Systems and methods for license entitlement key distribution

• US 8,261,357 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2009
• Issued: 09/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Incorporated
• Inventors: Hilton, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Yalew, Fikremariam A
• Application Number:
  US12/578,767
• Publication Number:
  US 20110088096A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,056 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 726/26
• 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 2221/2153 Using hardware token as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0819 Key transport or distribution, i.e. key establishment techniques where one party creates or otherwise obtains a secret value, and securely transfers it to the other(s) network architectures or network communication protocols for key distribution in a packet data network H04L63/062
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0877 using additional device, e.g. trusted platform module [TPM], smartcard, USB or hardware security module [HSM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3239 involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for the distribution of license entitlement keys utilizing a small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver. An SFP transceiver may be utilized in connection with a communication device that transmits data according to a variety of communication protocols. In various embodiments, the license entitlement keys may be generated using an SFP configuration value stored in machine-readable storage medium in the SFP transceiver. The SFP configuration value may be an input, together with other values associated with the SFP transceiver and a secret key in order to generate a license entitlement key. The secret key may be stored in the communication device, and may be stored in such a manner so to not be externally readable. In certain embodiments, configuration settings may be tied to the license entitlement key.

Claims

1. A license entitlement key distribution system comprising:

a communication device comprising,

a processor,

a small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver communication interface,

a secret key,

a first machine-readable storage medium comprising,

a license entitlement key generation module executable by the processor;

a configuration module executable by the processor, the configuration module configured to select a configuration setting based on a generated license entitlement key and to configure the communication device based on the configuration setting;

wherein the configuration setting in a first mode configures the communication device to process first protocol communications, and the configuration setting in a second mode configures the communication device to process second protocol communications; and

an SFP transceiver comprising,

a second machine-readable storage medium configured to store an SFP configuration value, and

a device communication port configured to communicatively couple the SFP transceiver with the SFP transceiver communication interface; and

wherein upon communicatively coupling the SFP transceiver to the communication device, the license entitlement key generation module generates the generated license entitlement key based on the SFP configuration value and the secret key.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the second machine-readable storage medium further comprises

a valid license entitlement key value;

and

wherein the first machine-readable storage medium comprises a license validation module configured to validate a license by comparing the generated license entitlement key to the valid license entitlement key value.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the license validation module is further configured to disable the communication device when the generated license entitlement key is unequal to the valid license entitlement key value.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the license entitlement key generation module comprises a hash algorithm and the secret key and the SFP configuration value are inputs to the hash algorithm;

and wherein the output of the hash algorithm comprises the generated license entitlement key.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the hash algorithm comprises SHA-1.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor comprises a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and wherein the configuration setting comprises a setting of the FPGA.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first protocol comprises an Ethernet protocol, and the second protocol comprises a synchronized optical network protocol.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the license entitlement key generation module is further configured to store the generated license entitlement key in the second machine-readable storage medium.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the second machine-readable storage medium is further configured to store at least one of an identifier of a manufacturer of the SFP transceiver and a serial number of the SFP transceiver;

and wherein the license entitlement key generation module is further configured to generate the license entitlement key based on at least one of an identifier of a manufacturer of the SFP transceiver and a serial number of the SFP transceiver.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication device is configurable based on the license entitlement key to operate as a synchronized optical network multiplexer in a first mode and to operate as an Ethernet switch in a second mode.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the SFP transceiver communication interface comprises an I2C interface.

12. A method for generating a license entitlement key, the method comprising:

communicatively coupling a small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver with an SFP transceiver communication interface of a communication device;

accessing a secret key stored within the communication device;

accessing an SFP configuration value stored on an SFP machine-readable storage medium in the SFP transceiver;

generating a generated license entitlement key based on the SFP configuration value and the secret key;

selecting a configuration setting based on the generated license entitlement key;

configuring the communication device to process first or second protocol communications based on the configuration setting.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising validating a license by comparing the license entitlement key to a valid license entitlement key value.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining that a license is invalid by determining that the generated license entitlement key is unequal to a valid license entitlement key value;

and disabling the communication device.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein generating a generated license entitlement key further comprises inputting the secret key and the SFP configuration value into a hash algorithm;

and wherein the generated license entitlement key comprises the output of the hash algorithm.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the hash algorithm comprises SHA-1.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the configuration setting comprises a setting of a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the configuration setting in a first mode configures the FPGA to process Ethernet communications, and the configuration setting in a second mode configures the FPGA to process synchronized optical network communications.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising storing the license entitlement key in the SFP machine-readable storage medium.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein generating the generated license entitlement key is further based on a second value stored in the SFP machine-readable storage medium, and wherein the second value represents at least one of an identifier of a manufacturer of the SFP transceiver and a serial number of the SFP transceiver.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the communication device is configurable based on the generated license entitlement key to operate as a synchronized optical network multiplexer in a first mode and an Ethernet switch in a second mode.

22. A communication device configured to receive a small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver, the SFP transceiver comprising an SFP configuration value, the communication device comprising:

a processor;

an SFP transceiver communication interface configured to communicatively couple the SFP transceiver to the communication device;

a secret key; and

a first machine-readable storage medium, the first machine-readable storage medium comprising,

a license entitlement key generation module executable by the processor and configured to generate a license entitlement key; and

a configuration module executable by the processor, and configured to select a configuration setting based on the generated license entitlement key and to configure the communication device based on the configuration setting,

wherein upon communicatively coupling the SFP transceiver to the communication device, the license entitlement key generation module generates a license entitlement key based on the SFP configuration value and the secret key, and the configuration setting in a first mode configures the communication device to process first protocol communications, and the configuration setting in a second mode configures the communication device to process second protocol communications.