JPH0876994A - Method and device for management of software license - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To correspond to respective user's usage in detail such as the frequency of use and the period of use by individually setting up the available period of a license and the available period of an authorization code(AC). CONSTITUTION: In the case of issuing a license, a license available period based upon a contact is inputted from a keyboard 1 and a user name, an object application name, the issue date of an issued license, and the available period of the license are recorded in a magnetic disk as license issuing processing. In the case of executing the issuing processing of an AC, an AC available period required by a user is inputted from the keyboard 1 and the issue data of the AC and the available period of the generated AC are similarly recorded in a license managing DB 2. Then the AC is generated and the generated AC is stored in a floppy disk 5 to be provided to the user. When an AC updating request is generated thereafter, the request is inputted from the keyboard 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a software license method, and more particularly to a license method which enables use of a software application for a fixed period.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the investment cost of software application development has reached enormous amounts, and further, for example, LS.
It is extremely important for the business to protect the application as a design asset and prevent the leakage of precision information in the point that the application in the CAD field of I includes the confidential information in the design.

Therefore, as a means of protecting software assets and preventing illegal use, a use contract is concluded (license contract).
And implementing protection in software is a common measure.

The license protects the rights of the developer by making the use of the application based on a contract. In many cases, a license fee is charged based on the usage contract, which allows the application developer to recover the development cost. Further, the software protection also provides an AC (authorization code) for canceling the protection when providing the application to the user, so that the use of the application can be limited to the authorized user and the unauthorized use can be prevented.

Conventionally, this AC generates and provides a user with a valid period corresponding to the license period based on a license contract. For example, JP-A-4-1043
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 25 discloses a means of determining the expiration date of an application at the time of contract of use and referring to the AC at each tool execution time to verify whether or not the application can be executed. In addition, JP-A-1-
In Japanese Patent No. 166218, in addition to setting a usable period at the time of use contract, a warning period before the contract expiration date and a grace period after the contract period are set, so that the cost depends on the tool usage frequency during the contract period and after the contract period ends. The method of collecting is presented.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention
4325; in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-166218, the license period is set based on a prior use contract, and the management is a one-time management. Further, in them, as shown in FIG. 5, the license and the AC actually mounted on the user machine are under the same management.

Therefore, when the application is used further after the contract ends, the procedure for contract renewal is taken again, the license is continuously renewed, the AC corresponding to the renewed license is generated, and it is provided again to the user. It is troublesome.

When the tool is used for evaluation or continuous operation, it is common to make a contract and repeat the contract within a reasonable period in which the tool is expected to be used. Furthermore, when the tool is expensive and the license usage fee is high, or when the usage frequency is divided in a short period of time, it is necessary to repeat a series of processes of contract renewal, and there is a problem that renewal man-hours occur each time. is there.

An object of the present invention is to provide a license management method and apparatus which can finely correspond to the usage of each user such as the usage frequency and usage period of a software application, and which provides AC with a minimum man-hour.

[0010]

A software license management method according to the present invention comprises a step of determining a validity period of a license which is a usage right of a software application,
Determining the validity period of the authorization code, which is a license approval verification file that enables actual use of the software application, within the validity period of the license based on the user's request, and the request period of the authorization code And generating the authorization code according to

Further, the software license management device of the present invention, when a license issuance processing request is made from the license management database, the input means and the input means, and the target application name and the requesting user name are input, these input information From the above, it is determined whether or not to issue the license, and when issuing the license, as the license issuance processing, the request user name, the target application name, the license issuance date, and the license expiration date input from the input means are used for the license management. The authorization code issuance date and the authorization expiration date input from the input means are recorded in the license management database as an authorization code issuance process, and the generated authorization code is recorded as a medium. If there is an authorization code update request from the license / authorization code issuing means to be stored in the input means and the input means, whether or not a license is set for the application requested by the user based on the license management database. For example, determine whether the license expiration date has passed, and if it is within the license expiration date,
It has an authorization code updating means for recording the authorization code issuance date and the authorization code expiration date for the updated authorization code in the license management database and recording the generated authorization code in the medium.

[0012]

In the license management method of the present invention, the license and the AC are managed separately. That is, as shown in FIG.
The license valid period and the AC valid period are set separately (however, the AC valid period is limited within the license valid period).

As a result, after the license is set once, it is only necessary to handle the generation and update of the AC during the license valid period.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a software license management device installed in a stand-alone machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a license / AC issuing process and an AC updating process performed by the software license management device. is there.

