Software asset management using a browser plug-in

• US 9,348,923 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2013
• Issued: 05/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gocek, Pawel, Kania, Piotr, Paluch, Michal, Stopa, Tomasz
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Jimmy H
• Application Number:
  US14/073,440
• Publication Number:
  US 20140149585A1
• Time in Patent Office: 930 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2219 Large Object storage; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

A software asset management method comprising storing URL data for each of a first plurality of software entities, obtaining, by means of a first browser plug-in, first data indicative of a URL from which a browser has obtained content, comparing, for at least one of the first plurality of software entities, the URL data of the respective software entity with the first data, and communicating the first data to a first computer other than a computer hosting the browser subject to a first condition that, for each of the first plurality of software entities, the comparing reveals that the first data does not match the URL data of the respective software entity.

Claims

1. A software asset management method comprising:

storing uniform resource locator (URL) data for each of a first plurality of software entities;

obtaining, by means of a first browser plug-in, first data representative of a location from which a browser has obtained content;

comparing, for at least one of said first plurality of software entities, said URL data of the respective software entity with said first data; and

communicating said first data to a first computing environment other than a computing environment hosting said browser subject to a first condition that, for each of said first plurality of software entities, said comparing reveals that said first data does not match said URL data of the respective software entity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing authorization data for each of a second plurality of software entities, said second plurality of software entities comprising at least one of said first plurality of software entities; and

determining, using said authorization data and a result of said comparing, whether a user of said browser is authorized to use a software entity accessed by said browser.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining and said comparing are recurringly reiterated.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

said obtaining is effected for each tab of each window of said browser; and

for each said obtaining, said comparing is effected with said first data of the respective obtaining.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing content data for each of a third plurality of software entities belonging to said first plurality of software entities;

obtaining, by means of said first browser plug-in, second data representative of at least a portion of said content; and

comparing, for at least one of said third plurality of software entities, said content data of the respective software entity with said second data, wherein

said communicating is subject to said first condition and a second condition that, for each of said third plurality of software entities, said comparing content data reveals that said second data does not match said content data of the respective software entity, and

said communicating comprises communicating said second data to said first computing environment.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a software entity associated with said communicated first data; and

communicating said communicated first data to a plurality of computing environments other than said first computing environment as URL data for said determined software entity.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a software entity associated with said communicated first data; and

creating a second browser plug-in comprising said communicated first data as URL data for said determined software entity.

15. A computer program product comprising program code stored on a non-transitory computer usable storage medium, said program code being configured to cause a computer to perform a method according to claim 1 when said program code is run on said computer.

8. A software asset management system, comprising:

a data storage hardware system that stores uniform resource locator (URL) data for each of a first plurality of software entities;

a data obtainer that obtains, by means of a first browser plug-in of a hardware computing entity, first data representative of a location from which a browser has obtained content;

a data comparer that compares, for at least one of said first plurality of software entities, said URL data of the respective software entity with said first data; and

a first data communicator that communicates via a network said first data to a first computing environment other than a computing environment hosting said browser subject to a first condition that, for each of said first plurality of software entities, said comparing reveals that said first data does not match said URL data of the respective software entity.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

an authorization determiner, wherein said data storage hardware system stores authorization data for each of a second plurality of software entities, said second plurality of software entities comprising at least one of said first plurality of software entities; and

said authorization determiner determines, using said authorization data and a result of said comparing, whether a user of said browser is authorized to use a software entity accessed by said browser.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein said data obtainer recurringly reiterates said obtaining and said data comparer recurringly reiterates said comparing.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein:

said data obtainer effects said obtaining for each tab of each window of said browser; and

for each said obtaining, said data comparer effects said comparing with said first data of the respective obtaining.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein:

said data storage hardware system stores content data for each of a third plurality of software entities belonging to said first plurality of software entities;

said data obtainer obtains, by means of said first browser plug-in, second data representative of at least a portion of said content;

said data comparer compares, for at least one of said third plurality of software entities, said content data of the respective software entity with said second data;

said first data communicator communicates via the network said second data to said first computing environment; and

said communicating of said first and second data is subject to said first condition and a second condition that, for each of said third plurality of software entities, said comparing content data reveals that said second data does not match said content data of the respective software entity.

13. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a software entity determiner that determines a software entity associated with said communicated first data; and

a second data communicator that communicates said communicated first data to a plurality of computing environments other than said first computing environment as URL data for said determined software entity.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a software entity determiner that determines a software entity associated with said communicated first data; and

a browser plug-in creator that creates a second browser plug-in comprising said communicated first data as URL data for said determined software entity.