AUTOMATIC SOFTWARE LICENSE RECONCILIATION

• US 20080148253A1
• Filed: 12/15/2006
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Norrie, Ross, Badwe, Ashutosh, Papatla, Ram P., Armour, David James
• Application Number:
  US11/611,756
• Publication Number:
  US 20080148253A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1078 Logging; Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

Reconciling an installed software application with a software license. A discovery agent is deployed to each computing device at a user site, and each deployed discovery agent identifies information associated with access to the installed software application on the respective computing device. The identified information is aggregated to determine a present utilization of the installed software application on the computing devices at the user site. Usage rights associated with a software license for the software application is correlated with the present utilization of the software application. A resulting utilization is created as a function of the correlation and a report is provided indicating the resulting utilization.

Claims

1. A computerized method for reconciling a software application with a software license, said software application being installed on one or more computing devices at a user site, said computerized method comprising:

deploying a discovery agent to each of the computing devices at the user site, each of said deployed discovery agents identifying information associated with access to the installed software application on a respective computing device at the user site;

receiving responses from the discovery agents deployed to the computing devices, said responses including data representing the identified information associated with the access to the installed software application at each of the computing devices;

aggregating the received responses to determine a present utilization of the software application on the computing devices at the user site;

retrieving, from a storage area, data associated with the software license for the software application, said retrieved data specifying usage rights for the software application;

correlating the usage rights for the software application and the present utilization of the software application at the user site; and

generating a resulting utilization based upon the correlation of the usage rights and the present utilization.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein said aggregating the received responses comprises aggregating the received responses to determine at least one of a number of software installations on the computing devices, a number of users using the software application, and a frequency of use of the software application.

3. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein said deploying the discovery agent comprises deploying the discovery agent to each of the computing devices to identify information associated with access based on per-installation of the software application on each of the computing devices of the user site.

4. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising formatting the correlation of the usage rights and the present utilization based on the retrieved data associated with the software license from the user site.

5. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein said receiving the responses comprises receiving information associated with executable information of the installed software application, said executable information including at least one of the following:

an executable file, a registry key associated with the software application, a process log, and a list of active processes.

6. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving data comprises retrieving data associated with the software license for the software application from the storage area at the user site.

7. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising providing a report indicating the resulting utilization.

8. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein one or more computer-readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

9. A system for resolving a software license for a software application based on installation of said software application on one or more computing devices at a user site, said system comprising:

a license collector for collecting software license data at the user site, said software license data specifying usage rights for the software application;

a memory area for storing information relating to usage rights associated with the software license data;

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for;

receiving responses from one or more discovery agents deployed to the computing devices the user site, said responses including information associated with access to the software application at each of the computing devices;

aggregating the received responses to determine a present utilization of the software application on the computers at the user site;

retrieving software license data from the license collector;

correlating the usage rights specified by the software license data and the present utilization of the software application;

generating a resulting utilization from the correlation of the usage rights and the present utilization; and

an interface for providing a report indicating the resulting utilization.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to aggregate the received responses to determine at least one of a number of software installations on the computers, a number of users using the software application, and a frequency of use of the software application.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein each of the discovery agents deployed to the computing devices identifies information associated with access based on per-installation of the software application on each of the computing devices at the user site.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to format the correlation of the usage rights and the present utilization based on the retrieved software license data.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to receive information associated with executable information of the installed software application, said executable information including at least one of the following:

an executable file, a registry key associated with the software application, a process log, and a list of active processes.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the interface is configured to provide the report to the user site indicating the resulting utilization.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-executable components for determining compliance with a software license associated with a software application, said software application being installed on one or more computing devices at a user site, said computer-executable components comprising:

one or more discovery agents, being deployed to each of the computing devices at the user site, for identifying information associated with access to the installed software application on the computing devices of the user site;

a license collector for collecting software license data from a rights data store at the user site, said software license data specifying usage rights associated with the software license for the software application;

an aggregator component for aggregating the information associated with access to the installed software application identified by the discovery agents to determine a present utilization of the installed software application on the computing devices at the user site;

a correlating component for correlating the usage rights associated with the software license for the software application and the present utilization of the installed software application;

a report component for generating a resulting utilization as a function of the correlation of the usage rights and the present utilization and for generating a report indicative thereof.

16. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the aggregator component aggregates the received responses to determine at least one of a number of software installations on the plurality of computing devices, a number of users using the software application, and a frequency of use of the software application.

17. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein each of the one or more discovery agents identifies information associated with access based on per-installation of the software application on each of the computing devices at the user site.

18. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, further comprising a schema component for formatting the correlation of the usage rights and the present utilization based on the retrieved software license data.

19. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, further comprising a discovery data store for receiving the information identified by the deployed discovery agents, said information being associated with executable information of the installed software application, said executable information including at least one of the following:

an executable file, a registry key associated with the software application, a process log, and a list of active processes.

20. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, further comprising an interface component for providing the report to the user site indicating the resulting utilization.