The software management apparatus of this embodiment has a keyboard 1 for inputting a license issuance request, an AC update request, a target application name, a requesting user name and the like.
And a license management DB (database) 2 in which the license valid period and the AC valid period are recorded,
A CPU 3 that performs AC issuing processing, AC updating processing, and the like;
It is composed of a CRT 4 for displaying the input contents from the keyboard 1 and the contents of the license management DB 2, and a floppy disk (generated AC file) 5 in which the generated AC is stored.

Next, the operation of the license management apparatus will be described.

First, a license issuance request is input from the keyboard 1, and a target application and a requesting user are input (step 11). Based on these input information, it is determined whether or not to issue a license (step 1
2). When issuing a license as a result, as the license issuing process, the license validity period based on the contract is input from the keyboard 1, and the user name / target application name / issue date of the issued license / The license expiration date is recorded (step 13). Subsequently, as the AC issuing process, the AC valid period required by the user is input from the keyboard 1, and the AC issuing date and the valid period of the generated AC are recorded in the license management DB 2 in the same manner as above (step 14). Next, AC is generated, and the generated AC is stored in the floppy disk 5 provided to the user (step 15).

After that, if there is an AC update request due to continuous use of the application, the AC update request is made from the keyboard 1 (step 16). Next, based on the information in the license DB 2, it is determined whether a license is defined for the application requested by the user and whether the license expiration date has passed (step 17). For example, updated A
The AC issuance date and the AC expiration date of C are recorded in the license management DB 2 (step 18). Next, an AC describing the AC valid period is generated and the floppy disk 5
(Step 19).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a software license management device connected to a network according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the license management host 6 and the user host 7 are each connected to the network 8. A user interface program is installed in the user host 7, and a user name and a request tool name are specified therein to access the license management host 6. The license management host 6 is equipped with a license management DB 2 and a program for referring to the license management DB 2 by access from the user host 7 and performing AC generation / transfer processing and license management DB updating processing for the corresponding tool.

When there is an AC generation input request for the tool from the user host 7, the license management host 6 refers to the license management DB 2 and confirms that the license exists and is valid, and then the license is validated. An AC that makes the requested period valid within the period is generated, its record is described in the license management DB 2, and the generated AC file 5 is transferred to the user host 7.

[0023]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects by setting the license valid period and the AC valid period separately. (1) It is possible to automate the AC issue / update procedure within the license validity period. (2) It is possible to collect fine license usage fees according to the length of the application usage period. (3) It can be applied regardless of the presence or absence of a network environment. (4) Furthermore, in a network environment, online AC automatic issuance can be performed by access from a remote place, and accordingly, AC issuance processing steps can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a relationship between a license valid period and an AC valid period in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing of the software license management device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a software license management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a software license management device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5: License validity period and AC in the prior art
It is a figure which shows the relationship of an effective period.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 keyboard 2 license management DB 3 CPU 4 CRT 5 floppy disk (generated AC file) 6 license management host 7 user host 8 network 11 to 19 steps

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A step of deciding a valid period of a license which is a usage right of a software application, and a valid period of an authorization code which is a license approval approval verification file enabling the actual use of the software application to a user request. A software license management method comprising: a step of determining within the valid period of the license based on the above; and a step of generating the authorization code according to a required period of the authorization code. 2. The software license management method according to claim 1, wherein the first step records a user name, a target application name, a license issuance date, and a license validity period. 3. The software license management method according to claim 1, wherein in the second step, the authorization code issuance date and the authorization validity period are recorded. 4. When an authorization code update request is made, it is judged whether a license is set for the application requested by the user, or if it is set, whether the license expiration date has passed or not, and the license expiration date is determined. The software license according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising the steps of recording an authorization code issue date and an authorization code expiration date for the updated authorization code, and generating an authorization code according to the authorization code request period. Management method. 5. A license management database, an input unit, and a license issuance processing request from the input unit, and when a target application name and a requesting user name are input,
Based on these input information, it is determined whether or not to issue a license.
The requested user name, the target application name, the license issuance date, and the license expiration date entered from the input means are recorded in the license management database, and subsequently, the authorization code issuance date and the input from the input means are performed as an authorization code issuance process. A license / authorization code issuing means for recording the authorization expiration date in the license management database and storing the generated authorization code in a medium, and an authorization code update request from the input means, based on the license management database. Determine whether a license has been set for the application requested by the user, and if so, whether the license has expired and If it is within the license expiration date, a software license management device having an authorization code updating means for recording the authorization code issue date and the authorization code expiration date for the updated authorization code in the license management database, and recording the generated authorization code in the medium. . 6. The software license management device according to claim 5, which is mounted on a stand-alone machine. 7. The input means is provided in a user host, and the license management database, the license / authorization code issuing means, and the authorization code updating means are provided in a license management host connected to a network together with the user host. The software license management device according to claim 5.