License management system

• US 9,201,640 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2013
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Romanowski, Fabian, Sterbling, Sven, Escobar-Olmos, Victor Rafael, Lang, Jakob Christopher, Libal, Tomas, Nunez-Mencias, Angel
• Primary Examiner(s): Mitchell, Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): APONTE, FRANCISCO JAVIER
• Application Number:
  US14/073,002
• Publication Number:
  US 20140165053A1
• Time in Patent Office: 755 Days
• Field of Search: 717174-178
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A license management system is provided for computer program applications, which includes an exchange network connecting a plurality of peer-to-peer network servers, wherein at least one network server of the plurality of peer-to-peer network servers acts as a provider server and at least one network server acts as a user server, and each peer-to-peer network server is configured to perform a method, which includes: controlling program installations according to respective license regulations; storing executable program codes to be distributed to requesting servers; generating, storing, and dispatching a metafile including at least license information on licensing conditions for a corresponding executable program code; sending a request for transmission of the metafile for a corresponding executable program code; downloading and storing a metafile; and downloading, installing, and executing the executable program code under the controlling of program installations according to the respective license regulations.

Claims

1. A license management system for computer program applications, the system including an exchange network connecting a plurality of peer-to-peer network servers, wherein at least one network server of the plurality of peer-to-peer network servers acts as a provider server and at least one network server of the plurality of peer-to-peer network servers acts as a user server, and a network server of the plurality of peer-to-peer network servers is configured to perform a method, the method comprising:

controlling program installations of executable program codes according to respective license regulations;

storing the executable program codes to be distributed to the user server;

generating and storing a first metafile including at least license information on licensing conditions for a first executable program code;

sending, to the provider server, a request for transmission of a second metafile including at least license information on licensing conditions for a second executable program code, wherein the second metafile comprises geographical data specifying usage of the second executable program code as a function of geographical location;

downloading and storing the second metafile from the provider server;

receiving, from the user server, a request for transmission of the first metafile for the first executable program code and the second metafile for the second executable program code;

sending, to the user server, the first metafile for the first executable program code and the second metafile for the second executable program code, the first metallic being specific to the first executable program code and the second metafile being specific to the second executable program code; and

downloading, installing, and executing at least one executable program code under the controlling of program installations according to the respective license information on licensing conditions for the at least one executable program code.

2. The license management system according to claim 1, wherein the provider server has distributed server architecture, and wherein:

storing the executable program codes comprises storing the executable program codes in at least one update-file server; and

storing the first and second metafiles comprises storing the first and second metafiles in at least one license server.

3. The license management system according to claim 1, wherein

downloading, installing, and executing an executable program code of the at least one executable program code comprises extracting from a metafile specific to the executable program code a URL-address for downloading the executable program code.

4. The license management system according to claim 1, wherein

the downloading and storing the second metafile comprises communicating geographical data of the network server to the provider server.

5. The license management system according to claim 1, wherein

downloading, installing, and executing an executable program code of the at least one executable program code is adapted to evaluate the license information from a metafile specific to the executable program code when the executable program code is executed.

6. The license management system according to claim 1, wherein the second metafile further comprises at least one of the following:

a secure unique identifier for an update-file server;

a unique identifier for a license server;

restriction data for restricting usage of the executable program code as a function of a license period;

a digital signature to confirm the correctness of the second metafile content.

7. A method for running a license management system, the method comprising:

controlling program installations of executable program codes according to respective license regulations;

distributing the executable program codes to requesting user servers from storage;

generating and storing a first metafile including at least license information on licensing conditions for a first executable program code;

sending, to a provider server, a request for transmission of a second metafile including at least license information on licensing conditions for a second executable program code, wherein the second metafile comprises geographical data specifying usage of the second executable program code as a function of geographical location;

downloading and storing the second metafile from the provider server;

receiving, from a user server, a request for transmission of the first metafile for the first executable program code and the second metafile for the second executable program code;

sending, to the user server, the first metafile for the first executable program code and the second metafile for the second executable program code, the first metafile being specific to the first executable program code and the second metafile being specific to the second executable program code; and

downloading, installing, and executing at least one executable program code under the controlling of program installations according to respective license information on licensing conditions for the at least one executable program code.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the executable program codes are located on at least one update-file server, and the first metallic and the second metafile are located on at least one license server.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

extracting from a metafile specific to an executable program code of the at least one executable code a URL-address for downloading the executable program code.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

communicating geographical data to the provider server.

11. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

evaluating license information from a metafile specific to an executable program code of the at least one executable program code concurrently with executing the executable program code.

12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the second metafile further comprises at least one of the following:

a secure unique identifier for an update-file server;

a unique identifier for a license server;

restriction data for restricting usage of the executable program code as a function of a license period;

a digital signature to confirm the correctness of the second metafile content.

13. A computer program product for a license management system, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising;

controlling program installations of executable program codes according to respective license regulations;

distributing the executable program codes to requesting user servers from storage;

generating and storing a first metafile including at least license information on licensing conditions for a first executable program code;

sending, to a provider server, a request for transmission of a second metafile including at least license information on licensing conditions for a second executable program code, wherein the second metallic comprises geographical data specifying usage of the second executable program code as a function of geographical location;

downloading and storing the second metafile from the provider server;

receiving, from a user server, a request for transmission of the first metafile for the first executable program code and the second metafile for the second executable program code;

sending, to the user server, the first metafile for the first executable program code and the second metafile for the second executable program code, the first metafile being specific to the first executable program code and the second metafile being specific to the second executable program code; and

downloading, installing, and executing at least one executable program code under the controlling of program installations according to respective license information on licensing conditions for the at least one executable program code.