craig S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hewitt, II, Calvin L
• Assistant Examiner(s): LE, NANCY LOAN T
• Application Number:
  US12/390,273
• Publication Number:
  US 20090217384A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,453 Days
• Field of Search: 726/26, 705/59
• US Class Current: 705/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level

Abstract

The provided software application includes a module that determines a machine fingerprint of a client device at an appropriate time, such as during initial software load on the client. The fingerprint may comprise various machine-determinable measures of system configuration for the client. Each application copy may be associated with a serial number. A license host may collect serial number, fingerprint and/or IP address information from clients on which the application is installed. The host may generate a map of application installations, including geographic locations of installations and number of unique serial numbers per client in specified regions.

Claims

1. A network device adapted to facilitate auditing of a license for a software running on the device, comprising:

a communication module for communicating with a server, the communication module comprising at least one processor; and

a memory in operative communication with the at least one processor and comprising executable code, that when executed by the communication module causes the module to perform the steps of;

collecting machine parameters of the device, the collected machine parameters comprising a combination of at least one user-configurable parameter and at least one non-user-configurable parameter;

generating a device identifier for the device based at least in part on the collected machine parameters;

collecting a software identifier of the software running on the device;

determining a geo-location code for the device;

creating an audit number by associating the software identifier, the device identifier, and the geo-location code; and

transmitting the audit number, using the communication module, to an audit database for storage.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the software identifier comprises a software serial number.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the software identifier comprises information regarding a geographic region associated with the software.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the software identifier comprises information regarding a seller or a distributor of the software.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor associates the software identifier with the device identifier by concatenating the software identifier with the device identifier.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor associates the software identifier with the device identifier by linking the software identifier with the device identifier.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the geo-location code comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the device.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor generates the device identifier by implementing at least one irreversible transformation such that the collected machine parameters cannot be derived from the device identifier.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the at least one irreversible transformation comprises a cryptographic hash function.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the server comprises the audit database.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

machine model;

machine serial number;

machine copyright;

machine ROM version;

machine bus speed;

machine details;

machine manufacturer;

machine ROM release date;

machine ROM size;

machine UUID; and

machine service tag.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

CPU ID;

CPU model;

CPU details;

CPU actual speed;

CPU family;

CPU manufacturer;

CPU voltage; and

CPU external clock.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

network model;

network address;

Bluetooth address;

Blackbox model (including IDE and SCSI);

Blackbox serial;

Blackbox details;

Blackbox damage map;

Blackbox volume name;

NetStore details; and

NetStore volume name.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

optical model;

optical serial;

optical details;

keyboard model;

keyboard details;

mouse model;

mouse details;

printer details; and

scanner details.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

baseboard manufacturer;

baseboard product name;

baseboard version;

baseboard serial number; and

baseboard asset tag.

16. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

chassis manufacturer;

chassis type;

chassis version; and

chassis serial number.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

IDE controller;

SATA controller;

D controller; and

SCSI controller.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

port connector designator;

port connector type;

port connector port type; and

system slot type.

19. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

cache level;

cache size;

cache max size;

cache S type; and

cache error correction type.

20. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

fan;

PCMCIA;

modem;

portable battery;

tape drive;

USB controller; and

USB hub.

21. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

device model;

device model IMEI;

device model IMSI; and

device model LCD.

22. The device of claim 1, wherein the machine parameters comprise information regarding at least one of:

wireless 802.11;

webcam;

game controller;

silicone serial; and

PCI controller.

23. A method for auditing a license for a software running on a network device, the method comprising the following steps:

collecting, by the network device, machine parameters of the device, the collected machine parameters comprising a combination of at least one user-configurable machine parameter and at least one non-user-configurable machine parameter;

generating, by the network device, a device identifier for the device based at least in part on the collected machine parameters;

collecting, by the network device, a software identifier of the software running on the device;

determining, by the network device, a geo-location code for the device;

creating, by the network device, an audit number by associating the software identifier, the device identifier, and the geo-location code; and

transmitting, by the network device, the audit number to a server for storage in an audit database.