Methods, systems and computer program products for license use management on a network

• US 6,728,766 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2001
• Issued: 04/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Uniloc 2017 LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cox, David E., Kaminsky, David L., Lindquist, David B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jean, Frantz B.
• Application Number:
  US09/829,854
• Publication Number:
  US 20010013064A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,113 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/220, 709/229, 705/59, 713/200, 713/201, 713/1, 713/2, 713/100
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Tools for software license management or administration, e.g. managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

Management of configurable applications programs on a network is provided by using two program files for each configurable application program. The two program files are provided to a network server station which operates as the on-demand server for software deployment and may also act as the application server. The on-demand server makes the first (configuration manager) program available to an administrator to obtain preferences for the configurable preferences of the application program which have been designated as administrator preferences. The on-demand server also provides a second (application launcher) program to its client stations. The application launcher program not only provides for a user interface to execute the application program itself but also allows a user to specify one or more of the configurable parameters of the application program. An icon is displayed on the screen of the client station through which a user may initiate execution of the application program. The application launcher program provides the identity of the user to the server along with the request to initiate execution of the application program. The on-demand server then initiates execution of the application program using stored values for the user and administrator set preferences or, if no preferences have yet been obtained for the particular user, obtains user preferences before initiating execution of the application program.

Claims

1. A method for management of license use for a network comprising the steps of:

maintaining license management policy information for a plurality of application programs at a license management server, the license management policy information including at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition;

receiving at the license management server a request for a license availability of a selected one of the plurality of application programs from a user at a client;

determining the license availability for the selected one of the plurality of application programs for the user based on the maintained license management policy information; and

providing an unavailability indication to the client responsive to the selection if the license availability indicates that a license is not available for the user or an availability indication if the licensed availability indicates that a license is available for the user.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving the request from an application launcher program associated with the selected one of the plurality of application programs and wherein the step of providing includes the step of providing at least one of the unavailability and the availability indication to the application launcher program associated with the selected one of the plurality of application programs.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the license management server is an on demand server associated with the client which provides an instance of the selected one of the application programs to the client for execution.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein ones of the plurality of application programs have associated default policies and wherein the at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition comprises at least one of an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition that defines ones of the associated default policies that may be modified by an administrator or user.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition comprises a user identity based policy associated with a group of users.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition defines a policy for managing at least one of a response time or a usage rate.

7. A license use management system for a network comprising:

means for maintaining license management policy information for a plurality of application programs at a license management server, the license management policy information including at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition;

means for receiving at the license management server a request for a license availability of a selected one of the plurality of application programs from a user at a client;

means for determining the license availability for the selected one of the plurality of application programs for the user based on the maintained license management policy information; and

means for providing an unavailability indication to the client responsive to the selection if the license availability indicates that a license is not available for the user or an availability indication if the licensed availability indicates that a license is available for the user.

8. A system according to claim 7 wherein the means for receiving includes means for receiving the request from an application launcher program associated with the selected one of the plurality of application programs and wherein the means for providing includes means for providing at least one of the unavailability and the availability indication to the application launcher program associated with the selected one of the plurality of application programs.

9. A system according to claim 7 wherein the license management server is an on demand server associated with the client which provides an instance of the selected one of the application programs to the client for execution.

10. A system according to claim 7 wherein ones of the plurality of application programs have associated default policies and wherein the at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition comprises at least one of an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition that defines ones of the associated default policies that may be modified by an administrator or user.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition comprises a user identity based policy associated with a group of users.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition defines a policy for managing at least one of a response time or a usage rate.

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

a computer readable storage medium having computer-readable program code means embodied in said medium, said computer-readable program code means comprising;

computer readable program code means for maintaining license management policy information for a plurality of application programs at a license management server, the license management policy information including at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition;

computer readable program code means for receiving at the license management server a request for a license availability of a selected one of the plurality of application programs from a user at a client;

computer readable program code means for determining the license availability for the selected one of the plurality of application programs for the user based on the maintained license management policy information; and

computer readable program code means for providing an unavailability indication to the client responsive to the selection if the license availability indicates that a license is not available for the user or an availability indication if the licensed availability indicates that a license is available for the user.

14. A computer program product according to claim 13 wherein the computer readable program code means for receiving includes computer readable program code means for receiving the request from an application launcher program associated with the selected one of the plurality of application programs and wherein the computer readable program code means for providing includes computer readable program code means for providing at least one of the unavailability and the availability indication to the application launcher program associated with the selected one of the plurality of application programs.

15. A system according to claim 13 wherein the license management server is an on demand server associated with the client which provides an instance of the selected one of the application programs to the client for execution.

16. A computer program product according to claim 13 wherein ones of the plurality of application programs have associated default policies and wherein the at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition comprises at least one of an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition that defines ones of the associated default policies that may be modified by an administrator or user.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition comprises a user identity based policy associated with a group of users.

18. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the at least one of a user identity based policy, an administrator policy override definition or a user policy override definition defines a policy for managing at least one of a response time or a usage rate.