Software license reconciliation facility

• US 9,122,843 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2008
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HCL Technologies Limited
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pichetti, Luigi, Romano, Carlo, Secchi, Marco, Secomandi, Antonio
• Primary Examiner(s): Nigh, James D
• Application Number:
  US12/263,785
• Publication Number:
  US 20090158438A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,493 Days
• Field of Search: 705/50, 705/51, 705/59
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/18 Licensing

Abstract

A method is presented for monitoring software product usage in a data processing system. The method may include installing an instance of a software product on a target entity of a data processing system. A usage condition applicable to the instance may be identified. Reconciliation information may be generated upon installation of the instance. This reconciliation information may correlate the usage condition with the instance to facilitate later determining compliance of the software product with applicable usage conditions.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring software product usage in a data processing system, the method comprising:

installing an instance of a software product on a target entity of a data processing system;

identifying, by at least one processor, a license condition that is applicable to the instance, wherein identifying the license condition comprises retrieving environmental information of the target entity and inferring the license condition applicable to the instance based on the environmental information, wherein inferring the license condition comprises at least one of (1) inferring a bundle license condition for the instance based on presence of at least one other software product on the target entity and (2) inferring the license condition based on an installation path of the instance;

generating reconciliation information that specifically identifies the license condition that is applicable to the instance; and

communicating the reconciliation information to a license manager configured to monitor software products installed on the target entity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising downloading, to the target entity, a list of license conditions that are potentially applicable to the instance.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising scanning the target entity to discover the instance installed on the target entity.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising analyzing the reconciliation information to identify the license condition associated with the discovered instance.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein downloading comprises downloading upon installing the software product.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the license condition comprises at least one of a license condition for using the software product in stand-alone mode, and a license condition for using the software product in bundle mode.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising verifying compliance of the discovered instance with the license condition.

8. A computer program product for monitoring usage of software products on a data processing system, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions which when executed by at least one computer cause the at least one computer to collectively perform the following;

install an instance of a software product on a target entity of a data processing system;

identify a license condition that is applicable to the instance, wherein identifying the license condition comprises retrieving environmental information of the target entity and inferring the license condition applicable to the instance based on the environmental information, wherein inferring the license condition comprises at least one of (1) inferring a bundle license condition for the instance based on presence of at least one other software product on the target entity and (2) inferring the license condition based on an installation path of the instance;

generate reconciliation information that specifically identifies the license condition that is applicable to the instance; and

communicate the reconciliation information to a license manager configured to monitor software products installed on the target entity.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer instruction further cause the at least one computer to download, to the target entity, a list of license conditions that are potentially applicable to the instance.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer instruction further cause the at least one computer to scan the target entity to discover the instance installed on the target entity.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer instruction further cause the at least one computer to analyze the reconciliation information to identify the license condition associated with the discovered instance.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein downloading comprises downloading upon installing the software product.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the license condition comprises at least one of a license condition for using the software product in stand-alone mode, and a license condition for using the software product in bundle mode.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer instructions further cause the at least one computer to verify compliance of the discovered instance with the license condition.

15. A system for monitoring software product usage in a data processing system, the system comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory device coupled to the at least one processor and storing computer instructions for execution on the at least one processor, the computer instructions causing the at least one processor to;

install an instance of a software product on a target entity of a data processing system;

select a license condition that is applicable to the instance, wherein selecting the license condition comprises retrieving environmental information of the target entity and inferring the license condition applicable to the instance based on the environmental information, wherein inferring the license condition comprises at least one of (1) inferring a bundle license condition for the instance based on presence of at least one other software product on the target entity and (2) inferring the license condition based on an installation path of the instance;

generate reconciliation information that specifically identifies the license condition that is applicable to the instance; and

communicate the reconciliation information to a license manager configured to monitor software products installed on the target entity.